SORRY LADS & LASSIES: NO COGNITORS HERE.

Three of the original eight members of the international task force to create a new global business professional designation (known recently as XYZ and "cognitor") have dropped out. Institutes of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales backed out of the global-designation initiative.

"The Institute has concluded that there is insufficient market demand for an all-embracing qualification of the sort proposed and that the business plan is unviable," states Grenville Johnston, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Scotland.

At the fall AICPA Council meeting, the council approved a substitute resolution which supports the new credential, but requires the AICPA to conduct further research and to "prepare a business plan to include financial projections demonstrating the viability of this endeavor; as well as market research results." The new credential will be up for a membership vote at the spring AICPA Council meeting.

In addition to the AICPA, remaining members of the task force include institutes of chartered accountants in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.