CPE Catalog & Events

Your small business or individual clients may be exploring diversification or a new career through franchising. If so, they'll be turning to you for advice on evaluating the financial aspects of the opportunities they're considering. Learn how to best counsel them on the use of the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and franchisee interview techniques to make a sound financial assessment.

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. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

On May 28, 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued converged guidance on recognizing revenue in contracts with customers (ASC 606). The objective of the guidance is to establish principles to report useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue from contracts with customers. The new guidance provides several benefits to financial statement users.   This is one in a series of courses that outline the updated revenue recognition standard.

The new Standards emphasize that quality performance requires conformance to the Standards. Each standard within Domain III specifically identifies the responsibilities of the CAE and the board, as well as joint responsibilities. The new Global Internal Audit Standards were released on January 9, 2024, and will become effective January 9, 2025. The previous version, the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, released in 2017, remains approved for use during a one-year transition period. The Global Internal Audit Standards guide the worldwide professional practice of internal audit. They serve as a basis for evaluating and elevating the quality of the internal audit function. The Standards use 15 guiding principles with five separate domains that enable effective internal audit implementation and examples of evidence of conformance. The Global Standards are organized into five domains. Domain I: Purpose of Internal Auditing Domain II: Ethics and Professionalism Domain III: Governing the Internal Audit Function Domain IV: Managing the Internal Audit Function Domain V: Performing Internal Audit Service

In February 2016, FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which provides new guidelines that change the accounting for leasing arrangements. To be able to properly account for leases, financial professionals must understand ASU 2016-02 (also referred to as Topic 842). This guidance covers information on how leases should be accounted for. The previous leasing standard (ASC 840) had been in existence for almost 40 years. Under ASC Topic 842, lessors continue to classify leases as operating, direct financing, or sales-type. While lessees now classify leases as operating or financing leases. Previous guidance only required capital leases to be reflected on the BS. The new guidance requires all leases to be reflected on the BS. This is a major change for organizations and will cause their balance sheets to swell as leases must now be disclosed on the balance sheet. The standards original effective dates were prior to 2019. In April 2020, due to COVID-19, FASB voted to defer the effective date for ASC 842 for private companies and certain not-for-profit's for one year. For private companies and private not-for-profits, the leasing standard will be effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022. For public companies the leasing standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The course covers elements of lease classification for both lessees and lessors. Also, numerous examples are incorporated as reference.  

The new revenue recognition standard outlines five steps for proper compliance. At the surface, these steps seem simplistic. However, there are many considerations that should be considered within each step based on your process and industry. Previous courses in this series have covered the standard at a high level and evaluated step one and two of the standard. They are: Understanding the Revenue Recognition Standard Revenue Recognition: Identify the Contract - Part One Revenue Recognition: Identify the Contract - Part Two Revenue Recognition: Identify Performance Obligations – Part One Revenue Recognition: Identify Performance Obligations – Part Two Revenue Recognition: Determine Transaction Price - Part 1 Revenue Recognition: Determine Transaction Price - Part 2 Revenue Recognition: Allocate the Transaction Price Revenue Recognition: Recognize Revenue      This segment is designed to evaluate Step Three of the new model dealing with Determining the Transaction Price.

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.

The employer-employee relationship strains both sides in uncertain times, and businesses need CPAs, controllers, and other advisors to provide understanding of the complex legal, tax, and health care issues associated with all aspects of employment. This course provides in-depth coverage of this critical area.

Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular tools for communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. If you use Microsoft Teams in your practice or business, this is a "must attend" course. You will learn everything you need to know to optimize the features of Teams and maximize your productivity. We will cover everything from how to effectively design your teams and channels configuration. How to utilize all the Teams features for posting conversations and working with your Office documents, PDF files and more. You will leave this course with the skills to master all the features of Teams! This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Practitioners gain access to all-new content to help them stay on top of new business tax developments.

Excel is the accountant’s tool of choice for analyzing and reporting financial data, yet many use time-consuming and error-prone processes to complete everyday tasks. Regardless of your level of experience, if you use Excel, you need this course to learn more efficient and effective ways to work with Excel. In this course, you will discover countless tips, tricks, and techniques to improve your general level of productivity, reduce the amount of time you spend on mundane tasks, such as formatting, and customize Excel for greater accuracy and efficiency. You will also learn valuable formula-building skills, best practices for linking Excel data from other worksheets and workbooks, and how to streamline report generation and printing processes. Your K2 instructor will reinforce key learning points throughout the program with practical, real-world examples that will improve your understanding and comprehension of the topics presented. This highly acclaimed course draws on over twenty-five years of experience in delivering spreadsheet training to accounting and financial professionals, which assures you of the relevance and usefulness of the information and guidance provided during the program.

New Technology, the move toward telecommuting, the widespread adoption of electronic documentation, and a wide range of other factors have significantly and forever changed the way business is conducted. It should go without saying that changes in tools and methods lead to upheaval in any organizations internal control system. In this session, we look at all the changes that are occurring and discuss what's coming in the not too distant future. The material then looks at how internal controls have been affected and what other updates are on the horizon. Anyone trying to use controls to keep their organization efficient and secure should consider this session because the rate of change to both operational methods and control processes has been and will continue to be incredible. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

If you work with governments and not-for-profits, a thorough understanding of the Yellow Book is essential. This course will equip you with a comprehensive knowledge of the Yellow Book requirements and increase your confidence and proficiency in performing Yellow Book audits. Updated for the 2024 Yellow Book revision, the course materials utilize a highly illustrative and innovative format. Over 20 focused exercises are included to provide an enhanced knowledge of the Yellow Book.

One of the most favored employee benefit plans, the 401(k) plan, provides unique challenges for auditors. Through this course, auditors will obtain an understanding of the rules and regulations unique to employee benefit plans and obtain practical guidance on applying them. Auditors will enhance their knowledge of the performance and reporting requirements through real-world examples, best practices, and efficient audit techniques that can be utilized in various audit engagements. Make sure your audits don't trigger a DOL inspection by conforming to all applicable rules and regulations.

This course is designed as a comprehensive guide to the core concepts of trust and estate income tax preparation. The course explains the common terminology and complicated income tax rules of estates and trusts, fiduciary accounting, and an introduction to or refresher on preparing Form 1041. This practical, over 300-page manual is an excellent reference source for your practice, which begins with quite simple cases. Building upon that base throughout the manual, the course ends with two complicated preparation cases, one trust and one estate, each with filled-in forms.

How to pay for the cost of long-term care remains a primary concern for most clients over the age of 50. Explore clients' motivations, misconceptions and objections to purchasing long-term care insurance, and a look at the latest long-term care solutions, including hybrids. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Enhance your productivity and streamline your accounting practices with ideas learned in this course. This dynamic program, designed specifically for accountants seeking a competitive edge, delves into the practical applications of ChatGPT in your daily workflow. From conducting comprehensive research and crafting compelling correspondence to swiftly addressing technical inquiries and optimizing Excel formulas, you will gain invaluable skills to expedite your tasks and improve overall efficiency. Furthermore, we will delve into the power of ChatGPT plugins, equipping you with the knowledge to process PDF documents seamlessly and efficiently navigate the vast expanse of the web. Join us on this transformative journey and unlock your potential as a proficient and empowered accountant.

Collaboration is a key to productivity and success. But remote work can make collaboration more challenging, including collaborating on spreadsheets. Fortunately, tools such as portals with check-in/check-out capabilities, version control, comment tracking, and co-authoring can enable online spreadsheet collaboration. Further, Excel’s Inquire tool can facilitate spreadsheet collaboration in offline environments. Don’t let remote work hamper your spreadsheet collaboration needs! Participate in this session to learn how to collaborate on spreadsheets effectively from anywhere using tools you already own or license.

As the managers' role continue to evolve, it is crucial for us to understand the strategic aspects of managing a diverse workforce, beginning with understanding the big trends in employee demographics. We begin with a rhetorical question - asking if employees are assets? GAAP tells us they are not, so discussion will revolve around whether this treatment delivers an unhealthy bias on our view of the people in our organization. What do the most successful organizations believe and why? If you have an opinion as to whether employees are an asset or not, this is a fun session intended to be interactive with participation either live, virtual or both.

People fear presenting more than they do “death”.  Communicating numbers is a scary proposition to overcome for both the presenter and the recipients. This course is designed to enhance the communication skills of CPAs and CFOs by emphasizing the importance of understanding and mastering the facts before delivering any presentation, understand the key elements of presenting a narrative, and provide examples to engage live and virtual teams in effective numbers presenting. The goal is to equip financial professionals with the tools needed to overcome fears and provide the best practices research on all types of presentations-from communicating complex financial information effectively to conducting a casual virtual meeting.   This is a fun session intended to be interactive with participation either live, virtual or both.