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.

The new Global Internal Audit Standards were released on January 9, 2024, and will become effective January 9, 2025. The previous version, the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, released in 2017, remains approved for use during a one-year transition period. The Global Internal Audit Standards guide the worldwide professional practice of internal audit. They serve as a basis for evaluating and elevating the quality of the internal audit function. The Standards use 15 guiding principles with five separate domains that enable effective internal audit implementation and examples of evidence of conformance. The Global Standards are organized into five domains. Domain I: Purpose of Internal Auditing Domain II: Ethics and Professionalism Domain III: Governing the Internal Audit Function Domain IV: Managing the Internal Audit Function Domain V: Performing Internal Audit Service

For most people, funding their own retirement is the largest expense they will ever have. Due to advances in medical technology and overall healthier lifestyles, it is not unusual for someone to live 30 years or more in retirement. In this course, we will discuss how to quantify and calculate the retirement needs of the client. We will talk about time value of money concepts, how to help clients quantify their retirement goals, and even how to address risk perceptions. By doing this, we will allow practitioners to be able to better address client questions and frame trade-offs when necessary. 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 provides a high-level overview and introduction into the world of the forensic accountant. Most accountants have an understanding of the concept of fraud and how it impacts companies, but many individuals do not have a full comprehension of the variance in the work performed by a forensic accountant versus a typical management accountant.   This course is meant for those individuals interested in understanding the variances in the job tasks and responsibilities of forensic accountants versus typical financial or management accountants. Forensic accountants or auditors take a unique focus on performing their work.  Typically, when a person with forensic experience is called in to examine financial records, it is due to suspicion of fraud, evaluation of assets, or even to track down fundamentally incorrect accounting – intentional or not. As fraud continues to raise its head in business processes, forensic accountants are discovering new and unique ways to identify, examine, and support their hypotheses and investigative techniques.  The work performed by a forensic specialist can be interesting and full of potential potholes if evidence isn’t examined according to proper protocols and standards.  

This course corresponds to our Controllership series. This course is dedicated to exploring the traditional controller role and stepping out of the box to identify areas where the controller can continue to add strategic value to their organizations. Within this segment of our controllership series, we discuss the area of cash and investments and explore how the controller can move these responsibilities into more of a strategic role. In today’s world, the role of cash management is often a pivotal role in the organization. In economically difficult times, controllers may find that they spend a great deal of their time on understanding and managing the organizations' cash position. This is certainly important and, in some areas, can be seen as a staple of the lifeblood of the organization’s ongoing viability. This course takes a look at some of the typical objectives involved in Cash management and then evaluates how those objectives can be further stretched into strategic pillars of the organization.   

Have you ever wanted to reduce the number of financial statement review points you receive? Are you curious about a reviewer's thought process? This hands-on session will answer these questions by helping you understand the role of an engagement quality control reviewer. Not only will you develop an appreciation for the role of an engagement quality control reviewer, but this interactive session will allow you to step into the reviewer's shoes by performing a quality control review during the class session. You will leave with an understanding of best practices for minimizing your exposure to critique by reviewers.

By the nature of our work and training, financial professionals have more personal finance knowledge than the general population. However, sometimes we spend so much time planning our company's future that we neglect or defer taking steps to build our own personal net worth. If you are dissatisfied about the speed that you are accumulating savings, this session will help put you on the right track. Even if you are meeting your goals, this session will provide insights and ideas which will add to and reinforce what you may already be doing.

This session will teach leadership principles to transform a workplace into a healthy & supportive environment. By improving organizational culture, mental health conditions will improve, & burnout potential is minimized. An unhealthy workplace results in failure to attract and retain top talent. Leaders can be instruments of change. The C.A.R.E.S. approach offers leadership principles that will improve your workplace. Symptoms are hidden at work. Your employees are hurting, and you can help. If you care for your people from the bottom of your heart, you will be amazed at what it does to your bottom line.

If you have been a practitioner for any length of time, you know that there is often a difference between what clients should do and what they actually do. Have you ever wondered why that is? In this course, we will explore how we make decisions with less-than-perfect information. Through real-life examples and case studies, we will examine common behavioral biases and how to deal with them. 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 provides a concise overview of how to utilize ChatGPT for advanced financial analysis in accounting. The session reveals how to combine sophisticated evaluation and interpretation of financial data with the cutting-edge AI capabilities of ChatGPT. Aimed at enhancing the understanding of an entity's performance, predicting future financial health, and aiding in informed business decision-making, this course goes beyond basic financial statement analysis to include a wide array of techniques and tools. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Many accountants desire to have a quick overview of only the most current issues in accounting and financial reporting. This course will provide an executive summary of the most important changes in U.S. GAAP. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Accounting and finance professionals routinely encounter a broad range of legal issues while advising clients or performing routine job functions. Contract law tops the list as the most frequent issue that intersects with the accounting and finance professions. As trusted advisors, it is wise to understand the fundamentals of contract law for both personal and professional benefit. This course provides a broad overview of contract law basics geared specifically toward the accounting and finance professions. From contract formation to enforceability, this course offers an interesting look at how contract law intersects with accounting and finance. Participants should walk away with a better understanding of common issues that arise when reviewing contracts.

To many clients, CPA firms all look the same. While services and specialties may vary significantly from one firm to another, it is hard for the average person to see this by simply looking at the sign outside our office door. Is there any way to make us stand out more to the outside world? Through surveys, statistics, and examples, this course looks at how CPA firms can develop a marketing plan beyond just relying on referrals. We look at the pluses and minuses of various marketing channels, regulatory constraints, and how to measure success in the competitive financial services space.

Since 1919, the Internal Revenue Service had a civil and criminal function in the United States tax system. Little do people know, the IRS has an elite criminal function that started with five United States Postal Inspectors. From its early days in taking down Al Capone to now solving cybercrimes, the IRS special agents are tasked with investigating tax fraud, money laundering, and other white collar crimes. This presentation will show you the importance of this law enforcement function, the training, techniques, expertise, and actions that cause them to be known as the "world's finest financial investigators." This presentation has been prepared by a 20 year veteran with the IRS-Criminal Investigation. The presenter investigated crimes, and trained and mentored other special agents. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

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.

Examine significant real estate tax issues and concepts, including planning and compliance topics emphasizing tax elimination or deferral. Discuss the qualified business income deduction (Sec. 199A) as it relates to real estate investments; limited discussion of opportunity zones (Sec. 1400Z-2) relating to real estate; 1031 exchanges; home sale exclusion (IRC Sec. 121); passive activities loss rules; estate planning and gifting with real estate; and California property tax issues, updated for passage of Proposition 19 affecting parent-child transfers and transfer of assessments to a new principal residence.

This comprehensive training is designed to get the accountant up to speed quickly with the complex passive activity loss (PAL) rules that apply to certain investments in trades or businesses and rental activities. The cornerstone of the course is the in-depth coverage of the detailed tax law and regulations applicable to passive activities under IRC §469 and how and when the 3.8% net investment income tax under §1411 applies.   *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  

Auditing employee benefit plans Employee benefit plan (EBP) audit engagements continue to be scrutinized by regulators and peer reviewers due to a history of noncompliance with applicable professional standards. Through this course, you can gain the proper skills to perform EBP engagements effectively. You will learn about: The steps of an EBP audit Applicable professional standards ERISA and SEC requirements Commonly audited plans You will tap into ways to plan and conduct effective risk-based plan audits to comply with professional standards while maximizing efficiency for defined contribution plan audits. This course focuses specifically on this type of plan given that defined contribution plans, including 401(k) plans, are the predominant plan type subjected to audits. Applied learning You will do a deep dive into EBP auditing by working through the plan audit process from engagement acceptance through the archive. Example forms and reports will be examined to illustrate effective EBP engagements.

The objective of this course is to train new, rusty, or returning-to-practice staff with a hands-on, pencil-pushing gold standard for preparing Form 1065. Common to advanced issues of partnerships are explored in the current course that can double as a quick and practical reference guide for tax treatment and tax preparation guidelines. Within each chapter, we illustrate various parts and areas of interest when preparing a 1065, including examples and corresponding tax forms. We bring it all together in the final two chapters with a comprehensive example that integrates and links all previous chapters. The course and instruction delivery are geared toward a basic understanding and progress to more complex issues via Surgent's "Step-by-Step" preparation guide.

In today's fast-paced environment, keeping up with the latest accounting and auditing requirements for governments and nonprofits can be challenging, but this course makes it easier! Designed to save you time and effort, this comprehensive update provides clear explanations of the most important developments affecting governments and nonprofits. Using a highly illustrative and innovative format, the course features over 25 focused exercises to strengthen your working knowledge and ensure you leave prepared to apply the latest accounting and auditing standards with confidence.