Creative Accountants vs CMA

Creative Accountants Need King Canute
May 29th, 2008

There is a rather large advertisement in today’s Vancouver Sun. At the center of the full-page is the following:

I was struck by those words at the center of the ad:

CREATIVE ACCOUNTANTS should no longer be used to describe book cookers, liars, little men in little rooms helping rich crooks get richer, or downright cheaters.


It is true that The Society of Management Accountants of Canada has applied for a Canadian trademark. If granted they, and only they, will have the right to use the trademark above on products they sell and on a series of services covering the following:
SERVICES:

Establishing and enforcing guidelines
training and educating
disseminating information
promoting and representing the interest of management accountants
Their new website, CreativeAccountants.org, (unfortunately in Flash), is really only new packaging around their existing resource-full website for Certified Management Accountants of Canada.

So why bring in King Canute? Well perhaps he might have counseled the CMA to go for some other trademark. As he tried to tell his advisers, sometimes you cannot turn back the tide. Just look at what Wikipedia offers as a definition of creative accounting.

Creative accounting and earnings management are euphemisms referring to accounting practices that may or may not follow the letter of the rules of standard accounting practices, but certainly deviate from the spirit of those rules. They are characterized by excessive complication and the use of novel ways of characterizing income, assets, or liabilities. The terms “innovative” or “aggressive” are also sometimes used.

It would seem the battle has been lost already. An appropriate choice of domain name is always a first consideration in doing a website review. CreativeAccountants.org is certainly a bold initiative but would seem to carry too much baggage to be the right long-term choice.

this is all on the net, in newspapers, on tv, argggggggg.


This is the letter I wrote to CMA Canada:

I am writing to express my dismay over an advertisement I saw on TV this morning.

After years of trying to get my CMA recognized and acknowledged for what it is, CMA Canada comes up with an insulting ad campaign comparing us to liars and book cookers. What a shock, what a disappointment, and I have to say I am offended by it as well.

We are professionals, and want to be recognized as professionals. I do not want to be lumped in with people who only think they are accountants. I spent time and money, and energy in obtaining my CMA, as it was something to be proud of.

Personally I believe this new ad campaign, and direction the CMA is going is the wrong one. I know I do not want my CMA viewed under those illusions, put forth in that ad.