CPE Catalog & Events

Don't let the title frighten you. Experienced staff can get bogged down in busy season with advanced practice and reporting issues. With major legislation enacted over the past few years, we bring you the distilled version of what you need to know for the current year and significant current proposals that may impact the tax landscape in future years or even retroactively. This course discusses the topics that experienced staff, managers, and partners should understand in depth while also assisting experienced staff in avoiding costly mistakes when facing complicated 1040 issues. The manual includes advanced examples and several advanced cases with "filled-in" forms provided with the complete answers.

If there is a potential error, the IRS will assess a tax and add a hefty penalty, without even knowing the facts. As a tax professional, you will be exposed to the IRS and their methods of penalizing taxpayers for the smallest of violations. This presentation will focus on the rules and regulations that create the penalty, and the reasons that exist that the IRS will consider to remove those penalties. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Believe it or not, AI is not the only mega trend in the information technology landscape. There are many other trends that enable and leverage the power of AI. As a CPA professional, it is imperative that you develop a baseline understanding of the key technology trends that are impacting businesses across the board. This course will provide the update you need to help you understand the nature of the key technologies and the role they play. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

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.

To many clients, CPA firms all look the same. While services and specialties may vary significantly from one firm to another, it is hard for the average person to see this by simply looking at the sign outside our office door. Is there any way to make us stand out more to the outside world? Through surveys, statistics, and examples, this course looks at how CPA firms can develop a marketing plan beyond just relying on referrals. We look at the pluses and minuses of various marketing channels, regulatory constraints, and how to measure success in the competitive financial services space.

According to a recent study, over 70% of accounting professionals suffer from burnout, leading to feelings of exhaustion, inefficiency, and dissatisfaction with their careers. Recurring challenges for accounting and finance professionals include long hours, repetitive work, pressing client demands, and changing rules and regulations. Together, these conditions contribute to chronic workplace stress. Burnout is real, and firms that ignore this common problem pay a high price. Nearly three out of five employees in accounting and finance professions report psychological harm from work-related stress, including an overall feeling of lack of interest, motivation, or energy. Fortunately, individuals and organizations are beginning to take career burnout more seriously, especially in the post-pandemic era. This course looks at the causes of accounting burnout and examines strategies organizations are implementing to address and reduce a well-known but often overlooked problem.

This course allows you to get reacquainted with the statement of cash flows. We will refresh your skills regarding both the preparation and utilization of the statement of cash flows. Significant emphasis will be placed on the informational role of the statement of cash flows and insights that can be obtained using the statement of cash flows in concert with the other elements of a company's accrual-basis financial statements. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

As staff members gain more experience, they are expected to take on more complex assignments with minimal supervision. This course is designed to be a stepping stone for staff interested in pursuing more advanced partnership and LLC issues than mere preparation. The material provides a deep life-cycle study into critical areas of formation, special allocations of income and deductions, basis calculations and implications of recourse and nonrecourse debt, basis step-up under §754 on transfers of ownership interest, distributions, self-employment tax issues, and termination and liquidations of an LLC. With a blend of legal and tax ramifications regarding LLC-specific issues, this course identifies all the major areas that are potential sources of increased complexity.

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.

Embark on a journey to master Power BI, a powerful tool for data analysis and business intelligence, in our comprehensive course, "Get Started with Power BI." This course is meticulously designed for professionals who seek to understand the full spectrum of Power BI capabilities, including its integration with Excel's Power BI features like Power Pivot and Power Query, and its comparison with standalone Power BI tools such as Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, and Power BI Report Server. In the first part of the course, participants will be introduced to the fundamentals of Power BI. This includes an overview of Power BI's interface, key features, and its seamless integration with Excel. The course will cover Excel's Power BI tools - Power Pivot, for advanced data modeling, and Power Query, for efficient data transformation and preparation. This segment is essential for understanding how Power BI extends and enhances the data processing and analytical capabilities of Excel. The second section of the course delves into the standalone Power BI tools. Here, participants will explore Power BI Desktop for creating complex data models and sophisticated reports, Power BI Service for cloud-based collaboration and sharing, and Power BI Report Server for on-premises report deployment. This part of the course will focus on the unique features and strengths of these standalone tools, providing attendees with the skills to leverage Power BI in a variety of business contexts. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Providing a practical overview of the IRS Power of Attorney, Form 2848, and IRS Tax Information Authorization, Form 8821. Participants will explore the differences between these forms, understand when each is required, and how to comply with IRS requirements for representing clients and accessing their tax information. The course will cover practical issues, ethical considerations, and best practices for managing client authorizations through the IRS Centralized Authorization File (CAF) system. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Cybersecurity protection is one of the most important responsibilities of every CPA professional to protect the confidentiality of sensitive client information. While there are many aspects of cybersecurity that need to be addressed, the biggest vulnerability to protect against is unauthorized access to your application login credentials. Once your login credentials are breached, the cybercriminal essentially has the keys to your data kingdom. John Higgins, a national leader in the CPA technology, will demonstrate the ease with which you can protect all of your login credentials with maximum security with minimal expense. You will leave this course prepared to deploy this state of the art security tool in your organization. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Professional credibility is communicated, not assumed. In this 1-CPE session (Professional Development), participants examine structured approaches to articulating their professional identity. Drawing directly from the course framework, the session covers development of an elevator pitch, a professional value proposition, and a concise executive biography. Participants will analyze how credibility is established through clarity, relevance, and alignment with audience needs. The course emphasizes service-centered communication rather than self-promotion and provides structured guidance for refining professional messaging in leadership and client-facing contexts. 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 or your clients are facing that stage of life where careers are passing into the background, and a new "to be determined" life is emerging, then you are entering what is called "retirement". Some people are excited, some are scared, and most are both. There are many issues and questions people face at this time - what to do with time, financial, relationships, health, identity and more. This program summarizes the key research studies, provides stories from those who have made this work, and offers thoughtful, practical exercises from my award winning book NEXT STAGE. It will help you (or your clients) address key issues and develop a Master Plan for the transition. If not now, when? 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 introduces accounting, auditing, and finance professionals to the emerging field of agentic AI: autonomous, goal-driven systems capable of planning, acting, and learning with minimal human intervention. Participants will explore how agentic AI differs from traditional automation (RPA) and generative AI, and how these agents are being deployed in finance and accounting. The course emphasizes foundational concepts such as the Perceive-Reason-Act-Learn (PRAL) loop and ethical decision-making frameworks. To ground abstract ideas in practice, participants will experience a brief agent simulation using basic ChatGPT, showcasing how natural language prompts can emulate agentic behavior, such as goal setting, clarification loops, and structured task execution. The course also highlights real-world agent platforms (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, IBM watsonx, and UiPath) to provide context on enterprise adoption trends and discusses emerging global regulations such as the EU AI Act and the U.S. Executive Order on Safe AI.

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.

Individual tax planning strategies for 2026 and beyond will take their cue from the many tax advantageous tax law changes enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Many of the OBBBA changes are very favorable to individual taxpayers. Taxpayers and their clients now have the opportunity to utilize these new planning strategies. Tax practitioners must know about these new changes and the planning strategies associated with them to maximize the advantages to their clients. This program will cover tax changes from 2025 that impact individuals and provide individuals with significant tax reduction opportunities for 2026.

This course builds on the foundational knowledge from Part 1, Fundamentals of the 1040 - Core Concepts. It expands into business income taxation and additional reporting requirements. Participants will learn how to accurately report self-employment income, income from pass-through entities on Form 1040. This course covers Schedule C, Schedule E, and essential forms such as Form 7203 and Form 7217 to ensure accurate tax preparation for clients with business activities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Financial statement disclosures are important to provide the information necessary for financial statement users to make economic decisions. Disclosures further explain and clarify information provided in the basic financial statements, but also provide critical information about subsequent events, litigation risk, and other concerns. This course focuses on the most common financial statement disclosures for small- or medium-sized nonpublic entities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Embezzlement happens often to many small businesses. Unfortunately, the lack of internal controls allow the embezzlement to remain undetected for years. But when it is discovered, the small business owner will most likely contact their CPA for advice. What should you do when your client contacts you about their employee embezzling money from their business? What options should you present to your client? How can your client protect themselves, while investigating the embezzlement? What steps need to be taken about preserving any documents, emails, texts, or phone calls? This course teaches how to engage the client, properly identify the evidence needed to prove the crime, how to write the report for civil and criminal trial, and best practices in preserving electronic and paper evidence. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.