For years a few PR friends have seen the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) as sort of a cute way to obtain some letters after their names. When the test was reorganized I decided I probably should have taken the test earlier when it was just an essay test, but still went ahead and prepared for it. The panel was tough and I am still attempting to pass the Readiness Review.

With that being said, when PRSA reorganized the APR they sought to make it more relevant and more binding on the professional who earns it. And if the APR is good enough to be earned by practitioners, I think it’s time the national asssembly considered an institutional APR which would hold agencies and firms accountable for their actions. An institutional APR would make ethics binding, force firms to honor the code and pull everyone in the profession up a notch. It would also encourage more people to earn their individual APRs.

While the APR has been hard to earn lately (I’m preparing for my second readiness review and I’m told others have struggled) perhaps it this type of hard test that would force all of us to shun pay-for-play and other schemes and work harder at maintaining higher ethical standards.