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About us

Revolutionising CPD: The Professional Alternative’s journey

We are The Professional Alternative, and we’ve been making CPD fun for lawyers and accountants since 2020. That’s right: back when most people were getting lockdown puppies and perfecting their sourdough starter, founders Steve Parrott, Sarah Katherine (SK) Bagshaw and Derek Southall took it upon themselves to revolutionise the world of online learning for professional services firms.

So what’s our alternative?

We define ourselves as being different: an alternative to boring. It’s so easy for CPD training to feel like another dull chore to tick off the list, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As the Netflix of online learning platforms, we create fun, compelling and interactive training you’ll want to make time for (because it’s too good to miss). Your staff will see our training as a perk of the job, almost on a par with free pastries or a complimentary massage. But we offer something that even the most delicious pain au chocolat does not: our training is fully verifiable for CPD and approved by regulators such as the ICAEW, the ACCA and the SRA.

You’ll laugh, you’ll learn. You’ll smash your CPD targets.

Our online learning is designed and approved by lawyers and accountants, for everyone in your firm. We cover the whole gamut of training topics, from compliance and cyber security to personal and professional development. Check out our training below:

Law Training Accountancy Training All Subjects

How it all began

OK, so back to 2020. Two of our dream team of founders, Steve and SK, had already worked together for more than 10 years. Together they formed Alternative Events and built it into the most important series of events on the professional services calendar. Their unique perspective meant they were acutely aware of a gap in the market for engaging, informative content that was totally trackable and fully CPD-compliant. When they joined forces with long-time friend and tech expert Derek, the perfect partnership was formed, and The Professional Alternative took flight.

During the first two years they built their team and the platform began to emerge, attracting a crowd of savvy investors who could all see the benefits TPA would bring.

The central aim was simple: to offer practical, pragmatic advice in an engaging way, to support busy professionals on the go. And with over 70% of content taking less than 10 minutes to consume, and nine different formats to suit every learning style, they have stayed true to that goal.

In 2022, to complement the wide range of personal and professional development content, they began building their risk and compliance eLearning suite. And in doing so they took the opportunity to breathe new life – and a much-needed sense of fun – into topics that, typically, are viewed as pretty dull. Today, TPA’s risk and compliance modules are the go-to for more than a third of the top 100 firms. Why? Because they know they can rely on them to meet the requirements of the regulators and ensure the safety of the firm and everyone in it.