CPE Catalog & Events

Federal procurement requirements under the Uniform Guidance were significantly revised effective October 1, 2024, introducing new expectations for procurement methods, internal controls, contractor oversight, and domestic sourcing preferences. This session will provide grant recipients and subrecipients with practical guidance on implementing compliant procurement procedures under 2 CFR SS200.317-200.327 and aligning procurement policies with updated federal standards, and thresholds from the FAR. Attendees will learn how to strengthen procurement documentation, apply revised competition requirements, and prepare for federal agency or Single Audit procurement system reviews. This session provides the regulatory application to develop your own SOP.

This course provides tax and accounting professionals with a focused overview of Trump Accounts and their practical application in client planning. Participants will examine eligibility requirements, contribution rules, tax treatment, and reporting considerations. Through practical examples, the course emphasizes evaluating suitability, identifying planning opportunities, and avoiding common compliance pitfalls when incorporating Trump Accounts into client strategies. *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  

Even though the current transfer tax exemption is extremely high to the point that few decedents have a federal estate tax liability, administering an estate is a burden for many family members. In many cases, the family members will look to their professional advisors for help in estate planning and administering an estate. The purpose of this program is to discuss those issues that practitioners with clients involved in estate planning administration need to know to advise those clients. Lack of planning and preparedness in estate issues can cost the heirs time and money upon a decedent's death.

Enhance your career with an invaluable skill set in cost accounting. This program presents a comprehensive cost system based on a real company, guiding you through the accurate classification of manufacturing overhead costs. Learn to distinguish between true variable and fluctuating variable costs, identify fixed overhead costs that are direct or directly assignable, and account for variances from standard costs. In this model, all manufacturing overhead costs are fully traced to products, providing practical insights you can apply directly in the workplace.  It's highly recommended to take Part 1 before Part 2 as several foundational principles in Part 1 carry forward throughout Part 2.  

Preparation, compilation, and review engagements continue to receive heightened attention in peer review, even years after the issuance of SSARS No. 21. This course examines the most common deficiencies identified in peer reviews of SSARS engagements, with an emphasis on practical compliance and engagement quality. Participants will explore frequent problem areas in preparation, compilation, and review engagements and discuss why these deficiencies occur. The course focuses on understanding the root causes of noncompliance, rather than simply listing technical errors, and highlights practical approaches firms can use to improve consistency, documentation, and overall engagement performance. Designed for practitioners performing SSARS engagements, this course helps participants strengthen compliance while maintaining an efficient and practical approach to engagement execution. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The saying goes it takes a Village to raise a child. Well, the same goes for running and growing a successful business. For CPA firm owners, the same applies to you. This session will share how you can align with others and create partnerships to boost revenue and take your firm to the next level.

Advanced Excel for Staff - Build Reports and Analyze Data is a comprehensive, 2-hour course tailored for professionals looking to enhance their Microsoft Excel skills in creating reports and performing data analysis. This course bridges the gap between basic Excel functionality and the advanced techniques required for effective data-driven reports. Participants will learn to efficiently gather, organize, and structure data, apply calculations to derive key metrics, and create professional-grade reports that are both visually appealing and actionable. The course emphasizes practical application, providing participants with guidance on Excel's advanced tools and functions. By mastering workflows and best practices, learners will gain the confidence to tackle complex data challenges and streamline reporting processes. Additionally, participants will explore methods to validate and share their work, ensuring that reports are accurate, insightful, and easily communicated across teams. Whether you are tasked with preparing financial summaries, tracking performance metrics, or generating operational insights, this course will equip you with the tools to maximize Excel's potential, saving time and improving the quality of your outputs. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

PowerPoint is a widely available resource that is potentially underutilized by accountants because many accountants do not stray beyond Excel and Word in the Microsoft Office suite. You will learn how to create and edit a professional PowerPoint slide deck. This session places particular emphasis on efficiency tips and tricks that will allow you to develop creative, professional visual aids while minimizing time and effort. The course’s author will share personal insights he has cultivated throughout more than two decades of public speaking. Although the session will focus on creating and editing slides, we will illustrate best practices for presentation delivery. We will also explain how PowerPoint can be used for purposes other than delivering presentations.

Properly designed and effectively operating internal control over financial reporting is critical for preventing, or detecting and correcting, material misstatement. This course describes how to satisfy the audit requirements related to taking a control reliance strategy by testing the operating effectiveness of internal controls, while promoting an effective and efficient financial statement audit. 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 managers and executives must demonstrate sound technical and analytical necessary for personal growth and organizational success. This course will provide insights into the most critical technical and analytical skills needed by CFOs and Controllers - or those that want to be!

Until recently, a percentage of organizations discounted the risk related to external fraud attempts. Most were only concerned with protecting physical assets such as inventory or fixed assets. However, because of the many highly publicized corporate hacking events, such as the ones that affected the Colonial Pipeline and JBS Meats, more attention is being paid to external fraud risk of all types. In this session, we look at what is included in a definition of external fraud and then delve into specific control issues that can give rise to increased risk. We then discuss measures that organizations can employ to help reduce exposure to external attacks. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Most businesses are identified in the marketplace by the different symbols, logos, words, etc., that they use. These devices, also known as trademarks, are also used by CPAs whether knowingly or unknowingly. This course seeks to inform CPAs on what trademarks are, and how they can use trademarks in identifying their practices in the marketplace. The course also seeks to illustrate the advantages of trademarks and why CPAs should be aware of them and their use.

Human Resources professionals are often tasked with investigating allegations of employee misconduct, discrimination, and others. Investigation training is traditionally presented from the position of an outsider looking in, such as a governmental agency, law firm, or private investigator. HR investigations require similar skills, but the environment and the approach are quite different. This session provides best practices for gathering and analyzing evidence and reporting the investigation results. Attendees will end the session with takeaways to immediately implement in future HR investigations. Three of three Episodes in the series.

Did you know that business professionals can spend up to half their time in Excel just formatting? It’s time to change that! Join this fast-paced, results-driven session and discover Excel formatting best practices that will save you hours and elevate your spreadsheets to a professional level. From Custom Format Codes and Templates to Styles, Precision as Displayed, and powerful date and accounting formats, you'll learn how to streamline your workflow and make your data shine. Whether you're building reports, dashboards, or financial models, these formatting techniques will help you work smarter, not harder. Don't let formatting slow you down. Transform your Excel experience, starting now!

Are you intrigued by the buzz around Artificial Intelligence (AI) but unsure how to dive in? You're not alone! Many professionals find AI tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot to be a mystery. But don't worry, we're here to help you unlock the potential of these powerful tools! Join K2's "Getting Started With Artificial Intelligence" session and discover how to harness the power of today's AI tools to boost your efficiency and productivity. This session will guide you through accessing and using multiple popular AI tools, making it easier than ever to integrate AI into your daily workflow. If you're new to AI, this is the perfect opportunity to get started and transform the way you work!

This course is an introduction to preparation, compilation, & review engagements. During this course, we will compare and contrast these different engagements by reviewing the procedures that should be performed, different reports, as well as the level of assurance specific to each type of engagement. 

As reported by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners 2024 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, organizations lose an average of 5% of their revenues to fraud. Yet, the report disclosed that only 3% of all frauds are detected by the external auditor. However, the thing that management depends on the detect fraud is the external audit. To detect fraud an auditor must: Know what fraud looks like; be able to think like a thief; always maintain healthy professional skepticism; be able to recognize the risk of fraud; and build your audit program to look for fraud. Auditing For Fraud addresses each of these areas as well as several others.    During this presentation, I will discuss how to distinguish between an error and a fraud; how to recognize the indicators of fraud; develop and refine a hypothec as to how a fraud was committed; who steals (the basic honest person) and why and lastly; how to prove intent. If you cannot prove intent, all you have is a dumb mistake! Chances are that after this presentation, you will never look at an audit the same way you do now.

This course concisely explains the latest "see, hear, speak" multi-modal updates to ChatGPT and how they can be used in an accounting context. New features include vision processing, voice conversation, image generation, real-time Internet access, advanced data analysis, plugins and more. Discover how this technology can be used in mind-blowing ways to analyze financial data, optimize processes, and solve problems in the accounting domain. Through the lens of ChatGPT, practitioners can explore innovative solutions, automate routine tasks, and generate deeper insights and value to their clients and organizations in previously unimaginable workflows. You'll walk away with scores of advanced ChatGPT strategies and tips that can be immediately applied and deliver instant results to elevate the efficiency and effectiveness of your accounting projects and tasks. 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 addresses the most recent developments impacting partnerships operating as LLCs, with a focus on legislative, administrative, and tax form changes. Emphasis will be placed on partners "tax basis" capital accounts, now required for tax form reporting. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

As financial leaders, CPAs are often tasked with managing organizational risk. In this respect, the supplier relationship can be a tricky one. It is often one of the more familiar and comfortable business relationships we have, yet it may also be the one that presents the most significant risk to our company. In this course, we will explore how to manage the supplier relationship from onboarding to termination. Through case studies and best practices, we will discuss how to continue being a good partner to our suppliers while also understanding where potential risks exist. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.