The Global Business Credential.

A Talk with Judith Trepeck, Chief Operating Officer of the Global Credential Steering Committee

The Practicing CPA recently sat down with Judith Trepeck, CPA, Michigan, to talk about the developments in the proposed Global Business Credential. Trepeck is the chief operating officer (COO) of the Global Credential Steering Committee, spearheading the effort to develop the Global Institute that will administer and manage the new credential. She also is a member of the AICPA Strategic Planning Committee, the Consulting Services Executive Committee, and a former member of the MAP and CPE Executive Committee. She spoke with us about the credential's beginnings, where it is headed, and how it will affect the CPA profession.

Q: As the COO of the Global credential Steering Committee, can you give us an update on what is happening with the global credential both in the United States and around the world?

JT: As many of your member firms may know, the Spring Council authorized the AICPA to develop a Member Information and Response Program that is being rolled out as we speak. The results of that campaign will be presented at Fall Council. A member referendum will follow that meeting.

Other activities are going on in the countries participating in the Global Credential Steering Committee. Each member of the committee is carrying out information campaigns, but unlike the United States, those campaigns are mostly focused on the leadership level. Also, the committee is beginning to develop different aspects of the business plan that was presented at Spring Council. We are not implementing the plan at this point, but we are poising ourselves to be able to get into play should the member referendum pass.

Q: Tell us a bit about the history of the proposed Global Business credential. How was it created and where did this idea come from?

JT: The Vision Project generated so many wonderful ideas for the profession. The future it painted represented extraordinary aspirations. The AICPA's Strategic Planning Committee began serious discussions into what steps could be taken to start making those aspirations real. A lot of different possibilities surfaced in those discussions. One of the most challenging issues to surface was the market perceptions of the CPA brand and what it would take to stretch it to include first, what many CPAs are already doing today, and second, the range of competencies and services described in the Vision process. They finally settled on...