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CPE recommendation?


Catherine

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5 hours ago, Catherine said:

Hi folks - 

Anyone have any recommendations for self-study CPE on the new tax law's effects on partnerships and c-corporations?  

Thanks!

I have been using Sequoia CPE for the last several years and recently downloaded their 300 page course on the TCJA.  I like their methodology where questions are asked at the end of each of the 18 chapters, to which the answers are provided.  A sample final exam is also included .  You can check out the table of contents without having to log in.

www.sequoiacpe.com/

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18 minutes ago, Max W said:

I have been using Sequoia CPE for the last several years and recently downloaded their 300 page course on the TCJA.  I like their methodology where questions are asked at the end of each of the 18 chapters, to which the answers are provided.  A sample final exam is also included .  You can check out the table of contents without having to log in.

www.sequoiacpe.com/

It seems that you can pay 50 cents per credit if you buy the membership and you study and pass 200 credits in 12 months. I wonder if I buy it now I can use the CPE for this year and the next.  If that's possible, I will not join for a year and then I will join again. Max, do know you get news letter or any other live training opportunities from Sequoia?

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Pacun, if you time it right, you can use the one the $149 payment for two years.  When I renew, it is always in December, so I can use it for the current year and the following year, as long as it is done before the subscription expires.

No, no newsletters of live seminars.

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I prefer to go to live seminars and workshops, such that CPE credits are a result of my learning and networking.

I am opposed to "Buying" CPE credits.  CPE credits are meant to show that we have been studying, and learning at the hands of qualified teachers.  NOT to show who bought them the cheapest.

Those  that get live schooling, and then associated CPE, are easy to spot in a group.

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Umm!  Jack, you do know that people learn by different means.  You do know that, Jack, don't you.? 

There are four primary types of learning - visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. (the last one we can leave out).  Some people do better with one than with another.

Obviously, you do best with seminars.  Others do better by other means.  And a lot of people can not afford the time or expense of a seminar.  I, for one, prefer self study to seminars.  Seminars try to cover to much information  so, that at the end, I doubt that anyone clearly remembers 20% of what was presented.   With self-study you can go at your own pace.  You can go over material until it is fully understood and you can save it for a reference.  

Now the initial question here, was about a course for TCJA.   Jack do you really believe that if someone is interested in that subject, they are just doing it to "buy" credits?   Are you serious?  Did you even think about what you wrote, before you set yourself up as judge and jury?   If someone wanted to buy credits they would take courses they had taken before and just retake them every year.  The TCJA has to be studied and learned, so no "buying" here.

The SequioaCPA isn't chosen for price.  It was chosen because I think it is superior to several others I've tried.  For example one company had a course on real estate and dedicated over 30 pages to history of RE tax legislation going back to the 1970's and other outdated material.  They had other courses like that and I wrote them scathing reviews. Don't know if they ever changed.

I'll leave it at that for now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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When I go to live seminaries, the first thing I do is to find out what's for lunch while I get some coffee and "continental" breakfast. The next thing I remember is that I am sleeping after drinking my coffee. Then it is lunch time, I normally eat a lot so a nap is in order. After my nap, I go and sign my name on the attendance list and voila... the organizers are happy because they got my money, I am happy that I got 8 CPE credits and the IRS is happy because I am studying.  I guess I agree with Jack, seminaries make everybody happy. I know Jack... I should request a refund because I didn't learn anything... but then again, why will I risk my 8 CPE credits?

I have used www.webce.com/ (apluscpe.com) some years and some other years I have attended Bob Jennings of TaxSpeaker seminars, I have taken live seminars and on line courses from www.natptax.com and I have taken live courses from the Maryland Society of Accounting and Tax Professionals. All of them have some good stuff but Taxspeaker seminars are a bit expensive and again you will get 8 credits as long as you keep your chair warm.

 

 

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Way back when I worked at Block, we had a text with required assignments, a bunch of practice problems, and then you went to class every week and discussed the material and did more practice sets.  You were immersed in the material and the result is that you learned it. (even before they had required exams that you had to pass with 80% or better).  Now that I take CPEs through live seminars and some online courses, I definitely see the difference.  The seminars sponsored by the state accountancy boards are often filled with people who have to be there and whose employers are paying.  They spend most of the day reading the newspaper or fiddling on their laptops, never ask a question or share an experience.  The people who attend the professional association seminars (NAEA, NATP) are more likely to be self-employed and really do pay attention and share.  I find that after the seminar I cement what I learned by going back over the handouts (if they even have them anymore) and taking notes, just like I was studying for a college course.  I find that webinars generally go too fast or don't go into enough depth and two hours later I'm hard-pressed to relate what (if anything) I learned.

With the radical changes in the TCJA, I plan to take as many live courses and webinars as I can.  I feel that I have to be immersed in the topic, no matter how it's presented, to digest it.  How I long for an old-fashioned Block course with a text and problem sets so I can immediately apply what I read/heard.

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Mainly people "buy" a certain number of hours but they are required to take courses and take exams to get those hours.  Without doing that, the money was wasted and there are no hours to show for it.  

I've sat through mind-numbingly BORING live seminars, fallen asleep at times (hey, there's - or was - a picture of Jack crashed out at a seminar somewhere, I recall; it was very funny), and been aggravated at pathetically slow pace on others.  Some online classes have been stupid, some fabulous.  Some self-study has been not worth the effort to click through it, and some has been terrific. 

I have not found good classes, that appeal to me, on the new law as applied to corp's and p-ships.  I want some, and figured I'd ask.  The worth to ME is in what I learn - and I don't much give a hoot as to the style (self, webinar, live, trapeze), as long as it's well-done.

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I've personally found the online, webinar or self-study to require more "concentration" than going to a live event.  I've gone to many live CPE classes offered by the well known course providers, including CPA Societies.  Many of the individuals who attend these live events are either doing personal work or surfing the Internet.  At least self-study requires some type of validation, either through a test of some means of substantiating your participation.  Anyone who wants to simply "buy" their CPE will do so whether they attend in person or purchase self-study.  

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20 minutes ago, Yardley CPA said:

I've personally found the online, webinar or self-study to require more "concentration" than going to a live event.  I've gone to many live CPE classes offered by the well known course providers, including CPA Societies.  Many of the individuals who attend these live events are either doing personal work or surfing the Internet.  At least self-study requires some type of validation, either through a test of some means of substantiating your participation.  Anyone who wants to simply "buy" their CPE will do so whether they attend in person or purchase self-study.  

Exactly. I've been to seminars where I didn't learn a thing and I've been to ones where I learned a lot. I prefer the low cost of online courses, plus I use the course materials for reference materials. Online schooling is the way of the future. Even live seminars should be done online to save travel costs, pollution, spread of the flu, etc., and I've done a few live online seminars. They pop up a 'test' to make sure you're still there. Bathroom breaks need to be timed carefully, though.

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I do my required hours in a quick / cheap manner right after tax season. Many outlets sell the CE, not the training itself so if you don't need the CE credits, it's free. The IRS itself gives away a TON of free stuff if you don't need to get the CE credits. Our local bar association, CPA firms  and university do the same thing.

University of Missouri puts on a farm / tax seminar. Everyone is sleeping after lunch and they have a break half way through the afternoon where you are handed out your little CE sheet and announced you are given the credit. More than half the participants skiped the last 90 minutes the one year I attended.

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On 8/27/2018 at 9:41 PM, Jack from Ohio said:

I prefer to go to live seminars and workshops, such that CPE credits are a result of my learning and networking.

I am opposed to "Buying" CPE credits.  CPE credits are meant to show that we have been studying, and learning at the hands of qualified teachers.  NOT to show who bought them the cheapest.

Those  that get live schooling, and then associated CPE, are easy to spot in a group.

Jack, everyone else is beating up on you - not me!!  I believe in personally attending and not selling out to the electronic lemming-like slide into oblivion.  I can go to sleep either way - listening to some boring presenter or bleary-eyed listening to a webinar.  Most of the people I get to listen to are great and colorful speakers.  Very few put me to sleep.

Can't agree on live schooled being easier to spot, however.  I can imagine what you're saying - those who go to live seminars are bright-eyed, well dressed, lilt in their step, and identify with the beautiful people.  Sorry about you folks who listen in on webinars - obviously you slouch around in disheveled clothing, walk around with three days growth of beard, maybe even have athlete's feet or something.  Not me and Jack, proud exhibitors of what is best in the world!!

 

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The only live seminars that I go to anymore are Basics & Beyond. I have attended them since the 90s when they were called Back to Basics and I always learn good stuff. They have live webinars also and I have purchased some of them. Most of their speakers are funny and entertaining so I don't have to fight sleep until after lunch. I don't recognize as many people as I used to when I go so they either got smart and retired, died or are taking their CPE online. I do take a courses online every year with Vern Hoven and Sharon Krieder and many free ones from CPA Acadamy. I do enjoy the live webinars, because I can wear my sweats and fix my own lunch. I take the classes from my liability insurance every couple of years and I always want to go work anywhere else because they petrify me. 

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Well, as you can see, everyone has their likes and dislikes.  It's sort of like fried eggs.  You can have 'em sunnyside up, over easy, runny or solid, or you can have 'em the Spanish way.  Now, the Spanish way is the way my wife used to cook them, because  - well because, she is Spanish.  They get fried at a high heat so the underside gets a little burnt and the white gets bubbles in them that break open and turn into something like hardened plastic as they get filled with frying oil.  Took a while, maybe 10 years or so, before she finally got the hang of it.  That's when I went back to eating fried eggs.  (Every once in a while she slips up, but I forgive her for it.  (Old habits are hard to kick).

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Hi Jack,

Like Edsel, I still like you too.  For one, I used to swipe your  tax tips off another board years ago.  For two, as lots of people know, you're a pretty nice guy even though being a Missourian "show-me" sort.  This is not to say Max is mean (he once spoke kindly to me) or wrong about his tough Sequoia stuff (sounds like deep-reading) but I kinda had it figured like you that if it wasn't "live" it wasn't so hot.  When I used to go to seminars I couldn't always "spot" a slacker or (like the ex-president) "look into the soul" of a classmate, but a husband and wife team came every year - she pulled out her knitting needles and clickety-clacked away (didn't bother to open her book) for two days while he took notes.  That seemed spot-worthy. 

But (and telling you this is like being sent to the principal's office) I'm "buying" all my hours now by mail from some off-the-wall outfit in California.  It's expensive, but it's open-book and as a rep once told me "Nobody's ever flunked these courses!" However, I did once give a scathing review to a receptionist who was rude to me.  

Anyway, I'm still speakin' even if we're in opposite camps.  By the way, I think Edsel's right about the dress code.  While I used to get to wear my dapper ties 'n' threads to seminars, now I've reverted to somethin' like -- hmm...there's an old Turner Classic movie wherein the departing colonial bwana of a Malaysian rubber plantation deep in the jungle says to the newly-arrived overseer, "First, you'll stop shaving...... 

P.S.  Max- you can scramble the eggs in a paper bowl & microwave for 100 seconds - not as good/bad as Spanish fried, but it'll do.  

____________________________________________

"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife."   Gray - Elegy in a Country Churchyard

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7 hours ago, BLACK BART said:

 

P.S.  Max- you can scramble the eggs in a paper bowl & microwave for 100 seconds - not as good/bad as Spanish fried, but it'll do.  

____________________________________________

Are you kidding?  How could I dip my bread into the runny yolk?   

BTW, how did you come to expropriate the name of one our most notorious residents.  We live barely 4 miles from where he resided in Q, before my time, or course.

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