CPA_Practice_Advisor_April_2020 - 5

FROM THE TRENCHES

DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR

?

EDUCATION VISION

"IF YOU DON'T know where you are going, any path will get you there," said Lewis Carroll.
RANDY JOHNSTON

EVP & Partner
K2 Enterprises &
CEO of Network Management Group, Inc.
randy.johnston@cpapracticeadvisor.com
@RPJohnston

No, I'm not talking about 40 hours
of CPE to maintain your license, even
though that is important. The real
question is about the life-long or the
continuous learning you and everyone
in your firm should be consuming.
For several decades, I have been a
proponent that 40 hours of CPE education are the minimum to maintain
competency. Other consultants to
the profession are now following that
recommendation, too.
To be innovative, far more learning
needs to be occurring, and the topics
selected should be beyond your normal
area of focus. Learning plans may be
individual, dictated by the firm, or
merely an area of interest outside
of your work obligations. You will
find many rewards in growing your
knowledge. While it is challenging to
be an expert in more than one area,
the more you know about options
available to clients, the better chance
you have of recommending the best
solution. With the increasing arrival
speed of technology-based solutions, it
is difficult to know what is available, let
alone how each option works. With a
holistic view of clients' needs, the better you can serve them. On the other
hand, "just in time" training may help
you get today's task done, but does not
help you prepare for tomorrow.

PROACTIVE EDUCATION
OR REACTIVE TRAINING?
Are you thinking about improving
your effectiveness or efficiency?
Education helps you with the big
picture, and training enables you

This adage has historical truth and perspective. You may be looking at your plan for the
rest of the year and you may have plenty of regular work already in front of you. As part
of your firm planning, whether in the past year or coming up soon, you should have set
both strategic and tactical goals. Most firms have an education component in their plan.
to do something better. Both proactive education and reactive training
serve a purpose. You should select
the right way of improving yourself
and your business. For a variety of
reasons, this education vs. training
question has come up every week so
far this year. With today's rapidly
changing technology, people are
frequently choosing training over
education, going for efficiency over
effectiveness. It's not that you don't
need both, you do. Unfortunately,
with all the conflicting priorities,
relegating the importance of
education to the back burner and
reacting to today's urgent problem
with training is chosen far too often.
Short training videos, using Google
to search for an answer, attempting
to use LinkedIn Education (formerly
Lynda), and learning in short nano
CPE are trends that do not serve
education or knowledge well.
What's the saying? Doing the right
thing is more important than doing
things right. "Doing things right"
means doing things in the manner
they are expected, needed, or required
to be done. It, then, relates to the 'how'
aspect of an action. For example: to
ensure proper compliance, an accountant must file a tax return correctly.
"Doing the right thing" means making
the right choice, choosing the right
path, and displaying high ethics and
moral integrity. It, therefore, relates
to the 'what' aspect of the action. For

example: by rejecting a client's desire
to pay fewer taxes by filing a false but
proper tax return, an accountant does
the right thing and earns our respect.
For accountants, respect comes from
independence, knowledge, effectiveness, and efficiency. Consider this
point: both education and training should
be an investment, not an expense. A side
effect of wisely investing in education and training is that your team
members improve their knowledge,
effectiveness, and efficiency. Further,
properly implementing the latest educational techniques and technology
into crucial operations of your business
can set your business apart from the
competition. Therefore, the investment
you make in education, training, and
technology should yield returns many
times over the price paid.

DECIDE THE RIGHT THING
TO DO
This decision drives effectiveness. In
business, there are reasons for both
strategic and tactical plans. What is
the right thing to do for you and your
business? As noted above, do you
have a time that you stop to consider
the big picture with an annual planning meeting? Do you review your
plan regularly, so you continue to
focus on the right thing? Do you have
an education and learning plan? If
not, consider creating a learning
matrix (https://www.analyticsinhr.
com/ blog /create-skills-matr ix-

APRIL 2020 ■

competency-matrix/) or a learning
ladder (https://www.construx.com/
professional-development-ladder/).
In all cases, proactively plan your
CPE and education with the right
thing in mind.
Note that this article is not suggesting what is the right or wrong thing
for you to do. The guidance is that you
should simply take the time to plan
and choose for yourself. By the way,
this does help me fulfill my mission:
"To help as many people as possible to
use technology in a way that benefits
them most." (www.randyjohnston.
com). All of the CPE courses I write
every year fulfill this personal mission.
Our entire K2 team (www.k2e.com/
instructors) operates the same way.
At this year's Top Thought Leader
event, I was surprised that many
consultants to the profession didn't
understand the difference between
education and training as well as
independence and advisory services.
Many in the session didn't know the
difference between education and
training and frankly thought they were
the same. I was shocked. While some
thought leaders valued independence,
others thought there was no conflict
of interest at all from taking unstated
profits from partners.

Continued online at
www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/
21129064

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

5
https://www.construx.com/professional-development-ladder/ http://www.randyjohnston.com http://www.k2e.com/instructors https://www.analyticsinhr.com/blog/create-skills-matrixcompetency-matrix/ http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/21129064 http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
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