In gearing up for a new season of continuing professional education, providers are offering more of the same popular courses - updates in ethics, risk assessment standards and internal control - but are also responding to growing demand for diversity in delivery formats. "We found that many of our members are favoring four-hour programs, contrasted with eight-hour programs," said Alan Schmelkin, managing director of operations for the New York State Society of CPAs, adding that he plans to offer upwards of 15 new titles at the shorter length. "Some people aren't able to commit for a full day. It's a much more acceptable kind of education timing for some of our audience."

More technology programs designed specifically for accountants - such as an advanced focus on Microsoft Excel, as well as sessions on FIN 48, which Schmelkin described as "very, very hot" - are on the society agenda for the upcoming year, as well as a program on building auditor communications skills.

"One of the things that we are doing for the first time is a formal study with a consultant where we're asking a statistical sampling of our total database the formats they would like to see more," he said, adding that the results should be available this month.

At Thomson Tax & Accounting, last July's acquisition of Reqwired, a CPE compliance monitoring tracking system, allows individual CPAs licensed in one or more states to keep track of their CPE credits and learning curricula. The platform also sends e-mail notifications if the CPA is not meeting one or more of their CPE compliance requirements, according to Ken Koskay, vice president and general manager of CPE and training at TTA.

In November, Thomson also acquired Reston, Va.-based AuditWatch, an audit training and process improvement consulting firm that is known for its on-site training - another method that is quickly picking up steam among providers. (See story, page 4.)

The most popular sessions at TTA, which offers approximately 430 online courses, are those that deal with standards and implementation in topics pertaining to accounting and audit, as well as courses that help CPAs keep up with the revisions recently made to the Government Auditing Standards Yellow Book.

Demand for webinars, according to Koskay, is also increasing, and they are especially popular for contemporary topics and more time-sensitive updates.

"Really what I see emerging is a blended learning scenario where learners listen for an hour or two, get an overview from a webinar and a general understanding and actually come back and take a course either live or online," Koskay said, adding that TTA will be rolling out a podcast line this year encompassing the accounting, auditing and taxation areas. "We're going to see more of the same trend in online learning continue to grow, and the use of the webinar continuing to be more popular."

Risk-assessment standards, too, were hot in the American Institute of CPAs' 2007 offerings, as well as auditing courses addressing the Yellow Book revisions, according to Chris Fleck, senior marketing manager for CPE group study at the institute. Accounting, auditing and tax sessions in the construction vertical were also popular.

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