CPE + Events Catalog

Designed for accounting and attestation practitioners at all levels in both public accounting and business and industry, this course provides a detailed review of SAS No. 145 and brings you up to date on FASB and AICPA standards issued over the past few years. The course also provides many hands-on examples and illustrations to help apply the guidance in practice and discusses other important A&A practice matters to be aware of, including an update on peer review and audit quality.

The need for a forensic accountant has grown in the last two decades, with more expected in the future. From oil well spills to divorces - from stealing trust funds to partnership disputes - forensic accountants are needed to find and calculate losses. They are financial detectives that are needed to explain the money story to attorneys, judges, and juries. If you are interested in starting a forensic accounting practice or adding on this service to your existing firm, this course is for you. In this presentation, you will know what service to provide possible clients, how to find those clients, and the cost-effective ways to start the forensic accounting practice. Your instructor has over 20 years of experience as a special agent with IRS-Criminal Investigation where he conducted investigations into tax and money laundering crimes across the globe. After his successful investigative career, he started a CPA firm from scratch that focused on forensic accounting. He shares the successes and failures in starting a forensic accounting practice, including getting the right credentials, various ways of marketing to potential clients, closing the deal with engagement letters, and delivering the service to the client. 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 compares and contrasts the financial and tax accounting differences of partnerships, LLCs, and S corporations, as well as discuss the tax accounting for these entities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

When federal prosecutors contemplate charges against business owners, two of their most potent and readily available tools include charges for mail fraud and wire fraud. The elements to convict for these crimes are clear: 1) The defendant devised or intended to devise a scheme or artifice to defraud, and, 2) in executing or attempting to execute the scheme, the defendant used or caused the use of mail or an interstate wire or wireless transmission. Mail, emails, cell phone calls, text messages, Internet transmissions, and even tweets could form the basis for charges of wire fraud or mail fraud. The crime of wire fraud is a reason that many business owners go to prison. In this course, we'll learn about a few people who've experienced a conviction for wire fraud. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Learn why creating an employer brand is so important and instrumental in competing in today's competitive marketplace. Elevate your recruiting experience for candidates and onboarding process for new hires to enhance your employer's brand.

The TCJA made turning business losses into tax refunds far more difficult.  The CARES Act suspended and modified many of these changes.  This course will address the revised rules for deducting business losses and discuss planning ideas and potential pitfalls.  **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.

The past two years have ushered in an explosion of ransomware attacks affecting businesses and individuals. Many of us read or hear about these attacks, but there is little understanding of how they occur, how a response is undertaken, and how the chances of experiencing one can be reduced. Join us to learn about these topics so you can be prepared with the best response and the knowledge to avoid common mistakes in a ransomware event.

PowerPoint is a widely available resource that is potentially underutilized by accountants because many accountants do not stray beyond Excel and Word in the Microsoft Office suite. You will learn how to create and edit a professional PowerPoint slide deck. This session places particular emphasis on efficiency tips and tricks that will allow you to develop creative, professional visual aids while minimizing time and effort. The course’s author will share personal insights he has cultivated throughout more than two decades of public speaking. Although the session will focus on creating and editing slides, we will illustrate best practices for presentation delivery. We will also explain how PowerPoint can be used for purposes other than delivering presentations.

Critical Traits of a Thinking Auditor - Stretching Experienced Auditors Beyond the Basics will provide tips and best practices for stretching experienced auditor past the basics in each of the three pillars of success. Those in charge of the day-to-day supervision of engagements need to consciously embrace and demonstrate characteristics that will enable him/her to transition to a firm leader. This includes a focus on three key pillars: financial success, retaining clients through superior client service, and developing other professionals. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for supervisory and managerial auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has responsibilities by finding creative audit solutions. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

In the beginning, CPA practitioners offered two types of attest services: audits and unaudited engagements. Auditors had plenty of authoritative guidance for choosing their auditing procedures and issuing reports but minimal guidance on performing and reporting on their unaudited engagements. In a landmark litigation in the 1960s, a CPA practitioner failed to detect an obvious fraud, ultimately leading to the AICPA creating well-defined, positive standards that birthed the Compilation and Review services in 1978.

Organizations often focus on cost accounting data but don't look at all the factors that influence that data. As a result, vast sums are spent to allocate costs that have nothing to do with cash. Instead, start with value, determine price, and then justify costs that can incur profits. Since you can calculate different costs using the same data, it's evident that costs do not represent cash. Cost accounting confuses metrics with measurements. Cost accounting is a bad practice because you create and force math and relationships that do not exist. By doing this, you lose touch with your operations. You make meaningless numbers that people consider as gospel when, in reality, they are nothing but opinions. A company needs to start with value and then determine price, which justifies the costs that can be profitably incurred to produce a good or service. It seems obvious to constrain a company with a final price before you incur any costs, yet this practice has yet to be widely followed despite its proven successes. Costs are undoubtedly essential, but the crucial distinction is when they are viewed and what measures to use.

External auditors only detect 3-5% of all fraud incidences. Get pragmatic guidance on detecting fraud. Discuss where fraud is most likely to occur. Learn to conduct inquiries and direct the audit in the areas of greatest concern, those most likely to be abused by perpetrators.

Organizations are challenged with identifying, evaluating, and responding to a wide variety of risks. This course will discuss tips and best practices for enterprise-wide risk management for accounting and finance professionals. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Gain hands-on knowledge while focusing on the trust administration process on the death of the single settlor and the first spouse in a joint settlor trust. In today's estate tax environment, with a change of the exemption in 2026, the answers to core questions concerning whether to file an estate tax return, make a portability election or make a QTIP election may surprise you. Learn what clauses to look for in the trust; when and how to make portability and QTIP elections; when to use the "Delaware Tax Trap" in place of QTIP election; how to educate the client concerning trust administration; and how to deal with assets outside the trust. Using checklists and forms, understand how to create a practical system for administering the living trust after death.

The statement of cash flows is a critical component of a company's set of financial statements. Cover the proper preparation of the statement, including analysis techniques. Learn how financial statements enable CPAs and financial professionals to see a business's cash inflows and outflows relating to operating, investing and financing activities and evaluation of liquidity and quality of earnings. Case studies and sample documentation reinforce significant concepts and help participants apply the analysis techniques discussed.

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.

In this course, we will share tips and tricks for working remotely.  You will learn what to do/what not to do in a virtual working environment, strategies for leading teams remotely, employee engagement ideas, and techniques and tools for teleworking.

What exactly is cryptocurrency and its cousin named blockchain? Are they here to stay? This session will provide a big picture examination of the technologies and currencies by explaining how we got here. We discuss the systems and technical aspects of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. What is the broad view of the technologies that currently do, and will continue to, impact our workplace and lives?

Our guidance on ethics comes from the AICPA and other groups, but it does not fully address the “why” behind ethics. This session will examine and define what ethics is and what it means to varying people in the workplace. Understanding what motivates people and understanding those people are key to both solving ethical dilemmas and workplace issues that can lead to greater job satisfaction and efficiency. To correct an issue, you need to delve into the root cause – the why?

This presentation will provide a detailed analysis of the Circular 230 rules for conduct of a tax practice, with a review of the political, legislative and regulatory rules impacting every accounting and tax professional. Best practices and guidance provided by the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct will be discussed. **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.