CPE Catalog & Events

Positive client relationships require work. Miscommunication, unrealistic expectations, and differing personality styles may strain a client's relationship with professional advisors. Fortunately, there are tested strategies that foster and strengthen client relationships. Creating appropriate boundaries early on is one of many effective strategies that can help. This course explores actions accounting and finance professionals can take to create and grow their client relationships. This webinar provides actionable insights on how to engage new and old clients alike. Strained client relationships can harm both the client and the firm's profitability. Yet automation, for example, allows some firms to remain more engaged while others miss the mark. There is a science underlying client retention that involves understanding the client journey, ensuring consistent client interactions, and equipping employees with the tools needed to satisfy client needs. Understanding these skills should help you protect the relationships that sustain your business.

The past few years have taught us that major risks can come at us from any direction and with barely a warning. All organizations operate in a risk environment, but all too often, they either don't realize it or they don't develop a strategy to deal with the risks. In this session, we will explore how risks work in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and how they can develop a strategy to identify, evaluate, and mitigate those risks. This program will not teach how to eliminate risks, but how to strategize how to reduce their total effect. We will liberally use case studies of both for-profit and not-for-profit companies to bridge the gap between concept and actual implementation. In each area we will explore what our experiences of the pandemic have taught us about this part of risk management.

Client advisory services (CAS) professionals are becoming a more integral part of the operations of any CPA firm. As such, they must stay on top of changing tax law. In this course, we will explore tax changes in areas CAS professionals are involved with — information reporting, payroll tax issues, and tax credit and deduction documentation. We will also discuss relevant changes to individual and business tax returns so that CAS professionals can better assist clients with tax needs in the upcoming year.

If you work with governments or not-for-profits, mastering the fundamentals of Yellow Book and single audits is essential. This beginner-friendly course breaks down the key requirements of the Yellow Book and the Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards into clear, manageable concepts. You'll learn the essentials of performing Yellow Book and single audits with confidence—building a strong foundation, boosting your understanding, and equipping you to conduct audits efficiently and effectively.

Pass-throughs (S corporations and Partnerships) are the most popular choice of newly formed business entities. However, for years, taxpayers and their preparers have struggled to calculate, update, and maintain the pass-through entity owners" tax basis information in each investment correctly. Calculating and accounting for tax basis and adequately reporting the impact of operating and liquidating distributions for these entities are among the most frequently cited audit deficiencies. Taxpayers have also misapplied the tax rules when calculating the gain or loss from the sale of the interest. Recently, the IRS initiated enforcement initiatives designed to audit owners of pass-through entities regarding their calculations of tax basis and their tax treatment of distributions. This course will teach you how to properly account for both items for your clients who own an interest in a partnership or an S-corporation. Learn to identify the most common mistakes and errors and report these items correctly before your client is audited.

An in-depth coverage of ASC Topic 842, Leases . Leasing is popular among corporations for needs including office space and equipment. Since ASC Topic 842, Leases has been adopted by most entities, it is time to review the topic, including any recently issued updates. Excerpts from publicly traded companies' recent disclosures on Leases are also examined.

Whether saving for retirement, reducing taxes, or combining the two, pension and profit-sharing plan strategies are your go-to solution. Discover the type of plan documents that work best for your clients, how to terminate a plan, different retirement plans you can choose from, contribution & deduction limits, reporting & disclosure rules, Form 5500 & participant communication requirements, and even how to do in-plan Roth conversions. Get ready to make retirement planning for your clients a breeze.

This course is a great foundation to introduce new preparers to tax rules related to business returns. The course covers tax areas affecting all business entities, providing a solid basis for staff to handle business entity returns. Such business tax topics include the sale of assets used in a trade or business (Form 4797), depreciation (Form 4562), deductible and nondeductible items, and the basics of uniform capitalization. The objective of this course is to train new staff accountants, data processing employees, paraprofessionals, and bookkeepers to prepare complicated federal corporate income tax returns. It is a hands-on and practical course, with extra emphasis on changes to forms under new tax law.

This hands-on course introduces accountants, auditors, and finance professionals to agentic AI by simulating autonomous behavior using the basic version of ChatGPT. Participants will use role-play, prompt engineering, and guided interaction loops to create agents that simulate planning, decision-making, and communication workflows. No coding or advanced access is required. Participants will practice designing task-specific prompts, simulating agent autonomy using flipped interaction patterns, and evaluating agent output for risk and effectiveness. This course makes agentic AI accessible to all learners through practical, scenario-based exercises using tools they already have.

The business structure a client chooses influences virtually every tax and financial issue associated with the business, including the business's day-to-day operations, its tax liability, how much of the owners' personal assets are at risk, and much more. For this and many other reasons, it is critical that a client choose a business structure that gives the right balance of legal protections and tax benefits. From a tax perspective, in terms of selecting an entity to do business in, the universe shifted with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted at the end of 2017. The tax rate for C corporations was lowered to 21% and the §199A deduction offered pass-through entities the chance to significantly lower the rate at which they are taxed. But how do all these options work and which option is best for which business? Those questions are at the heart of this webinar. In this program, we discuss whether there is a "best entity" for our clients. Accounting and finance professionals know that re-examining choice of entity determination is at the top of the agenda for client meetings because clients continue to want reassurance that they have the most tax-efficient entity structure. This program will equip you with the knowledge and insights you need to lead those discussions.

This annual update covers activities of the FASB and Private Company Council (PCC) and reviews new SAS and SSARS. Stay current on new standards related to financial accounting and attest and assurance services including compilations, review and auditing. You'll learn the specific requirements of the standards and their potential impact on financial statements and we will review the pipeline of proposed standards. This years' update will cover induced conversions of convertible debt, stock compensation accounting and disclosure, income tax disclosures, crypto currency accounting, joint venture accounting, and updates to the accounting for government grants. We will cover new audit standards including group audit standards, and new fraud, evidence and materiality standards. We'll do a deep dive into SAS 145 and the new quality management standards. Note: SEC reporting requirements and public company audit requirements will not be covered.

Taxation of real estate and homebuilding activities has been subject to IRS scrutiny, primarily regarding compliance with cost capitalization issues and revenue recognition, including the costing out of units sold. This course provides an in-depth analysis of tax accounting methods for various real estate and homebuilding activities, including the application of IRC Section 263A (capitalization and inclusion in inventory costs of certain expenses) and IRC Section 461 (the general rule for the taxable year of deduction). This program will provide clear insights into approaching compliance with costing rules, avoiding IRS audit adjustments, and obtaining the most beneficial tax results for the home builder/developer.

Pass-throughs (S corporations and Partnerships) are the most popular choice of newly formed business entities. However, for years, taxpayers and their preparers have struggled to calculate, update, and maintain the pass-through entity owners" tax basis information in each investment correctly. Calculating and accounting for tax basis and adequately reporting the impact of operating and liquidating distributions for these entities are among the most frequently cited audit deficiencies. Taxpayers have also misapplied the tax rules when calculating the gain or loss from the sale of the interest. Recently, the IRS initiated enforcement initiatives designed to audit owners of pass-through entities regarding their calculations of tax basis and their tax treatment of distributions. This course will teach you how to properly account for both items for your clients who own an interest in a partnership or an S-corporation. Learn to identify the most common mistakes and errors and report these items correctly before your client is audited.

An in-depth coverage of ASC Topic 842, Leases . Leasing is popular among corporations for needs including office space and equipment. Since ASC Topic 842, Leases has been adopted by most entities, it is time to review the topic, including any recently issued updates. Excerpts from publicly traded companies' recent disclosures on Leases are also examined.

Whether saving for retirement, reducing taxes, or combining the two, pension and profit-sharing plan strategies are your go-to solution. Discover the type of plan documents that work best for your clients, how to terminate a plan, different retirement plans you can choose from, contribution & deduction limits, reporting & disclosure rules, Form 5500 & participant communication requirements, and even how to do in-plan Roth conversions. Get ready to make retirement planning for your clients a breeze.

Does it seem like you spend far too much time recruiting" Do your people leave just as they become productive" If you think your turnover is because Millennials are different from earlier generations, you probably are not looking at the real source of your problem. Learn the changes you should make now!

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the accounting and finance profession at an unprecedented pace. What began as automation of repetitive tasks has evolved into systems capable of complex data analysis, natural language processing, and predictive modeling. Modern AI tools — such as generative AI, machine learning, and intelligent automation — are reshaping how professionals audit, forecast, analyze risk, and deliver client insights. This course provides accounting and finance professionals with a comprehensive understanding of how AI is reshaping workflows, client services, and decision-making. Participants will explore current applications of AI within firms and corporate finance, assess risks and governance considerations, and learn strategies for adapting professional roles in an increasingly automated landscape. The program also examines the emerging ethical, regulatory, and data privacy challenges associated with AI adoption.

This program covers three topics: the Department of Labor's changes in overtime rules, the Federal Trade Commission's ban on most non-compete agreements, and the Department of Labor's new rules relating to differentiating between employees and independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Any suspensions due to court challenges will be discussed. Understanding these new changes will allow accounting and finance professionals to discuss these important business law changes with their clients.

Trusts are not cookie-cutter documents. In fact, they can be rather unwieldy, especially in explaining the functions to a client and then having the client comply with the trust terms. This course delves into best practices. Given common scenarios, what are the best trusts to use? And how can the client be best protected?

With all the planning, procedures, and reporting involved in a single audit, sometimes things can slip through the cracks. But what if the thing that slips through is fraud? Compiled from news releases, court records, and the thrilling annals of the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, this course tells the tale of seven real-world frauds that seemingly dodged detection in the single audit process. Leveraging the incredible gift of hindsight, this course is designed to raise your awareness and sharpen your focus on the potential for fraud in single audits!