CPE Catalog & Events

Financial statement disclosures are important to provide the information necessary for financial statement users to make economic decisions. Disclosures further explain and clarify information provided in the basic financial statements, but also provide critical information about subsequent events, litigation risk, and other concerns. This course focuses on the most common financial statement disclosures for small- or medium-sized nonpublic entities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Employees, now more than ever, are experiencing stress, anxiety and other mental health challenges and all of those come with them each day to the workplace. In order to ensure the safety and security of their workplace, employers need to address these issues and support their employees. Join us to discuss the challenges to providing mental health support to employees, the potential risks of deprioritizing mental health, and tangible actions employers can take to support the mental health of their work group. The cost of providing mental health resources and support pales in comparison to the cost of NOT providing it. Make a plan. Be ProActive.

Have you ever found yourself wondering why people won't just listen to you? Or maybe you have found yourself surrounded by people that make your jaw clench...you know the people...the challenging people.  HR Professionals walk a tight rope of being strong, but not aggressive, polite, but not a push over. It is exhausting! In this session, you will uncover the secrets to working with (and overcoming) challenging people derived from the decades of experience Summer brings from her time on the frontlines and as an HR Professional working with companies such as Walt Disney World, H-E-B and even a dude ranch.  

Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, was released in 2009. After 15 years the cryptocurrency market consists of over 5,000 unique coins/tokens with a market capitalization of over 1.5 trillion as of 1/1/24. This course will provide an update on the cryptocurrency market and the blockchain technology that supports it. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Appreciation affects your bottom line and your workplace culture. Don’t think so? Think again! Your customers, clients, and co-workers want and need to know they are appreciated. How do you show them appreciation? You show them in their preferred appreciation style.  You have a bias for how you like to receive appreciation, and so do the people with whom you work. In this program, we will build on the research of Gary Chapman and Paul White on appreciation languages – words, time, service, and gifts.  Appreciation is a skill and practice that promises to influence your work life positively. You will experience strategies you can employ in your day-to-day lives to improve your team culture and manage work relationships.

Significant changes in the audit environment for 401k plans have resulted from recent U.S. Department of Labor reviews of 401k audits and the issuance of Statement of Audit Standards Number 136 (SAS 136), the Auditing Standards Board's new standard for employee benefit plan audits. This course will assist the audit professional with guidance needed to perform 401k audits in the upcoming year. We will discuss the significant changes from SAS 136 and other recent auditing standards, including both the auditor's and plan sponsor's responsibilities when electing and performing an ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) audit, which replaced the former limited scope audit. We will also focus on the most common compliance issues identified in 401k audits from both the Department of Labor and peer reviews, along with best practices and recommended corrections.

Joshua, a CFO from Chicago, did not go to prison for stealing the $2 million in liquid cash he had access to on a daily basis. Instead, Joshua ended up in prison by rationalizing that he was entitled to a few small perks of the profession. This course explores Joshua's story and covers how and why executives with high annual incomes make short-sighted decisions that can cost them their job and freedom. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Review the availability and application of three special rules that allow exclusion or deferral of gain from the sale of the stock of a corporation not making the S corporation election. IRC 1202 provides that all or part of the gain from the sale of "qualified small business stock" can be excluded from gross income. IRC 1045 describes situations when the gain from the sale of "qualified small business stock" can be deferred. To understand the application of these two favorable provisions, the meaning of "qualified small business stock" and other requirements and limitations must be understood. IRC 1042 allows the deferral of gain from the sale of corporate stock to an employee ownership plan ( ESOP). This deferral requires a qualified reinvestment in an adequate amount at the right time. Study how these three provisions apply in the context of tax planning for corporate businesses.

This course allows you to get reacquainted with the statement of cash flows. We will refresh your skills regarding both the preparation and utilization of the statement of cash flows. Significant emphasis will be placed on the informational role of the statement of cash flows and insights that can be obtained using the statement of cash flows in concert with the other elements of a company's accrual-basis financial statements. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Common Audit and Financial Reporting Deficiencies in State and Local Governments, is a 2 hour webcast detailing many of the more common mistakes that auditors and accountants are making in either the preparation of their annual financial statements or the audits of such financial statements. Deficiencies in audit standards (AICPA, GAO, Single Audit) and preparation standards (GASB) noted in this webcast are driven by the most recent results found in audit organization peer reviews, workpaper or desk reviews, and various organizations checklists for oversight. 

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.  

Designed for accounting and attestation practitioners at all levels in both public accounting and business and industry, this course provides a detailed review of SAS No. 145 and brings you up to date on FASB and AICPA standards issued over the past few years. The course also provides many hands-on examples and illustrations to help apply the guidance in practice and discusses other important A&A practice matters to be aware of, including an update on peer review and audit quality.

The need for a forensic accountant has grown in the last two decades, with more expected in the future. From oil well spills to divorces - from stealing trust funds to partnership disputes - forensic accountants are needed to find and calculate losses. They are financial detectives that are needed to explain the money story to attorneys, judges, and juries. If you are interested in starting a forensic accounting practice or adding on this service to your existing firm, this course is for you. In this presentation, you will know what service to provide possible clients, how to find those clients, and the cost-effective ways to start the forensic accounting practice. Your instructor has over 20 years of experience as a special agent with IRS-Criminal Investigation where he conducted investigations into tax and money laundering crimes across the globe. After his successful investigative career, he started a CPA firm from scratch that focused on forensic accounting. He shares the successes and failures in starting a forensic accounting practice, including getting the right credentials, various ways of marketing to potential clients, closing the deal with engagement letters, and delivering the service to the client. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This program compares and contrasts the financial and tax accounting differences of partnerships, LLCs, and S corporations, as well as discuss the tax accounting for these entities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

When federal prosecutors contemplate charges against business owners, two of their most potent and readily available tools include charges for mail fraud and wire fraud. The elements to convict for these crimes are clear: 1) The defendant devised or intended to devise a scheme or artifice to defraud, and, 2) in executing or attempting to execute the scheme, the defendant used or caused the use of mail or an interstate wire or wireless transmission. Mail, emails, cell phone calls, text messages, Internet transmissions, and even tweets could form the basis for charges of wire fraud or mail fraud. The crime of wire fraud is a reason that many business owners go to prison. In this course, we'll learn about a few people who've experienced a conviction for wire fraud. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Learn why creating an employer brand is so important and instrumental in competing in today's competitive marketplace. Elevate your recruiting experience for candidates and onboarding process for new hires to enhance your employer's brand.

The TCJA made turning business losses into tax refunds far more difficult.  The CARES Act suspended and modified many of these changes.  This course will address the revised rules for deducting business losses and discuss planning ideas and potential pitfalls.  **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.

The past two years have ushered in an explosion of ransomware attacks affecting businesses and individuals. Many of us read or hear about these attacks, but there is little understanding of how they occur, how a response is undertaken, and how the chances of experiencing one can be reduced. Join us to learn about these topics so you can be prepared with the best response and the knowledge to avoid common mistakes in a ransomware event.

Social media has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in our business world. However, just because it exists is not a good reason to use it. This workshop is designed to give you an overview of the social media landscape to help you decide if you want to engage with and on social media and, if so, what channel(s) are most strategic for you and your business. The workshop ends with a simple framework to help you use social media as a credibility strategy for your business, giving you a strategy for creating a year's worth of social media content in a single day.

Many people, when they hear about feedbcak in organizations and the workplace, think immediately of performance reviews. But feedback should not be isolated to these formal structures. This workshop is about the more informal methods of feedback that managers and coworkers can use to have more productive conversations that drive behavioral change. Through understanding the importance of dialogue, strategic questions to drive conversation, and mistakes to avoid, you'll be able to have more productive feedback conversations in your workplace (and maybe even at home, too).