CPE Catalog & Events

The Internal Revenue Service has targeted complex partnerships it believes are not in compliance with the tax law for audit. One of the abuses the IRS has attacked is transfers of interests in partnerships which result in an increase in the basis of a partner who is subject to a high marginal income tax rate. This perceived abuse results in lower income tax and/or a higher basis in partnership property for the higher marginal income tax partner. The final regulations basically characterize certain partnership-related basis adjustments as transactions of interest on the part of the IRS. In a practical sense, this means that property transfers in a partnership with related party partners may run the risk of IRS scrutiny if audited. It is common for certain types of partnerships, such as real estate limited partnerships, to have related-partner partnerships. The IRS may decide to scrutinize partnerships with related party transfers. Since these final regulations presume an understanding of the rules for partnership distributions and Section 754 elections, the program begins with coverage of those two topics, with time devoted to adjustments under both Section 743(b) and Section 734(b). It would be hard to understand the IRS's claim of abuse without a working knowledge of these transactions.

Both businesses and individual clients face major changes as a result of new legislation, and tax professionals face the considerable challenge of delivering effective planning advice and services to address this myriad of recent developments. This course addresses this challenge and also encompasses the latest cases and rulings applicable to individual and business clients. Continually updated to reflect enacted legislation. Please Note: Due to content overlap, it is recommended that this course NOT be taken together with BIT4.

This business coaching course is designed to enhance your coaching effectiveness by integrating innovative tools like ChatGPT (Generative AI) to support and elevate your coaching practice. You'll explore the key differences and similarities between coaching and managing, uncover the most important skill every coach should master, and learn how to get to the root cause of any problem. With hands-on coaching strategies, including neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) techniques, you'll enhance your ability to drive results. Additionally, you’ll discover how to use performance gap analysis to identify and bridge gaps, ensuring the success and growth of the individuals you coach.

Welcome to a management course that helps CFOs and Controllers lead the Accounting Department. It is essential that the Accounting Department have a Vision which is aligned with the Business goals. Controllers must also be comfortable with wearing multiple 'hats' in the business. The head of the Accounting Department must be skilled in a variety of leadership skills, technical skills, managerial skills and current management techniquest.

It's a whole new world for lessees under ASC topic 842. This program will dive into the new standard on leases and its impact on every size entity, review effective dates, and address what you need to know now. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

How does a forensic accountant calculate financial losses? Federal courts have approved various ways to calculate losses ranging from net worth method of proof to the expenditures method. Each method of proof depends on the available facts to the forensic accountant. This presentation will focus on the various court approved methods of proof, when to use them, and how to calculate the total loss. 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.

Review of the major employment laws governing the workplace, when they are triggered, and key compliance aspects under each law. This presentation is designed to give viewers enough information to issue spot when matters arise in the workplace.   

Privacy should be everywhere, yet every day seemingly brings a new story about a privacy violation. While it can be frustrating and sometimes scary to think about mishandling our personal information, it’s important to remember that we can take steps to protect our privacy. This session will teach you where your critical threats are and what information you may already have at risk. More importantly, you will learn how to manage and mitigate privacy risks. In an era of increasing connectivity – and by extension, risk – this session should be high on your list to take as soon as possible.

The tools for managing performance and addressing misconduct are not identical. The failure to point this out to leaders has often resulted in the use of the wrong tool. Reinforcing good performance and securing improvements in performance requires skill in coaching employees, making effective requests, and providing effective feedback. This course provides practical knowledge and scripts for setting, communicating, and enforcing performance expectations, such that personal and employer liability is avoided.

Governmental Accounting 101, is a 2 hour webcast that takes the participant of a whirlwind tour of governmental accounting basics, focusing on wetting the participant’s appetite for more.  This session will be the first of a series of webcasts, with each subsequent webcast delving deeper and deeper into the governmental accounting basics. 

This program provides in-depth coverage of SAS 145, a major standard that helps auditors enhance risk assessment procedures through improved techniques for identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement. This session is essential for CPAs that perform audits. The discussion will also be insightful for auditees and other professionals who want to maintain awareness of current auditing guidance.

Two conmen used lies and falsified documents to convince the State of Tennessee to give them a $3,000,000 economic development grant to create 1,000 jobs by purchasing and rehabilitating a vacant factory in rural Tennessee. Instead, they spent most of the money on an extravagant lifestyle and invested over $1M in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) out of over $30,000,000 pursuant to a contract to provide the tarps for areas such as Puerto Rico, affected by hurricanes. This session provides a detailed case study of how the investigators accumulated, organized, and analyzed hundreds of documents, identified the falsifications and misrepresentations, conducted multiple interviews, and ultimately convicted the conmen. This case study provides multiple takeaways for detecting and investigating grant fraud, which is especially relevant in light of the numerous federal stimulus programs in recent years.

This course equips tax professionals with the knowledge and strategies needed to handle the most common IRS letters, including general notices, audit requests, collections, return inquiries, and error notices. Participants will learn how to interpret IRS correspondence, adhere to response deadlines, and effectively communicate with the IRS to resolve issues and minimize risks. The session also highlights best practices for ensuring compliance and avoiding penalties or escalation, empowering attendees to navigate IRS correspondence with confidence. *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

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of the cannabis industry, delving into essential topics such as cannabis regulations, business models, financial management, and ethical considerations. A key focus is on distinguishing between Marijuana and Industrial Hemp, including their respective tax treatments. Participants will gain a thorough understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities within the cannabis sector, covering federal and state tax implications, licensing requirements, and market trends. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Buying and selling a business can be a complex transaction with many tax issues. These issues include whether the transaction is or should be a stock or an asset sale when the business involved is a corporation, as well as the tax consequences associated with the sale of a partnership or a C or S corporation. Tax practitioners who advise clients who are buying or selling a business primarily focus on the tax issues that apply. This program explains and analyzes the tax issues practitioners must address in order to properly advise clients who are either buyers or sellers of businesses.

The Accountant role is evolving from data aggregation to knowledge extraction, with a significant emphasis on understanding and leveraging technological advancements. In this era of rapid digital transformation, it is crucial for accountants to grasp the shift towards more analytical roles, learn the tools, and integrate Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Analytics (DA) in their organization and daily practices. This course will focus on raising the accountant's awareness of BI and DA practices, the impact of AI technologies like ChatGPT, and how these can benefit their organization. By embracing these technologies, accountants can enhance their value proposition by transitioning from traditional accounting roles to becoming strategic advisors and decision-makers.

The amount of electronic content that business organizations contend with is growing at incredible rates. Terms like "Big Data" and "Information Overload", are being used by overwhelmed information workers on a daily basis. Additionally, because of the move to a much larger telecommuter footprint, electronic data is now even more prevalently utilized. This session discusses the places that businesses keep digital information and addresses the importance of securing corporate electronic data. The material effectively shows ways to achieve high security standards for content stored in fixed locations, on mobile devices and in the cloud. Participants in this session will gain an understanding of the concepts needed to improve the way they, and their companies secure digital information. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This course examines the critical issues and special opportunities facing partnerships and their partners, as well as the relationship between limited liability companies and partnerships, with a focus on reporting tax basis capital accounts. **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.

Stay ahead of the curve with this essential training designed for not-for-profit accountants and auditors. This course provides a comprehensive update on the latest developments impacting nonprofit financial reporting and auditing. On the accounting side, we will review the latest FASB standard-setting activities affecting NFPs, including programmatic investments and their interplay with the CECL standard. Additionally, we will explore the IFR4NPO project, a global initiative aimed at establishing universal financial reporting standards for nonprofits. Transitioning to auditing, this course covers the 2024 Yellow Book updates, the shift from quality control to quality management, and key audit matters with early adoption options. We'll also address Single Audit updates, GAO reports on improper payments and fraud, the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), and recent Department of Education guidance on related parties.