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A CPE Course for CPAs |
| The Last Self-Study CPE Website You Will Ever Need (Click for Subscriptions) |
Today’s tough professional landscape involves many challenges that make job markets in every field very competitive and accounting is no different. While CPAs are regarded as the most competent accounting professionals, the job market has become quite competitive for them as well.
Regardless of the state you’ve earned your CPA license, you must improve yourself continuously by gaining new skills. Fortunately, when it comes to developing skills in the accounting field, a “CPE course” is the only thing you need to focus on.
With that in mind, we’ve created this page where you’ll get all the key information related to CPE courses, including the answer to "What is a CPE course?". From their benefits and CPE course meaning to key advantages of taking CPE courses online and other crucial things related to CPE courses for CPA, we’ll discuss everything.
Once you officially become a CPA, you’ve to comply with the CPE requirements of your state. While exact CPE requirements vary from one state to another, you must obtain a certain number of CPE credits to meet them.
And completing CPA CPE courses is the most convenient method to meet these requirements. Whatever topic you need to learn, you only need to successfully complete a CPE course on that.
You can choose from two types of CPE courses: online and offline. We’ll thoroughly discuss the key benefits of taking a CPE course online in a later section.
If you take CPE online courses, you’ll receive your certificates of completion immediately after you clear the final exams. However, if you take in-person CPE courses for CPA, it may take up to a couple of weeks to get the certificates.
Here, it’s important to mention that whether you take a CPE online course or an in-person CPA CPE course, you must put your best foot forward to complete them by the deadline of your license renewal period. This is because non-compliance with your CPE requirements may affect your professional career severely.
Now that you know the exact CPE course meaning, it’s time to see why taking them is of utmost importance. We’ve already mentioned that completing CPE courses for CPAs is simply a must as long as you want to maintain the active status of your CPA license.
In this section, we’ll discuss the other key benefits of taking offline and/or online CPE courses.
As the world of accounting continues to adopt new rules and regulations, CPAs who don’t keep up with the modern trends, risk falling behind even with their strong expertise in the field. Even if you take a free CPE course, you can choose a topic that’ll help you stay current with the trends. Whether it’s a technical field or study or a non-technical one, accounting CPE courses help you master new skills constantly.
By taking a CPE course on each of the emerging trends, you can equip yourself to adapt to unforeseen changes in the industry. When you gain mastery in many different topics by completing a wide range of CPE courses, you’ll certainly feel more comfortable stepping out of your comfort zone and searching for more attractive employment opportunities.
Taking an accounting CPE course on a trending topic isn’t only about staying current and keeping your license active. As you complete offline or online CPE courses for CPA, you get to learn valuable skills that can be applied to your day-to-day professional responsibilities. Not only does this help you become more proficient at regular tasks but also prepares you to take on more important responsibilities.
By choosing the right CPE courses for CPA, you may be able to learn skills that your colleagues don’t possess, which will help you stand out from them when it comes to getting a promotion. In short, taking CPA CPE courses online or offline on the right topics can make it significantly easier for you to improve your overall employability.
Learning new skills with CPA CPE courses will open up new doors for you and help you in figuring out out-of-the-box approaches to solving issues. Having an agile mind can help with both creative and logical problem-solving. By helping you expand your current knowledge, offline and online CPE courses for CPAs widen your perspective. Even if you’ve got plans to start your own accounting firm down the road, you’ll be well prepared to handle that by taking appropriate CPE courses for CPAs in advance.
So far, we’ve discussed what are CPE courses and the benefits they offer. When it comes to selecting a CPE course, perhaps the most common dilemma faced by many CPAs is whether they should take CPE courses online or offline.
Of course, taking the online or offline route solely depends on your personal preferences. However, the advantages of taking CPE courses online for CPA greatly outweigh the benefits offered by offline CPE courses for CPA. Let’s take a look.
When you take CPE courses online, you get to enjoy far more flexibility than you would with an offline CPE course. Online CPE courses can be taken whenever you want. Additionally, by joining a well-reviewed provider of CPE online courses, you can choose from self-study courses and webinars according to your learning style.
When it comes to pursuing CPE in a hassle-free manner, convenience plays an extremely crucial role. Even if an offline CPE course is taught by an industry-leading instructor, attending it may turn out to be inconvenient if you travel to a distant location.
On the contrary, you can take a CPE online course from anywhere as long as you’ve got a steady Internet connection. Therefore, online CPE courses are the best solution for CPAs who maintain an active lifestyle.
Another key reason why many CPAs prefer to take CPE courses online is that they’re typically much more engaging than offline CPE courses. Online programs often come with several interactive elements to keep the attendees engaged and help them maintain their interest in the topics.
On the other hand, an offline CPE course can easily turn out to be boring, which essentially makes it difficult for many learners to internalize the topic properly. Here, it’s also important to mention that when you take a CPE online course, you don’t essentially need to complete a chapter, for example, in one go. In case you find it difficult to pay attention, you can always take multiple breaks and complete the chapter as per your convenience. This is something simply unimaginable with offline CPA CPE courses.
In most cases, virtual CPE courses are much more affordable than offline programs. Besides the higher costs of in-person programs, you also need to consider the travel expenses. Combining these things together, attending an offline CPA CPE course often becomes significantly more expensive than attending a CPE course online.
Another notable thing about CPE online courses is that some leading sponsors, including CPEThink.com, offer subscription packages. These packages are designed to help CPAs obtain a large number of credits by accessing online CPE courses for CPA at discounted prices. You only need to pay a one-time cost to access all the CPE courses you need to obtain your required CPE credits.
As active CPAs need to pursue CPE throughout their professional career, many of them often select CPA CPE courses that can be completed quickly and easily. While this may be an effective method to fulfill your CPE requirements, doing this year after year won’t help you much in the long run.
Ideally, whenever you select a CPE course, you need to ensure that it’ll add value to your professional career. Here, our experts have jotted down a couple of important tips that should help you choose the right CPE courses for CPAs.
As discussed above, two of the key objectives of taking accounting CPE courses are to enhance your professional competence and stay updated with the current rules and regulations. Therefore, it’s strongly advisable not to waste your time and money on CPE courses for CPA that don’t have any relevance to your professional role.
Instead, you should give your best shot to take quality CPE courses that can help you gain knowledge and acquire skills that will be relevant to your career goals. In case, you prefer to take self-study CPA CPE courses, you must try to make sure that they’re created by expert authors. Fortunately, joining a leading sponsor like CPEThink.com will help you rest assured of this aspect.
Some top CPE sponsors, including CPEThink.com, offer free CPE courses for CPA. In some cases, free CPE courses are great for obtaining introductory information or getting an overview of a complex topic. However, perhaps the most important reason you should try to take these courses is that they help you obtain a couple of free CPE credits and check the quality of the sponsor at the same time.
If you’re thinking about learning a completely new topic, taking a free introductory CPE course on it can also help you determine whether or not you want to delve deeper into the subject.
Many CPAs sometimes fail to achieve their desired goals even after completing quality CPE courses from leading sponsors. That’s why we’ve developed a checklist that should help you navigate the complex world of CPE courses for CPAs with ease.
Whenever you think about taking a CPA CPE course, it should help you meet your professional development needs and be aligned with your career goals. This will help you meet your CPE requirements and prepare yourself for the future at the same time.
If you think that you can complete all your CPE courses by studying at your own pace, self-study CPA CPE courses should be your best option. However, if you learn better in a traditional classroom setting, in-person CPE courses for CPAs may be better for you.
In case you want to take the second route, be sure to evaluate the cost aspect before making a final decision.
When you want to gain a meaningful learning outcome by completing an accounting CPE course, it’s a must to ensure that it’s developed by an expert author. The authors of your programs should have enough expertise and relevant experience in their subject areas. That way, you’ll be able to gain the latest information and internalize complex topics easily.
If you’re concerned about the cost of CPE courses, it’s best to buy subscription packages whenever possible. As mentioned above, with a subscription package, you’ll be able to access many different courses at discounted prices. As you need to pay a one-time fee, you won’t have to worry about exceeding your CPE budget when you’re in the middle of your license renewal period.
In addition to these, you should always do thorough research to make sure that a CPA CPE course is actually worth your time and money. If you find it difficult to understand, you can always talk to your peers, if they’ve taken it already, or a mentor.
Hopefully, this page has helped illustrate the true value of taking the right CPE course. If you desire to stay competitive in today’s extremely competitive job market by taking high-quality yet affordable CPE courses, CPEThink.com is here to help.
Start browsing our large collection of CPE courses for CPA, choose the ones you want to take, and embark on your CPE journey with confidence.
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