Nelson Croom's Blog

Updated Course

by Rachel Bruce

 

We have just relaunched Corporate Governance with further content to make it relevant to all international markets.  The course covers the two key approaches to corporate governance: the code of best practice approach, for example the UK corporate governance code which was the first code to be developed and has since been widely emulated all over the world; and it also covers the legislative approach which is typified by the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.  In addition, other techniques from across the world are also covered.
 
Written by Lisa Weaver the course takes a practical approach with a myriad of scenarios to bring the subject to life.  It enables you to understand the main provisions of Corporate Governance, identify governance problems within a company, establish effective board management including remuneration and audit committees, understand why poor governance has led to corporate scandal in the past, and use governance principles to create successful business strategies. Find more out about the course here.

Managing risk in your business

by Andrew Turner

 

It is difficult, these days, to pick up a newspaper or magazine and not find stories involving serious problems which have suddenly struck particular enterprises.

Whatever the cause you are left to wonder why top management were not aware of the possibility so that they could take evasive action – or at least be in a position to react quickly and positively when the problem arose.

Nelson Croom’s new course, Risk Management, from author David Allen looks at some of the problems which have made national and international news. He explores the context in which the concept of risk management has developed, the sort of infrastructure and processes it requires, and the impact it has on traditional control systems.

Contributions to enrich the learning experience

by Crispin Best

 

It's always good to talk to peers, hear their points of view and share experiences. So, we try to create courses that enable users to do just that, courses that have the flexibility to allow engagement with other learners as well as reading the thoughts and opinions of subject matter experts.

These features are one of the main facets of our courses that consistently get a great response from our learners and clients, and so that's why we've spent a good deal of time expanded and updated this technology.

We've recently been working to design, build and launch a new initiative called "Contributions". The functionality allows learners to add bits of professional experience or opinions into courses. Doing this works to build on and enrich the knowledge on each topic. Learners can read, reflect on and respond to other people's contributions, creating a learning experience that can be different and interactive in various new ways.

The functionality also allows learners to rate each other's contributions, as well as flag any that are inappropriate.

We're looking forward to seeing what this new initiative leads us towards, and will keep trying to create new ways in which our courses can engage the learner.

100 months of registrations

by Alan Nelson

 

At the end of every month, our online professional development web application, Imago, sends me a message telling me what it’s been up to during the month - all sorts of more and less interesting things such as which courses have been most popular (interesting), how many active learners it has (quite interesting) and how many activity records it is storing (I have to pretend to be interested, otherwise it gets upset).

Each month I copy the number of course registrations onto our KPI dashboard. As I filled in the number for July I realised that I had now been doing this for 100 months, so I have a table that shows me the stats right back to April 2003.

What does this tell me (other than that I have an empty and meaningless life)? Well firstly it shows that a lot more people are using our courses. In the first month on my schedule there were fewer than 200 registrations. The monthly total is now generally around 4000. That’s not to say that it’s only recently that we have had higher course take-up. The average for the whole period since April 2003 is 2425 a month.

Another change is in the type of registration. Our learners are now much better looking than they were eight years ago.* Many more of them have paid for their course and fewer of them are doing it because they have been told they have to.** Of those that are paying, the vast majority are purchasing a course that we have published at our own expense (as opposed to those we develop for our clients as bespoke commissions) – so we are now reaping the rewards for having put our money where our mouth is.

As well as all these changes at the registration end of the process, we have made changes at the other end, pushing people much more emphatically to tell us what they thought through course completion questionnaires. The results overall are very positive, with 98% of people saying that the course they completed met their needs and 93% rating the experience as either good or excellent. But it is the detail that is so useful with many of the enhancements we make now coming from suggestions from users.

So what will the next 100 months of registrations bring? I don’t know. That is what makes it so interesting. Our professional communities are responding very enthusiastically to all the new social learning features we have added. That is clearly a trend that will not be reversed. Our approach to creating learner centred resources rather than trying to teach remotely, which has served us so well for the past 11 years, looks set to stay at the heart of our approach.

* This is a lie

** This is true

Nelson Croom, a child’s perspective

I walk in to my first day of work experience at Nelson Croom and it’s different to what I expect. The introductions are out of the way, I have the company broken down for me, what they do and how, what they’ve achieved and their future goals. It’s as if I am not here for only two weeks, they are trusting me with everything, and see me as being a productive part of their working environment. I have been trusted with helping Andrew, the Marketing Executive, create a new campaign and will be heavily involved with every step of the process.

My days generally start the same, a couple of nods and a hello as I take my place at my desk. I turn the computer on, the machine brimming, as I reach for my notepad and occasionally some breakfast if I bothered to pick some up. Offerings of tea and coffee in the background, and the clanger of keyboards. I start my research; I reach for my coffee and take a sip, careful not to miss my mouth. That would be embarrassing. But the threat is gone.

I'm onto another task, an email. It may not seem that significant but this was the email, the email I was going to send as the crux of the campaign. I plug away, trying to get it right. And I do, eventually, with the help of Andrew. I can’t help but think that I am much slower than everyone else; it is as if I am slow motion in the midst of a blur. Everything I do, to me, seems important; and it’s important I do it properly.

Occasionally there is a meeting, a time to discuss what people have achieved and understood in their area. I grasp some of what is said and understand the finances quite well yet there is still a gaping hole in my knowledge of Nelson Croom. And I get the feeling two weeks may not cover it. But I carry on, learning as much as I can. An E-learning course on Nelson Croom would be perfect, I think to myself; but again, that may be the longest course available.

My time at work experience has been an invaluable insight in to professional life, and I am very grateful to everyone who has made it so.

SYP – An opportunity through social media

by Andrew Turner

 

A friend who I met whilst doing my Masters in Publishing at Kingston University recently contacted me about the opportunity to join the committee of the Society of Young Publishers (SYP). The SYP was established in 1949 and is open to anyone in publishing or a related trade – or who is hoping to be soon, catering especially for those with fewer than ten years experience.

The opening was to join this friend, Tina Mories, on the committee as an Events Coordinator. The SYP hold monthly events, for members and non members, which aim to focus on interesting topics from the world of publishing which can help those in, and looking to get in to, the industry.

I am extremely happy to be on the committee and with the opportunity it gives me to help those looking to get in to publishing and also expand my own network. This put me in mind of our recently launched course Social Media for Professionals which stresses the importance of social media as a way of maintaining your network as a whole. Not only is this new role a great way for me to network, I wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for the network I already had. This network is one which I maintain primarily through facebook and twitter. I did meet Tina through my Masters but we maintained our friendship online, speaking through facebook and twitter, as everyone from the course does. In fact even when we do meet for a drink and a catch up, we organise it through our facebook group.

This group does more than just enable us to organise a drunken catch up. We tell each other about job opportunities ask advice on things in our work life and discuss books, films and the publishing world in general. Not once did we sit down and plan this group, or plan to communicate so frequently through social media, rather it was just the natural way to maintain contact with a like minded group of individuals. Without it I do wonder how many of us would have stayed in contact with each other, and how I would have maintained my knowledge of the broader publishing world rather than just having a focus on my interests and my job. In fact, I wonder how these relationships were maintained before Social Media.

You may shout out - through phone calls, emails and ACTUALLY meeting people. I still do these things but, for me, they do not offer the same constant access to my network, and potential network, as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn do. And it isn’t just the young workforce either; recent Nielson figures reveal that the 50+ demographic are driving the growth of Facebook and Twitter.

For me this is a realisation that whilst networking is possible without an online presence, your network isn’t complete until you have one.

That'll learn yer

by Alan Nelson

 

I was recently asked to write an article for the Solicitors’ Journal commenting on the Solicitors Regulation Authorities review of the rules governing solicitors CPD. Apart from getting side-tracked into a bit of a rant against provider accreditation schemes that seem to be little more than money making exercises for the professional body or regulator, I did come up with some conclusions that are more generally applicable:

1. Systems of measurement
The debate about inputs or outputs based system of CPD seems to me to be unnecessary. The argument here is between those that support inputs, or hours based schemes, generally because they are easier to measure, and those who support outputs regimes – where you identify the professional development issues you will need to address and then report on how you have done so – because they are seen as less of a box ticking exercise. In fact the best schemes I have seen combine the two. Engineers Ireland have a neat system which is outputs based, but with clear guidance about minimum acceptable hours. Alternatively start with a number of hours of CPD but ask for a development plan as well as part of the submission.


2. Keeping up with the times
We live in a Web 2.0 world and professional bodies need to keep up with the times on what counts as CPD. I use twitter as my way of reflecting on development activity and write blogs to discuss issues that I am grappling with. The recent Bar Standards Board recommendations disallow writing blogs , leading to the farcical situation that writing a blog doesn’t count for you, but reading it does count for others! A more flexible approach is needed. No serious learning and development professional any longer believes that learning equals courses and nothing else.


3. Deciding what to focus on
With up to date technical information easier and easier to access, we need to ensure that we are valued as professionals for more than just technical virtuosity. Most consumers wouldn’t rate it as the most important issue. When I take legal advice at work or at home, I am rarely asking any hard questions. The lawyer who negotiates my contracts knows her stuff, but I am sure she isn’t the world’s expert. What I like about her is that she doesn’t upset my customers by being pompous or picky, or by scoring silly legal points. As far as I am concerned a good lawyer is one with rounded skills. Can they conduct a divorce without making the couple hate each other anymore than necessary? Can they negotiate a contract to deliver business objectives rather than simply to be “right”? Can they buy a house for me without wasting months on trivialities?

This seems to me to be true for a wide variety of professionals. I like the concept of the T-shaped professional. The vertical bar of the T is about a professional’s functional/technical skills whereas the horizontal bar represents the ability to apply knowledge across situations.

You can read the full published piece here. As always writing an article has forced me to research and to reflect and has been valuable personal CPD. Writing this blog a couple of weeks later has been a great way of reflecting.

Avoiding scandal with good corporate governance

by Andrew Turner

 

The term “corporate governance” is recognisable to almost everyone because of the many shocking scandals occurring in companies and other organisations across the world, and regularly reported in the press. The notorious case of Enron and the associated demise of Arthur Andersen focussed the world’s attention on the corporate structure and management of business, attitudes to risk management, and the relationships of businesses with their external advisors.

But it’s not just big business that can benefit from good governance. Companies of all sizes will benefit from having good risk management strategies and, increasingly, accountants are being asked to advise on governance issues.

Nelson Croom has launched a new online CPD course on Corporate Governance. The course explores the UK’s Corporate Governance Code since its review in May 2010 and looks at the benefits of implementing good governance as best practice for business. The four hour online CPD course shows how to implement and use governance in business to identify problems, create successful strategies and effective board management.

The course is authored by Lisa Weaver, a professionally qualified lecturer with 15 years experience of exam-based, and CPD lecturing for accounting and finance professionals. She qualified ACA with Deloittes, and spent 4 years in audit practice. Lisa currently lectures in financial reporting, audit and governance subjects, and develops and delivers CPD courses for qualified accountants working in industry and in practice.

You can find out more on the course here and if you would like to offer it to your learners you can contact us.

Social Media: the Golden Goose

With the launch of our new course, Social Media for Professionals, David Croom takes a look at how the financial world values the world of social media.

 

by David Croom

 

Social media is the new Golden Goose of Wall Street. Witness the crazy performance of LinkedIn’s stock market debut last week. Launched at $45, the shares more than doubled in the first day’s trading, valuing the business at $8.8 billion or about 23 times the 2011 revenue, assuming first quarter sales are maintained through the rest of the year.

Last year the business did grow briskly, doubling its revenue to $243.1 million, but it makes very little profit: $3.4 million last year and it does not expect to make any money this year.

Facebook Inc., the world’s largest social network, would be valued at about $94 billion using LinkedIn’s multiple. Is it all mad or is there some logic to these extraordinary valuations?

LinkedIn is actually valued quite conservatively when viewed on a value per user basis, according to a PwC report, with a multiple below that of Virgin Media, Facebook and ITV.

However, value is notoriously difficult to extract from users. Murdoch paid $580m for MySpace in 2005 and grew its user base about 500% but he could not get sufficient value from it. By April this year he was looking to sell it for about $100m.

So how do investors approach valuing an internet company? A successful track record of monetization, either at the company or in its management, is helpful.  But investors also need to dig deeper into how the business works.

How much time do people spend on the website? Many people use Facebook as an entry point for the internet, in much the same way they use Google. They spend almost as much time on Facebook as they do watching TV and advertisers want exposure to that user base.

Does that support a value of close to $9 billion for LinkedIn? Let’s watch over the next year. The Golden Goose needs to lay a lot of eggs.

New course: Social Media for Professionals

by Andrew Turner

 

Nelson Croom has launched a new course aimed at helping professionals use social media more effectively in their work. Written by Anna Faherty, Social Media for Professionals shows learners how social media can help them to achieve their professional goals, explores some of the most common social media platforms and looks at how other organisations and individuals use social media in a professional context.

You can find out more about the course here and if you would like to offer it to your learners contact us.