As a creative, right-brained type myself, I realized very early on in my time in CPA review that the CPA exam was less a test of knowledge and more a test of a person's left brain to process and spit out information exactly as it was put in. In other words, the exam weeds out the creative types like myself because the last thing the profession needs is risk-taking, crazy thinkers taking wild liberties with accounting principles. A few of us manage to sneak in anyway, which is going to be hilarious if and when IFRS rolls around.
Perhaps I should have put my creative brain to good use and given EY some suggestions when they were looking for a name for their new audit tool but alas, they've made their decision without my input.
World, meet EY Canvas:
Recently, we asked our Assurance professionals from around the world to help us name the technologies at the heart of our Audit Transformation – the new audit tool, our analytics suite and the new research tool. We received responses from more than 3,000 professionals across the globe, representing every EY region. Based on their efforts, Global Assurance leadership has agreed on the name for our new audit tool: EY Canvas.
Our new name has a back story – a rationale that reflects the time and energy our teams put into their nominations. Here’s how the teams described the reasoning behind “EY Canvas”:
We like to think of an audit engagement as a painting that our people at EY create on a blank canvas. EY Canvas is a surface where our teams can paint a picture, encompassing the entire audit process. It is adaptable to whatever size is needed on the client needs, and in the end, it is an accounting work of art, available for inspection.
Color me ignorant (no pun) when I paint, I take a blank canvas, litter it up with some crazy background and then slap some creepy bug-eyed animal on it, scratch all over it with a Sharpie and call it a day. I fail to see how that process has anything to do with an audit, which should be more like coloring in a coloring book than creating art out of thin air if we insist on using the creative reference.
I guess this is a slight improvement over GAMx, which did not convey anything at all although I'm sure when it was revealed, EY tried to explain some deep meaning in that too. You know, painting a picture and all.
What do you all think?
