Having no truck with know-all

Having no truck with know-all

It must have sounded ideal in those early meetings. After all, depending on the context, Cognitor stems from the Latin meaning 'knower'. But after the grand plan unravelled last week the definition of one wag seemed more appropriate: 'know-all'.

AccountancyAge.com first revealed eight international institutes’ plan to launch a global business qualification back in April.

No one can fault ambition and in time, they boasted, it would rival MBAs.

But last week the Scots and Irish institutes pulled out blaming the daunting set up costs and questionable demand for the qualification. The English ICA looked set to follow this week. But why did it take so long for them to realise that ‘Project Miami’, as it was dubbed, appeared doomed?

Typically, a divided profession attempted to mask a problem with a fudged solution. Recognising the need to work together, the institutes decided to set up an MBA rival, instead of getting their own house in order.

Forget the overwhelming need to rationalise the UK profession and think about international accounting standards. Global cooperation on existing accounting training is vital – not new qualifications. It was ironic that what seems the beginning of the end for the Cognitor came days before the global MBA tour hit London.

The arrival of this juggernaught marketing exercise by the big US business schools exposed the name of the cognitor qualification as having about as much relevance to the modern business world as Betamax or the Sinclair C5. And with that much baggage, it surely cannot survive.

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