In reference to decline in Seminar Income of LKO branch , loss of interest
in seminars shown by members is the only reason for this decline. The
branch has to introspect the quality of the seminars held by branch.
I have personally experienced the following while attending the seminars at
NIRC which may be shared by many members at LKO branch and otherwise:-
1. Seminars never start at the scheduled times
2. Much time is wasted on facilitation's and validations, which can be cut
short and same feelings have also been echoed by President ICAI in his last
communication.
3. Most of the times the topics are not interesting, repetitive and cause
boredom.
4. Many experts called on the topics give evasive replies on Questions. Many
Quesries send as written notes are just not taken up by experts.
5 Some of the Experts are not very well versed with their topics.
6. Many problems faced by members are not solved by attending the seminars
because the experts on the other side are either ill prepared or not ready
to give practical solutions. The knowledge imparted by them is also
available otherwise. So the whole discussion seems to be useless and wastage
of time.
7. Many members feel that office bearers of branches or ICAI are using the
CPE forum for furthering their own professional interests rather than
enhancing the knowledge of the members.
8. I feel Often small study groups provide better interaction amongst
members and are more useful then boring seminars
9. Last but not the least: Many times the Q&A sessions is skipped at
seminars for lack of time (already wasted in facilitation's and delayed
starts). Interaction between the experts and participants is the key to
success to any seminar. unanswered Questions lead only to dissatisfaction
and hence loss of interest.
If members start feeling that attending seminar is like wasting the precious
time ( remember professionals charge for their time) then for sure they will
stop attending these useless seminars and incomes will go down.
Improving the quality of seminars is the only solutions for the problem.
Regulation by ICAI for CPE is well intended to update professional knowledge
of members, but will not help if topics are not found useful, repetitive and
interesting and the speakers called for the topics should be experts in the
domains.
Your Inputs are welcome
CA Deepak Jain
Delhi
www.indiancaonline.com