At SAX, we know that to succeed in today’s market, we need professionals who can learn quickly, apply that learning effectively and continuously adapt as client needs evolve.
Yet traditional training methods were no longer enough. Our firm faced familiar challenges: helping staff meet continuing professional education requirements efficiently, uncovering knowledge gaps to guide development and building a more capable, more client-ready workforce.
We found our solution in a flipped learning model that blends adaptive e-learning with live, experiential workshops. The results were transformative. We accelerated CPE credit completion by more than 50 percent, reclaimed 173 billable hours and equipped our people with deeper capabilities.
Here’s how we did it, and what we learned along the way.
The business need
Accounting and advisory firms are people businesses. Our clients expect us to deliver value through expertise and insight. To do that, we must continuously build both technical and leadership capabilities across our workforce.
But we faced two pressing needs.
First, our employees needed a more efficient way to meet CPE requirements without sacrificing retention. Second, we needed better visibility into knowledge gaps, both to inform individual development and to optimize team composition and hiring.
We also needed to address known challenges with virtual learning: uneven engagement, limited practice opportunities and varying levels of learner readiness.
Our approach
We partnered with Amplifire, an adaptive e-learning platform grounded in cognitive science, to design a flipped learning model.
Adaptive e-learning replaced traditional prework and lectures. Amplifire personalizes content in real time based on each learner’s knowledge and confidence level. Critically, it identifies confidently held misinformation, enabling us to target learning and development where it matters most.
Experiential workshops followed the e-learning, providing opportunities for hands-on practice, peer collaboration and instructor feedback.
Pilot design
We launched the pilot with 10 courses across both technical and soft skills areas. Topics included auditing, taxation, communication, delegation, feedback and time management.
Our target audience was senior associates through senior managers in our tax and accounting and auditing departments, critical roles that directly drive client value.
What we achieved
- Accelerated learning: Earning one CPE credit traditionally requires 50 minutes. Our employees completed credits in just 23 minutes and 17 seconds on average. Across 376 credits earned, this efficiency gain translated to 173 hours reclaimed for billable or strategic work.
- Actionable insights: The adaptive platform gave us new visibility into learner knowledge.
- We identified high rates of confidently held misinformation in key areas.
- We saw variation in knowledge by tenure, role and geography.
- We gained data to guide targeted coaching and future learning investments.
- Positive learner experience: Learners responded positively to the blended model.
- “Very effective and helpful for new managers.”
- “Helpful to have a better understanding of partnership returns.”
- “The material was so good that I would have loved a bit more practice with TE Interest.”
Our employees valued the combination of personalized e-learning and live, applied practice.
Lessons for learning and talent leaders
Our experience surfaced several lessons that may help other chief learning officers and chief talent officers.
Blend technology and human touch: Adaptive e-learning addresses individual knowledge gaps efficiently. Live workshops enable skill development through practice and feedback. Together, they drive both learning efficiency and behavior change.
Make learning data actionable: Too often, learning metrics stop at completions. Data on misinformation and struggle rates provide richer insights that can inform talent strategy, workforce planning and performance management.
Align learning with business impact: Efficiency gains and capability development are not just L&D wins. They directly support business performance, client service quality and competitive differentiation.
Looking ahead
We are now embedding adaptive e-learning more broadly across our L&D strategy. We are also using the insights it provides to inform hiring, onboarding and performance management.
As a founding member of the Accounting and Professional Services Alliance, we are contributing to industrywide development of adaptive training resources.
In today’s market, learning must deliver measurable business value. Our flipped learning model has proven that by aligning personalized learning with experiential practice, we can build a more capable workforce and drive results that matter.
