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On the television program "Sunday Morning" this morning, Charles Osgood reported the plight of America's Certified Public Accountants.
(CPAs are Chartered Accountants, I believe, in Irl and UK.)
It seems that CPAs do a lot more than prepare taxes and audit accounting procedures these days and they want a new name to project this new image.
The name CONDITOR was suggested but it was not well received. Seems the beleagured CPA felt it was conjuring up images of condors and dinosaurs.
(Would an enlightened CPA be Conditor Lex?)
So for now they call the new name X-Y-Z and are still open to suggestions.
Now there is a challenge.
No guarantee they'd pay any attention BUT what do you suggest as a replacement for the initial name CPA when the vocation has expaned into new fields of endeavour like estate planning, insurance advice and all that goes into financial planning?
Ready? Set? GO!
wow



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Well, let's see: Estate Planning, Insurance Advice and all that goes into Financial Planning plus CPA = epiafpCPA.
Here's what the anagram server makes of it:
A CAP PEP IF
A CPA PEP IF
CAFE PAP PI
FACE PAP PI
PACE PAP IF
CAPE PAP IF

Hmm--FACEPAPPI doesn't quite seem the thing, somehow. What about feppiacap?



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The name CONDITOR was suggested but it was not well received.

I didn't see the program, wow, but did they give a rationale for the term CONDITOR? Where did they get it and how does it project the image they're seeking? To me, "CPA" does include those other financial tasks, so I guess I'm an advocate of "if it ain't broke..." why confuse the issue. Seems it would be easier to reeducate the public about the expanding roles of the CPA than to coin a whole new term and have to educate from scratch about that, as well as differentiate from the former meaning of CPA.


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wow Offline OP
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Seems it would be easier to reeducate the public about the expanding roles of the CPA than to coin a whole new term
Now, if you are going to go all logical on me ....

Have no idea answers to questions you asked about why etc, I just report what I heard and ask for contributions with the hope some will be whimsical!
wow



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WOW: Guess I'm more curious than whimsical! BTW, and apropos of nothing, I do believe your last post was No. 10,000 on the Q&A forum.


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My wife is a CA (CPA in the US), and I prefer to use that good old term "beancounter" - but not around her. She, of course, hates it.

But she can't think of any term for the job which doesn't carry the same slightly negative connotations as "accountant". Most of the other terms are taken by people with other skill sets or professional emphasis anyway, she thinks. She couldn't understand where "conditer" might fit, and doesn't like it!



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In UK I see the term CA as a qualification, not a job. The job as described in the original post would be covered by IFA =Independent Financial Advisor if I understand correctly.
Rod


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In UK I see the term CA as a qualification, not a job. The job as described in the original post would be covered by IFA =Independent Financial Advisor

In US we have Estate Planners also Financial Advisors etc.
These days it seems bankers want to sell bonds/stocks. Brokers want to also be bankers. Lawyers want to do estate planning. There is a lot of cross-overs and the CPAs want to get in on the expanded opportunities to enlarge their field. With those CPA job quals they evidently feel they could do a good job in other areas than just "counting beans" (yucky applletive) ... thus, as I grasp it, the whole controversy about a new "name" to encompass the expanded fields they want people to know they are able to do!
Does that make sense?
wow


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Conditor sounds to me like "condottore" - Italian for conductor, which if I recall correctly, is used in mafia circles to mean something like "fixer." Somebody in the Mob who takes care of things - or people - is called the condottore.

This is a connotation that the CPA's might wish to avoid - or maybe they want a more exciting image.


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Along the same lines as Hyla, when I saw this thread, I thought of conditorei, which (when spelled correctly, which I probably haven't been able to pull off) means bakery/cake pastry shop in... um... German? Neurons misfiring. Sorry if I've offended anyone who actually knows. (Unlike me, who's relying on vague memories.)


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