CPE Catalog & Events

Many of our clients are pass-through entities for which many of the general business strategies are subject to additional limitations. To provide the tax planning strategies for closely held business clients that will bring more revenue, this course focuses on the special concerns and techniques the practitioner needs to thrive in this market.

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.

When a purchaser buys an existing partner's partnership interest or the interest of a member of a limited liability corporation (LLC) taxed as a partnership, the amount paid becomes the basis for the purchaser's partnership interest (outside basis). If the partnership's assets have appreciated sufficiently, the difference between the new partner's inside and outside basis can be substantial. This disparity can deprive the new partner of depreciation deductions and inflate his or her share of the gain from subsequent property dispositions unless a Section 754 election is in effect. The Section 754 election can also apply when a partnership makes a distribution of property and the basis of the distributed property to the partnership and the basis the partner/distributee will take in the distributed property are not equal. In this case, a partnership can recover basis it would otherwise lose if the 754 election were not in effect.

Required minimum distributions (RMDs) must begin for the year in which the account owner reaches age 72 (older if they were born after 1950). RMDs must also be taken from inherited accounts, and the process for determining RMDs for these accounts is more complex than those that apply to RMDs for non-inherited accounts. Failure to comply with the RMD rules will result in the account owner owing the IRS an excess accumulation penalty on any RMD shortfall. Interested parties must understand the compliance requirements that apply to RMDs to be able to assist in ensuring that penalties are avoided. Additionally, the recent changes that affect RMDs must be considered when advising clients about their RMD obligations.

The cost of fraud, dearly paid by governments and nonprofits, is too severe to not learn from past experiences. This course examines real-world fraud cases to uncover the lessons they provide and translate them into practical, preventive controls. Using a highly illustrative and innovative format, the course engages participants with over 15 focused exercises designed to build a strong working knowledge of fraud risks and effective anti-fraud controls. Whether you are an auditor or an industry professional, you'll gain actionable strategies to strengthen oversight, reduce vulnerabilities, and safeguard your organization.

Planning may be one of the most important assignments of the finance professional; however, it is often accomplished in a way that can harm the organization. In many cases, huge sums are spent only to have a planning document developed that does not serve to bring the company together, but rather causes internal division. In some situations the budget can actually harm both productivity and alignment. This course is designed to bring planning, budgeting, and forecasting together into one fully aligned process that is easier, more efficient, and fully engages all parts of the organization. Rather than the plan being owned by the finance department, it is owned and followed by everyone from the CEO to the entry-level employee.

Since the late 1970's or early 1980's computers and the applications that run upon them have been changing the way we live and conduct business at a very rapid rate. The latest significant technological advance is Artificial Intelligence. Like anything new and different, AI is exciting and a bit scary. However, it is quite probably going to cause more change and upheaval than any new tool in recent memory, which makes it even more thrilling and more frightening. In this session we unpack what AI is, what it can currently do, and what it is expected to be able to do moving forward. We will demonstrate how it is used for business and in other areas of life. Our goal is to show participants why Artificial Intelligence is so important and to provide greater understanding of what it is and how it works so it is less intimidating. We hope you will join us! 

Staff accountants often need guidance to learn which features can help them create effective Excel workbooks. This course will teach them about many of Excel's accounting-centric features enabling them to work more efficiently and generate accurate results.

Social Security seems poised for changes in benefits and eligibility age. The leading edge of the baby boomer generation has already reached retirement age. Financial and tax planners can expect increased demand for strategies that dovetail Social Security with other retirement and estate planning objectives. This course provides tax and financial planning professionals with both the background information on the Social Security system and the strategies clients will need in dealing with Social Security, and the myriad other related retirement planning issues.

Even though they have been around for several years, the tax laws pertaining to S corporations remain some of the more difficult areas of the Internal Revenue Code. Given the rising popularity of S corporations, understanding how shareholder basis and the equity section of the balance sheet work together for tax purposes is imperative for nearly any tax practitioner. In this course, we will discuss this relationship. Using examples and illustrations, we will show how contributions, operating transactions, and distributions affect shareholder basis as well as equity.

Accounting and finance professionals often receive questions concerning all facets of Medicare. How does Medicare work? How do I apply? How much does it cost? Is Medicare optional or required? This program provides a basic introduction to the Medicare program and covers many of the areas of the Medicare program that clients are most interested in. If you, or some of your clients, have questions relating to Medicare, this program is a must for you.

From Enron and WorldCom in the early 2000s to Wirecard and FTX in recent years, the risk of fraud in an audit remains high, and the potential loss to the public has only increased. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) annual reports find that fraud is potentially lurking in all businesses, including not-for-profit organizations. It often goes undetected for years, and, when uncovered, management and the board may question why an auditor did not identify it - even though most corporate frauds are identified by internal personnel. Still, the auditor's responsibility in a financial statement audit is to assess risk and perform sufficient procedures to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement due to fraud (or error). However, failure to perform an adequate fraud risk assessment and report deficiencies in internal control, such as a lack of segregation of duties, can leave a firm vulnerable. This course will discuss the audit procedures that should be performed in accordance with AU-C §240, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, as recently amended; best practices in performing fraud risk assessment procedures; when and how to report control deficiencies noted in an audit; and the most frequent types of fraud found in small to mid-sized entities along with internal controls that could be implemented to help prevent and detect them. We will also look at various cyber fraud schemes and how they might be prevented or detected, the use of analytics as fraud risk procedures, and assessments of fraud risk in a Single Audit. Fraud is now more complicated than ever. From deepfakes to complex denial-of-service attacks, auditors have more to consider in their risk assessment than they did even five years ago. This course features case studies and detailed illustrations to help auditors know what to look for and how to respond to potential fraud in their audits.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued a new accounting standard for leases. This new standard—ASC Topic 842'replaces the existing ASC Topic 840, changes the accounting for operating leases (requiring capitalization in the financial statements), and upgrades many other lease accounting and reporting aspects.

Since the late 1970's or early 1980's computers and the applications that run upon them have been changing the way we live and conduct business at a very rapid rate. The latest significant technological advance is Artificial Intelligence. Like anything new and different, AI is exciting and a bit scary. However, it is quite probably going to cause more change and upheaval than any new tool in recent memory, which makes it even more thrilling and more frightening. In this session we unpack what AI is, what it can currently do, and what it is expected to be able to do moving forward. We will demonstrate how it is used for business and in other areas of life. Our goal is to show participants why Artificial Intelligence is so important and to provide greater understanding of what it is and how it works so it is less intimidating. We hope you will join us! 

Staff accountants often need guidance to learn which features can help them create effective Excel workbooks. This course will teach them about many of Excel's accounting-centric features enabling them to work more efficiently and generate accurate results.

This course will provide a general understanding of the current and prospective reporting and disclosure requirements for employee benefit plans. Participants will be provided with an insight into the common errors and mistakes made by auditors and plan administrators. Results from the Department of Labor's ("DOL") audit quality study will be discussed and reviewed. This material will provide auditors and plan administrators with up-to-date information regarding defined contribution plans auditing, reporting and disclosure requirements.

When putting together a financial plan, it is important to remember that the tax situation of the business and the individual are often intertwined. Therefore, decisions about entity type are vitally important. Practitioners need to understand not only how different entities are taxed, but also which taxes will have the greatest impact on the individual owner. In this course, we will explore when self-employment taxes apply to business income, as well as some of the lesser-known taxes that apply to flow-through entities. We will even explore when a PTE election could be helpful to a small business owner.

The IRS began replenishing its workforce with the additional funding only to have to terminate workers or lay them off due to mandated federal workforce reductions. The IRS trains its audit workforce by examining the tax returns of individuals and small businesses. As the IRS continues to examine tax returns, Accounting, Tax, and Financial Professionals need clients to understand the need for documentation and procedures to substantiate what IRS examiners are pursuing. Learn the high audit risk areas and ways to help clients survive an IRS audit with little or no change. It is critical for Accounting, Tax, and Financial Professionals in public accounting to understand the risk to clients and to themselves in tax return preparation and planning since the IRS continues to increase its audit coverage and is examining more taxpayers than it has in the recent past.

With the constant churning of governmental accounting standards, now is the time to know more than just what the standards say; we need to know what they mean and how they will affect governmental entities. This course is designed to do just that! The course materials utilize a highly illustrative and innovative format. Over 15 focused exercises are included to provide an enhanced working knowledge of the most critical challenges in governmental accounting today.

As financial and tax professionals well know, information overload is a constant struggle we face because things change quickly, and the sheer number of changes being made on a daily basis is enormous. Of great importance to small and medium tax and advisory firms is differentiating between changes that are relevant to our practice and our clients and changes that are new but totally irrelevant. Distinguishing between the two is difficult and time-consuming. Mike Tucker and a team of experts are pleased to present a weekly series designed to eliminate the clutter and get you what you need to stay up-to-date and perform for your clients. Mike and his co-presenters will dispense news on current events impacting taxes, finance, and industry. The subject matter will differ each week and intermittently include topics such as Social Security and Medicare. The panelists will discuss personal and corporate tax matters as well as other late-breaking news related to practitioners' personal finances and those of their clients. Every financial professional will benefit from this series. This is a cost-effective way for accountants to fulfill their compulsory continuing education because this weekly series will include almost 40 one-hour presentations. Sign up today — your clients and your bottom line will thank you.