It’s a growing trend among associations: providing members with free access to resources that they previously had to pay for. According to an article in the July/August issue of Associations Now, titled “Rethinking Membership,” author Tim Edner writes, “Associations are taking creative new approaches to make their membership models better align with their members’ preferences and the realities of their changing professions and busy lives.”
One way that IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) is doing that is by providing members with free access to some of its for-pay CPE resources. Recently, IMA began making three products free of charge to members:
Tips in Ten
The newest offering is a free subscription package aimed at helping members keep up with the latest Technology and Analytics knowledge offered in Excel. The new course, IMA Excel 365: Tips in Ten, features quick, 10-minute nano courses presented by renowned author and Excel expert Bill Jelen (Mr. Excel). This mobile-friendly subscription series introduces subscribers to new features, tools, formulas, and artificial intelligence recently made available to Excel 365 users. IMA will add new courses regularly to the subscription as updated Excel 365 technology is rolled out; members earn 0.2 CPE credits for successfully completing each course in the package.
Webinars on Demand
There’s also IMA’s “Webinars on Demand” series, designed specifically for members who want to access the content of popular IMA webinars but need to view them at their convenience. The series features two packages of recorded, highly rated IMA webinars on key management accounting topics. The first offering, Webinars on Demand: Technology, includes six webinars on the topics of technology and data analytics. The second offering, Webinars on Demand: Leadership, includes four webinars from the IMA Leadership Academy's monthly webinar series. Members earn between 1 and 1.5 ICMA CPE credits per webinar.
Ethics Token
Finally, members have access to Ethics CPE through a new Annual Ethics Benefit token program. The program gives members a yearly “token,” which can be used to purchase any one (two-credit) IMA Ethics Series product. Each year, a new token is automatically issued to each member upon membership renewal. Members can find their token in the myProfile section of their membership dashboard.
Noted Debbie Warner, CAE, CPLP, vice president, IMA Education and Career Services, “IMA recognizes that your time is precious. These and IMA’s other online courses allow you to grow your knowledge and to develop professionally at your own pace. Moreover, we’re pleased to offer these new products as an expanded member benefit to you, free of charge. We look forward to having you take advantage of these resources to enhance your skillset in the vital areas of technology, ethics, Excel, and more.”
For more information on all of IMA’s CPE products, please visit https://www.imanet.org/education-center.