Keeping or Closing the “Distance?” You Decide!

Aside from remaining COVID-19 free, one thing that I’m grateful for is that my children are grown up and on their own. Well, in full disclosure, they’re not completely weaned off the family payroll, but that’s fodder for a future column.

It’s claustrophobic enough when you have an additional person working from home as I do currently, but I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like to have several children under the age of 10 becoming bored and restless while under quarantine to such a degree that parents strain to resist transforming into the Jack Nicholson character in “The Shining.”

But “distance learning” may be the new norm whether via options like Google Classroom or Coursera. Not to mention working remotely, which, in due to recent events, countless firms have no doubt done a proverbial 180 when it comes to allowing staff to function away from the office.

Regardless, as with any event of this scope, whether 9-11 or the recession of 2008, things rarely return to what was perceived as “normal.”

It is said that the only constant is change. And, if history is any judge, the CPA profession has not exactly been a trailblazer in that aspect. To infer that the profession has been resistant to change is akin to saying that an MMA fighter might receive a bloody nose.

But at some point – and for many it will hopefully be in the very near future – the social distancing and “sheltering at home” rules we’re required to adhere to will ebb.

 And then what?

As an example, one of the biggest events of the year, the AICPA Engage conference, has been pushed back one month to July and will now feature an all-digital CPE format. I seriously doubt that will be an isolated example regarding upcoming vendor or practitioner-run confabs.

Obviously, a big downside to that option is the absence of personal interaction, of which no matter how sophisticated online learning becomes, is no substitute. Have any of us really learned any better while attending sessions remotely as opposed to sitting in a live classroom?

Closer to home, our company conducted its annual strategic retreat completely by Zoom. It went far better than I expected but again, it was not the same as in years past. Even though we are a relatively small organization, many of us see each other just that one time a year. And a fuzzy and ill-lighted image on a screen falls far short of pressing the flesh.

I will leave it to far brighter minds than mine to envision how the post COVID-19 pandemic will change CPE or industry-related events. I’ll just be glad when things begin to return to normal – or a reasonable facsimile thereof.