CPE Catalog & Events

This course is essential and designed to keep you informed of proposed and current authoritative guidance issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Learn about proposed and final auditing and attestation standards addressing group audits, fraud, and sustainability. Understand the eight quality management components, hear about frequent peer review matters and so much more.

This course covers recently issued standards from the AICPA Auditing Standards Board and AICPA Accounting and Review Services Committee including the new Quality Management Standards. The session will highlight projects in progress at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. The course will also recap recent changes and present common peer review findings and best practices to improve practice quality. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

In today's fast-paced business world, staying ahead of the competition means leveraging every advantage. Business Intelligence (BI) is the game-changer that can transform your organization. Imagine uncovering hidden insights and gaining a competitive edge with data that was once out of reach. With tools ranging from Excel add-ins to the revolutionary Power BI, you can now harness your existing skills to create dynamic, interactive dashboards and analyses that were unimaginable just a few years ago. This program will empower you with the skills to implement "yourself business intelligence" using a variety of techniques and tools. You'll start by mastering advanced Excel data query and summarization features to create stunning Excel-based dashboards. Then, you'll take your knowledge to the next level by building even more powerful BI objects using Microsoft's Power BI tools. If you're passionate about gaining better insights into your data to make smarter decisions, this fast-paced program is for you.

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.

The Accounting and Auditing Update is designed to provide its participants with a comprehensive, in-depth review of what’s happening at the FASB, AICPA, and other professional bodies who may impact accounting and auditing this year, including FASB Statements and Interpretations, Statements on Auditing Standards, Statements of Position, Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services, Ethics Interpretations, exposure drafts and projects in progress, with emphasis on the practical application and impact on practitioners in small to medium-sized firms and members in industry. Special attention this year will be focused on the emerging use of data analytics related to audit evidence.

This comprehensive session is a must-attend event for accountants who prepare financial statements and want to explore best practices for discerning the stories told by financial statements. We discuss salient requirements for presenting financial information while considering the critical role of disclosure for lending relevance to financial statements. We also explore techniques that will allow participants to perform meaningful financial statement analysis and effectively communicate conclusions to decision-makers and other stakeholders. 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 is a great foundation to introduce new preparers to tax rules related to business returns. The course covers tax areas affecting all business entities, providing a solid basis for staff to handle business entity returns. Such business tax topics include the sale of assets used in a trade or business (Form 4797), depreciation (Form 4562), deductible and nondeductible items, and the basics of uniform capitalization. The objective of this course is to train new staff accountants, data processing employees, paraprofessionals, and bookkeepers to prepare complicated federal corporate income tax returns. It is a hands-on and practical course, with extra emphasis on changes to forms under new tax law.

In today's challenging talent market, accounting firms face unprecedented pressure to retain their best performers. This course provides actionable, research-backed strategies to help firms keep their top talent from leaving. Based on comprehensive surveys of both current accounting professionals and those who have recently left the profession, participants will learn the real reasons employees stay or go-and what firms can do about it. The course goes beyond simple solutions like "pay more, expect less" to explore comprehensive retention strategies including whole-person compensation, work-life balance improvements, career development pathways, and necessary business model transformations. Participants will discover why 73% of surveyed professionals want to stay with their current firm, yet many still leave-and how to bridge that gap. Key topics include understanding the true cost of turnover versus retention, implementing flexible work arrangements that actually work, creating meaningful career paths for non-partner track professionals, and transforming firm operations to support both profitability and employee satisfaction. Special attention is given to retaining diverse talent and adapting to the expectations of younger professionals who will comprise 27% of the workforce by 2025. Whether you're a firm leader, HR professional, or manager responsible for team retention, this course provides the insights and tools needed to build a sustainable talent strategy in an evolving profession. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Cloud computing has become a source of cyber-crime. “Cloud forensics is the application of digital forensics in cloud computing as a subset of network forensics to gather and preserve evidence in a way that is suitable for presentation in a court of law.” Cloud forensics is a combination of the varied types of accounting forensics including: •    Digital forensics •    Network forensics. •    Hardware forensics In cloud crime, the cloud is considered the object when the target of the crime is the cloud service provider they are directly affected by the act. It is considered the subject of the crime when the criminal act is committed within the cloud environment. It is considered the tool when it is used to plan or conduct a crime. This course will delve into the many concepts involved in cloud forensics. The course complements other courses in the series of Becoming a Forensic Accountant.  

These are uncertain times. With constant economic fluctuation, geopolitical uncertainty and inflation pressures, corporations and their professionals are facing challenges at every turn. The Controllership function is accustomed to dealing with changing variables but when the change is constant and every evolving, even the simplest of tasks like cash flow and cash forecasting can become difficult.  This webinar is to focus on what methods the controller can elicit to attempt to address the current uncertainty when working with their cash flow issues and forecasting. Of course, there are basic measures that can be employed such as: Proactively managing receivables and payables Automate your accounts payable and receivables process Keep business expenses at a minimum Work with digital methods of payment from vendors Use credit wisely However, this webinar will explore methods used to create and manage your cash flow and forecasting processes. These methods go one-step past your typical forecasting to enable management to explore various alternatives and scenarios for the business.

GAAP is changing at an increasing rate. Every successful organization has a sound strategy. Financial leaders are faced with the dual challenge of navigating evolving accounting standards while strategically guiding their organizations toward sustainable growth and profitability. What are the newer accounting changes that will impact professional accounting? This seminar will equip finance professionals with the critical skills and practical insights needed to effectively manage the complexities of ever-changing accounting standards and upgrade your essential strategic planning skills. Strategic skills are mandatory today. Strategies that do not keep pace with the market are doomed to fail. If we do not keep up, our successor will.

Although Power BI has been available for ten years, most business professionals don't fully appreciate all it can do and its easy use. Further, many are intimidated by the platform and continue to use less efficient and effective reporting practices. If this describes you, invest some time in this session to learn how to work with Power BI almost immediately. In this session, you will learn how to use Power BI to create compelling dashboard reports. You will also learn how to optimize these reports to enhance their effectiveness. If you want to improve financial and operational reporting processes, this session is for you!

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered corporate and public accounting in ways we could never have imagined. This broad-based course will discuss accounting and auditing implications that have arisen as a result of the pandemic.

If you are efficient and want to learn lessons from the best in a short time, this seminar is for you.  Popular speaker Don Minges will review the key lessons from five fantastic business books that will help you become more effective.  The topics are; leadership, how to create a valuable business, how to turnaround a business, how to make terrific presentations and how do humans think?  These lessons are valuable for every business leader. 

Explore the transformative impact of technology on the audit profession in this forward-looking course. Gain practical insights into cutting-edge tools and trends, including data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation, and discover how these advancements are revolutionizing audit methodologies and improving audit quality. Through engaging demos, case studies, and actionable tips, you'll learn how to navigate the evolving audit landscape with confidence and adaptability. This session is designed to equip CPAs with the knowledge to embrace innovation and stay ahead in a rapidly changing profession. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This annual update covers activities of the FASB and Private Company Council (PCC) and reviews new SAS and SSARS. Stay current on new standards related to financial accounting and attest and assurance services including compilations, review and auditing. You'll learn the specific requirements of the standards and their potential impact on financial statements and we will review the pipeline of proposed standards. This years' update will cover induced conversions of convertible debt, stock compensation accounting and disclosure, income tax disclosures, crypto currency accounting, joint venture accounting, and updates to the accounting for government grants. We will cover new audit standards including group audit standards, and new fraud, evidence and materiality standards. We'll do a deep dive into SAS 145 and the new quality management standards. Note: SEC reporting requirements and public company audit requirements will not be covered.

Taxation of long-term contracts has evolved into a myriad of compliance requirements and reporting considerations. Understanding complex and sometimes illogical rules is a specialty in itself. Learn the essentials to address both tax and compliance. Based on many years of service in the real estate and construction industries, this course will efficiently address the numerous issues and provide precise approaches to achieve the most beneficial tax result while meeting compliance requirements.

This program examines the critical issues, rules, and special opportunities when preparing your clients' Form 1041 US Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts. Learn what is considered taxable income; filing requirements and deadlines; impact of the 3.8 percent Medicare surtax on net investment income; and the 10 principles of tax accounting for trust income.   *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  

New personal financial planning strategies are emerging due to passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill and evolving personal goals in difficult economic and legal environments. Drawn from recent publications and government directives, this course reviews the latest financial strategies and planning changes from the past year in insurance, investments, tax, estate and retirement, including Social Security and Medicare. Additionally, Randy covers estate and tax planning strategies that enable practitioners to better serve clients by allowing them to take advantage of new opportunities.

This course will help you master individual income tax return preparation! It will improve your understanding of the basics, focusing on the law and compliance associated with Form 1040. It is an excellent overview of the process for new preparers and a refresher for the more seasoned professional.