CPE + Events Catalog

This program will provide a detailed analysis of the real estate professional passive activity rules, including forms reporting examples, and integrates those rules with when real estate is considered a "business" under the Section 199A flow-through entity deduction. A detailed analysis of the self-rental passive activity rules will be given, including forms reporting examples and integrates them with the flow-through entity rules related to self-rental. **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 is a two-part series that discuss new trends and concepts the financial controller should begin to execute in order to truly become a valued member of the senior leadership team. The rapid pace of the evolving technological landscape has promoted changes in how accountants and financial professionals focus attention on strategy and modernize their roles to leverage digital technology. There is increased demand for enhancing flexibility into finance cycles and initiating real-time reporting and insights. These are the core attributes that will assist in transforming the work that controllership function performs. Is the financial controllership prepared to meet future business demands? The IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) and Deloitte’s Center for Controllership aimed to better understand the current state of controllership and expectations of future demands for controllers and accounting professionals. They conducted a survey in late 2022 and identified several trends. The survey takes a look at how prepared controllership is to meet future business demands. It also highlights some insights for leaders to consider that may increase their preparedness. It also identified areas of additional insight and questions to answer on the controllership transformation journey. In this segment, we will go through numerous concepts in detail.  

This course explores the increasingly complex features of Excel that facilitate efficient data analysis.  We will introduce numerous analytical methods and techniques by using practical examples to illustrate how to unleash the power of Excel when manipulating, analyzing and reporting information.

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.

QuickBooks Desktop has been the go-to solution for companies since 1984 (Intuit originally created Quicken for bank reconciliations) and has grown into a powerful tool to track business finances. QuickBooks Online is one of the fastest growing applications in the accounting market today. With its ability to be an "on-the-go" solution, many service providers, entrepreneurs, and other industries prefer to keep it simple and use QuickBooks Online. Understanding the pros and cons of QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online will help you advise your client on the best solution for their business. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

In this webinar we will explore the powerful concept of splitting data from reports and dig into the mechanics that enable this technique. The key feature discussed is the Tables feature, and the key function discussed is the multiple-condition summing function. We will illustrate these items in a variety of ways, including building crosstab style reports and mapping tables.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and SECURE Act 2.0 both contained tax law changes that impact many individuals in 2024 and in later years. This program covers many of these changes as well as other tax topics that continue to impact individual income taxpayers.

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.

QuickBooks remains one of the leading accounting solutions for small and growing businesses and Intuit has added numerous advanced features to the application over the past few releases. In this seminar, you will learn how to take advantage of many of QuickBooks’ new and advanced features to solve important issues. For example, you will learn advanced inventory management techniques, including the ability to change the default costing methodology in QuickBooks, and implementing lot and serial number tracking. You will also learn how to build complete sets of financial statements in Excel that link in real-time to underlying QuickBooks data files and how to create multi-company financial statements. Additionally, you will learn how to put the Client Data Review feature to work to streamline the process of identifying and correcting errors and closing accounting periods in QuickBooks. Knowing how to take advantage of the advanced tools and features available can determine your level of success when working with QuickBooks. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn about QuickBooks’ “deep” features so that you maximize your effectiveness with the application.

In this cutting-edge course, participants will gain a deep understanding of how to leverage ChatGPT, OpenAI's powerful language model, to innovate and enhance business advisory services in the accounting sector. The course integrates theory and practice, demonstrating how various enterprise evaluation methodologies can be applied in conjunction with ChatGPT for increased business analysis efficiency, profitability, and growth. It also provides hands-on training for implementing these techniques in real-world scenarios. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

We have all heard the statement that it is the people that work at a company that gives it value. It is, sometimes and unfortunately, also the people that provide fraudsters with an entry point into an organization that can lead to hardship. This is even more true now because cyber-attacks on both organization and individuals have increased notably. Many highly publicized corporate hacking events are successful, at least in part, because an individual was targeted. In this session, we look the types of fraud that take aim at individuals with a special focus on the growth of cyber-attacks. We then discuss measures that can be put forth to help employees protect both themselves and the organization. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Bitcoin and crypto have been in the news recently for a variety of reasons. This course will cover the basics of accounting and auditing for cryptocurrency including recent standard setting by the FASB as well as a look at the AICPA's Accounting for and Auditing of Digital Assets practice aid.

With increasing competition for finding the best qualified candidates and retaining today’s workforce, it’s more important than ever to consider flexible work options in the workplace. We will review the most popular flexible work options your company could consider implementing: telecommuting, compressed work weeks, flexible hours, phased return from leave of absence, job sharing, early release days, and more! We’ll discuss the benefits of this talent management strategy, including increased productivity, decreased costs, better work-life “integration”, and increased employee engagement and satisfaction. You’ll learn how to propose flexible scheduling to your executive team, including how to logistically roll out this program. Whether you’re in a manufacturing plant, corporate headquarters, or retail industry, you can apply any of these flexible work options to your organization. 

This course examines the critical issues and special opportunities facing partnerships and their partners, with a focus on reporting tax basis capital accounts.  **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.

Best Practices for Identifying and Evaluating Audit Risk - Linking Risk to the Detailed Audit Plan will emphasize the key concepts and best practices that drive a thoughtful risk-based approach to forming an opinion on the financial statements. Properly identifying, assessing, and responding to risk through a detailed audit plan is critical to an effective and efficient financial statement audit. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for experienced staff, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has the need to better understand how to link risk assessments to the detailed audit plan. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Hacks, attacks, ransomware, malware – where does it end? Unfortunately, tech crimes continue to plague businesses of all sizes. Participate in this session to learn how you can reduce the risk of becoming yet another victim.

Regardless of size, most public accounting firms are mandated to have a written security plan in place. Failing to have such a plan in place can lead to substantial fines. Join us in this session to learn what your security plan should include and how to implement it.

As accounting firm's non-attest offerings to their attest clients become more diversified, such engagements increase firms' exposure to independence violations. In order to thread the needle of providing value-added services and upholding their independence obligations, firms need to have a strong foundational understanding of the applicable ethical and independence rules which govern these engagements. In this course, we'll review the relevant sections of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct regarding independence, objectivity, and conflicts of interest. The course will focus on the Code's Independence Rule and common threats to auditor's independence. In particular, the course will focus on those unique considerations related to non-attest services, both from the perspective of AICPA interpretations and other applicable rules and regulations. PLEASE NOTE: THIS COURSE COVERS GENERAL ETHICS AND IS APPLICABLE IN STATES IN WHICH STATE-SPECIFIC ETHICS IS NOT REQUIRED.

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.

Charts and graphs are nothing new. However, many professionals struggle with building compelling visualizations. If that statement describes you, participate in this session to improve your skills in creating Excel charts and other visualizations. As a result, you will create visualizations to enhance your communication skills. This session is much more than just a seminar on fundamental charts. Instead, in this session, you will learn how to create advanced charts that are interactive, dynamic, and aesthetically pleasing - three qualities that will help to ensure that your readers and audience will understand the data you are presenting. This seminar is a must if you want to improve your communication skills.