CPE Catalog & Events

This course covers basic legal principles that every accountant should be familiar with to avoid common legal disputes and costly litigation. By analyzing business law issues from the standpoint and background of accountants and auditors, this course will help you develop an approach to client and practice issues with a sensitivity and appreciation for potential legal ramifications.

Many Excel users have received little or no formal training to help them use the ubiquitous productivity application. This session can help users that wish to improve their Excel skills to increase their productivity. The material starts by covering basic topics such as time saving tips and keyboard shortcuts and then moves to more advanced areas like conditional formatting and complex formula building. Users that find themselves looking at the spreadsheets that others design and wishing they could do as much with Excel will benefit greatly by taking this course. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Collaborate, connect, innovate and inspire for success (bold) It's a new world for accountants and finance professionals. Ground-breaking shifts in regulation, leadership and technology mean that "business as usual" doesn't cut it anymore. Success now depends on our ability to collaborate, connect, innovate and inspire. For the past decade, Bill Sheridan has used the Maryland Association of CPAs acclaimed blog, CPA Success, to advise us on how to collaborate, connect, innovate and inspire. In doing so, he's learned a valuable lesson along the way: We build better businesses, live better lives and conquer complexity when we master the ability to look, lead, love and learn. Join this webcast to hear more.

Power Query and Power BI offer great opportunities for accessing your data and making it more useful in reporting scenarios. Learn how to benefit from these tools in this session.

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, accounting professionals are expected to be more than just number crunchers, they are expected to be insightful interpreters of data. In an era where data is king, this course is your gateway to becoming a savvy data analyst, giving you a competitive edge in your field. We will guide you through the intricacies of making complex data analysis approachable and engaging. You will learn the all important Data Analysis Process Flow that will take you from collecting data all the way to making insightful decisions based upon your data. We will explore the basics of data modeling that will allow you to access data from multiple sources and use sophisticated calculations to create our data metrics. You will learn how to create interactive dashboards, perform sophisticated reporting, and uncover deep insights from your data. Whether you're looking to streamline your reporting process, enhance your data visualization skills, or make more data-driven decisions, this course is tailored to meet those needs. It's not just about learning a tool; it's about enhancing your professional identity as a forward-thinking accounting professional. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Discover the communication edge that will take your CPA career to the next level. This comprehensive course empowers CPAs with the tools to enhance clarity, build trust, and drive decisions. Learn to transform complex jargon into actionable insights and develop powerful persuasion techniques that resonate with clients and stakeholders. Join me to sharpen your communication skills and elevate your professional impact. 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 describes a state agency's quality review of a not-for-profit organization's A-133 Single Audit.  The case study describes the organization audited, its federally- and state-funded programs, and the CPA firm retained to do the audit.  Various anomalies in the financial statements alerted state officials to potential problems, and a detailed quality review followed.  Find out how the entity turned hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank overdrafts into hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash on its balance sheet.  Explore other “creative” ways to deal with fixed assets, accounts receivable, and related-party transactions.  Were the auditors just sloppy, ignorant, negligent?  Or were they active participants in producing fraudulent financial statements?  You be the judge.

Starting with tax year 2021, Form 7203, S Corporation Shareholder Stock and Debt Basis Limitation, may be required to accompany shareholders’ Individual Income Tax Returns (Form 1040). This form is essential for reporting a shareholder's outside basis and debt basis to properly apply loss limitations under I.R.C. §461 and at-risk limitations. This course will provide a detailed overview of Form 7203, including its mechanics and strategies for completing it accurately. Additionally, strategies for reconstructing shareholder basis when it has not been maintained in the past will be discussed, helping practitioners handle these scenarios effectively. *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

Even after we complete our work at an institution, the question sometimes lingers: "Did I pick the right major?" Major program determination is difficult in a single audit and sometimes we feel ill prepared to make the best decision. This course will give you the counseling and assistance you need to feel confident in your major program selection under the 2024 revision to the Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards.

Breaking the Wall of blind acceptance; avoiding habitual complacency and Yoking the dots between cause and effect.

Many Microsoft 365/Office 365 subscriptions include robust Cloud services for improving productivity. Foundational services, such as SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Exchange Online, join with other powerful tools such as Teams, Planner, Power Automate, Forms, and Power Apps to provide a productivity platform second to none. Unfortunately, most users will never benefit from working with these tools simply because they remain unaware of these features. Plan to attend this session to learn about the “rest of 365” and how these Cloud-based applications can enhance personal and team productivity while simultaneously facilitating remote working arrangements. Don’t miss this opportunity to get all the knowledge and guidance necessary to leverage your investment in Microsoft 365/Office 365 fully.

With the increasing complexity and ever-changing nature of tax laws and issues, today’s accountant needs a one-day fast-paced update course focusing on the hottest Federal income tax topics affecting individuals, businesses and their owners with an emphasis of newly enacted income tax legislation. **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

The AICPA has identified risk assessment as an area of focus for its Enhancing Audit Quality Initiative as deficiencies in auditor's risk assessment procedures continue to be a common issue identified in peer review. SAS No. 145, Understanding the Entity and Its Environment and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement, was written to improve the quality of risk-based audits. While key concepts do not fundamentally change, the standard works to clarify and enhance certain aspects of the identification and assessment of the risks of material misstatement to drive better risk assessments and hopefully overall enhance audit quality. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Technical expertise may get you in the door—but emotional intelligence (EQ) is what builds trust, earns loyalty, and sustains lasting success. For CPAs, attorneys, financial professionals, bankers, and insurance agents, your ability to navigate emotions—your own and others'—is often the difference between a good client interaction and a great one, between a team that functions and a team that thrives. This interactive course goes beyond theory and dives into real-world application. You’ll uncover what emotional intelligence really is, why it matters more than ever in today’s professional world, and how to strengthen your EQ to improve performance, strengthen relationships, and manage stress with confidence. You’ll walk away with tools you can use immediately to transform how you lead meetings, manage conflict, build client trust, and drive results—while also enriching your personal life. Whether you're looking to become a better leader, communicate with more clarity, or create meaningful client connections, this course gives you the insight and strategies to make it happen.  

Understanding your own and the people style of others whom you are dealing with which can establish rapport more easily, help you become more persuasive, and avoid miscommunication with the possibility of rubbing someone the wrong way.  In our session, you will gain insights into your people style, ways to improve communication connectivity and how to understand your team's functionality (or more likely dysfunctionality).  

Numbers and especially the digits within those numbers can conceal a lot of information.  Benford's Law and other digital analysis techniques can be the keys to unlocking that information.  This session will explain what Benford's Law is, how it works, and how it can be used to reveal bogus information and made-up data.  Accountants and auditors should understand how to use this valuable audit tool as well as other digital analysis techniques.  But, if you attend this session, you must promise not to reveal the secret behind these techniques to any fraud perpetrators.

This program presents a detailed analysis of the self-rental passive activity rules, including forms reporting examples and integrates them with the flow-through entity rules related to self-rental. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

In every audit, the auditor must identify and assess the risks of material misstatement in the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. This process includes understanding the entity and its environment, including its internal control, thereby providing a basis for designing and implementing responses to the assessed risks of material misstatement. This program explores efficient ways to conduct audits (primarily for private companies), including discussing the applicable standards and their requirements.

Audits conducted under the Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards continue to be among the most challenging audit engagements as the number of federally funded programs for not-for-profit organizations continues to increase. This course will provide you with what you need to know to prepare for Single Audits conducted during 2025, including performing the compliance audit and auditor reporting responsibilities.

External auditors only detect 3-5% of all fraud incidences. Get pragmatic guidance on detecting fraud. Discuss where fraud is most likely to occur. Learn to conduct inquiries and direct the audit in the areas of greatest concern, those most likely to be abused by perpetrators.