CPE Catalog & Events

This course will review the fundamentals of fiduciary accounting and provide a reporting guide for determining whether receipts and expenditures are assigned to income or principal/corpus. Critical issues, rules, and special opportunities when preparing your clients' Form 1041 U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts will be examined, including what is considered taxable income and allowable deductions. Planning and potential pitfalls will also be explored.  This course only qualifies for 2 IRS credits. *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

Fraud continues to make headlines, underscoring the importance of understanding how fraud occurs, how it can be prevented, and how auditors are expected to respond. This course begins with an overview of common fraud schemes identified in the 2026 Report to the Nations issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, along with key characteristics commonly observed among fraud perpetrators. The course then explores practical approaches organizations use to prevent and deter fraud, highlighting controls, policies, and cultural factors that can reduce fraud risk. Participants will also review recent fraud cases reported in the news to reinforce how these schemes manifest in real-world settings. The course concludes with a discussion of the auditor's responsibilities related to fraud under AU-C 240, including an overview of proposed changes to the fraud standards and what they may mean for future audit engagements. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was a major overhaul of our tax system that lowered the income tax rates for individual and corporate taxpayers and introduced the new 20% qualified business income (QBI) deduction for sole proprietors and pass-through entities. The cornerstone of this course is the comprehensive discussion of the 20% QBI deduction final regulations under IRC §199A.      *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 terri.storer@acpen.com    

*** This is not a Florida-approved Ethics course***The course provides general information on how to identify money laundering activities during the conduct of normal tax audits. Discover key resources and tools available for effective detection and deterrence. Explore the impact of money laundering on ethical decision-making, and how examiners and auditors can assist criminal investigators in countering money laundering. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Employment taxes are often overlooked as an area where more planning may be effective. Payroll taxes have become an increasing burden for the average business and IRS penalties for noncompliance have risen dramatically in recent years. As a result, they have also been subject to employer incentives. The Service has announced that uncovering noncompliance by employers ranks high on its audit list. This course presents an overview of employee versus independent contractor criteria, the federal payroll taxes form, Form 1099, and related compliance issues.

Reporting findings under the Yellow Book and single audit standards comes with unique rules - but mastering them is easier than you think. This course gives you the tools and techniques to prepare, write, and present findings that meet the GAO and OMB requirements while sparking meaningful improvements for your clients. You'll learn exactly what to report, how to report it, and where to report it so you can deliver results with clarity, compliance, and impact.

As financial and tax professionals well know, information overload is a constant struggle we face because things change quickly, and the sheer number of changes being made on a daily basis is enormous. Of great importance to small and medium tax and advisory firms is differentiating between changes that are relevant to our practice and our clients and changes that are new but totally irrelevant. Distinguishing between the two is difficult and time-consuming. Mike Tucker and a team of experts are pleased to present a weekly series designed to eliminate the clutter and get you what you need to stay up-to-date and perform for your clients. Mike and his co-presenters will dispense news on current events impacting taxes, finance, and industry. The subject matter will differ each week and intermittently include topics such as Social Security and Medicare. The panelists will discuss personal and corporate tax matters as well as other late-breaking news related to practitioners' personal finances and those of their clients. Every financial professional will benefit from this series. This is a cost-effective way for accountants to fulfill their compulsory continuing education because this weekly series will include almost 40 one-hour presentations. Sign up today — your clients and your bottom line will thank you.

The objective of corrective action is to change conduct through teaching. Corrective action may be sequential, out of order, repetitive, or not appropriate to take at all. The action selected should reflect the type, frequency, and severity of the misconduct. Changing conduct through teaching requires effective employee relations skills. This course provides practical knowledge and scripts for handling a wide array of sensitive misconduct situations with good judgment, such that personal and employer liability is avoided.

The procurement function is a critical area of organizations where spend is a top priority. The Controllership function is involved in spend management. It is logical that the Controller should take a role in working with the procurement function. The procurement function may report to various areas within an organization including the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Financial (CFO) or Accounting Officer (CAO). Regardless of the reporting line of the function, the accounting and controllership functions must have an integral understanding of all processes involved within procurement. This understanding assists the controller and accounting area in properly optimizing and controlling costs associated with the process.  

The standard also requires information about the following categories:  disaggregation of revenue contract balances performance obligations This webinar will deal directly with disclosure requirements for the standard. Several courses currently exist on the platform related to an overview of the standard and deep dive into individual steps of the standards.   

Emerging risks seem to be an issue for all business processes these days. It's been 20 years and counting since the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation was passed. In theory the legislative requirements outlined are still in place. Although the requirements haven't changed, time has changed and as a result, execution of the processes has most likely changed. However, it would be amiss to not recognize that the passage of time has changed our world. Think of various events such as economic change, technological evolution, the pandemic etc. These are just a few of the changes that may have impacted the manner in which we execute some of the processes outlined in the SOX legislation.

Common Audit and Financial Reporting Deficiencies in State and Local Governments, is a 2 hour webcast detailing many of the more common mistakes that auditors and accountants are making in either the preparation of their annual financial statements or the audits of such financial statements. Deficiencies in audit standards (AICPA, GAO, Single Audit) and preparation standards (GASB) noted in this webcast are driven by the most recent results found in audit organization peer reviews, workpaper or desk reviews, and various organizations checklists for oversight. 

Frequently, third parties may request certain financial and nonfinancial information to be verified by the external accountant (often referred to as ";comfort letters"). This course will provide insight into how to respond to requests for comfort in a way that will minimize professional liability risk. 

Cryptocurrency continues to evolve rapidly, bringing new accounting and auditing considerations for CPAs and auditors. This course provides a practical overview of the accounting and auditing issues associated with cryptocurrency, with an emphasis on recent standard-setting developments and their implications for practice. The accounting portion of the course focuses on ASU 2023-08 and related developments, including recent FASB Board discussions, the FASB's Invitation to Comment, and the addition of cryptocurrency-related topics to the FASB's research agenda. Participants will work through a practical case study to apply the guidance in ASU 2023-08, building confidence in accounting for cryptocurrency transactions and balances. The auditing portion of the course addresses key audit considerations related to cryptocurrency, including implications for engagement acceptance and continuance, risk assessment, and the design and performance of audit procedures. The course also references the AICPA's Accounting for and Auditing of Digital Assets practice aid to help bridge authoritative guidance and real-world application.

Nobody is immune to fraud risk. This course opens with stories of real fraud perpetrators then examines the similarities between the fraud perpetrators, discovering that they all have many common traits. It finishes with techniques accountants can use to deter these behaviors. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Whether you're heading across town or across the globe, traveling with electronic devices carries real risks to the sensitive client and firm data stored on them. In this session, we'll explore the ethical obligations CPAs have to protect confidential information, including guidance from the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and applicable laws. We'll examine how data can be accessed — legitimately or maliciously — by third parties during travel, and offer practical strategies to minimize risk, from using loaner devices and mobile device management to coordinating with IT before departure. The session includes current border search rules, international considerations, and actionable tips for staying secure in transit.

Many partnerships and S corporations are now required to complete the voluminous Schedules K-2 and K-3 to report foreign-related tax information. Updated for the 2025 tax year, this course is an essential guide for tax preparers on how to tackle the preparation of these forms. Understanding and preparing these forms requires a basic knowledge of various international tax topics, including sourcing of income, foreign tax credit income categories, effectively connected income, and fixed, determinable, annual, or periodical (FDAP) income. The course includes a brief discussion of key international tax concepts, a detailed walk-through of what information is required to be reported in different parts of the schedules, and practical advice from the field. The course also includes three comprehensive case studies on how the form should be completed for operating, real estate rental, and investment partnerships. Please note: Surgent also offers a companion course, "Schedules K-2 and K-3: Filing Requirements" (KFR2).

SAS 122, AU 240 requires that auditors determine if there is a significant risk that the financial statements are materially misstated due to either error of fraud.  This presentation is an overview of how to determine if there is a significant risk of a material risk; whether it is due to error or fraud; and what to do in designing your audit program to address such risk.  It’s important to know that without documentation as to such determination, an auditor has no basis for performing any specific audit procedure and thus would be performing a substandard audit.  The standards require that each procedure be designed to decrease the possibility of a material misstatement. This program is an overview of how an auditor determines if there is a risk of a material misstatement; how document such determination; and how to address the risk if it is due to error vs fraud, because there is a big difference.

As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), IRC § 199A was added.  This Internal Revenue Code section allows certain pass-through entities the ability to has made it deduct up to 20% of their qualified business. Although practitioners have had over three years of “experience” utilizing IRC § 100A, many practitioners still do not feel comfortable with this part of the Internal Revenue Code.  The purpose of this presentation is to provide the practitioner with an understanding of the rules of IRC § 199A as well as an understanding of the IRC § 199A regulations. **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.

Valuation techniques and cash management activities are two other tool categories that can round out your analytical toolbox. In this course we will initially discuss how to turn your financial plan into a powerful valuation engine.  We then will discuss the formation of an efficient cash management program based on solid banker relationships.  Finally, we will review Ten Steps for keeping your financial toolbox full.