Last week, the NASBA ended the flexibility to allow Registry sponsors approved for only the Group Live delivery method to convert in-person training events to online events and grant CPE for such events. The flexibility was available until December 31, 2020, as a direct response to the impact to the training landscape from COVID-19. The intention was to allow companies time to prepare to transition to other delivery methods.

If you’re facing the reality that group-live, classroom-based training is again postponed as a result of the pandemic, and you’re wondering how the heck you’re going to pivot to CPE-eligible virtual learning solutions, look no further! This post breaks down the various ways that GAAP Dynamics can assist you in delivering CPE-eligible training to your teams in 2021 without the headache of NASBA compliance!

The Problem: How to provide CPE-compliant training virtually

You’re accredited for Group Live training events with the NASBA. You’ve got materials…slides, case studies, leader’s guides. You even have experts who are able to facilitate the training! The only problem…you can’t bring your learners together under the current environment. You need to deliver training, but you don’t have the infrastructure to facilitate virtual training and/or you’re not accredited to grant CPE for that training. GAAP Dynamics can help!

At GAAP Dynamics, we’re accredited in the following learning modalities:

1. Group Live (i.e., live, classroom training)
2. Group Internet Based (i.e., webinars or other live virtual events)
3. QAS Self-Study (i.e., eLearning that can be taken anytime, anywhere)
4. Nanolearning (i.e., short courses on specific topics approximating 10 minutes each)

How does this help you? Let’s explore how GAAP Dynamics can help you offer CPE-compliant, virtual training quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.

Solution 1: Ensure your materials are NASBA-compliant for each modality

Our CPAs are knowledgeable about the requirements of the NASBA for each of the modalities and can review your existing materials, working with you to make any necessary changes to ensure NASBA-compliance under your preferred virtual delivery method. For instance, when converting live, classroom training into a CPE-eligible webinar, you’ll need to consider whether or not the course has the required number of polling questions.

Not only that, but we can draw from our 20-year experience in delivering world-class accounting training to suggest ways to improve the learning experience in each modality. For example, in your live classroom materials, you may have had case studies or other interactive elements intended for the classroom. We can help you convert those materials into something that works best in a virtual environment while still preserving the desired element of engagement.

Solution 2: Issue CPE for your virtual training events

Getting your training materials ready for the virtual environment is great, but the most important aspect to learners is that all-important CPE certificate! While you may not (yet) have the NASBA approval to offer CPE certificates for virtual learning events, GAAP Dynamics can help! As a sponsoring organization for Group Internet Based programs (among others), we can act as the CPE sponsoring organization and issue CPE for your virtual training event! Usually, this involves:

1. Ensuring any required pre-course communications are made to learners
2. Loading and reviewing all course materials, polling questions and the post-course evaluation into the webinar software (we can use our platform, GoToWebinar, or yours).
3. Downloading and analyzing any post-course reporting to calculate the number of CPE for which each learner qualifies
4. Creating and distributing CPE certificates to learners
5. Evaluating post-course survey results and sharing those results with you
6. Retaining all NASBA-required documentation to support CPE compliance

Solution 3: Convert your recorded webinar into CPE-eligible self-studies

The learning doesn’t have the stop there. You’ve delivered a wonderful virtual training experience for your learners, but, unfortunately, everyone wasn’t able to make the live event. While you could make the recording available to them, you cannot grant them CPE. GAAP Dynamics can take your recording (or PowerPoint slides) and convert it into a visually appealing, user-friendly, and interactive eLearning experience eligible for QAS self-study CPE. This process involves:

1. Reviewing the recording to identify how best to break up the video
2. Composing the NASBA required elements, such as:
   1. Glossary terms
   2. Knowledge check questions
   3. Post-course assessment questions
3. Transcribing audio and adding closed-captioning to video (optional)
4. Programming the self-study module
5. Uploading and testing the self-study module on the LMS (yours or ours)
6. Acting as the CPE-sponsoring organization for the self-study (see Solution 2 above)

You can read more about how we helped a big 4 accounting firm with this process in this blog post.

Solution 4: Assist in getting your NASBA accreditation

Perhaps your ultimate goal would be for your organization to be NASBA accredited to offer CPE in the Group Internet Based or QAS Self-Study delivery methods. Having been through the process, and being experts in the requirements, we can work with your learning and development professionals to help you navigate that journey. From discussing best practices, to reviewing courses, to suggesting different eLearning authoring tools, we can act as an extension of your team, putting your interests, budgets, and priorities first and making sure you have a smooth application process.

Other related services

Direct development

Some of our largest clients require training materials that are fully customized to their needs and training methodology. If you can dream it, we can build it. We partner with you, working with your subject matter experts (SMEs), to develop a full suite of training materials to address your organization’s unique needs and preferences. Whether delivered in person or virtually, via webinar or self-study, the result is a fully branded course, that you own, based on your specifications.

Webinar facilitation

We love doing webinars and we’re pretty darn good at them too (or at least that’s what we’ve been told)! Just like our instructor-led training (ILT) offerings, you can expect engagement and lots of it! And, since it’s GAAP Dynamics, you know we’ll bring the energy and passion for accounting that translates into engagement for the learner.

Licensing 

For organizations or firms with more straightforward needs or modest budgets, you can choose to license training materials from our off-the-shelf courses, which are part of our internally developed U.S. GAAP and IFRS training library. We continually update our training materials to address the latest regulations and consider evolving practice issues. Check out our online course library here.

Whether you’re an accounting firm looking for an A&A Update, a company looking for tailored accounting training, or an individual looking for engaging online training, we’d love to partner with you to help change the way you train! Contact us today. We’re always here to help!

About GAAP Dynamics  

We’re a DIFFERENT type of accounting training firm. We don’t think of training as a “tick the box” exercise, but rather an opportunity to empower your people to help them make the right decisions at the right time. Whether it’s U.S. GAAP training, IFRS training, or audit training, we’ve helped thousands of professionals since 2001. Our clients include some of the largest accounting firms and companies in the world. As lifelong learners, we believe training is important. As CPAs, we believe great training is vital to doing your job well and maintaining the public trust. We want to help you understand complex accounting matters and we believe you deserve the best training in the world, regardless of whether you work for a large, multinational company or a small, regional accounting firm. We passionately create high-quality training that we would want to take. This means it is accurate, relevant, engaging, visually appealing, and fun. That’s our brand promise. Want to learn more about how GAAP Dynamics can help you? Let’s talk!

Disclaimer  

This post is published to spread the love of GAAP and provided for informational purposes only. Although we are CPAs and have made every effort to ensure the factual accuracy of the post as of the date it was published, we are not responsible for your ultimate compliance with accounting or auditing standards and you agree not to hold us responsible for such. In addition, we take no responsibility for updating old posts, but may do so from time to time.