CPE Catalog & Events

It is the role of a leader to build and maintain a great culture in the organization. The culture is the driving force that shapes the attitudes and behaviors of everyone in the organization. A relationship driven organization is built on trust and is the most effective way to improve productivity, engagement, and the bottom line. Understand the components that enable trust to be created and maintained throughout teams and organizations.

On May 28, 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued converged guidance on recognizing revenue in contracts with customers (ASC 606). The objective of the guidance is to establish principles to report useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue from contracts with customers. The new guidance provides several benefits to financial statement users.   This is one in a series of courses that outline the updated revenue recognition standard.

This program addresses the critical issues and special opportunities facing S-corporations, with a focus on reporting shareholder basis and distributions. **Please Note:  If you need credit reported to the IRS for this IRS approved program, please download the IRS CE request form on the Course Materials Tab and submit to kori.herrera@acpen.com.

Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, was released in 2009. After 15 years the cryptocurrency market consists of over 5,000 unique coins/tokens with a market capitalization of over 1.5 trillion as of 1/1/24. This course will provide an update on the cryptocurrency market and the blockchain technology that supports it. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Creating Culture Benefits Your Organization It's important to dedicate time and resources in: Evaluating the company's current culture Communicating the company's values Creating processes and risk avoidance activities for a healthy corporate culture Prioritizing and monitoring risks This course will help you evaluate your organization's current culture, and teach you strategies for building a thriving corporate culture.

Sampling is often identified as a common audit deficiency in peer review. This course will review when is sampling applicable and basics of planning a sample. We'll then focus on the application of sampling in financial statement audits with a look at sampling for substantive procedures. We'll look at the use of monetary unit sampling and tools that can be leveraged to reduce bias in sampling.

Microsoft Office Excel is one of the most widely used applications by accounting and financial professionals. Yet, many remain unaware of new and improved features in Excel and, therefore, fail to reach the level of productivity and accuracy they desire. Further, with new features appearing in Excel provided through Microsoft 365 subscriptions and Excel 2024, it is more important now than ever to get up-to-speed on the world’s most popular spreadsheet! Make plans now to elevate your Excel skills by participating in this session. You will learn about the newer features available to improve efficiency and accuracy in it. You will also learn about the importance of numerous legacy features in Excel and how you can – and should – continue to use these tools to improve productivity.

This program discusses, in a practical way, how an S corporation shareholder calculates their stock and loan basis on Form 7203. Form 7203 is the IRS Form on which a shareholder is sometimes required to calculate their stock and loan basis. This topic is particularly important when an S corporation has a loss and the shareholders wish to know whether they are entitled to fully utilize the loss that has been allocated to them against their other income.

A discussion of recent law changes that impact capitalization, depreciation, and disposition of assets. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The new Global Internal Audit Standards were released on January 9, 2024, and will become effective January 9, 2025. The previous version, the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, released in 2017, remains approved for use during a one-year transition period. The Global Internal Audit Standards guide the worldwide professional practice of internal audit. They serve as a basis for evaluating and elevating the quality of the internal audit function. The Standards use 15 guiding principles with five separate domains that enable effective internal audit implementation and examples of evidence of conformance. The Global Standards are organized into five domains. Domain I: Purpose of Internal Auditing Domain II: Ethics and Professionalism Domain III: Governing the Internal Audit Function Domain IV: Managing the Internal Audit Function Domain V: Performing Internal Audit Service

Recent generally accepted auditing standards were written to improve the quality of risk-based financial statement audits, audit reporting, and required by-product communications. This course will discuss the important clarifications and enhancements intended to improve audit quality to ensure better compliance with requirements contained in the SASs. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This course will start with the Accounting Standard Updates effective in 2024 for public entities, private entities, and nonprofits. We'll then switch our attention to the items coming down the pike, including a look at the projects identified by the FASB's Invitation to Comment: Agenda Consultation. We'll also review year 2 considerations for leases including modification accounting. Then we will switch gears, switching to the audit side of the house. We'll review the impact of the changes to auditing group audits as well as the status of the AICPA's quality management project management. This course will keep auditors up to date on the work of the ASB. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Look beneath the surface of S corporation taxation in this discussion of special topics concerning S corporations.

This course examines the key elements of Officer Reasonable Compensation requirements for S and C Corporations. It focuses on the role of court cases in guiding compensation standards, the identification of individuals required to receive it, and strategies for advising taxpayers based on specific circumstances. Participants will also learn how to represent taxpayers before the IRS to defend the Officer’s Reasonable Compensation amount effectively for any given year. *Please Note:  If you need credit reported to the IRS for this IRS approved program, please download the IRS CE request form on the Course Materials Tab and submit to kori.herrera@acpen.com

Transform your Excel skills with our comprehensive training program, designed for users at all levels seeking to master the full suite of Excel capabilities. From powerful data analysis tools like PivotTables and advanced functions such as XLOOKUP, to the nuances of Data Validations and Conditional Formatting, this course offers a deep dive into Excel's most impactful features. Whether you're streamlining complex data sets, enhancing your reporting skills, or just looking to boost your productivity, this session provides the insights and techniques you need to leverage Excel to its fullest potential, making it an indispensable tool in your professional or personal toolkit. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Become a trusted and valued business partner In the dynamic landscape of modern business, the role of finance professionals is rapidly evolving. No longer confined to traditional number-crunching, today's finance experts are expected to be strategic partners, influential in shaping the future of their organizations. Global trends and changing organizational environments drive finance to be more strategic and proactive - to move beyond reporting on results to helping business units achieve results. During this session, we will dive into essential skills for finance professionals, such as: Building effective stakeholder relationships Developing acute business acumen Enhancing strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities This webcast will provide attendees with a roadmap to becoming a trusted and valued business partner.

This course provides a concise overview of Gemini AI, Google's advanced multimodal artificial intelligence model. It explains how Gemini is integrated into different Google products, including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and as a stand-alone chatbot. Participants will learn how Gemini enhances productivity by summarizing email threads, suggesting responses, drafting emails, generating formulas, creating tables, and more. By the end of the course, students will have a solid foundation in understanding Gemini AI's role in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Two seemingly similar products can have very different costs, yet many companies are completely oblivious to these differences causing them to lose money or competitive bids.  When companies compete, those with good information win the “gravy” contracts and those with bad information lose money on “dog” jobs.  Attend this session to gain insights on how to win bids for the best opportunities and give the money-losers to your competitors.  Achieve your target profitability in the process.  

As uncomfortable as some conversations are, keeping your silence won't resolve the issue and may in fact add to it. No matter which side of the table you find yourself at in a "hard to have" talk, you can learn to benefit from the conversation. In the workshop, you'll learn how to recognize when a conversation becomes critical, how to plan effectively for the conversation, and which communications strategies can help you create a win/win outcome.

A challenge for many small business owners is choosing the `right' type of retirement plan for their businesses. Many hesitate to adopt retirement plans for their businesses because they are intimidated by the governing rules. In those cases, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs are reasonable solutions because they are easy to establish, maintain, and communicate with employees; have minimal administrative costs; and are practical and efficient ways to start a retirement plan. These IRA-based plans - SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs - have low maintenance costs and are easy to communicate to employees. With IRA-based employer plans, employer contributions are sometimes discretionary, giving business owners the choice of whether to fund every year. Despite the simplicity of these plans, employers must ensure that applicable compliance requirements are met to avoid penalties. To that end, this course will cover some key provisions of SEP and SIMPLE IRAs.