CPE + Events Catalog

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.

Valuation techniques and cash management activities are two other tool categories that can round out your analytical toolbox. In this course we will initially discuss how to turn your financial plan into a powerful valuation engine.  We then will discuss the formation of an efficient cash management program based on solid banker relationships.  Finally, we will review Ten Steps for keeping your financial toolbox full.

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 program is designed for the accountant who is ready to handle the most complex individual client's income tax preparation. The program will look at areas that vex CPAs when dealing with individual taxes, including the 199A qualified business income deduction, limitation on deduction of business interest under 163(j), passive activity rules, and the net investment income tax.

Clients believe that estate planning is only for the wealthy. This isn't the case. Perhaps as a result of the 2020 pandemic, estate planning has a renewed focus. All practitioners should be familiar with the vernacular, acronyms and techniques. Estate planning involves personal issues that affect everyone, even when the estate tax doesn't apply. Learn strategies to pass assets to future generations; provide education benefits; distribute retirement benefits, and provide a charitable legacy.

The AICPA has determined than 1 in 10 firms are not compliant with the risk assessment standards. This course will discuss how to properly identify risks and assess risks under AU-C 315. We will then review how to respond to identified risks under AU-C 330. The course will focus on the inherent risk model. We will also review common deficiencies and how a proper risk assessment can drive a more efficient and effective audit.

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 is one of the courses dedicated to our Controllership Series. This series of courses is dedicated to exploring the traditional controller role and stepping out of the box to identify areas where the controller can continue to add strategic value to their organizations. Within this segment of our controllership series, we continue our discussion on inventory from segment one. This specific segment focuses on areas of inventory valuation, the types of physical inventory methods, and inventory fraud. These areas are critical for the controller to have a strong comprehension of and also participate in the development of policies and procedures.      

This final session in the Excel for Accounting Professionals webcast series offers you the opportunity to apply many of the items covered at the same time. The instructor will demonstrate how to apply 10+ features, functions, and techniques in a single user workbook.

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Copilot are available to everyone and offer great promise for improved productivity. Learn how you can begin to take advantage of these tools by participating in this session.

Practitioners need to exercise caution to ensure they maintain independence as they assist their clients with reviews, audits, and compilation engagements. This course provides a roadmap to best practices and guidance provided by the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct and analyzes and applies it to actual scenario-based case studies, providing accounting professionals with ethical standards to integrate into their practices. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available for questions during the event.

Many self-employed or sole proprietors find themselves having to navigate Schedule C in reporting business income. While this attachment to Form 1040 seems straightforward on the surface, there are many traps for the unwary. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Estate planning continues to evolve, and staying informed about the latest trends and strategies is crucial for professionals in the field. This forward-looking course delves into the intricacies of estate planning, with a specific focus on current issues. Participants will explore cutting-edge techniques, emerging legal considerations, and industry developments to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to create effective estate plans that withstand the test of time and safeguard their clients' legacies.  

We kick off this course with a look at the GASB standards that are effective this year including GASB 100, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections and GASB 101, Compensated Absences.  We then move to the NFP side of the house with a look at the Accounting Standard Updates issued by the FASB that impacts nonprofit entities. Following that, we review the work of the Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC) and the projects they advise the FASB on. After the break, we will conduct a deeper dive into Yellow Book and Single Audit engagements. The course closes with a look at the significant changes in the 2024 Compliance Supplement, the changes to the Uniform Guidance and the common deficiencies identified by the federal agencies and peer reviewers. 

This course will help you develop a strategic marketing and business development plan for your firm using 7 key principles to help maximize lead generation. You will learn how to establish and grow your B2B business in any niche using time-tested strategies, proven processes for attracting and retaining customers, and how to measure your results so you can spend your money and time effectively to own your market and attract higher ROI clients. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The newly-issued Statement on Quality Management Standards No. 1 requires firms to perform enhanced monitoring and remediation activities. Start now by learning what you need to know to be in compliance with the new standards and pass your peer review!

Many business owners need to pay more attention to the financial planning opportunities and implications when starting, growing and successfully running their businesses. This all-inclusive course brings together closely held business owner specifics, focusing on critical structure and financial planning issues, such as identifying those issues that business owners need to keep on the radar. This session will help determine the goals and objectives of the business owner when selecting or changing a form of the organization concerning start-up costs, control over the operation of the business, personal liability for business operations, flexibility in the process of the company, business structure, continuity and compensation. Financial planning issues to be discussed include cash flow management and budgeting, risk management and insurance, investing, income tax, retirement and estate planning issues. Companion course: PFP Update: Issues, Exposures, and Developing Client Strategy 2024

Automation is a great way to save time and improve accuracy and effectiveness. It also allows you to get more value from your workday. This session will teach you how to automate the tasks that are mundane or take up too much energy so you complete them automatically instead. One of the best things a person can do is invest time into automating their workday to help them achieve more work, reduce daily stress, and provide better mental clarity. This session focuses on various tools and services you can use to help promote personal automation. In it, you will learn about technologies such as integration platform tools, Amazon Alexa and Google Home, and the Elgato Stream Deck.

Getting ready for busy season involves not only knowing the tax rules for 2024, but also knowing how those rules are incorporated into the IRS tax forms practitioners will be using to prepare 2024 tax returns. This course provides tax return preparer attendees with an up-to-date review of important new tax forms, key tax developments, and tax law changes as they are reflected in IRS forms for 2024 and IRS filing issues and deadlines as they relate to 2024.

By 2025, millennials will represent 75% of the workforce. Whether you are an owner of a small practice or manager in a multinational corporation, it is important to understand characteristics and expectations of this large segment of the workforce. Research reveals that many of the common stereotypes surrounding millennials are unfounded and counterproductive. This course provides an understanding of who millennials are in comparison to their predecessors, the Gen-Xers and baby boomers. Equally important, the presentation will look at common myths regarding millennials and why understanding this class of employees provides opportunities for your organization to grow and succeed.