Work Perks: CPE Libraries
Public accounting firms and companies that employ CPAs tend to have a lot of perks. Some of these perks fall into the category of "nice to have," while others tend to be hit or miss depending on how you use them. One perk that has an incredible amount of upside potential is access to CPE libraries. I believe this is one of the most underrated perks that comes with working for a public accounting firm and today, I'm going to explain what these libraries can do for you and why they are so valuable.
What is a CPE library?
A CPE library is a collection of resources that provides Continuing Professional Education (CPE) for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). The library typically includes a variety of courses, seminars, webinars, and other educational resources designed to help CPAs meet their CPE requirements and stay up to date with the latest developments in the accounting profession.
A CPE library may be provided by various organizations, including professional accounting associations, state boards of accountancy, accounting firms, and online education providers. These resources can be accessed in different formats, including online courses, self-study materials, and live webinars.
The most prominent providers for CPE libraries for CPAs are Thomson Reuters and Becker.
How Do I Use It?
Once you are set up with your CPE library subscription, you will be able to access a variety of courses immediately, mainly pre-recorded webinars and self-study courses. You can browse through the library to select the courses you want to take. After you register for a pre-recorded webinar or self-study course, you will be able to start learning immediately! Aside from the mechanics of using the website, it’s also important to know how to leverage the library for your benefit. Most CPAs use CPE libraries for these two reasons:
Targeted learning on specific topics - It’s not possible for every firm to have the resources and capacity to train its personnel on everything in house, and CPE libraries can cover a large number of specialized areas that many firms wouldn’t be able to easily provide a standard training on. Technical accounting topics such as leases, business combinations, and Yellow Book are some of the more popular CPE courses because they represent specialized topics that require accountants to have a certain amount of education in order to be proficient in practice.
Obtaining CPE credits required to maintain a CPA license - Some firms and companies provide CPE courses as a part of their regular business operations. It is often the case that those CPE courses do not cover the required amount of education required to maintain a CPA license, but that’s where CPE libraries come to the rescue! Being able to access CPE in the form of self-study courses is a lifesaver for many CPAs who did not get enough CPE credits from other sources. Personally, I know of a few CPAs who complete a whole year’s worth of CPE credits in the last few months of the year by completing self-study courses when work slows down around the holidays.
How Do I Get the Most Value Out of a CPE Library?
Aside from the obvious benefits of getting CPE credits to maintain a license, there are a few things you can do to get the most out of your CPE subscription:
Keep courses as reference material - Some CPE providers will allow you to download a PDF of the course material that you can use as a reference without having to go back into the site to click through an online slide deck. These PDFs are incredibly useful references that you can keep on your desktop for when you need them. Personally, I keep some courses on internal controls handy as they do an excellent job of summarizing information that I can pass along to my clients to support their growing businesses.
Taking courses in anticipation of new clients or responsibilities - the best value that I have gotten out of CPE libraries has come from courses I took because I needed to brush up on something for a client meeting where we needed to explain a relatively niche accounting topic. After an initial client consultation, I was able to find a course on the specific topic they needed help with on my CPE library, take the course, and then use a graphic from the PDF in the next meeting to provide a lot of value. In addition to certain technical knowledge, there are also courses in management and people operations that are incredibly useful for those new to managing people. I found those courses to be incredibly valuable because those skills are not consciously taught on the job in most workplaces, and taking courses in advance helped me avoid some big mistakes!
In conclusion, if you have access to a CPE library, make sure you make the most of it! It’s an incredibly valuable resource that gets wasted by many working professionals who don’t take the time to learn how to use it properly. Now that you have an idea of the best ways to use the CPE library, go line up some courses and start learning!