CPE + Events Catalog

Ready to make radical leaps in your critical thinking? In a world of rapid change and unreliable information, we need the ability to separate fact from fiction, recognize flawed assumptions, and have clarity under pressure. This course will teach you how to audit your thinking and build effective reasoning strategies for all types of situations. You will achieve dramatic improvements in judgement, problem solving, memory, and learning. This course will make you more flexible, adaptable, creative and resilient, and provide a cognitive toolkit you can carry for life. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Many people use morals and ethics interchangeably. The concept of law is quite another topic. In order to properly understand ethical concepts, it is important to understand the concepts of morality and the law. The definition of morals will reference ethics in a circular definition; same goes for ethics. But ethics represents an innate knowledge of right/wrong distinctions. Ethics transcends culture, religion, and time.   Morality is defined as having and living per a moral code, or principles of right and wrong.  Basic morality condemns murder, adultery, lying and stealing. Ethics explores the idea of morality and its place in society and addresses questions about morality. The law is based on principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people.   This course evaluates these concepts and put them in a business context.

Want to automatically update the date and time on your spreadsheet? Or pick text strings from other cells to automatically copy and update to a different cell? You will learn how to incorporate text, date and time functions in your spreadsheet that will make data entry a breeze. In this webinar, we will focus on Text functions and Date & Time functions. In the Text function section, you will learn how to use the various Text functions to join and separate text entries as well as formatting the results. In the Date & Time function section, you will learn how to perform various date and time calculations. This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Recent generally accepted auditing standards were written to improve the quality of risk-based financial statement audits, audit reporting, and required by-product communications. This course will discuss the important clarifications and enhancements intended to improve audit quality to ensure better compliance with requirements contained in SAS Nos. 134-145. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Stay current on recent changes in accounting and auditing. Review Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Private Company Council (PCC), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) standard-setting activity in the current year. Implementation dates will be provided so you can plan for changes, and the course will highlight the changes that will be implemented in the current year. Also, we'll discuss the difference between public and private company requirements.

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 Update of the process for new preparers and a refresher for the more seasoned professional.

Taxation specific to the real estate industry is awash with special tax laws that are complex and associated with the real estate industry. The current tax laws and regulations may determine profitability when acquiring and disposing of real property. Special tax laws have been promulgated to mitigate the tax burdens, which in turn may determine returns on investment in real property. Historically, the partnership and, more recently, the limited liability company entities are the most commonly used forms of ownership when acquiring or constructing real property. The seminar explores how partnership taxation using either type of entity applies in many areas of the real estate industry.

This course provides in-depth information to enable the practitioner to make a well-informed decision as to whether a trust is the appropriate vehicle for a client’s financial, estate, and/or asset protection plan, and, if so, how the trust can best be implemented and operated. Participants will learn about the many different types of trusts that can be harnessed to save clients income, estate, generation-skipping, and other taxes, at both the federal and state level.

This course focuses on how to integrate independence and avoid conflicts of interest in situations accounting professionals face daily. Participants will be able to know not just what is the right thing to do according to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, but how to put values into action. As part of this course, we also walk through real-world examples of individuals and companies faced with these dilemmas. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Auditing Cash - Applying Basic Skills to the Starting Point of Any Audit demonstrates how the approach to auditing different cash accounts may vary and how to strengthen inquiry which is an important audit procedure in this area. Cash tends to be one of the first areas assigned to new auditors, as there is typically little complexity and subjectivity involved. In addition, persuasive audit evidence from a third-party is generally available. However, research shows that around 80% of asset misappropriation relates to cash. Therefore, the audit of accounts and classes of disclosures related to cash and cash equivalents does tend to carry some level of risk of material misstatement. 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 responsibilities for auditing cash and cash equivalents. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This highly informative course comprehensively covers all the latest tax law developments. The focus is on individual taxation and discussion of the planning opportunities practitioners need to understand to help clients respond effectively. You will come away from the course with the up-to-date knowledge to educate your individual tax clients and implement tax-saving ideas that will serve their ever-evolving needs. This course is continually updated to reflect enacted legislation. Please Note: Due to content overlap, it is recommended that this course NOT be taken together with BFTU.

Ethical behavior is not a destination it is a journey with twists, turns, and bumps in the road. We are faced with ethical dilemmas every day. Do I speed to make it to a meeting? Do I call in sick because I need a break? When does "helping my child with their homework" become "doing it for them"? CPAs are ethical most of the time, but staying ethical is hard. It gets harder when we are under stress. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This program addresses the most recent developments impacting partnerships operating as LLCs, with a focus on legislative, administrative, and tax form changes.  Emphasis will be placed on partners “tax basis” capital accounts – now required for tax form reporting.  **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.

This webinar will show you how to use Excel's charting and formatting features to present financial data to a non-financial audience. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." People tend to better understand your point when visuals are used. We will explore the many capabilities of presenting your data without showing rows and rows or columns and columns of data. Help your audience visualize the meaning of the data, whether it is a trend, an exception, a distribution or a good vs. bad relationship. This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Part of the technical competence of most experienced tax practitioners is the ability to advise owners of S corporations and partnerships or multiple-member LLCs treated as partnerships regarding the tax rules that apply when these entities liquidate. Entity liquidations do not occur every day; but they do occur, and often at very critical times in the business life of the entity and its owners. All tax practitioners should be able to advise their clients about the tax issues associated with client businesses that go out of existence and liquidate. This program explains the tax consequences associated with liquidating S corporations, partnerships, and multiple-member limited liability companies treated as partnerships.

More and more employers rely on non-compete agreements to protect company assets. Although state laws vary, non-competes are often used to protect the creation and development of corporate goodwill, customer relationships and specialized training, among others. Today, employees are more likely to be asked to sign non-compete agreements as a condition to employment. Non-compete agreements are also a common component of a business sale agreement. This program surveys non-compete agreements from all angles. Whether you advise individual clients or work for an employer, the presentation provides an understanding of common issues that arise in the negotiation and enforcement of non-competes.

The life cycle of the small business can be summed up in three segments: 1) starting the business; 2) operating the business; and 3) getting out of the business. This course focuses on getting out of the business. The most elusive element of owning a small business can be finding the proper exit strategy. This course is designed to provide the business consulting practitioner with tools and concepts to advise the small business owner and assist them in developing the right exit strategy. The course covers exit strategies related to third-party sales and succession planning within a family.

Many CPAs are becoming full-time or fractional CFOs for small businesses. In that position, they are the resident expert in finances, cash flow planning, and budgeting. But what about dealing with the IRS? The IRS has broad powers to administer the assessment and collection of taxes. From removing penalties to criminal prosecutions, this presentation focuses on how CFOs can prevent problems with the IRS and how to develop winning strategies if the IRS knocks on the door. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

How to properly account for and audit digital records is increasingly gathering importance as more entities have cryptocurrency and other digital assets on their financial statements. This course will address common questions, risks, and challenges evolving in this area. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Transforming your practice or business to a digital model is a journey, not a destination. There are some digital initiatives that require a great deal of time and money to deploy. There are also many "low hanging fruit" initiatives that are relatively easy and inexpensive to deploy. E-signature software is a perfect example of the latter. John Higgins, a nationally recognized leader in accounting technology, will guide you through the process of evaluating, selecting and implementing e-signature software to streamline a solution, and secure your document signing processes. You will be surprised to discover how easy it is to take your engagement letter and contract signing workflow digital. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.