CPE Catalog & Events

Discover how artificial intelligence is transforming the accounting, tax and finance landscape. This course offers CPAs a comprehensive overview of AI technologies, with a special emphasis on generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Learn how these advancements are reshaping business operations and what they mean for your professional role. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The final step in a tax controversy is Tax Court. Over 70% of all Tax Court cases are filed by taxpayers representing themselves. Most of these "pro se" taxpayers have a non-lawyer assisting them. There can be significant advantages to filing a Tax Court case to resolve a dispute. This class will explore these strategic uses of the Tax Court process and provide a basic understanding of navigating your client through the case.

Since 2017, employees have not been eligible to take an itemized deduction for a home office. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended all miscellaneous itemized deductions for tax years 2018 through 2025. That deduction is scheduled to go into effect in 2026. Self-employed individuals can deduct office expenses on Schedule C, Form 1040. The home office deduction includes typical office-connected expenditures such as supplies, postage, computers, printers, and all the other ordinary and necessary expenses a person would have in connection with running a home office. The home office tax deduction for the self-employed would cover expenses for the business use of a home, which includes mortgage interest, rent, insurance, utilities, repairs, and depreciation. This program discusses many of the most important issues relating to the deductibility of home office-related expenses.

As litigation becomes more complex, attorneys are relying more on accountants to serve as consulting experts or expert witnesses at trial. Serving as an expert witness is not as difficult as you might expect. Accounting experts educate lawyers and jurors on issues such as valuation, tax liability, and forensics. Learn how accountants become expert witnesses, the role they play during pre-litigation through to trial, and the techniques experts employ to avoid challenges from opposing counsel.

COSO framework overview Gain an overview of COSO's internal control framework comprising five components and their related principles. Learn how to evaluate the control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring activities at your or your client's entity. Through real-life examples, enhance your understanding of how to apply the framework as it relates to financial reporting whether you are an auditor or entity management.

When real property is sold for a gain, we always try to find ways to defer recognizing income so it won't be necessary to send a check to Uncle Sam. There are two provisions within the Internal Revenue Code that allow the taxpayer to defer recognition of immediate taxable gain in the year of sale: installment sales and like-kind exchanges. Knowing how and when to utilize these provisions makes the Accounting and Finance Professionals very valuable to either their client or the entity they work for. We will also discuss recent proposals which could impact the future of these two provisions.

Good managers know how to delegate, but it can be a challenge to manage employees who are more interested in passing the buck than being responsible. Lack of ownership and responsibility can bog down processes and shut down projects. This workshop will help you create a game plan for building a culture of accountability with your team.

Understanding how to effectively audit prepaid expenses is a key skill for audit staff. This course provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals, including the applicable audit assertions and common risks and threats associated with the prepaid expense balance. Participants will learn how to perform substantive auditing procedures to ensure accuracy and reliability, with guidance on applying these techniques to real-world scenarios. Designed to enhance practical knowledge, this session equips auditors with the tools and confidence needed to navigate prepaid expense audits with proficiency.

Prior to the original SAS No. 82 on Consideration of Fraud In A Financial Statement Audit (now codified as SAS No. 122, AU 240), the word fraud never appeared in a single SAS, nor was it described anywhere.  SAS No. 82 stated that auditors failed to detect fraud for two reasons:  1) They did not know what it looked like and 2) They had not been trained to look for it.  Although the SASs did not provide any guidance, auditors have always been responsible for the detection of anything that would cause a material misstatement of the financial statements whether caused by error or irregularities.  (They would not even say the word fraud until it appeared in SAS No. 82) The standards were replete with guidance on the detection of an error but silent on how to detect irregularities.  Now auditors are required to document in every financial statement audit their process of determining the risk of financial misstatement due to fraud. This presentation is designed to focus on frauds that were missed by the auditors and, in some cases, why it was missed.  There will also be discussion as to what the auditor must do in order to improve their track record on detecting fraud.  As reported on the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Occupational Fraud 2022: A Report to the Nations, only 4% of frauds were initially discovered by the external auditor.  It was reported that more frauds were discovered by accident, (5%) then was discovered by the external auditor.

Technology has given us many new writing tools, but they may just allow an inexperienced novice to turn out poor communications more quickly.  Whatever your expertise level, this webinar will help you take your writing skills to another level, saving your time and making it far more likely your reader will read and understand your message.  

Imagine being able to see into the future with confidence. The ability to be a great forecaster is not innate but learned. By examining great forecasters, we can learn to improve our ability to predict the future. We will examine best practices and current research to improve our ability to predict events that will affect our business.  

This course provides an overview of the key aspects and tax implications of S Corporations. Participants will learn the mechanics of electing Subchapter S status, compare S Corporations to other entity structures, and explore compliance requirements such as corporate formalities. Highlights include a detailed discussion of Form 1120S, accountable plans, taxable fringe benefits, officer reasonable compensation, and IRS audit strategies. The course also covers Schedules K-1, K-2, and K-3, as well as the concept of effectively connected income. Practitioners will gain practical insights into advisory services and strategies for representing clients before the IRS. *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

Advisors often ask clarifying questions as they increasingly gain an understanding of new and existing tax laws that govern IRAs. Some provisions see more questions than others due to their complexity, popularity, and level of impact on tax benefits. This course focuses on the top 20 of these questions and on SECURE Act 1.0, SECURE Act 2.0, and other hot topics. This course aims to help the advisor provide clients with the correct responses based on their IRA profiles.

Difficult conversations tend to be avoided because professionals shy away from the uncomfortable, and the fear of polarizing their relationships. Participants will learn strategies and tactics to engage in productive conversations which address challenges and deepen relationships. They will understand where and why they are avoiding having difficult conversations. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Buying and selling a business can be a complex transaction with many tax issues. These issues include whether the transaction is or should be a stock or an asset sale when the business involved is a corporation, as well as the tax consequences associated with the sale of a partnership or a C or S corporation. Tax practitioners who advise clients who are buying or selling a business primarily focus on the tax issues that apply. This program explains and analyzes the tax issues practitioners must address in order to properly advise clients who are either buyers or sellers of businesses.

This course covers recently issued accounting and financial statement reporting standards from the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Key implementation challenges and experiences from public company filings will be identified. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Many practitioners dealing with government and not-for-profit issues are asked to serve as expert witnesses in courts of law or other adjudicatory venues.  This session will discuss key issues you need to know when you are asked to serve in this capacity, including: Applicable standards and other engagement acceptance considerations. Preparation requirements and techniques. Dos and don'ts of testifying. Avoiding commons traps and tricks designed to undermine your effectiveness. The session will conclude with a “mock cross-examination” with participants serving as the jury to identify what our witness does right and what he does wrong.

This program reviews the statutory and regulatory guidance as they relate to fringe benefits. There will be an emphasis on entertainment, meals and business transportation expenses, including qualified employer-provided parking, with a focus on planning opportunities. Recent federal tax legislation, cases and rulings will also be addressed. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Storytelling makes wisdom stick.

This is a continuing part of our series on forensic accounting. Within this segment we discuss the concepts that are part of computer forensics known as cryptology. The term cryptography is from Ancient Greek and means “hidden secret”. It is the practice and study of techniques for secure communications in the presence of adversarial behavior. Cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages. Cryptography starts with secrets. Various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation (where a statement’s author cannot successfully dispute its authorship) are central to modern cryptography.