AICPA - more

When I made my post, "American Institute of Certified Public Accountants," I was unaware of this article, "CGMA ploy brings Cognitors back as CoGMAtors; is AICPA 2.0 next?" which appeared March 1, 2012 on the Accounting Today web site.

The authors of this article clearly and succinctly express my views and concerns on this issue. Unfortunately, my agreement extends to their assertion, "Do not expect the Elite to repent and resign, no matter how embarrassing the situation. They are entrenched and got there by wittingly or unwittingly sacrificing some or all of their self-respect. Surely they would deny it, but their actions reflect these three premises: The institute exists for their benefit, they deserve to be on top, and they can do no wrong."

I also agree with this suggestion, "Do not resign your AICPA membership. Although you may be thoroughly repelled, even disgusted, the institute needs as many principled members as possible to vote this scheme down and provide real leadership."  Unless a critical mass of caring, concerned AICPA members come together to restore the focus of that organization to serving its CPA membership and the profession of public accounting, nothing useful will be accomplished. Bailing out of the AICPA, as desirable as that may be, will do nothing to slow the "Elite's" devaluation of Certified Public Accountant as a meaningful professional certification. In fact, CPAs who are not members of the AICPA should seriously consider joining and adding their voice to those who oppose the course being taken by the current leadership.