On demand training – our survey says……“It’s a pleasure to watch!”

As part of our commitment to providing affordable yet first class tax and accounting training, we recently ran a survey with our TAXtv and AccountingTV users to get their feedback on both of these on demand training products.

The survey asked several questions to ascertain why our customers use these products and also how they use them. An overview of the answers is as follows.

Why did you purchase TAXtv/AccountingTV?

The most popular answers fell into one of four scenarios:

How easy the TV programmes are to access and the flexibility of their use, be that choosing when to watch them or how you access them (PC, laptop, tablet or phone).
Being able to watch Tim and Giles (TAXtv) having benefited from their lectures and expertise at public seminars over the years.
Keeping up to date from a technical point of view, but also to be able to demonstrate structured CPD had been carried out.
Not having to travel to access tax and accounting training, a factor which has intensified with all public seminars being cancelled during the covid-19 pandemic.

The feedback from BRC accountants, was that they had initially subscribed because it was, “A very reasonably costed resource to keep all staff up to date with current tax and accounting knowledge”.

How often do you use TAXtv and/or AccountingTV?

The majority of monthly TAXtv subscribers use it within the month of it being issued. Whilst many quarterly AccountingTV subscribers also tend to use it within a month of it being issued, and over a third of users said they would use it on an ad-hoc basis.

Our users say they benefit from a regular source of CPD and enjoy the flexibility of being able to watch the episodes at a time which is convenient to them.

Cathryn Ruddock from CJ O'Brien and Co said, “I always try and do it as soon as I can as the information is usually relevant to client work I am doing at that time or planning to do shortly”.

How is TAXtv and/or AccountingTV used in your practice or organisation?

The most popular response for both products was “watched by individuals on their work/personal device”. Several respondents commented that prior to COVID-19 they would watch as a team in the office and then discuss it.

It was useful to find out that the programmes give flexibility to how individuals and teams use them, regardless of where they are based. Users can have the peace of mind that regardless of where people work in the future, their staff can still access quality CPD as and when they need it.

Do you watch TAXtv and/or AccountingTV in full or just go to specific sections?

Over 90% of respondents for both products said they watched the full version, which gave them an hour of CPD each time they viewed a new episode.

Whilst users are gaining the benefit from each monthly tax programme or quarterly accounting programme in full, it is important to note that they can go straight to relevant chapters and search on the chapter topics if they want to focus on something specific.

Do you use the information provided in TAXtv and/or AccountingTV as reference material which you could refer back to at a later date?

The majority of users for both products said they do use the reference material after they have watched the programmes.

This provides a valuable resource which can help your clients at any time during the year.

Which aspects of TAXtv and AccountingTV are most useful? Please rank in order of importance, 1 being most important to 5 being least important.

The most popular aspects of TAXtv are the News and Tim & Giles’ Tax Tips.

The most popular aspects of AccountingTV are the News and Notes on Notes, which are discussed between Giles Mooney and PTP’s resident accounting specialist, Guy Loveday.

Commenting on the different aspects of each TV programme, Keith Senior from Jacobs Allen said, “Each member of our team has different specialities and these are well covered by both Tax and Accounting TV”.

Do you use TAXtv and/or AccountingTV alongside other tax and accounting training methods?

Over three quarters of respondents use the products alongside technical reading or online seminars, with over half saying they use them alongside face-to-face seminars when they can do them.
The programmes compliment other forms of CPD and their unique TV interview format provides a different dimension to other forms of training.

Several additional comments were made by respondents including:

“If something doesn't make sense straight away then it is easy to replay”. Joan Swain, JMSolutions (South).
“Presentations are well presented and very informative without being too heavy”. Mark Peters, Abacus A.S. Ltd.

Survey conclusion

It is always nervous time when you ask for client feedback on a particular product or service, but we were delighted with the overall responses to the survey. The key themes which were highlighted were the flexibility of being able to access tax and accounting training when users wanted to, combined with being easy to use and a very cost effective way of training.

Some suggestions have been made as to how we could make the sessions more interactive and where it is possible to make some amendments, we will try to find ways of doing it.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey, we do appreciate the time you put into it and the feedback you have given.