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Webinar CPE Courses For CPAs |
| The Last Self-Study CPE Website You Will Ever Need (Click for Subscriptions) |
Check back each week as we are launching "Webinar Wednesdays".
Each Wednesday at Noon ET, we will have at least 1 webinar scheduled.
You are only allowed credit for 1 webinar at a time. You cannot attend multiple CPA CPE webinars at once.
CPAs across the globe typically enjoy a large number of employment opportunities throughout their careers. Whether they want to work with large organizations, run their own firms, or work independently, they can choose a path according to their personal preferences.
However, with an increasing number of professionals aiming to enter the field, competition is going up steadily as well. In this situation, continuous self-improvement is the only thing CPAs can focus on to establish themselves as even more valuable assets.
And when we talk about continuous self-improvement for accountants in the form of continuing professional education, CPA webinars have become one of the go-to options for a huge number of accounting professionals.
If you haven’t attended any CPE webinar till now, you should try this method at least once. Although the costs of attending paid CPE webinars for CPAs are usually higher than those of self-study CPE courses, they come with some unique advantages as well.
In today’s post, we’ll discuss all the vital aspects of CPA CPE webinars so that you can confidently include them in your CPE journey.
As you perhaps already know, a webinar is an online seminar that can be conducted to fulfill several purposes. Whether it’s teaching online, giving a presentation, or conveying a seminar, several objectives can be met with the help of the right webinar platform and technology.
A CPA webinar is designed for CPAs and helps them expand their knowledge and skills by providing them with a virtual classroom. Depending on the provider of CPA webinars and how actively you attend the events, you may or may not be able to earn CPE credits.
Although some CPE sponsors mention their CPE webinars as CPE webcasts, there’s a fundamental difference between them. A webinar always has two-way interactions, meaning you can communicate with the instructor in real-time when attending a CPA webinar.
On the contrary, in a webcast, information is only transmitted in one direction through an online medium.
So, whether you want to attend a webcast or webinar for CPE, make sure they provide you with the same facilities. These essentially include earning CPE credits and interacting with the instructor during the session.
It’s no secret that many CPAs choose a CPA webinar over an hour-long seminar in a lecture hall. If you’re wondering why they do so, continue reading to understand the unparalleled benefits of CPA CPE webinars.
· You can watch webinars from anywhere
When it comes to attending a CPA webinar, there’s no restriction on location. Regardless of the location of the attendees and the instructor, sessions can be conducted from anywhere. So, you can reach out to expert instructors during the session even if you live miles apart. You only need the link access to attend the webinar from anywhere in the world.
· Webinars are inexpensive compared to several other learning formats
Apart from webinars, you can take self-study courses, join in-person programs, or participate in seminars or conferences to meet your CPE requirements. Participation fees for the last three options are significantly higher than those of CPE webinars for CPAs.
Additionally, you only need a laptop/desktop and a stable Internet connection to attend a webinar. There’s no need to travel to and from another location to meet your CPE requirements.
Even if you choose to attend virtual seminars or conferences, the participation fees are pretty steep. This often acts as a major deterrent for many cost-conscious CPAs. Of course, you won’t be able to earn a significant portion of your required CPE credits by attending just one webinar. But if you plan properly and start attending CPE webinars from the beginning of your renewal cycle, you should comfortably be able to earn all of the required credits on time.
· You can attend webinars with ease
Before webinars gained the massive popularity they’ve got today, it was unimaginable for many people that learners could have the same learning experience without stepping into a physical classroom.
The lack of complexity is one of the key factors that helped webinars gain huge popularity. Today, even a ten-year-old can successfully work their way through a webinar without having much difficulty. In fact, this ease of use has dramatically increased learners’ confidence levels, getting them excited about webinars.
Lastly, in this era of smartphones and tablets, attending a CPA webinar has become easier than ever. No matter if you’re traveling or having a lunch break, you can comfortably attend a webinar to expand your knowledge and earn CPE credits.
· Webinars promote networking
With CPA CPE webinars, not only can you learn new topics, but you can also network with fellow attendees. For learners from all walks of life, webinars probably offer the largest platform to meet, interact, and share information with other learners.
As webinars are held online, the number of participants enrollment usually turns out to be much higher than that of in-person programs. This means you get a greater chance to network with more accountants.
· Webinars act as an excellent source of knowledge
There are countless CPAs who diligently pursue CPE, not just to earn CPE credits but to discover more information about different topics and achieve all-around development. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of highly valuable webinars that can help you with this.
No matter the topic you’re interested in, just search online using this format “topic + webinars,” and you’ll surely get a large number of results from many different CPE sponsors and other quality resources. Depending on your chosen topic and the organizer of a webinar, you may not be able to earn CPE credits, but you’ll definitely get plenty of valuable information.
Moreover, you get an extensive collection of programs by choosing CPA webinars as your learning method. If your chosen CPE provider doesn’t offer a webinar on the topic you’re looking to learn, you can search for another sponsor that offers a similar webinar.
Has reading till now made you interested in attending a CPA webinar to test the waters? If yes, you should be aware of the elements of effective CPA CPE webinars.
Since there’s no shortage of CPE webinars from many different sponsors, knowing the key components will help you choose the right webinar for CPE quickly. Let’s take a look.
· Qualified, experienced presenters
Content may be the king, but in a complex field like accountancy with webinars as the mode of learning, it’ll be very difficult to internalize the concepts without the presence of qualified, experienced presenters.
The field of accountancy has some aspects that many CPAs find quite difficult to comprehend. For instance, oftentimes, annual updates take the form of minute changes to existing rules and regulations, and understanding the impacts of these changes can be a challenge for many accountants.
This is the reason you need to choose CPA webinars that are presented by reputed and experienced instructors. It’s important to understand that neither all CPE webinars for CPAs are created equal, nor do they offer the same level of value.
Some webinars are inefficiently presented, with the instructor simply going through the slides and not showing much interest in addressing the concerns of the attendees. However, an experienced presenter will most likely take the time to hear your concerns properly and address them in a clear, easily comprehensible manner.
· A good range of important topics
A CPE sponsor with a good range of important and trending topics is desirable. This is because if you get a positive experience with the first CPA webinar, you’ll most likely want to go back to that sponsor for future CPE webinars.
If the sponsor has an extensive list of webinars on important topics, you won’t need to spend your valuable time searching for a new sponsor. So, it’s best to start your CPE journey with a sponsor that offers a number of interesting webinars.
· Affordable cost of webinars
While a good collection of important CPA webinars and experienced presenters are important, they aren’t the only factors that matter. A CPE webinar can be truly excellent, but if the price tag is beyond your reach, there’s no point in considering it an option to pursue CPE.
Unfortunately, some less reputable CPE sponsors charge surprising high prices for CPA CPE webinars that are simply average in terms of quality. Therefore, consider this factor when searching for CPE webinars, and do your best to find a balance between cost and quality.
· Presence of up-to-date topics
As mentioned above, the accounting field goes through continuous changes, with new rules and regulations being added and existing standards being modified. Considering this fact, you need to ensure that the sponsor you choose to take CPA webinars provides up-to-date information during the sessions.
In other words, a CPE webinar sponsor that doesn’t care to update its content within a reasonable time frame will most likely not be worth your time, energy, and money.
· Appropriate certification of the sponsor
Due to the steadily growing popularity of CPE webinars for CPAs, you can easily find many CPE sponsors that regularly host CPE webinars but don’t have any kind of proper certification. This simply means their programs haven’t been approved or evaluated by any relevant governing body.
In many instances, these webinars are unlikely to help you meet any of your CPE requirements. For instance, licensure requirements for CPAs vary from one state to another. Some states may have stringent requirements, while others may offer some relaxation.
However, in either case, this is very likely that your state board of accountancy requires you to earn CPE credits from a NASBA-approved sponsor, regardless of the learning format you choose. If your sponsor doesn’t have the necessary approvals from NASBA, you won’t be able to meet your CPE requirements by taking its CPA webinars.
If you’ve already searched for CPE webinars, you’ve certainly seen that a lot of free and paid options are available. While free CPA CPE webinars are a wonderful option to earn a couple of CPE credits without spending anything and to review the quality of the sponsor, there are some differences between free and paid webinars that you should keep in mind.
· Free webinars
If you decide to take a free CPA webinar, be sure to choose a reputable CPE sponsor. Many inexperienced CPE sponsors offer free CPE webinars for CPAs to capture the attention of the audience. However, sometimes these webinars have questionable quality in terms of lots of technical issues and inexperienced presenters.
If you cannot attend a webinar properly due to technical issues and fail to internalize the concepts because of poor presentation, you may neither be able to earn credits nor expand your knowledge. So, your time and energy will be a complete waste.
· Paid webinars
Paid CPA webinars bring you a plethora of advantages over free ones. First, sponsors that host paid webinars often use delivery platforms that provide excellent user experiences. This often translates into zero (or very few) technical issues for attendees together with ease of accessibility.
A paid webinar presented using a reputable delivery platform helps you get the maximum out of your energy, time, and money. Moreover, free webinars on important or trending topics are hardly offered. But with the paid ones, you can attend any CPA webinar according to your preferences and budget.
If you’re unsure of the effectiveness of the delivery platform of a sponsor of paid CPE webinars for CPAs, take a look at the user reviews. It should help you assess what your webinar experience will be like before you complete the registration process. If a sponsor has obtained lots of positive reviews, you may rest assured of the good quality of the delivery platform.
We hope this article has been successful in providing you with the information required to make an informed decision regarding CPE webinars. Whenever you choose a CPA webinar, try to ensure the sponsor has the qualities we discussed above.
If you want to get more information about our CPE webinars for CPAs, feel free to talk to one of our team members.
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