CPE Catalog & Events

This course empowers accountants with the knowledge and skills needed to strategically implement generative AI within their firms, positioning them at the forefront of innovation and operational efficiency. As generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini transform business practices, accountants will learn to harness these tools to drive value, streamline processes, and enhance decision-making. Through examination of the current AI landscape, practical frameworks, and real-world applications, participants will learn how to leverage AI technologies to enhance accounting operations while maintaining professional standards and ethical considerations. The course emphasizes a balanced approach to AI adoption that focuses on augmenting human capabilities rather than replacement. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Although Windows incorporates the OneDrive app, you may not have configured it correctly for your specific needs. Using the OneDrive app and the related Cloud storage service to their fullest potential means you can access your files when and where you need them. Further, sharing your files and collaborating with others is easy when using OneDrive correctly. In this session, you will learn best practices for taking full advantage of OneDrive.

The FASB formed the Private Company Council to provide certain alternatives in U.S. GAAP that are only available to nonpublic business entities, with limited exceptions for certain nonprofits. This course will provide insight into when adopting the accounting and financial reporting alternatives would be to the advantage of private companies.

This course will address the most recent tax legislation, IRS guidance and developments occurring in 2024-25 that will impact business taxpayers. Designed to prepare the practitioner for the upcoming filing season, this course will provide useful strategies to assist in the tax preparation process. **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.  

Thsi course provides a comprehensive overview of Written Information Security Plans (WISP), focusing on their purpose, requirements, and implentation. All PTIN holders must certify they have a WISP prior to renewal, along with certifying the training of employees, staff and contractors as necessary. Participants will explore the history and legal foundation of WISP under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and how compliances is enforsed through IRS Circular 230, AICPA Statments of Standards, The American Bar Associations and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This session focuses on the power of pivot tables within Microsoft Excel. We initially discuss the creation of pivot tables and various ways to summarize information. Then we explore ways to utilize summarized pivot table data. The course uses several practical examples that should inspire participants to find their own creative uses for pivot tables.

All entities are subject to the new expected credit loss model established by recent GAAP.  This course will provide highlights of the latest requirements for measurement, presentation, and disclosure.  

Human Resources professionals are often tasked with investigating allegations of employee misconduct, discrimination, and others. Investigation training is traditionally presented from the position of an outsider looking in, such as a governmental agency, law firm, or private investigator. HR investigations require similar skills, but the environment and the approach are quite different. This session provides best practices for interviewing to gather accurate information, such as creating and asking open ended questions, effective listening, and understanding verbal and non-verbal communication. Attendees will end the session with takeaways to immediately implement in future HR investigations. Two of three Episodes in the series.

There is simply no denying that a sufficiently designed and effectively operating system of internal controls over reliable financial reporting is more important than ever. The primary objective of this course is to give participants "hands-on" practice in designing, evaluating, and communicating conclusions related to design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over reliable financial reporting and other risks for nonprofit environments. 

Excel is the accountant’s tool of choice for analyzing and reporting financial data, yet many use time-consuming and error-prone processes to complete everyday tasks. Regardless of your level of experience, if you use Excel, you need this course to learn more efficient and effective ways to work with Excel. In this course, you will discover countless tips, tricks, and techniques to improve your general level of productivity, reduce the amount of time you spend on mundane tasks, such as formatting, and customize Excel for greater accuracy and efficiency. You will also learn valuable formula-building skills, best practices for linking Excel data from other worksheets and workbooks, and how to streamline report generation and printing processes. Your K2 instructor will reinforce key learning points throughout the program with practical, real-world examples that will improve your understanding and comprehension of the topics presented. This highly acclaimed course draws on over twenty-five years of experience in delivering spreadsheet training to accounting and financial professionals, which assures you of the relevance and usefulness of the information and guidance provided during the program.

Charts and graphs are nothing new. However, many professionals struggle with building compelling visualizations. If that statement describes you, participate in this session to improve your skills in creating Excel charts and other visualizations. As a result, you will create visualizations to enhance your communication skills. This session is much more than just a seminar on fundamental charts. Instead, in this session, you will learn how to create advanced charts that are interactive, dynamic, and aesthetically pleasing – three qualities that will help to ensure that your readers and audience will understand the data you are presenting. This seminar is a must if you want to improve your communication skills.

Sometimes the vernacular of accounting seems more challenging than technical aspects. This session offers suggestions for translating the foreign language of taxation into tangible terms for non-accountants. We explore techniques for simplifying the complexity of taxation terminology. This course will equip you with tools for demystifying tax technicalities so you can help clients and other non-tax professionals grasp fundamental concepts.

Lease accounting under FASB ASC 842 is now fully effective for all entities. Transitioning to new GAAP always leads to implementation issues and concerns. This course will answer the most common questions asked related to the latest lease accounting and financial reporting requirements after adoption and transition. 

Working with a small business, you know that keeping the company's finances in order is critical to success. While numerous software programs and tools are available to help you do this, they vary substantially in many significant aspects. In addition to conventional options like QuickBooks and Sage 50, you can choose from Cloud-based tools such as Zoho Books, QuickBooks Online, Spire Systems, Xero, Accounting Suite, Accounting Power, and many more. In this session, we'll look at the best accounting tools for small businesses and discuss the benefits of each one. This session covers accounting solutions that should work for startups and companies with up to $10 million in annual revenue. We also cover various add-on solutions that can enhance the overall functionality of your accounting platform. Join us to learn your options for achieving your small business management financial goals.

The mad scramble to remote work and utilize apps like Teams has been trying for most organizations over the past couple of years. With a rush to install and no time to plan, most team members did their best, prioritizing remote meetings as the primary concern. Therefore, as a result, Teams is vastly misunderstood and underutilized in most organizations. Join us in this session to go beyond the remote meetings aspect of Teams and to learn how to optimize efficiency, communication, and workflow with Teams.

Accountants are expected to demonstrate a questioning mindset. While such professional skepticism is an obvious requirement for assurance engagements, it is applicable elsewhere in the practice of public accounting. In fact, a skeptical mindset offers benefits to both public accountants and those who work in industry. This course provides specific examples of professional skepticism while suggesting best practices.

Why can it be hard to automate accounting? Because many accountants don’t know their options and, therefore, fail to reap the rewards of accounting automation. This session will teach you how easy and profitable accounting automation can be. In it, you will learn how to automate many traditional accounting processes, often with technology you already own. In addition to bank feeds, you will learn about automation options for processing accounts payable and receivable, approving transactions, and linking data from one platform to another. If you are serious about improving efficiency and accuracy, you should make plans to attend this session.

Volatility and complexity are the new normal. Most organizations are drowning in data, but starving for information. The finance and accounting function has the opportunity to leverage Big Data and the continuum of analytics – descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive. All are useful for better decision making. Collecting, validating, and reporting data is not the same thing as analyzing information where we can glean valuable, actionable insights. In some ways the finance function is many years behind other disciplines such as marketing, sales, and supply chain managers, in applying analytics. How can the CFO’s function catch up?

*** Save 15% on this event when you use the code SPRING25 at checkout ***This program focuses on two parts of Subchapter K, partnership distributions and sales of partnership interests - topics that tax practitioners are often asked about by clients. Tax practitioners are called upon to advise both the partnership which makes distributions and the partners receiving the distributions regarding the tax consequences of these transactions. Additionally, tax practitioners will be deeply involved in decisions regarding the sale and purchase of a partnership interest. These topics are thoroughly covered in this program. The presenters also discuss several types of partnership distributions and the tax rules relating to them, as well as analyze the tax rules relating to the sale of a partnership interest. Tax practitioners will be given an in-depth analysis of these complex topics, so that they can effectively answer their clients' questions.

The introduction to governmental budgeting course is an overview of the typical timeline and process a government uses when creating their annual budget. Topics covered include, the basics of governmental budgeting, establishing priorities for the budget, the common steps and timeline of the budget process, what, when and how we should be monitoring the budget throughout the year, and how long-term budgets fit in with the annual budget process.