They Finally Exhausted My Tolerance for Boredom
I found myself sitting in the poorly lit ballroom of a run-down hotel in St.Cloud, MN for yet another nauseatingly boring CE training program. One of many that I’d grown to despise over the past decade serving as a CPA.
The speaker, wearing a poorly fitting suit from the rejects pile of the JCPenney next door was mumbling into a crackling PA system and referencing a new regulation regarding the distribution of tax credits to chicken farmers and OAA for S Corps while lazily gesturing to a slide deck written in what must have been written in six point font.
“What a colossal waste of time,”
“What a colossal waste of time,” I thought as I squinted to try and make out the hieroglyphics on the screen in front of me. Giving up on decoding the six-point runes, I glanced around the audience and saw a sea of bored accountant faces who at that moment must have all been thinking the same thing I was.
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“If earth were to get hit by a giant asteroid today, let it be here”
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It was as if we were all being punished for daring to enjoy accounting, and now sitting in this damp ballroom smelling vaguely of cigarettes and last night's cocktail party I had had enough.
It wasn’t five years at University. It wasn’t the CPA Exam. It wasn’t the 7,541st messed up QuickBooks file. It was this seminar that finally exhausted my tolerance for boredom. I got up from my seat and left.
- JASON CARNEY, 2022
“Why are the most careful, conscientious, and hardest-working professionals
forced to suffer through this drudgery?”
Like every accountant, the goal that had led me to the snooze-inducing lecture was the 40 CPE credit requirement to keep my license, but to be frank, that goal was as shallow as the kiddie pool sitting in my backyard. I wanted to learn! To update my skills, to get the opportunity to solve different problems, and make connections between my role and our ever-changing world.
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But no matter how many seminars I attended it always seemed like the same gray-faced mumble-filled lecture in front of a semi-catatonic audience.
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There was a time when I loved accounting. But no matter how hard I tried it seemed our CPE system was determined to extinguish my passion for our profession. My CPE requirement had become a source of creeping cynicism which then supplemented my boredom.
MEET JASON CARNEY
Superhero to the CPAs
TIME TO GET TO WORK
Watching and Waiting Weren’t Working.
One day after yet another soul crushing cpa session I happened to learn about a program The Minnesota Society of CPAs was offering to CPAs interested in become CPA trainers. This Train-the-Trainer program gave me an opportunity to try my hand as an instructor and opened the door to a career I never even considered. In a flash I realized I had become a superhero.
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Well, maybe not that last one, but regardless I was inspired.
Provide every student with easy to reference and well-organized takeaways so that everybody leaves with actionable documents and repeatable skills for later.
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I quickly got picked up by the two largest CPE vendors in the country and began training hundreds of accountants from all over the country and putting my plan into action
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My Master plan (muhaha)
Focus on engagement, not slide counts,
because engagement
is the foundation of learning.
Connect with students individually and encourage collaboration among the class. You never know who might be able to help you when you need it the most.
Highlight what’s relevant and point out what isn’t because not every new page in the tax code (or audit standard, or financial accounting guidance, or …) is worth your time.
Keep an eye out for and stay in touch with you because everything in our profession changes and if your colleagues need help or additional training in the future I want to be the first one you call.