CPE + Events Catalog

Knowing the basics of advanced estate planning strategies is essential in advising clients with significant wealth who are seeking assistance in developing succession plans to address individual needs. This course reviews transfer and income tax laws, plus available strategies to minimize taxes. Also, we'll discuss the basic structure of advanced strategies, provisions in the governing document that authorize and regulate these strategies, modeling and tracking spreadsheets and software options. To illustrate the concepts discussed, you'll experience a live demonstration of financial planning software, run modeling exercises and review examples of sophisticated estate and business planning scenarios.

Most financial leaders would agree that budgeting is easy when business and the economy are stable. When revenues and expenses are expected to remain the same, the process becomes merely an exercise in carrying over what was done before to the current year. However, what happens when we are not sure about how the market will react to our product? What happens when the competitive landscape changes? In this course, we will discuss budgeting techniques and considerations when business lacks stability. Through a combination of theory and real-world examples, we will explore how to build flexibility into our budget - so that it can inform and drive decision-making when we don't quite know what is ahead. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Staff accountants have specific needs when working with Excel. Unfortunately, their existing Excel knowledge often does not meet these needs. Chief among these are summarizing data quickly and accurately, generating accurate and aesthetically pleasing reports, and creating accounting-centric calculations for elements such as depreciation, amortization, and interest. By participating in this eight-hour session, staff accountants will gain the essential skills to maximize efficiency and accuracy when working with Excel. This session begins with a quick Update of Excel best practices. It then progresses rapidly into discussions that address PivotTables, sophisticated formulas, Tables, formatting, and working with dates in Excel. Throughout the session, you will learn from accounting-centric examples to reinforce key learning points. In this session, you will learn in a "laptop-friendly" environment, and participants will have access to all the demonstration files. In sum, this seminar is a "must" for all staff accountants seeking to improve their efficiency and accuracy when working with Excel.

AICPAs Code of Professional Conduct - Exploring the Foundational Principles Underlying the CPA Profession as a whole will provide an overview of the basic principles of the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct with practical implementation examples. CPAs must seamlessly transition to a profession that relies heavily on conformance with technical and ethical standards. It is critical for CPAs to seek to serve the public interest with a strong sense of character, integrity, competence, and due professional care. In addition, CPAs must appropriately safeguard any threats to independence and objectivity. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for beginning auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has public accounting responsibilities. 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 provides a high-level overview and introduction into the world of the forensic accountant. Most accountants have an understanding of the concept of fraud and how it impacts companies, but many individuals do not have a full comprehension of the variance in the work performed by a forensic accountant versus a typical management accountant.   This course is meant for those individuals interested in understanding the variances in the job tasks and responsibilities of forensic accountants versus typical financial or management accountants. Forensic accountants or auditors take a unique focus on performing their work.  Typically, when a person with forensic experience is called in to examine financial records, it is due to suspicion of fraud, evaluation of assets, or even to track down fundamentally incorrect accounting – intentional or not. As fraud continues to raise its head in business processes, forensic accountants are discovering new and unique ways to identify, examine, and support their hypotheses and investigative techniques.  The work performed by a forensic specialist can be interesting and full of potential potholes if evidence isn’t examined according to proper protocols and standards.  

Fraud is constantly in the news. Whether its employee retention credit mills, FTX, the City of Dixon, it appears like fraud is everywhere. We'll start this session with a review of the common fraud schemes as identified in the 2024 Report to the Nations. We'll also review the commonalities of fraudsters. We'll then look at methods of prevention. We'll close with a look at the auditor's responsibility for the consideration of fraud in AU-C 240.

Pro forma statements are used by businesses to make decisions on planning and control, as well as for external reporting to owners, investors, and creditors. For example, giving financial estimates for a given period in a standardized manner is known as “presenting pro forma,” a Latin phrase that means “as a matter of form.” Pro forma statements can be helpful tools for business owners, investors, creditors, or decision-makers to analyze various scenarios of future events based on certain financial assumptions. It might aid in making predictions performance of the company. A pro forma income statement displays a firm’s anticipated sales and revenue. It also highlights anticipated fixed or variable operational expenses and, in the end, displays the potential profits and retained earnings for a future financial quarter. There are various types of pro-forma statements and methods to develop them. The responsibilities/competencies of the Financial Controller position (FC) has changed in recent years. However, the creation of pro forma financial statements is still a core part of their responsibility.  

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.

Staff accountants have specific needs when working with Excel – needs that are often not met by their existing Excel knowledge. Chief among these are the needs to quickly summarize data, prepare accurate and aesthetically pleasing reports, and create accounting-centric calculations for elements such as depreciation, amortization, and interest. By participating in this eight-hour session, staff accountants will gain the essential skills they need to maximize their efficiency and accuracy when working with Excel. This session begins with a quick overview of Excel best practices. It then progresses rapidly into discussions that address PivotTables, sophisticated formulas, Tables, formatting, and working with dates in Excel. Throughout the session, you will learn from accounting-centric examples to reinforce key learning points. In this session, you will learn in a “laptop-friendly” environment, and participants will have access to all the demonstration files used in the session. In sum, this seminar is a “must” for all staff accountants seeking to improve their efficiency and accuracy when working with Excel.  

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.

The Uniform Guidance present unique challenges to auditors of governmental organizations and not-for profit organizations receiving federal financial assistance. This Guidance requires auditors to take a risk-based approach to the audit, including a methodology of determining which federal programs are considered major and therefore subject to Single Audit compliance requirements. A significant challenge facing many auditors is determining the Uniform Guidance requirements in a Single Audit. All professional involved in Single Audits must have a working knowledge of the requirements imposed by the Uniform Guidance. We will cover the issues that all auditors need to know about the Uniform Guidance requirements, including how to determine major federal programs. This course will provide example about how to comply with these requirements. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Fraud continues to plague businesses at epidemic levels, and technology control failures are a big reason fraud occurs. Using a case study approach, in this session, you will learn about the pervasiveness of fraud, the control failures that contribute to fraud, and what you can do to mitigate fraud risk. A specific focus of this course is the application of information technology general controls and information technology application controls. In this course, you will examine numerous reported fraud cases and identify the general control and application control failures that contributed to each of these frauds. By learning through these real-world case studies, you will be better positioned to reduce fraud risk.  

Fraud continues to plague businesses at epidemic levels, and technology control failures are a significant reason fraud occurs. Using a case study approach, in this session, you will learn about the pervasiveness of fraud, the control failures that contribute to fraud, and what you can do to mitigate fraud risk. A specific focus of this course is the application of information technology general controls and information technology application controls. In this course, you will examine numerous reported fraud cases and identify the general control and application control failures that contributed to each of these frauds. By learning through these real-world case studies, you will be positioned better to reduce fraud risk.  

During part 2, of this 4-part series, we'll focus on the concept of fiduciary accounting and its relationship to fiduciary taxation. It also addresses the identification of a "simple trust" for purposes of taxation. Problem examples will cover both the calculation of fiduciary accounting and the taxation of simple trusts through the use of an excel spreadsheet that translates to a completed Form 1041.

This past year has shown us the need for numerous projects and the need to manage those projects in a unique way. Project management is a way of thinking highly recognized and practiced by large organizations, but often neglected by the smallest companies and entrepreneurs. This course quickly discusses the basics of project management thought and practice and then spends the majority of the time exploring some of the greatest mistakes that can be made, the ways to avoid them, and some of the tricks that have been introduced into the discipline. In the program we will explore some of the specific types of project management as well as some of the available software programs to make the task of project management easier. In an effort to avoid talking theory without concrete examples, we will often use examples born from projects needed as a result of our experiences with COVID-19.

Team development and performance are critical to leadership success. In this session, participants will examine team formation, learn about the balance between team performance and team health, develop team agreements, and understand the latest tips from Google's Perfect Team research to strengthen team experience. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The effective date for private companies of ASC 326, Credit Losses, is rapidly approaching. Staring in 2023, all entities will be recording credit losses using the current estimate of credit loss (CECL) model, which will accelerate the recognition of such losses for all companies, including non-lending institutions and companies with trade accounts and leases receivable. This new guidance truly impacts all entities. In this course, we'll focus on applying the ASC 326 guidance to non-lending institutions. We'll review the CECL model and discuss how to apply it to trade accounts receivables and lease receivables, as well as the other financial assets which are in the scope of the new guidance. We'll also examine how to transition to the CECL guidance as well as review the new and voluminous disclosures required by ASC 326. 2023 is right around the corner and now is the time to get up to speed on the impact of this new guidance.

As spreadsheets evolve, so must your practices for creating, editing, and auditing them. In this program, you will gain an in-depth understanding of the best ways to work with Excel by learning best practices associated with Excel spreadsheets in each of the following areas: creating and editing Excel workbooks, securing Excel workbooks, collaborating with others in Excel, and reporting on data contained in Excel. Today’s best practices for Excel differ significantly from those used in the past, and you will learn the best ways to work with Excel spreadsheets in this “must-see” CPE program. Course materials include relevant examples to enhance your learning experience. Join us for this program to help you utilize Excel to its fullest potential.  

Increasingly, automating business processes is a necessity. In this session, you will learn about real-world examples of automating business processes. Remember, the survival of your business might depend upon successful automation!

One of the most favored employee benefit plans, the 401(k) plan, provides unique challenges for auditors. Also, as many 401(k) plan administrators opt for ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) audits, audits of 401(k) plans will be significantly impacted by the now-effective SAS 136, the AICPA's new employee benefit plan auditing standard. 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 of SAS 136 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.