6 Reasons to prioritize Continuing Professional Development in 2016
- Jamie Black
- Continuing Professional Development
- minute(s)No one can deny the benefits of networking; you hear about it all the time. Popular websites like LinkedIn exist to facilitate networking, and if you open any professional magazine, there is bound to be an article telling you how important it is. Now, stop and consider how many times have you heard someone speak of the benefits of continuing professional development ("CPD")? Too often, accountants approach CPD with the attitude that it is a unavoidable, distasteful necessity. Perhaps you feel you already know everything you need to, or that taking a course will take away valuable time from your other responsibilities. But today more than ever before, professional development is one of the most valuable parts of your long-term career plans. Consider all the important benefits you get from continually developing your skills: 1) Refresh Unused Skills While you may feel that you and your team are up to date on a particular skill set, a periodic refresher can be very beneficial. If a skill is not used frequently, it becomes rusty and is not as effective when needed. Was your last training session years ago? Research tells us your abilities have likely degraded significantly. How much? In one study of CPR training for medical professionals, the researchers found that degradation due to non-use approached 100%. "By 12 months after training the scores in both groups were similar to the pre-training scores". 2) Get Prepared for Change No matter the field you participate in, your business environment will change: staff change business processes change, software and hardware you use are likely updated with new features and capabilities each and every year. Over the larger time frame, these technological changes can be dramatic. There are always new pronouncements in your reporting standards (PSAB, GASBE, IFRS etc) and Your own job could change! Education is essential to take advantage or be prepared for all the above change agents. 3) Connect with Other Professionals Remember that bit we mentioned about networking earlier? Professional development provides a special kind of networking opportunity. Not only will you meet new professionals, you immediately have a topic for discussion - the course material! If the course is online, networking can be an even stronger benefit. After all, you could be connecting with professional from around the country or even around the globe. Now the caveat here is "does your online course emphasize networking"? Look to see if you can get contact details of other attendees and if sharing and chatting is encouraged during and after the session. 4) Break Out of Old Ways of Thinking You work side by side with your team every day. As a group, you are exposed to the same opinions and perspectives day in and day out. Professional development opportunities expose you and your team to new voices, fresh approaches and new perspectives. Do you have a problem that you're stuck on, where you have been spinning your wheels trying to solve it without success? Relevant CPD can be the catalyst to bring fresh ideas and practices to your organization and take your performance to the next level. 5) Motivate your team Nothing drains enthusiasm from a team like the same-old, daily grind. Knowing that some repetitive (let's say annual) task is coming and that it will be just as horrible this year as it was last year can really demotivate and demoralize the troops. You can help! Continuing education is a wonderful opportunity to show initiative and bring up-to-date information and current industry best-practices back into the fold. Be the leader in your team who comes back with new ideas, approaches and plans. 6) Meet your Professional Requirements This is for you pessimists: You have to take some CPD don't you? Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA), the Government Finance Officers (GFOA), the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and just about every other profession you care to name require their professionals to invest in on-going education. They may call it Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or Continuing Professional Education (CPE) but they mean the same thing; you are required to participate in a certain number of education hours. When selecting courses, be sure the course meets your verifiable CPD requirements and not only will you be furthering a skill, but you'll be meeting an association requirement. We provide an overview of CPA requirements in a previous blog, For Canadian CPAs, what qualifies as CPD? A couple quick tips to ensure you get the most from your CPD: Consider selecting the course type and format that best suits your organizational and individual employee's needs. For example: Is travel necessary or is there a local or online solution? Will the session occur shortly before the need to use the skill? If so, this will minimize any memory lapses. Have you come prepared with questions to ensure you get the most out of your course? To get more tips, download a no-charge copy of "Maximize the Return from Your Online Training Investment" where we share 20 tips to prepare you for a better online education.
Professional development training sessions are perhaps one of the most valuable tools in an employee's tool bag. It's simply a matter of perspective.
READ MORE
2015 CaseWare Refresher Course: Guarantee yourself a Faster Year End
- Jamie Black
- What's New
- minute(s)Can you believe it is almost that time of year again? Where did the year go? It may have been 10 - 12 months since you last looked at CaseWare and you may well have repressed all of your memories of the prior year-end! To ensure you are ready and prepared to face the year-end season and beyond, we offer a 2-hour online course designed to re-acclimate you to CaseWare and cover any new features that may have been added since you last used the tool. We will be hosting our annual “CaseWare Refresher Course” on January 22nd, 2016 from 10:00am - 12:00pm Pacific. This training will ensure you are prepared for the coming busy season and help you achieve a faster year-end. Topics to be covered include: What’s new in Working Papers 2015 and Financials Template v1 Performing a year-end close on your Working Papers file Validating roll-forward of statements, schedules and notes Importing 2015 general ledger balances Assigning map numbers and consolidation structure to new accounts Questions from the attendees! It is free-of-charge to all our clients currently on an unlimited support contract. If you are not on an unlimited support contract, the course is $150 plus tax per person.
Refresher training to ensure you are ready for your 2015 year-end
READ MORE
Online Learning is the Evolution of CPD for CPAs
- Darryl Parker
- Continuing Professional Development
- minute(s)The exciting new technologies available today for online learning are opening new possibilities for CPAs to learn and develop professionally. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a requirement for all of us; but how often do we consider options other than just another seminar to meet our target hours? Distance education (correspondence) has been with us for a long time. You might remember self-studying your accounting modules, and mailing your assignments in to a marker for evaluation. But in the early 2000's, online learning began to work its way into mainstream professional development. After 20 years of development, the benefits are significant and growing. Technology in Education at all levels As in every other facet of life, technology is changing the definition of education. Last week there was a story by the CBC discussing how technology is changing how work is being done in high schools in Canada. "Two years into a pilot program, 20,000 Nova Scotia students are using Google Apps for Education, a suite of free web-based programs that allow students to collaborate on projects online and submit them electronically for grading. They're able to communicate and collaborate on the same document at the same time from multiple sources. So they could be at different sides of the room, they could be in the same group, or one student could even be at home," said Doug Ross, a Grade 9 teacher at École Five Bridges Junior High in Hubley." CBC.ca Clearly there are many benefits to be gained by this strategic use of technology. The question is how can we use these new tools to our advantage? Technology for Higher Education As this technology has matured, there have been a number of developments that will make professionals chasing their CPD hours and those looking to add a degree to their resume happy. It started with the proliferation of the personal computer and the Internet. High speed internet has allowed for real time exchanges, the “virtual classroom” that is the mainstay of online education today. Courses that you can take at your own pace, webinars and live chats with instructors are all features of this new era. Technology in Accounting Education Any accounting student receiving their education in the past decade will have some experience with elements of distributed and online education technologies. As a CMA student, we took it to the next level and had an almost entirely "virtual classroom." We conducted twice-weekly online lecture and discussion sessions. Each student and the instructor participated from their home using their own computer. I completed the 18-month Accelerated Program with a number of good friends and a close working relationship with my instructors, but with almost no idea what they actually looked like in person. Later, as a student in the Stategic Leadership Program, our group work happened every Tuesday night - no matter where we were located. If I was on a personal vacation or on a business trip, collaboration, screen sharing, web cameras, and voice-over-ip connections meant that the learning never stopped - not even sitting on the dock at the cottage. For students in the current CPA PREP or PEP programs, you too will be familiar with this mixed-delivery approach, as those program use a combination of self-directed, online, and group in-person delivery styles. Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) For those CPAs looking to add another degree (an MBA perhaps), Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCS) should be considered carefully. A MOOC is a course delivered via online technologies which is designed for the instruction of an unlimited number of students to participate. Lessons, assignments, evaluations and even collaboration with classmates and instructors are built to scale to very large numbers. In fact, the term MOOC was coined related to a 2008 course delivered by the University of Manitoba, in which 25 students were tuition paying students, and over 2200 online students who participated for no charge. (source) Since then, universities all over the world have supported and developed these courses. Much more than just an online course, some herald the MOOC as the evolution of higher education. Just a few of the most prestigious institutions participating in this new educational world: Harvard University Stanford University Princeton University Massachusetts Institute of Technology ... and many more Sound promising? Just look at some of the courses (and the universities that provide the content) offered by MOOC provider Coursera: Challenges of Online Education Some of the factors that make online training one person’s educational paradise may rule it out for another. People that thrive on competition want to be ranked according to their peers and others may feel isolated working from home. In fact this lack of connection is cited as being one of the most important challenges of the online course. Digital literacy is a requirement to participate. If you do not have high speed Internet available, these courses are likely out of your reach for now. MOOCs in particular are not universally hailed as superior to the physical classroom. A University of Pennsylvania survey released in 2013 found that few students made it past the first lecture. Interestingly however, a study by Harvard and MIT released in early 2014 had some interesting insights into those extremely low completion rates: "Our data show that many who register for HarvardX courses are engaging substantially in courses without earning a certificate. In these course, “dropping out” is not a breach of expectations but the natural result of an open, free, and asynchronous registration process, where students get just as much as they wish out of a course and registering for a course does not imply a commitment to completing it." The Atlantic Benefits So with these challenges in mind, why should the finance professional / CPA be embracing the revolution? Access to content - Students have been given the freedom to learn nearly anything, anywhere there is an Internet connection. What a game changer! For those that live in a small community their choices are no longer limited to what their community college offers. Schedule flexibility - Even if you lived in a major centre, being able to accommodate a course's (or even worse, an entire degree program's) schedule can be very difficult. Between chauffeuring the kids to hockey and the challenges of quarter or year end, your schedule may not allow you to get to a traditional class. Or perhaps you have a small window of time to take the training now but the course you want is not offered for 60 days. All of these challenges tend to evaporate when you look at the self-paced world of eLearning. Access to world leading experts - The best educators from, with the most experience from the most prestigious institutions are now available to all, not just those that live in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal or other major centres. Privacy - Students gain complete privacy and competition is removed from the educational process. Reduced Cost - The costs associated with training are also dramatically lower, as you can eliminate air fare, taxi, parking, hotel, meal costs and even travel time to and from the course! Where to from here for the CPA? Clearly technology is only improving. High speed internet continues to proliferate as does digital literacy. The online training systems continue to evolve, adding valuable features that make the online experience as good or better than the classroom (just some of these innovations: recording of sessions, virtual break-out rooms, Hi-Definition video and attention monitoring). Look for more and more of your CPD hours to be offered online and often at an amazing value. For example, MIT just announced that students will be able to take a semester for free online and then if they pay a modest fee & pass an exam, they will earn a MicroMaster's credential. For those that have never tried online training, the increased flexibility, reduced cost, amazing access to content and experts will likely make it hard to pass up for your future CPD.
Why is online training becoming the preferred method of obtaining CPD for busy CPAs ?
READ MORE
For Canadian CPAs , what qualifies as CPD?
- Darryl Parker
- Continuing Professional Development
- minute(s)As the dreaded year-end looms, a lot of CPAs are scrambling for Continuing Professional Development credit to fulfill their annual obligation. With the consolidation of CA, CGA & CMA into the new CPA designation, have the rules for CPD changed for you? CPA Canada standards for CPD are now the same nationwide and fall in line with the International Federation of Accountants’ (IFAC). Annual Requirements: 20 hours for all members - ½ must be verifiable* 3-Year Rolling Total: 120 hours for all members - ½ must be verifiable* CPD Exemption: The exemption criteria is based on activity - be sure to check the the Exemption Decision Model for the latest criteria. Verifiable and Unverifiable CPD – What Qualifies? Verifiable Continuing Professional Development credit is earned by participating in an activity that has a verifiable record proving you completed the activity. Tests, exams, publications, attendance records and reports all fit the bill. Some examples of verifiable activities: Publication of papers or books. Research leading to publication. Public speaking at sessions or groups pertaining to the profession. Formal study. Study leading to a designation, diploma or degree. Teaching a course relevant to the profession. Unverifiable Continuing Professional Development credit is earned by participating in an activity that doesn’t produce a product (i.e. paper or book) or keep a record. Some examples of unverifiable study: On-the-job training that pertains to the professional role. Self-study. Reading of professional journals magazines, not part of a specific research application. Where can you get CPD? There are many places to look. Each province's CPA association offer Continuing Professional Development training on their sites (click on any province or territory below):
As a CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant), what qualifies as CPD (Continuing Professional Development)?
READ MORE
