CPE Catalog & Events

*** Save 15% on this event when you use the code SPRING25 at checkout *** ChatGPT and AI can enrich your accounting practice if you use it the right way. If you don't, disaster lurks. How can you make this technology work for you instead of against you?This timely, entertaining, and results-focused course will show you how to use five powerful principles to make ChatGPT and AI work for you instead of against you.You'll see how to apply these principles to a range of scenarios you face as a CPA, and you'll leave with strategies you can implement immediately.

This program will address the complex rules for partnership distribution of property with a focus on liquidating of a partner's interest, Section 751 and how to complete the new Form 7217.

We all make predictions in our personal and professional lives.  We base our decisions to marry, buy a house, launch a new product or hire staff on expectations about the future.  In the past few years, research into improving predictions has advanced. We will look at this research and current best practices in forecasting to help us prepare better budgets and projections. 

The audit standards state that one of the reasons auditors fail to detect fraud is that they don’t know what it looks like.  Prior to the original SAS No. 82, Consideration of Fraud In A Financial Statement Audit, nowhere in any SAS was there a description of what fraud looked like.  So, as they say, if you don’t know what you are looking for, you can often look right at it and not recognize it! This presentation illustrates some of the more common indicators of fraud they most individuals would overlook unless they 1) knew what they were looking for and were 2) actually looking for it.  Contrary to what the standards say about fraud being concealed, I have found that fraud is often laying on the table right in front of you; but no one has discovered it because they have no idea what the indicators of fraud are.

This course provides an in-depth exploration of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems as a critical tool for business automation. Designed for accounting professionals, it emphasizes CRM's role in streamlining workflows, organizing communications, enhancing client relationships, and improving efficiency. Participants will learn about key CRM features, integration with accounting software, and best practices for successful implementation. We will highlight practical applications with actionable insights to help attendees optimize their processes. This two-hour session ensures you walk away with a basic understanding of CRM's transformative potential for business and financial management.

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

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.

Inventory observations are often a right of passage for audit staff. This course will cover the basics of auditing inventory, including the related audit assertions, risks, & threats to inventory. During this course, we will also highlight the various substantive auditing procedures that staff should perform, and also walk through how to conduct a physical inventory observation. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

After a false start in 2022 when it failed to pass through Congress, the Secure Act 2.0 was passed in a flurry of year-end legislation. This two hour program will cover the important changes in savings and distributions of retirement plans that impact individuals. Employers will also need to consider how Secure Act 2.0 will the administration of existing plans or the creation of new ones. This course will provide a concise look at these hot topics. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Join the Team from Hodgen Law for a monthly LIVE International tax-based presentation. Be sure to register for them all. April 2025 - Form 8858: When to File, What to Report May 2025 - Form 5472: When to File, What To Report June 2025 - Life After Expiration: Common Tax Issues July 2025 - Form 5471: The Section 962 Election August 2025 - Form 5471: Previously-Taxed Earnings & Profits (Schedules J, P) September 2025 - Form 3520: When to File, What to Report October 2025 - Form 3520-A: When to File, What to Report November 2025 - Pre-Expatriation Tax Planning to Minimize Exit Tax January 2026 - Pre-Residency Tax Planning February 2026 - Foreign Retirement Plans: Employees' Trusts, Grantor Trusts, or What? March 2026 - Portfolio Interest Loans for Real Estate Investments

A common challenge for the controller role is in closing the month-end and period-end books in preparation to issue financial statements. This duty requires precision, timing and efficiency. In today’s digital world, many organizations have access to financial accounting software that will assist with the steps in the financial close. However, even with this aid it is critical the accountant understand the various steps for the close process and how they inter-relate to other accounting processes. This course gives you an insight into the inter-relationships between many processes that impact the financial close. The closing process has traditionally been a slow one with many companies taking two weeks to close its subsidiary’s books and another two to three weeks to roll up and consolidated the results. With the introduction of technology much has been done to help accelerate that process with integrated enterprise resource planning systems and general ledger and consolidate software. Within this segment we will discuss the elements of the financial close and also important concepts to assist the controller in accelerating their close timeline. This includes addressing all functional areas of the close including payroll, invoicing, payables, inventory, cash, and the general ledger. We will also discuss important concepts of ensuring your financial close is accurate by discussing bank reconciliations, overhead allocations, bad debt reserves, unpaid wages and accruals for vacation time, account reconciliations, deprecation and overall financial statement review. Note: This course does not address utilizing technology in the financial close. Its focus is to understand the varied procedures involved in the financial close whether or not technology is utilized.  

Forensic accounting, forensic accountancy or financial forensics is the specialty practice area of accounting that investigates whether firms engage in financial reporting misconduct. Forensic accountants apply a range of skills and methods to determine whether there has been financial reporting misconduct. Financial forensic engagements may fall into several categories. For example: Economic damages calculations, whether suffered through tort or breach of contract. Post-acquisition disputes such as earnouts or breaches of warranties Bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganization Securities and tax fraud Money laundering Business valuation Computer forensics/e-discovery This session is designed to delve into further investigative procedures used including digital forensics. Future sessions will focus on computer forensics, network forensics and mobile forensics.  

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.

The annual budgeting process is often criticized as an accounting exercise that is obsolete soon after it is published, prone to gamesmanship, cumbersome, not volume sensitive, and disconnected from the organization's strategy and risk management processes. You can resolve these deficiencies using capacity-sensitive driver-based projections. Driver-based budgeting allows for quick scenario planning and far easier analysis of a growing organization whose future may look nothing like today. The driver-based budgets can be periodically refreshed to create rolling financial forecasts extending well beyond the fiscal year end. Learn how managerial accounting can become managerial economics.

The Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) pertains to the management of Federal Financial Assistance for grants and cooperative agreements.  The Biden Administration has performed a comprehensive update where the revised Uniform Guidance was released in April 2024. We will review all of the significant compliance and threshold changes. In addition, we will provide a brief presentation of the revised guidance as it pertains to Time and Effort reporting.

An audit is an investment in reliable financial reporting and compliance, and an increased return on those dollars can be achieved by hiring the right auditors. This course will provide key factors for you to consider when evaluating whether you are getting the most quality and insight from your auditors, to enable them to perform the most value-added audit possible in the given circumstances - while retaining the trust of a CPA. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Are you looking to take your PivotTables to the next level? Many experts consider PivotTables to be Excel’s most powerful feature. Yet, most who create and work with them barely scratch the surface of all that PivotTables can do. In this session, you’ll learn eight powerful features you may have missed. From user-defined calculations to consolidating reports and adding KPIs, we’ll show you how to get the most out of your PivotTables. These are just some examples of the great things you can do with PivotTables, and in this session, you will learn these and other techniques to make your PivotTables even more powerful.

Navigating the complexities of estate and trust administration is a vital skill for professionals, who play an integral role in the administration team. This comprehensive course is designed to equip professionals with a thorough understanding of their responsibilities and the processes involved in estate administration, enhancing their ability to address estate settlement issues effectively. Participants will be provided with a detailed overview of the professional’s role in estate and trust administration, emphasizing practical insights and strategies for managing assets, addressing the legitimacy of debts and creditors, and ensuring the proper distribution of assets. **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.

Looking to stay ahead in tax matters? Join our 2025 Individual Tax Update course for an essential deep dive into Form 1040 essentials. Designed for tax pros eager to sharpen their skills, this course unpacks recent tax code changes and equips you with the know-how to navigate them effortlessly. From mastering IRS Form 1040 to leveraging new tax benefits, you'll emerge ready to optimize returns for your clients while staying compliant with the latest regulations. Don't miss out on this opportunity to boost your expertise and ensure financial success for both you and your clients! **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.

Discover how Microsoft 365 Copilot can revolutionize your daily tasks as a CPA. Dive into the specific features and functionalities of this AI-powered assistant. Learn how to leverage Copilot to enhance productivity, automate routine tasks, and improve collaboration within your team. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.