November 2000

CPAdirectory.com Opposes Cognitor

Internet portal CPAdirectory.com has weighed in on the Cognitor issue, taking a stand against the global designation as proposed by the international task force that includes the American Institute of CPAs.

For the past two months, Wantagh, N.Y.-based CPAdirectory.com has been urging its members to oppose the Cognitor initiative, according to president and chief executive officer Michael Rosedale. The Web-based company has also been active in urging the AICPA to drop this endeavor.

“Wake up CPAs! Someone’s got to say this loud and clear before it’s too late. The AICPA is about to replace you with a dinosaur, the ‘Cognitor,’” Rosedale wrote, on a CPAdirectory.com message board entitled “Is the AICPA’s Vision Prehistoric?” Posted on Oct. 16, the message board has generated dozens of anti-Cognitor responses.

Like other messages critical of the proposed global credential, Rosedale’s poked fun at the term “Cognitor.”

“Now, in quest of a global designation for the future of the profession [the AICPA] has determined a new ‘XYZ’ designation is needed and is considering ‘Cognitor’ as the new designation,” Rosedale’s message went. “This sounds like a joke but it’s not.”

Replies to Rosedale’s original post attacked various aspects of the proposed credential.

“Who would use something called Cognitor? It sounds like a spy movie,” said one reply.

“I didn’t go to college for five years, sweat through over 19 hours of testing, and slave in public accounting to be called a ‘Cognitor,’” wrote one CPAdirectory.com supporter. “I am proud of my license and will fight to keep the designation.”

In an October press release, the Web portal argued that the only new global designation should be “the three letters CPA.” The portal has also claimed that the AICPA has not effectively branded the CPA designation and that a new designation would only confuse and weaken public perception of the CPA profession.