Our firm have always used Tolley/Lexisnexis for our CPD as they ran seminars locally to us (Cambridge).
However I have discovered that they have now pulled out of running seminars, which leaves us in the lurch.
I know that there are online seminars that you can do but I don't like the idea of these. My thinking is that unless you are forced to sit at a venue, people will have a tendency to put off watching them, and being pre-recorded, there is no interaction with the speaker.
I have looked about and it seems that there are very few providers of CPD seminars, and the ones that are about are in inconvenient locations.
What are other firm's doing?
Replies (22)
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Have you actually tried these?I know that there are online seminars that you can do but I don't like the idea of these. My thinking is that unless you are forced to sit at a venue, people will have a tendency to put off watching them, and being pre-recorded, there is no interaction with the speaker.
We changed to online over two years ago & no way would we go back to venue based events.
I use Smart Training Group, between £59 and £100 per session and well known lecturers.
I am looking to switch to online for probably 70% of it as each course, with travel, eats up well over half a day.
I mention them as you asked for non-online and they are very good. A lot of local practices to me use them including some ex employers. The main benefit over online is that there are always at least some beautiful ladies to look at during any non-relevant bits. I hasten to add, i personally find all parts relevant, hence I do not ogle the ladies ;-)
So why even mention ladies at all?
I wouldn't think of saying that I go to a CPD course to look at men. Please stop and think before you inflict your sexist outlook on the rest of us.
We get most of our CPD through the 2020 group. They are live presentations*, not pre-recorded and we are very happy with them. Good speakers and a varied program.
*If you miss the original, a recording is available later.
Instant CPD.What online providers do others use and recommend? What do they cost?
https://instantcpd.com/categories/8-2017-accountancy-cpd-online
Does the ICAEW local society run courses in your area? SESCA runs courses across the South East and Thames Valley and are reasonbly priced. There may be something similar in your area.
I also wouldn't write off online webinars completely especially if live.
We use a mix of online and in-person.
2020 for Online stuff, and either Mercia or ICAEW for the in-person ones.
We use MBL Seminars for tax courses in London and I think they do have some courses at Cambridge. They have excellent speakers and course materials. If you get a Smartplan with them, then 1/2 day courses are usually £108 with full day courses at £216.
As a sole practitioner I use Tolley's Online Seminars. A little pricey (£430 pa) but like their short/to the point presentations. I also like the notes they issue each month with the seminars - not just on the seminars but also a bit of a round up for the month. These can be watched anytime/anywhere and you get all the archive material as well. They have a CPD tracker so as soon as a seminar is watched it is logged and if the quiz is done this also is logged.
I use Mercia. I prefer face-to-face seminars as I see them as a day out.
I'm off to the Yorkshire Air Museum next week. Browse round the exhibits in the morning, lunch in the NAAFI, seminar in the afternoon.
I forget the exact cost this year but it's around £660 for a programme of 14 seminars, although I'll only do 12 as a couple aren't relevant to me.
£108 for a half day course seems horrendous........
Malcom Greenbaum is attempting to replace the LexisNexis seminars with a new venture that provides seven seminars during 2017 at four venues in south/east England: Cambridge, Salisbury, Kempton Park and ?Gatwick?. They are run through an events organiser called Eventbrite.
Thanks Hal. Without wishing to breach any advertising rules (and moderators, feel free to delete this post if it does), just to say that we are definitely running courses in Kempton Park and Salisbury this year, starting this Wednesday (1 March) at Kempton Park.
Feel free to contact me for details.
Malcolm
Thanks Hal. Without wishing to breach any advertising rules (and moderators, feel free to delete this post if it does), just to say that we are definitely running courses in Kempton Park and Salisbury this year, starting this Wednesday (1 March) at Kempton Park.
What are the odds on that ?
ICAEW mid-Anglia branch or Mercia.
Has anyone else got an inbox full of MTD webinar and course invites?
Sorry did not want to start a new thread but can't believe how many are knocking around (mostly for marketing purposes). It took me an afternoon to read up on the latest briefing and form my view, why do I need a daily webinar when no one knows anything yet?
We tried AccountancyTV (or whatever it was called) about 15 years ago. We met outside the office but found the inability to ask questions etc a problem so went back to attending face-to-face courses. 2015 we switched to webinars. These are cheaper and should be more convenient but they don't work in the office (I attempted to do one last week and gave up at 4 minutes and 1 second after receiving my 6th interruption) and no one has time to run them at home. I'm returning to face-to-face.
I was in the situation where I left a large firm who had provided most of my CPD training sessions in-house to running my own practice from home and needing to find some quality CPD sessions.
I prefer the classroom/seminar type session as my phone/laptop is off and I can focus entirely on the speaker.
I use PTP (whom my previous large firm used to bring in) so I knew that the courses were great for my needs. The speakers (Tim Good, Giles Mooney etc) are fun, keep it interesting and lots of questions are answered throughout the session (I'm not on commission - honest!)
They do a quarterly tax update and then a handful of one-off sessions each year, eg Finance Act/Accounting Update/HMRC enquiries etc. Price is not too bad with a discount for bundle bookings. Just had a quick look at their website and they list Cambridge as the location of one of their venues so might be worth looking at.
I supplement this with webinars and the occasional freebie evening/Saturday morning seminar from my professional bodies.
At the risk of 'selling' you might find some topics of interest on the LiPs website - http://www.lipslegal.com
If you like local 'face-to-face' courses I sometimes get asked to visit Cambridge by STEP - non-members can attend their courses.
Also, I am very happy to conduct in-house courses although of course this is more expensive depending on how many members and guests attend - I do this all over the country.