MYCPE ONE

Building a Learning Culture at Scale in a 75-Person CPA Firm

Large Firm | Full-Service | 75 CPAs | Midwest

Harrington Whitmore CPAs is one of Chicago's premier mid-market accounting firms, with 75 licensed CPAs across audit, tax, advisory, and consulting practices. At this scale, informal CPE management was no longer viable. Department heads struggled to track hundreds of individual learning paths while maintaining service quality. MYCPE ONE provided the infrastructure to transform CPE from a compliance checkbox into a genuine learning culture driver.

Before vs. After: The Transformation

Before
No centralized LMS; each department managed CPE independently with inconsistent standards Learning Infrastructure
Partners manually recommended courses in ad-hoc emails; no tracking of completions Course Assignment
Quarterly partner reviews of individual CPE progress; frequent last-minute scrambles Compliance Monitoring
$85,000 annually across 12 disparate vendor contracts for CPE content Budget Allocation
Inconsistent quality across vendors; some content not NASBA-approved Content Quality
Annual manual CPE audit requiring 3 weeks of HR preparation Reporting to Leadership
CPE seen as administrative burden; low voluntary engagement beyond minimums Staff Development
No structured post-promotion learning path; managers self-directed CPE Manager Development
After
Firm-wide MYCPE ONE deployment with department-level dashboards and unified reporting for leadership Learning Infrastructure
Structured learning paths by role and department with automated assignment and completion tracking Course Assignment
Real-time compliance dashboard visible to managing partners; automated escalation for at-risk CPAs Compliance Monitoring
Single firm-wide MYCPE ONE enterprise agreement at fraction of prior cost Budget Allocation
Curated NASBA-approved catalog with firm-specific learning tracks built by L&D team Content Quality
One-click board-ready compliance and learning engagement reports available at any time Reporting to Leadership
Curated role-specific learning paths increased voluntary course completions by 3x Staff Development
Custom MYCPE ONE learning tracks for newly promoted managers covering advisory and leadership topics Manager Development

Impact in Numbers

Before
$85,000 Annual CPE Investment
320 Hours HR Reporting Hours per Year
Baseline Voluntary Course Completions
91% Firm-Wide Compliance Rate
N/A Learning Path Completion
44% CPA Satisfaction with L&D
After
$14,925 Annual CPE Investment
82%
12 Hours HR Reporting Hours per Year
96%
3x increase Voluntary Course Completions
200%
100% Firm-Wide Compliance Rate
9%
87% Learning Path Completion
New metric
88% CPA Satisfaction with L&D
44%

Key Outcomes

Firm-Wide Compliance at Scale

All 75 CPAs across four departments maintain 100% compliance with real-time visibility for department heads and managing partners.

82% Cost Reduction

Consolidated 12 vendor contracts into one enterprise agreement, saving over $70,000 annually in CPE spend.

Learning Culture Shift

Voluntary course completions tripled as CPAs engaged with curated role-specific learning paths beyond compliance minimums.

Strategic HR Time Recovered

HR recovered 308 hours annually from manual CPE reporting, redirected to firm development and recruiting initiatives.

Manager Development Program

New MYCPE ONE learning tracks for promoted managers now serve as the firm's official post-promotion development curriculum.

Before vs. After Snapshot (At a Glance)

Before
12 disparate vendor CPE contracts
$85,000 annual CPE spend
91% compliance rate with gaps
320 HR hours per year on CPE reporting
CPE seen as administrative burden
No structured manager development path
After
Single enterprise MYCPE ONE agreement
$14,925 firm-wide subscription
100% compliance across all 75 CPAs
12 hours per year with one-click reports
Active learning culture with 3x voluntary completions
Custom post-promotion learning tracks for new managers

Conclusion

Harrington Whitmore CPAs did not just fix their CPE compliance; they built a learning organization. MYCPE ONE gave leadership the visibility, tools, and content infrastructure to transform professional development from a chore into a competitive differentiator. The firm saved over $70,000 annually while tripling voluntary learning engagement across all departments.