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E-learning prepares accountants for digital era

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18th May 2016
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The government's plan to make tax digital has accelerated the take up of online learning in other areas of the profession.

Speaking at Accountex, Chris Jones, Tolley’s director of tax markets and learning solution, told AccountingWEB: “[MTD] will change the world the accountant will operate in because they will need to respond in real time to real-life information.”

The impending shift of tax work system to online tools will have a knock-on effect, Jones said - e-learning will not be more popular, it will become “an essential way that you need to do CPD”.

As the role of the accountant evolves from “a compliance officer filing old information to a real life adviser, advising on what the implications are for what’s been filed”, accountants will depend more heavily on the accessibility of e-learning, he added.

However, accountants are already embracing e-learning as an alternative to attending tax lectures in person.

‘Online CPD is the future of the profession’

With face-to-face training, “If you can’t make the date, you miss it,”  said Diane Tan, Wolters Kluwer UK product manager for professional development.

While e-learning does not offer the same social experience as face-to-face training, she continued, its accessibility gives busy professionals a way to keep abreast of technical changes, for example by accessing eCPD learning packs in short 15min bursts.

Ian Fletcher, 2020 Innovation’s managing director, has also seen how the delivery of mainstream CPD training is rapidly changing.

“We are seeing an increasing number of accountants who no longer wish to take time out of the office and travel to attend a CPD seminar. They prefer to have CPD delivered online at a time, date and location suitable to them.

“Our experience of running an online CPD webinar programme for the last six years, with attendance of over 15,000+ delegates per annum, shows that 55% of delegates choose to watch the live broadcast, whereas the remaining 45% choose to watch the recording at a time more convenient for their schedule,” said Fletcher.

Convinced online CPD is the “future of the profession”, 2020 Innovation offers its members’ unlimited CPD webinars for their practice for free. 

‘The old way of learning is the old way’

Panalitix, meanwhile, has become a new player in the e-learning marketplace. Introducing the Australian company’s new e-learning system, Panalitix founder Rob Nixon said, “The old way of learning is the old way”.

Earlier this year, launched the LearningHUB. Already it is chasing its competitiors, rivalling CCH’s 30 hours of e-learning with 48 courses already available.

Speaking to AccountingWEB at Accountex, Nixon explained how the idea behind the LearningHUB emerged after realising how the information absorbed during seminars is often forgotten as soon as the person leaves, so Panalitix developed the LearningHUB to ensure the information would be “permanently available”.

Panalitix members can tick which software providers they use, and from there, the LearningHUB presents them with training uploaded by their suppliers, as well as personalised firm improvement courseware.

Demonstrating the LearningHUB on his mobile phone, Nixon emphasised how smartphone use has driven demand for digital learning tools.

The end of traditional CPD?

But will the rise of online CPD and the digital tax regime mean the end of traditional training? Tolley’s Jones dismissed the idea, saying he doesn’t think it’s going to be a case of “video killed the radio star”.

He added: “I still think there will be a case for a face-to-face, but I think the increasing need and desire will be online.”

In a recent Any Answers question, AccountingWEB members were divided when user Redshank considered switching from lecture based theatres to online alternatives.

Some members such as accountantcole hailed the convenience of downloading courses to your phone and watching them whenever you liked. Using Tolley’s e-learning, member djn24 praised the convenience, noting there’s “no travelling time and no half-day missed once a month going to courses”.

But others like Acty warned how their busy work schedule often led staff to put off watching on-demand webinars while, “We would pretty much always go to the lecture theatre based ones.”

Andy Reeves agreed: “With theatre lectures, you can’t get distracted as easily and start up a conversation with others, so you almost forced to concentrate.”

Although e-learning will undoubtedly accompany MTD adoption, 2020’s Ian Fletcher has still discovered a need for accountants to attend seminars, conferences, focus and discussion groups particularly in specialist technical and practice management areas. “We continue to see that accountants want this type of CPD - after all, there’s nothing wrong with some social interaction and sharing experiences over a cup of tea or coffee!”

Have you changed the way you consume CPD? Are you still attending lectures and seminars, or have you switched to the e-learning alternative? 

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By AndrewV12
16th Nov 2016 15:41

You cant beat attending a course, and you get a nice book of notes at the end of it.

Buzz word alert

“future of the profession”

'delivered online at a time, date and location suitable to them'
'
As the role of the accountant evolves'.

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