Mechanic

By the way—since I am an accountant, let me give you my take on the various accounting designations out there.  (If you are not an accountant nor have any desire to be one, just disregard this post.)
CPA – While there may be some discussion about which is better, CFA or MBA, there is no such argument in the accountant ranks.  CPA reigns supreme.  
CMA (Certified Management Accountant) – If you want to work in industry instead of public practice, this is a good alternative.  However, CPA will always be Beyonce, and CMA will always be Kelly Rowland.  
EA (Enrolled Agent) – If you want to be in a tax practice, this is just as good as the CPA.  However, you are limited to tax—no auditing or corporate accounting.  
CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) – not to be confused with the Certified Investment Management Analyst.  This is a UK/European designation similar to the CMA.  Since I live in the US, I don’t know much about it, but it seems to be held in high regard.  
CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) – This is a good complement to the CPA if you want to be in Internal Audit.  Otherwise it’s pretty useless.  
CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) – Focused exclusively on detection and prevention of corporate fraud.  Like the CIA, it’s a good complement to the CPA, and useful if you’re already doing that job.  If you’re not, it’s useless.   
Most of these below are used by CPA’s to hype up their resumes, especially to clients.  If clients only knew how little work some of these actually took, they would be less impressed.
CVA (Certified Valuation Analyst) – This is an “add-on” for CPA’s who also do business valuations.  It seems to be “pay us 3,000 dollars and take a one-week course and we’ll give you a designation.”  Personally, I am doubtful that it has much value.  However, you have to do CE anyway.  Might as well get a designation for it!  (There’s also the Accredited Valuation Analyst for the non-CPA.)
CMAP (Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional) – A designation exclusively for the middle-market M&A transactions.  Its value is similar to the CVA.  It’s even issued by the same people.   (There’s also a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor–a carbon copy.)  
CGMA/ABV/PFS/CFFE – Whenever another certification begins to gain recognition, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants comes up with their own designation that is the exact same as the other, more recognized one.  These are the AICPA versions of CMA, CVA, CFP, and CFE.  (Of course, to use the initials will cost you money.  You just don’t have to take the test again.)