CPE Catalog & Events

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was a major overhaul of our tax system that lowered the income tax rates for individual and corporate taxpayers and introduced the new 20% qualified business income (QBI) deduction for sole proprietors and pass-through entities. The cornerstone of this course is the comprehensive discussion of the 20% QBI deduction final regulations under IRC §199A.    **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

Managing and auditing employee spending on personal and corporate credit cards is a challenge everywhere. Legacy manual expense reporting preparation and approval processes are tedious and repetitive and are an excellent place to start your company's use of business process automation solutions. This session will cover a variety of expense workflow tools which use technologies and features like bank feeds, mobile receipt capture, OCR data extraction/filling, automated policy enforcement, and artificial intelligence-based validation to automate and eliminate the tedium. Attend this session and learn how to use automation and cure the expense reporting blues for you and your employees.

A solid understanding of the laws governing estate and gift taxation is essential for tax professionals handling Forms 706 and 709. This course provides an in-depth analysis of the legal framework surrounding estate and gift taxes, including key regulations, IRS guidance, and court rulings. Participants will explore how estate and gift tax rules interact, learn strategies for minimizing tax liabilities, and gain insight into compliance challenges. The course will also provide a thorough review of any new legislative changes introduced by the current administration and their implications for estate and gift tax planning.  *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

Isn't it time you learned how to unlock the full potential of Microsoft 365 and take advantage of critical features available in your Microsoft 365 subscription" In this session, you will learn to use tools such as Teams, Planner, Power Automate, and others to enhance productivity and efficiency.

Enhance your career with an invaluable skill set in this two-part series, where you'll explore the cost system of a real company from the ground up. Learn how to link variable and base costs, identify fluctuating and semi-fixed direct costs, and accurately trace direct materials, labor, and labor burden to products. Gain practical tools for budgeting, setting standard costs, and seamlessly embedding Activity-Based Costing (ABC) into a comprehensive cost system. Be sure to also register for Part 2: World Class Cost Accounting: A Practical Application - Part 2

Strategic Planning for SMEs

This seminar will help participants define their organization's strategy and particularly their sustainable competitive advantage by helping them understand their organization's unique value proposition. It will also help you and your organization understand how decisions are made and help improve the quality of the decisions required to execute their strategy. Finally, it will help identify and hopefully mitigate risks to the execution of their organization's strategy. We will also look at ways to find your company's unique value proposition and to measure your success at creating a sustainable competitive advantage.

The Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) pertains to the management of Federal Financial Assistance for grants and cooperative agreements.  The Biden Administration has performed a comprehensive update where the revised Uniform Guidance was released in April 2024. We will review all of the significant compliance and threshold changes. In addition, we will provide a brief presentation of the revised guidance as it pertains to Time and Effort reporting.

Lease accounting under FASB ASC 842 is now fully effective for all entities. Transitioning to new GAAP always leads to implementation issues and concerns. This course will answer the most common questions asked related to the latest lease accounting and financial reporting requirements after adoption and transition. 

In the course of legal actions, payments may be made pursuant to a final disposition of a court case or a mutually agreed-upon settlement.  This course will cover the tax implications for payments made for personal injury, emotional distress, lost wages, punitive awards, pre- and post-judgement interest, contract claims, among other damages. **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.  

Internal controls are more important than ever, and their importance increases daily. However, internal controls present a challenge for many smaller organizations. This program will teach you how to evaluate, develop, and implement an effective internal control structure in a small business environment. You will identify how to assess risk in smaller organizations and implement preventive, detective, deterrent, and compensating controls to mitigate these risks, even without proper segregation of duties. Additionally, participating in this program will teach you technology-focused techniques for preventing and detecting fraud and securing information systems and sensitive data. For small organizations, maintaining an effective system of internal controls presents a significant challenge. Realistically, implementing many theoretical concepts surrounding internal controls may not be possible in some cases. Consequently, many internal control structures foster an environment where too much risk exists. This factor and uncontrolled information systems can often lead to disastrous results. Participate in this program to learn the necessary insights and tools to design, implement, and monitor effective internal controls, security, and anti-fraud measures in small organizations.

A common challenge for the controller role is in closing the month-end and period-end books in preparation to issue financial statements. This duty requires precision, timing and efficiency. In today’s digital world, many organizations have access to financial accounting software that will assist with the steps in the financial close. However, even with this aid it is critical the accountant understand the various steps for the close process and how they inter-relate to other accounting processes. This course gives you an insight into the inter-relationships between many processes that impact the financial close. The closing process has traditionally been a slow one with many companies taking two weeks to close its subsidiary’s books and another two to three weeks to roll up and consolidated the results. With the introduction of technology much has been done to help accelerate that process with integrated enterprise resource planning systems and general ledger and consolidate software. Within this segment we will discuss the elements of the financial close and also important concepts to assist the controller in accelerating their close timeline. This includes addressing all functional areas of the close including payroll, invoicing, payables, inventory, cash, and the general ledger. We will also discuss important concepts of ensuring your financial close is accurate by discussing bank reconciliations, overhead allocations, bad debt reserves, unpaid wages and accruals for vacation time, account reconciliations, deprecation and overall financial statement review. Note: This course does not address utilizing technology in the financial close. Its focus is to understand the varied procedures involved in the financial close whether or not technology is utilized.  

In the world of work today, nothing is more critical than Culture.  If people are your competitive advantage, then culture is the best way to help your people realize a great destination. While many leaders and companies talk a lot about culture, few take the time to really plan, build, and invest in a great culture. Today, the world of work could not be more challenging, and the changes that we are seeing in the workforce, such as the rise of remote workers and increasing turnover, are adding to the complexity. Now more than ever, Culture must become your competitive advantage. In this course, you will learn about the key macro changes in the workforce and what some leading companies and leaders are doing to create amazing cultures and high-performing organizations. From LinkedIn to Patagonia to Eventbrite, you will learn from some top organizations ow they have successfully leveraged culture. You will learn what Culture is and can be, and you will learn what culture is not. As you set sail in 2024 and beyond as a leader, you will benefit from this class and learn how to make culture your competitive advantage. Your teacher for the class is Steve Cadigan, whom many credit for being the architect of LinkedIn's world-class and groundbreaking culture. 

Debt is typically a critical component of the financial statements, impacting the economic decisions of financial statement users. This course will address common issues that may impact the proper presentation and disclosure of debt, including debt covenant compliance and other issues that impact classification of the liability between current vs. noncurrent. 

Do you get bored with similar rubrics’ cube COSO risk model courses?  They are important and great, but this course is intended to offer a fresh approach on the view of risk using the dynamic landscape of modern business; CFOs are charged with navigating an array of external and internal risks that can impact organizational performance and sustainability. This seminar will empower finance professionals with the foresight and practical tools needed to understand, anticipate, and mitigate both external and internal risks. We must be aware and anticipate. If we do not adequately prepare, we will be exposed to avoidable and onerous risk. Essential for leaders and organizations that want to survive and thrive. This seminar stands on its own but is also part of the Common Sense CFO series.

Please join us for a discussion on Treasury Circular 230 and other ethical issues faced by enrolled agents and other tax preparers.  In addition to covering the practice standards espoused by Treasury Circular 230, there will also be an overview of the applicable provisions in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and common law which will affect tax preparers.  The discussion will conclude with other ethical issues, such as avoiding conflicts of interest, proper fee structure and maintaining competency.  Also included will be case studies illustrating dilemmas faced by tax practitioners.   **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.  

Stop struggling with PDFs! Adobe Acrobat and other PDF tools provide access to features that make working with PDF files a breeze. In this course, you will learn how to use tools and features such as PDF forms, redaction, converting PDFs to Word and Excel files, and electronic signatures. You will also learn how to create and apply tick marks, build indices, catalogs, and portfolios, and secure PDF documents to their fullest. The popularity and usefulness of PDFs increase daily, but most PDF users have not learned how to manipulate PDF documents effectively. Accordingly, they struggle and strain with these standard files. You do not need to let this be the case. Join us in this very timely session where you will learn the top features necessary to optimize your work with PDF documents.

This comprehensive course provides the critical updates governmental accountants and auditors need to stay informed. We'll begin with a review of recent GASB standards, including compensated absences, asset disclosures, risk and uncertainty disclosures, and financial reporting model improvements. Participants will also gain insights into GASB's current projects, exposure drafts, and agenda progress to ensure they are up to date on what's ahead. For auditors, we'll cover key changes to governmental auditing standards, including the 2024 Yellow Book updates, the transition from quality control to quality management, and implementation timelines, with early adoption options. Single Audit updates will include the 2024 Uniform Guidance changes, the 2025 Compliance Supplement, GAO reports on improper payments and government fraud, the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), and recent Department of Education guidance on related parties.

This  session provides HR Professionals with scripts for and tactics for coaching leaders in handling an array of employee relations situations with sensitivity, good judgment, and high confidence.  Topics include employee complaints, personality & attitude problems,  performance counseling, personal hygiene problems, disability-related performance issues, misconduct due to mental conditions. You will learn how to use a unique process, “Reset the Clock,” that prevents attorneys from taking something leaders did wrong or did not do in the past and using it to support legal challenges in the future.  Liability is replaced with credibility. Lawsuits are then avoided rather than won.  Financial assets are protected, morale stays high, and bad publicity is averted. HR Professionals avoid hearing from senior leaders:  “You should have anticipated this” after an avoidable legal claim.

According to the FBI, “white-collar crime is … synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals … characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust …. The motivation behind these crimes is financial—to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.”  CPAs can and should play a crucial role in preventing and detecting white-collar crime, as well as in prosecuting the perpetrators.  This session will explore whether we are up to this challenge, heighten awareness regarding the CPA’s role as a front-line defender of the public interest, and assess whether we are deserving of the public trust we enjoy.