CPE Catalog & Events

This course provides tools and insights into financial statement analysis - both quantitative and qualitative. We'll look not only at the three main financial statements but also dive into the MD&A and footnotes. We'll also discuss the affect of industry nuances on comparability of different analysis tools. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

CPAs spend most of their working lives reviewing bank statements and books and records of businesses. They are experts in understanding how to prepare financial statements according to GAAP. But would a CPA know a possible money laundering transaction if they saw it? Would they know about a money laundering business? Money laundering is a subject of many action and thriller movies, but rarely understood. This presentation will educate the CPA in understanding the basics of money laundering and how to identify money laundering. This presentation will help the CPA know the truth about money laundering, how to identify it, the statutes that define it, and the court cases that interpret it. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

With consumers' growing demand for privacy, it is imperative that enterprises prioritize privacy and provide privacy professionals with the resources they need. This webinar explores the findings of the annual State of Privacy Survey, which surveyed privacy professionals around the world and will cover trends in privacy staffing, budgets, awareness training, breaches, and privacy by design. Awareness of trends in these key privacy areas can help attendees reexamine, reevaluate, and potentially improve their privacy programs.

Signed by President Biden on December 29, 2022 as part of the Consolidation Appropriations Act, this program provides an explanation of the Secure Act 2.0 provisions impacting individuals and business taxpayers. Learn what you need to know for this filing season and how to plan for future years for your clients. **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 the beginning of a series that will cover major aspects of the Controllership function. Controllers are essential to the day-to-day accounting for organizations. Yet, the role is not often readily understood. In today’s world of acronyms such as CFO, CEO, COO, CAO, etc., the Controller function may get lost in the shuffle. However, they are a critical group of professionals who ensure the adequacy and transparency of accounting and financial reporting information. A Controller is an individual who has responsibility for all accounting-related activities including high-level accounting, managerial counting, and finance activities within a company. The duties of a Controller include assisting with the preparation of the operating budgets, overseeing financial reporting, and performing essential duties relating to payroll. However, in today’s evolving world, the Controller function can provide much more in-depth value to their organizations. This series is dedicated to exploring the traditional Controller role and stepping out of the box to identify areas where the Controller can add strategic value to their organizations. In this first course we focus on the typical Controller function and begin to identify ways to elevate the function.  

Applying Topic 606 in an environment of uncertainty can be especially challenging. This course will discuss the proper application of the revenue recognition model when facts and circumstances are changing.

This course provides a concise overview of Gemini AI, Google's advanced multimodal artificial intelligence model. It explains how Gemini is integrated into different Google products, including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and as a stand-alone chatbot. Participants will learn how Gemini enhances productivity by summarizing email threads, suggesting responses, drafting emails, generating formulas, creating tables, and more. By the end of the course, students will have a solid foundation in understanding Gemini AI's role in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Many clients are asking their advisors about Trump Accounts, one of the most anticipated yet misunderstood provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). This program will provide practitioners with the background to be able to advise their clients regarding how Trump Accounts operate. The course will also discuss the comparison between Trump Accounts and other accounts, such as 529 Plans and Roth IRAs. In addition, coverage will be provided on how the pilot program will function to give $1,000 to newborns.

In February 2016, FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which provides new guidelines that change the accounting for leasing arrangements. To be able to properly account for leases, financial professionals must understand ASU 2016-02 (also referred to as Topic 842). This guidance covers information on how leases should be accounted for. The previous leasing standard (ASC 840) had been in existence for almost 40 years. Under ASC Topic 842, lessors continue to classify leases as operating, direct financing, or sales-type. While lessees now classify leases as operating or financing leases. Previous guidance only required capital leases to be reflected on the BS. The new guidance requires all leases to be reflected on the BS. This is a major change for organizations and will cause their balance sheets to swell as leases must now be disclosed on the balance sheet. The standards original effective dates were prior to 2019. In April 2020, due to COVID-19, FASB voted to defer the effective date for ASC 842 for private companies and certain not-for-profit's for one year. For private companies and private not-for-profits, the leasing standard will be effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022. For public companies the leasing standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The course covers elements of lease classification for both lessees and lessors. Also, numerous examples are incorporated as reference.  

In a competitive economy, CPA's  and their firms need a way to stand out. The best way to do this is to give outstanding service to your clients. In this experiential workshop, you’ll learn skills that lead to dramatic client satisfaction. In addition, you'll learn several specific ways to guarantee you'll get a lot of word of mouth referrals that will lead to a dramatic increase in your number of clients.

This program addresses the role of client internal controls for balancing efficiency and effectiveness in a risk-based audit. Practical insights regarding an auditor's assessment of the risk of material misstatement when auditing financial statements of non-issuers will be explored, with particular emphasis on internal controls of small-to-medium clients. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available for your questions during the event.

This comprehensive training is designed to get the accountant up to speed quickly with partnership and limited liability company (LLC) formation and preparation issues as well as a complete understanding of calculating a partner and LLC member’s basis. The cornerstone of this course is the in-depth line-by-line analysis of the Form 1065 Schedule K and K-1 and how these items affect the partner/member’s individual income tax return.   *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 terri.storer@acpen.com    

Yellow Book and Single Audit reporting entities have complex and unique financial statement audit, compliance and reporting issues. Deficiencies in these types of audit engagements are common. This course will reduce the likelihood of noncompliance with relevant professional and regulatory auditing and reporting standards.

The tax landscape is constantly changing, challenging tax practitioner to stay abreast of these developments. This eight hour program will cover issues unique to business entities, including new court decisions, recent IRS publications, and the latest tax legislation that will impact businesses and individuals. The remaining time will be spent on IRS procedure and other issues. This course will provide a concise look at the hottest topics affecting every tax practitioner. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This course will serve as an introduction to conducting effective walkthroughs to gain an understanding of the client's transaction processes as well as identifying internal controls within each process. This course will review the procedures, questions to ask, and documentation requirements of walkthroughs. It will also include real-world examples of the red flags that may arise while executing a walkthrough. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Enterprise Risk Management for SMEs

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  The same theory applies to departmental performance—the overall result is only as strong as its weakest contributor.  Leave our interactive and entertaining session with insight for developing and sustaining the best team you can possibly assemble.  The four elements in this process are (1) development, (2) leadership, (3) hiring and (4) environment.  Discuss how to effectively use these elements in your creation of an outstanding organization. Discover the power of the 10 Attributes for Leadership Success and the negative impact of Leadership’s Fatal 13. Above all, learn how to combine these four elements as a successful catalyst for sustained high-quality output and results.  

Thsi course provides a comprehensive overview of Written Information Security Plans (WISP), focusing on their purpose, requirements, and implentation. All PTIN holders must certify they have a WISP prior to renewal, along with certifying the training of employees, staff and contractors as necessary. Participants will explore the history and legal foundation of WISP under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and how compliances is enforsed through IRS Circular 230, AICPA Statments of Standards, The American Bar Associations and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

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 one, we go through numerous concepts in detail and the remaining concepts will be covered in segment two.

Are you ready to take your productivity to the next level? Join our exclusive two-hour CPE course designed for accounting professionals and technology enthusiasts. Discover how to harness the power of Microsoft 365's versatile applications to streamline your workflows and enhance collaboration. In this course, you'll explore ten essential apps, including Shared Mailboxes, Planner, Lists, To Do, Stream, Viva Learning, Forms, Bookings, Approvals, and Places. Discover how to effectively integrate these tools into your daily tasks and experience immediate improvements in your efficiency. Don't miss out on this opportunity to unlock the full potential of Microsoft 365 and transform the way you work. Sign up now and take the first step towards a more productive and collaborative work environment!