“Can’t Produce Anything” is a popular backronym (back acronym) for “CPA” (certified public accountant), but it didn’t start out representing accountants. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was a transitional government in Iraq from March 19, 2003 to June 28, 2004. The CPA was widely regarded among U.S. soldiers as ineffectual. “I’m told over there that CPA stands for ‘Can’t Produce Anything’,” Newt Gingrich told Newsweek magazine in December 2003.
 
“What does CPA stand for? Can’t Produce Anything” was cited in a list of accountant jokes in 2007. The backronym quickly became a staple of many accountant joke lists.
 
   
Wikipedia: Certified Public Accountant
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. In the United States they will have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for membership in their respective professional accounting bodies and certification as a CPA. Individuals who have passed the Exam but have not either accomplished the required on-the-job experience or have previously met it but in the meantime have lapsed their continuing professional education are, in many states, permitted the designation “CPA Inactive” or an equivalent phrase. In most U.S. states, only CPAs who are licensed are able to provide to the public attestation (including auditing) opinions on financial statements. The exceptions to this rule are Arizona, Kansas, and North Carolina where the “CPA” designation and the practice of auditing are not restricted. Many CPAs are members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or their state CPA society.
 
Wikipedia: Coalition Provisional Authority
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA; Arabic: سلطة الائتلاف المؤقتة) was established as a transitional government following the 19 March 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland forming the Multinational Force (or “the coalition”) aiming to oust the government of Saddam Hussein.
 
Citing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 (2003), and the laws of war, the CPA vested itself with executive, legislative, and judicial authority over the Iraqi government from the period of the CPA’s inception on 21 April 2003, until its dissolution on 28 June 2004.
   
Newsweek
Dissent In The Bunker
BY JOHN BARRY 12/14/03 AT 7:00 PM
(...)
Sitting in his office in downtown Washington, Gingrich searched on his computer for the Web site of the Coalition Provisional Authority, set up in Baghdad to oversee the reconstruction and democratization of Iraq. “I’m told over there that CPA stands for ‘Can’t Produce Anything’,” says Gingrich.
     
Government Executive
The Buzz
September 15, 2006
Can’t Produce Anything
The Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion until July 2004, has been taking it on the chops. In July, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction released “Lessons in Contracting and Procurement,” finding the CPA’s efforts were understaffed, its buyers often unqualified and its project management office woeful at defining what it wanted from contractors.
 
jokesiteexample.com
Category: Accountant jokes
Date Added: 11/10/2007
Joke: What does CPA stand for?Cant Produce Anything
 
Twitter
Lena Khalid
‏@lenakhalid
What does CPA stand for? Can’t Produce Anything 😊 http://bit.ly/CPANewbies
10:03 PM - 16 Dec 2009
   
Ian Harper, CPA
Just for Fun
Aug 3rd, 2010 by Ian
(...)
Accountant Joke 42
What does CPA stand for? Can’t Produce Anything
 
Accountant Joke 43
What does FCPA stand for? Finally Caught Pinching the Assets
   
Diving into the Details (Dustin Wheeler’s blog)
September 25th, 2011
Funny Alternative Acronyms for CPA
I recently became a CPA in the state of Nevada.  By CPA, I’m referring to Certified Public Accountant.  Although this is a widely recognized acronym in the United States, Wikipedia lists many other uses of it throughout the world.
 
The CPA acronym is also often used to poke fun at number crunchers in many variations.  Here are a few of the best I’ve heard:
 
. Cheapest Price Available
. Copy, Paste, and Annotate
. Can’t Produce Anything
. Constantly Proposing Audits
. Couldn’t Pass Again (referring to the CPA exam, of course)
   
Twitter
supriya
‏@supriya64
Finance jokes-CPA: What does CPA stand for? Can’t Produce Anything What does FCPA stand for… http://goo.gl/fb/IJp8h
2:52 AM - 28 Oct 2011