CPE Catalog & Events

This program addresses the recent changes imposed by recent tax legislation that real estate owners and investors need to know, including Section 199A, the new Section 163(j) interest expense limits and the opportunity to elect out.  An introduction to opportunity zones and other important issues will also be addressed. **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.

Client interactions and professionalism are at the core of what we do as accountants. However, communication with clients is not always as straightforward as it may seem. Sometimes there will be difficult conversations and disagreements that can be tough to navigate. During this course, we will discuss best practices when communicating with the client, and also walk through complicated scenarios to practice what we learn.

This course is tailored for business leaders and HR professionals who want to enhance their strategic management skills and create actionable plans for success. You’ll learn the overall strategic management process, how to develop both simplified and detailed business and strategic plans, and the crucial role of corporate culture, leadership, and staff development in driving or hindering strategic outcomes. Additionally, you’ll explore how to leverage ChatGPT (Generative AI) as a powerful tool to improve your performance as a key business partner to the management team, helping you make data-driven decisions and enhance organizational effectiveness.

Do you use Microsoft (Office) 365? Are you satisfied that you are getting the most that you can from it? If you answered yes then no, this course will provide a really high return on your investment of time and money in this application suite. John Higgins, one of the profession's leading experts on the integration of Microsoft 365 into business, will explain and demonstrate the depth and breadth of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The course is designed to raise your awareness of all that you can do with Microsoft 365 and substantially increase your monthly subscription ROI. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

By the nature of our work and training, financial professionals have more personal finance knowledge than the general population. However, sometimes we spend so much time planning our company's future that we neglect or defer taking steps to build our own personal net worth. If you are dissatisfied about the speed that you are accumulating savings, this session will help put you on the right track. Even if you are meeting your goals, this session will provide insights and ideas which will add to and reinforce what you may already be doing.

This course corresponds to our Controllership series. This course is dedicated to exploring the traditional controller role and stepping out of the box to identify areas where the controller can continue to add strategic value to their organizations. Within this segment of our controllership series, we discuss the area of cash and investments and explore how the controller can move these responsibilities into more of a strategic role. In today’s world, the role of cash management is often a pivotal role in the organization. In economically difficult times, controllers may find that they spend a great deal of their time on understanding and managing the organizations' cash position. This is certainly important and, in some areas, can be seen as a staple of the lifeblood of the organization’s ongoing viability. This course takes a look at some of the typical objectives involved in Cash management and then evaluates how those objectives can be further stretched into strategic pillars of the organization.   

This session will expand on methodologies to employ when owner-employee compensation is at issue. The session will focus on determinations of reasonable replacement compensation for individuals who both provide services to a closely held business or professional practice and also have an ownership stake in the enterprise. Executive Compensation in the form of options and restricted stock will also be covered in the context of marital dissolution proceedings. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC) has been meeting with FASB to discuss the impact of various standards on the nonprofit community. We'll look at the work of the NAC and the impact they've had. We'll then transition to the Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) issued by the FASB that impact nonprofit entities. We'll review year 2 considerations of the leases standard. We'll also review common nonprofit deficiencies identified in peer review. Once we've wrapped up the accounting update, the course shifts to the audit side of the house with a look at what's going on at the AICPA. We'll review the impact of the changes to group audits as the changes coming down the pike for quality 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.

Each year brings its own set of tax planning challenges, and this year is no exception. This course aims to arm tax planners with planning strategies and ideas that all clients, but in particular, wealthy clients, middle-income clients, and closely held business owners need to consider right now to take advantage of present opportunities and plan for future tax advantages. Learn strategies that can really have an impact on client lives, while also bringing value to you and your firm. This material is continuously updated for recent legislation impacting individual taxpayers.

This CPE course explains Yellow Book independence including the general requirements, requirements for auditors providing non-audit services and documentation requirements. This course also explains the basic elements of a Uniform Guidance compliance audit, including an overview of requirements, major program determination with examples, an understanding of compliance requirements and related internal control over compliance, sampling, and single audit reporting. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

What would you do if you only had one workday to complete a financial statement audit? How would you optimize just a handful of hours? What would you test? More importantly, what would you minimize or eliminate? Although one day is unrealistically short, it illustrates how risk-based auditing can help auditors optimize professional effort. This course emphasizes the importance of risk assessment for enhancing both the effectiveness and efficiency of audit procedures.

Learn how to enhance your Excel workflows with AI in this course, "AI-Powered Excel: Leveraging AI and ChatGPT for Supercharged Productivity." Discover the various AI features built into Excel and how to use ChatGPT to create, understand and troubleshoot Excel functions and formulas. Imagine turning two-hour Excel tasks into two minutes of effort! This course will help you streamline your Excel work, research and documentation, saving you time and effort in your day-to-day tasks.

This course explores the best practices for hiring remotely while leveraging personality assessments to make more informed decisions. Learn how to effectively integrate personality testing into your recruitment process to identify candidates who are the right fit for your team, even from a distance.

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.

Many finance departments spend considerable time managing cash, particularly if the organization is highly leveraged or cash rich.  Many opportunities exist to reduce your financing costs or increase short-term cash returns if you manage cash effectively.  This session will cover a wide variety of day-to-day cash management tools.  

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?

Most organizations have many of the basic controls required to operate in place. However, a notable percentage of these companies do not have important measures that can help enhance security, productivity, and the quality of information available for decision making. In this session, we work to identify areas where important internal control measures are needed. We spend time explaining why these controls should be created, and show in detail some specific controls that would be beneficial if utilized. Those wishing to strengthen an internal control system should strongly consider attending this session. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The IRS has issued final regulations regarding the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's (TCJA) elimination of the deduction for expenditures related to entertainment, amusement, or recreational activities and provided guidance to determine whether an activity is considered to be entertainment. The final regulations also address the 50% limitation on the deduction of food and beverage expenses and when the 50% limitation does not apply. Due to the pandemic, Congress changed the rules for 2021 and 2022 to allow for 100% deductibility for meals. These temporary rules no longer applied starting in 2023. To effectively advise clients, it is imperative for tax practitioners to understand these rules and be updated on the latest IRS guidance related to meals and entertainment.

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.

Learn the basic skills new staff need to hit the ground running and efficiently complete assigned tasks, including what new auditors are expected to know and do, including the nature, timing, and extent of common audit procedures. Focus on why certain procedures are performed and perform typical procedures.