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CPA Vision Process Glossary
Ad Hoc Forum: A series of forums sponsored by strategic partners of the CPA Vision Process, such as state societies. These forums will be conducted using the same methodology and materials as the Future Forums, but will be facilitated by individuals selected by the strategic partner. (Also see Future Forums, Leadership Forums, and National Future Forum.)
Change Agents: Individuals who embrace uncertainty, develop ways to manage uncertainty, and set the standards by which others will follow change.
Core Competencies: A harmonious blend of capabilities which are difficult for competitors to imitate. Traditionally, core competencies have been directly linked to the competitive attributes of price and performance of products and services. But as techniques and standards for achieving low cost and high quality are increasingly simple to imitate, core competencies must be continuously refined as the source of differential advantage. This implies that today and in the future, the real source of competitive advantage lies within the ability to optimize the blend of technology, procedures, and human skills, all with attributes of flexibility and the ability to optimize the changing opportunities in environment and marketplace.
Core Purpose: Core purpose refers to a profession’s, industry’s, firm’s, or company’s reason for existence. Core purpose provides a clear sense of direction. We can identify our core purpose by asking ourselves such questions as: "What would the world lose if my enterprise ceased to exist?" "Why would gifted and motivated people want to contribute their talents and energies to this particular enterprise?" "What would I not change about this profession even if it meant a loss in income?"
Core Values: Essential and enduring, core values are the intrinsic forces that guide much of our behavior. Values are shaped by assumptions that are often subconscious, but which determine how we perceive, think, and feel. Core values stand the test of time and are the tenets which are mostly independent of the competitive environment and current business strategies. Core values are so fundamental that we tend to keep them, whether or not they are rewarded. It is important not to confuse core values with cultural norms, societal values, expectations, or emotions, which are open for change. Changes in technologies or societal values may change the way we work, or our relationships, but our core values do not change. The stability of our core values plays an important part in how we deal with change. Strong values can actually help us to absorb change without losing our character.
Driving Forces: The forces that define and drive the trends in politics, economics, society, technology, human resources, and regulation. Understanding the driving forces is the first step toward establishing a framework for analyzing critical trends.
Early Adopter/Adapters: Individuals who recognize and engage new solutions to previously unsolved or unidentified problems, and are not adverse to risk.
Forces/Issues: The term forces refers to the broad trends that impact, or have potential impact, upon our future. Issues refers to how those forces will affect us in the future, either as a threat or an opportunity.
Future Forums: A series of full-day, professionally facilitated grassroots forums conducted in all U.S. states, and 3 jurisdictions, to elicit the views of CPAs on the future, as well as on marketplace forces and issues relevant to the profession. The forums engaged participants in identifying the core values, competencies, and purpose of the profession as they exist today and how these can be leveraged in tomorrow’s business world. The ultimate goal is to engage CPAs in a dialogue critical to ensuring the profession’s future viability. (Also see Ad Hoc Forums, Leadership Forums, and National Future Forum.)
Future Forum Facilitator: A professional consultant who facilitated the one-day Future Forums to gather grassroots input and elicit profession-wide views on the future, forces at work in the marketplace, and the significant issues relevant to the profession.
Futurism: The creation of ideas, insights, and inspiration to bring the fuzzy world of tomorrow into a clear perspective today. The purpose of studying the future is to discover the possibilities and opportunities that the future has to offer, and to proactively create an optimum pathway into the future.
Leadership Forums: A series of forums sponsored by the AICPA for leadership of specific AICPA committees. These forums were conducted using the same methodology and materials as the Future Forums, but were facilitated by individuals selected by the AICPA. (See also see Future Forums, Ad Hoc Forums, and National Future Forum.)
Member Co-Facilitator/Delegate: A CPA professional who introduces the Future Forum Facilitator to participants, attends the Future Forum, and assists with the logistics of the Future Forum, including collection of data at its conclusion.
National Future Forum: A special national conference forum held in January 1998. Each state sent a delegate to this two-day national forum to review the results of the Future Forums conducted throughout the United States, and 3 jurisdictions. The purpose of this forum was to create consensus and define the content of the draft vision statement.
Paradigms: From the Greek paradeigma which means "pattern, model, example." Paradigms are accepted examples of practice, which include theory, application, and instrumentation, that together provide models for coherent traditions and commitment to shared rules and standards of practice. Paradigms are the way we perceive, think, and value the world, based upon a particular vision of reality. They provide us with a valid set of expectations about what will probably occur based upon our shared set of assumptions. Paradigms establish boundaries and define how to succeed within the boundaries. When we are in the middle of a paradigm, it is difficult to imagine any other paradigm.
Paradigm Shifts: When anomalies or inconsistencies arise within a given paradigm and present problems that we are unable to solve within a given paradigm, we become faced with entirely new sets of realities and demands. Our view of reality changes, as does the way we perceive, think, and value the world. We take on new assumptions and expectations that transform our theories, traditions, rules, and standards of practice. We create a new paradigm in which we are able to solve the unsolvable problems of the old paradigm.
Scenarios: Logical, compelling storylines of the future which serve to create alternative options.
Statement of Direction: An articulation of what the desired future is and the selected route to get there.
Strategic Planning: Strategic Planning involves identifying specific activities along specific time lines, as well as matching goals and resources, for the purpose of influencing the environment to bring about the desired future.
Virtual Consulting: A multi-national consulting firm that specializes in the development and implementation of methodologies to optimize the future. The founder of the firm, Gideon Malherbe, is principal consultant of the CPA Vision Process.
Visioning: A strategic process through which a company, industry, or profession analyzes the potential effects of current and projected macro forces, develops future scenarios, defines and assesses its core competencies and values, and begins to plot strategy for achieving its vision for the future. The purpose of creating a vision for the future is to enable us to take the appropriate actions to make our optimum future happen.
Vision Report: A detailed description of the vision, the visioning process, methods of gathering data, sources of information, overview of participants, results, interpretations, and resolutions. The report will be published in the Journal of Accountancy in December 1998, and is available on the website.
Working Hypothesis: A theory of a future state, which is tentatively accepted to define certain issues, and is subject to on-going revision.