CPE + Events Catalog

Business Intelligence (BI) is perhaps the hottest topic in most professional circles in today's business climate. Increasingly, organizations of all sizes seek to take advantage of the data available to them to identify previously undiscovered insights and gain competitive advantages thought to be out of reach just a few short years ago. A growing array of tools - from Excel add-ins to dedicated solutions such as Power BI - now allow you to leverage your existing knowledge and skills to create powerful, interactive dashboards and analyses unthinkable until recently. This program will teach you to implement "do-it-yourself business intelligence" using various techniques and tools. First, you will learn to use advanced Excel data query and summarization features to create Excel-based dashboards. You will then learn how to leverage that knowledge to build even more powerful BI objects using Microsoft's Power BI tools. If gaining better insights into your data to make better decisions interests you, then join us for a fast-paced look at how you can take advantage of these fantastic tools.

Learn about selling intellectual capital with pricing based on outcomes and value added, rather than the cost or time it took to deliver. A business is defined by the value it creates for its clients; your price speaks volumes about your value proposition. An overwhelming majority of professional firms price their services by the flawed and outdated hourly billing method rather than realizing clients do not buy time; they buy value. Price is the marketing moment of truth and the number one driver of profitability in any business. Learn how to price on purpose.

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.

Long-lived assets may be either finite or indefinite-lived, tangible or intangible in nature. The carrying value of these long-lived assets should be evaluated at each measurement date to determine whether there is an impairment loss necessary due to declines in an asset's fair value. This course describes the tips and techniques for determining whether an impairment loss risk exists, and how to calculate, record, and disclose any such loss. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The War for Talent is bad, and it's getting worse. In their efforts to win the war for talent, smart organizations have recognized the importance of fostering a great work culture. Many of these organizations are implementing Servant Leadership as their desired leadership style. In this session, learn what servant leadership is, as well as what it is not. Also, learn the benefits of having a great culture, the basics for assessing your culture, as well as how to coach your employees using a servant leadership style. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

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.

This course provides an in-depth exploration of Form 1120S, the tax return form used by S corporations. Students will learn the intricacies of preparing and analyzing this form, including how to determine the taxable income of the S corporation, how to properly report and allocate income, deductions, and credits, and how to calculate the shareholder's basis in the S corporation. **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.

Prior to the original SAS No. 82 on Consideration of Fraud In A Financial Statement Audit (now codified as SAS No. 122, AU 240), the word fraud never appeared in a single SAS, nor was it described anywhere. SAS No. 82 stated that auditors failed to detect fraud for two reasons: 1) They did not know what it looked like and 2) They had not been trained to look for it. Although the SASs did not provide any guidance, auditors have always been responsible for the detection of anything that would cause a material misstatement of the financial statements whether caused by error or irregularities. (They would not even say the word fraud until it appeared in SAS No. 82) The standards were replete with guidance on the detection of an error but silent on how to detect irregularities. Now auditors are required to document in every financial statement audit their process of determining the risk of financial misstatement due to fraud. This presentation is designed to focus on frauds that were missed by the auditors and, in some cases, why it was missed. There will also be discussion as to what the auditor must do in order to improve their track record on detecting fraud. As reported on the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Occupational Fraud 2022: A Report to the Nations, only 4% of frauds were initially discovered by the external auditor. It was reported that more frauds were discovered by accident, (5%) then was discovered by the external auditor.

This course explores the FASB codification provisions and AICPA financial reporting framework for transaction with related parties, including business owners and special purpose entities. Real-life examples are used to illustrate the various authoritative standards and discuss the consequences of failing to comply. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

One of the most talked about emerging technologies that has the potential to significantly disrupt the accounting profession is blockchain. This course is designed to bring you up to speed on what this revolutionary technology is all about. You will learn about the concepts, nomenclature, technology and potential applications related to blockchain. This will prepare you to participate in conversations about blockchain technology with your colleagues, peers and others. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This introductory course provides a clear, concise, step-by-step example of the fundamentals of how to import data into Alteryx, how to select and configure its tools to transform that data according to your needs, and how to export the cleaned-up version to an Excel workbook for further CPA-related calculations. It also introduces those new to Alteryx to frequently used technical terms and concepts, and how you can use Alteryx as a powerful complement to Excel to turbocharge your ability to produce CPA work products. In addition, this course covers the purposes and functionality of the various sections of Alteryx's main screen, including the Canvas, the Tool Palette, the Configuration Window, and the Results window. This and other foundational knowledge taught in the course will increase your ability to confidently and expertly use the program's software tools. Finally, this course shares numerous insights and commentary that pertain directly to CPAs and the kind of work we do. If you've wanted to learn about Alteryx and how it can boost your productivity and advance your career, this course is for you!

Learn how to employ systems thinking to disentangle complexities, recognize and interpret patterns and diagnose problems. Understand concepts such as interconnectedness, synthesis, and emergence and use this understanding to foresee risks and build collaborative teams. Learn systems mapping, causality, and feedback loops to be able to assess culture more accurately, support good group decision-making, and bolster professional skepticism. Systems thinking will help you develop deeper insights into complex problems and understand how changes in policies, procedures and controls affect behavior.

Honest people face real challenges when working in an unethical environment. Business owners may be at risk if team members feel as though policies and practices within the business violate rules, regulations, or laws. Some of those employees may contact authorities. Perhaps they work in an undercover capacity, exposing the business owner and other people that work with the business, or align with the business, to both government investigations and potentially criminal prosecutions. Participants will learn from a real story which led to criminal prosecution for Medicare Fraud. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

A significant amount of information is electronically initiated, recorded, processed, or reported and information to be used as audit evidence may be available only in electronic form. During this session, we will look at different types of information commonly presented to an auditor during the audit of an employee benefit plan and identify considerations for auditors when evaluating information to be used as audit evidence. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Are you getting the most from your staff? Are you paying top-dollar and still not getting high performance? New research gives us the insights to effectively motivate your people. This session discusses proven people motivation tactics. Many 'old' methods really did not motivate in the past and certainly do not work today. Getting the most from your people requires new, very learnable, leadership techniques. Whether your business is large or a start-up, getting people to move forward as one is a challenge. This session will show you how to create an environment where your talented employees can excel. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Over 80% of all employment-related lawsuits relate to termination. Every termination should be treated as a potential lawsuit. The facts supporting a leader's recommendation of discharge must be fully investigated. The discharge of an employee requires prior review and approval. Narrow self-interest, spite, or personal animosity must not play a part in making termination decisions. This course provides practical knowledge and scripts for handling discharges with good judgment such that personal and employer liability is avoided.

The Corporate Transparency Act requires mandatory disclosure of the beneficial owners of existing and newly formed entities. This legislation imposes new compliance requirements for existing business entities. Knowledge of this legislation and the new reporting requirements is critical for any person involved in the creation of a new business entity or advising existing business entities. More importantly, advisors must be aware of the new reporting requirements to prevent the imposition of harsh penalties. This course will provide the attendee with both knowledge of the legislation and knowledge of the exceptions to the legislation.

When the leadership in any organizations carries out their responsibilities of establishing, maintaining and monitoring internal controls, it significantly reduces the possibility of fraud occurring. When and if it does occur, a good system of internal controls will often detect it early on. This presentation is an illustration of what can happen when top management fails to carry out their responsibility of protecting an entity's assets through a good system of internal controls.

In today's technology-driven world, success in business depends upon your ability to translate data into information, communicate with anyone, and present ideas powerfully, whether it's one-on-one or in the boardroom. This fast-paced and interactive session covers specific techniques in three critical areas: listening, writing, and presenting. Learn about the hard skills involved in the softer side of leadership. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This is part 1 of a 4 part series. The first session of the series introduces the PivotTable feature and covers the basics. We start here to ensure that all participants, regardless of previous PivotTable experience, have the skills needed for the remaining sessions. We discuss the four report layout areas, rows, columns, values, and filters. We then discuss how to update PivotTable reports and ensure that any new transactions appended to the data source are included in the report. We explore how to create monthly columns and how to properly format the values in a PivotTable.