CPE Catalog & Events

Overview: Understanding your company's financial health requires more than just traditional metrics. This webinar is designed to reveal deeper insights through advanced, underutilized financial ratios. In this session, accounting and finance professionals will explore metrics such as operating leverage, free cash flow yield, and margin of safety-tools that go beyond standard ratios to deliver nuanced perspectives on profitability, risk exposure, and operational efficiency. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

How to properly account for and audit digital records is increasingly gathering importance as more entities have cryptocurrency and other digital assets on their financial statements. This course will address common questions, risks, and challenges evolving in this area. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Many leaders in business organizations of all sizes view the system of Internal Control almost purely as a protective security measure. A well-designed internal control system can and will drive all entity objectives which includes successful operations. This session uses information gathered from years of creating internal control systems as well as concepts from well-respected authoritative pronouncements and frameworks to illustrate the power of a strong and well supported control system as well as actions that can help establish such a system. Those that work with internal controls who are tasked with developing ways to improve operation level capabilities should strongly consider this session. 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 equips participants with the tools and strategies needed to create sustainable, long-term budgets that align with policy goals and ensure fiscal responsibility. Participants will explore key budgeting frameworks, learn techniques for forecasting revenue and expenditures, and analyze scenarios to mitigate financial risks. The course incorporates practical exercises and case studies to provide hands-on experience with scenario planning, enhancing budget transparency and resilience. By the end of the session, attendees will have the knowledge and confidence to design and implement budgets that support long-term governmental priorities and strengthen financial stability.

Understanding the principles and practices of compensation is essential for creating a motivated and satisfied workforce. In this webinar, we'll explore how these crucial elements drive fairness and engagement in HR practices. This program is designed for HR professionals and business leaders seeking to enhance their compensation strategies.

As ever more jurisdictions move toward mandatory disclosure of ESG metrics, (ex: the European Union’s new Corporate Sustainability Reporting directive and impending U.S. SEC requirements) the urgency to get those disclosures right has gone up. This course to as an introduction to the concept of requirements for Controllers and financial personnel to understand ESG disclosures .Whether the role related to ESG disclosures and information falls into the job responsibility of the controller or not is yet to be seen. However, it is clear the Controller must maintain some level of knowledge and expertise around the types and timing of such disclosures.

With the latest updates in Microsoft 365 and Office 2024, Excel is more powerful than ever. Packed with cutting-edge features, more innovative functions, and seamless collaboration tools, the newest version is designed to take your productivity to the next level. Whether you're crunching numbers, building dashboards, or collaborating across teams, these enhancements unlock faster workflows, deeper insights, and more thoughtful decision-making. Don't miss your chance to stay ahead of the curve-discover Excel's most exciting new features and learn how to put them to work for you. Your spreadsheet game is about to change-let's make it extraordinary!

Have you ever considered a tax audit from the perspective of an IRS examiner? This session explains how you can use IRS Audit Technique Guides (ATGs) to enhance tax compliance. You will obtain a glimpse of the audit process from the viewpoint of an IRS agent as we explore insights that the IRS provides to its own examiners. 

Have you ever thought about stealing? If the answer is NO, then you need to find another profession because you will never be a successful fraud examiner/investigator or a financial auditor. To find fraud, you must first determine, given the opportunity through weak internal controls, how a person would steal. You have to say to yourself, given the opportunity that exists, how many ways could I take advantage of it? In other words, you must be able to think how you could steal and not be caught. So yes, to find fraud, you must first think about stealing. For a fraudster to be successful, they must make you think fraud is a legitimate transaction. They must make you think it is something that it is not. There are so many places where fraud can be hidden. It is up to you to evaluate where the risks of fraud are in an organization, then design effective investigative procedures to determine if someone took advantage of the opportunity. If they did not, how else may they have taken advantage of the opportunity? One must remember that one weakness in internal control may create several ways to take advantage of it and you must examine every such one. During this session, the many ways fraud can be hidden in asset misappropriations will be discussed. Remember, the number of ways is only limited by one’s imagination.   

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 interviewing to gather accurate information, such as creating and asking open ended questions, effective listening, and understanding verbal and non-verbal communication. Attendees will end the session with takeaways to immediately implement in future HR investigations. Two of three Episodes in the series.

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!