Using Noloco to track continuing education for CPAs

Harness the Power of No-Code Tools: A Guide for CPAs

In the technology-driven world we live in, many professions require a maintained infographic of continued education. This constant need for continued education requirement has become even more important for professionals like Certified Public Accountants (CPA). This article aims to enlighten you about how you can effectively manage your education requirements as a CPA, using no-code tools to create a tracking solution.

Unpack the Problem

The first step in any software development process, even in a no-code situation, is to understand the problem and figure out the requirements. We would use the example of a CPA's continuous professional education (CPE) requirements. These requirements were determined by doing a quick search on the web, but they generally outline that CPAs are required to accumulate 10 hours of learning every quarter over a two-year span.

A key detail to keep in mind while constructing your educational tracker is that for a CPA, each period of educational completion must be documented. This provides us with the groundwork for the data we need to capture in our no-code tool.

Constructing Back End Databases

To begin, one needs to create a system for the data and users. The users are the accountants pursuing the education credits. First and last names with their respective emails are captured.

Then comes the details of each user's certification period, which is broken into two, one-year intervals. An interval starts from January of an even year and ends in December of the next odd year. It's important to ensure users sync with their respective certification periods and their active dates.

Now, the challenge is, the number of hours that needs to be pursued for CPE requirements depends on the number of active periods for a CPA. Thus, a formula that calculates the number of active quarters is multiplied by 10 to get the number of hours accrued for CPE.

The final layer to this database would involve documenting the CPE hours with the accrued credits. Here you would capture the details of the program completed, field of study, date of program, location, and the CPE credits obtained. All these details need to be saved under the CPA's profile for that active period.

Devising the No-Code Tracker

With the back end sorted, you need a front-end tool for users to interact with. For our example, we use Noloco which is an excellent no-code tool. All it requires is linking it up to your created back end database. Noloco's advantage lies in its ability to use AI to analyze the data tables and create a ready framework for you to start your no-code application, which saves considerable time.

The designated users can log into this newly made application and track their CPE requirements. The guidance of tools like Noloco can help maintain user privacy, meaning CPAs only have access to their data, making it an extremely secure method of tracking.

To understand this process better, you can always ask professionals who practice in this field, have knowledge of these tools, and can offer a few hours of their time to set up a project like this.

To conclude, if you are a CPA looking for a solution to effectively track your CPE requirements, no-code tools are a game-changer. They help in automating these tasks, hence greatly reducing the effort needed to maintain education requirements while ensuring data security. Overall, no- code tools offer a practical solution for education tracking demands in the accounting field.