3 ways to make cpe work for you

businessman hailing taxi at airportbe honest about the true costs of attending, then compensate.

what’s on accountants’ cpe agendas this year?
join the survey; get the answers.

by sandi leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

attending and learning from conferences can be amazing opportunities for your career or your business. they can also be huge money drains. it’s easy to take a look at the conference registration and make a quick decision about whether we can afford it – or even worse – whether it will clear our credit card limit or not.

more on small-firm growth strategies: stop thinking small | make your services an investment, not an expense | 5 skills to grow your practice | how to calculate your ‘opportunity number’ | 9 ways accountants throw away profits | 3 ways to test your revenue forecast

a smart business owner will take a bit different approach. here’s how to calculate how much revenue or increase in price you need to justify the expense of attending a conference.
read more →

the six rules to get the most out of cpe

ed mendlowitz cpa the practice doctor q and ait’s not just to line trainers’ pockets.

poll: what’s on accountants’ cpe agenda this year?
join the survey. get the trends.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: like every cpa i need to take continuing education courses. however most of what i take

  • are not relevant to me,
  • are things i know or
  • are things i don’t really want to know.

more practice doctor q&a: everyone needs strategic planning | help clients, increase revenue: make sure everyone on staff knows your firm’s full menu of services | i made partner, now what? | 19 ways to stop wasting reviewer time | how to sell your practice | why gross is the method for pricing a practice | no go on pro bono

also, many of the speakers are boring. yet, cpe is big business. are there any suggestions you can give me to get better use of that time?

answer: i am willing to bet your practice is also in a rut and is stagnating. the purpose of cpe is to help us become more effective, to grow, to be introduced to areas we are not familiar with and to keep us updated in what we do. you can approach cpe as you do, which is as a chore, or as i do, which is as an opportunity.

here are some tips: read more →

no joking! how to get cpe for laughs

kyte
kyte

register at seattlecomedycpe.com for cpa greg kyte’s aug. 26 web stream.

comedian and cpa greg kyte is taking comedy cpe to seattle. the two-hour fraud class, titled “holy mother of fraud” will be held downtown at comedy underground, seattle’s oldest comedy club.

“there’s something about an ‘education center’ at a state society that spreads the virus that starts the zombie apocalypse: when people arrive, they’re already spaced out,” kyte quips.”by holding a cpe event in an atypical location, like a comedy club, people show up with a curious and engaged mindset.” read more →

how to build a powerhouse learning team for your cpa firm

create competitive value by combining practitioners and educators on the same team.

by michael ramos and cate miller

cpas bring a diverse range of skills to any business problem. at small firms, partners wear many hats, including management of the learning function. but as firms grow, it soon becomes apparent that one of the firm’s partners – no matter how talented he or she may be – is not functioning at their highest and best use if they have to manage the entire learning function on their own.

training and development  part 3 in a 3-part series: run training like a business

     part 1: 4 steps to get more from your training budget

     part 2: how to manage cpe by the numbers

     part 3: how to build a powerhouse learning team 

 

with size comes a diversity of learning needs and management of the learning function becomes more complex. the opportunity cost of having firm partners and managers limit their billable hours to coordinate training begins to outweigh the costs of engaging the help of a learning professional.

thus is born the need for a learning team.

read more →

how to manage cpe by the numbers

developing and monitoring learning metrics. by michael ramos and cate miller accounting is the language of business. cpas help business owners understand and manage their business by analyzing financial and non-financial metrics. to improve the results of the firm’s professional development efforts, … continued