CPE Catalog & Events

Deceptive practices in financial statements continue to be a problem. This program discusses historical cases where fraudulent financial statements were not identified by an auditor and how to avoid these problems in the future.

Data analytics is among the most widely discussed topics in business circles today. In this session, you will learn about the four types of data analytics, tools for generating data analytics measures, and how to interpret and use data analytics results.

There is no shortage of data, but relatively few organizations have an environment and process to isolate, capture, analyze, and convert data into actionable information. Too often, we collect as much data as possible, continue to use historic measurements, and communicate data using traditional vehicles. Good decisions are not the result of the amount of data gathered, but of the quality and understanding of the information. The goal of this program is to explore a number of analytical tools and techniques and identify applications for them within an organization. Analytical techniques will be introduced throughout the discussion, and a significant amount of time will be spent addressing the steps needed to establish a data-driven environment and identifying and discussing potential/specific applications. In this way, participants get experience they can begin to use in their organizations. An expanded list of reference books and next level software is also provided.

This course provides a focused update on major recent pronouncements issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Coverage includes GASB Statement No. 103 (financial reporting model), GASB Statement No. 104 (disclosures for capital assets), and GASB Statement No. 105 (subsequent events). Participants will also receive a high-level overview of active GASB exposure drafts and ongoing projects. The course is designed to help auditors, preparers, and financial leaders understand how these developments affect audits, financial statement preparation, and board reporting. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Overcoming the challenges of auditing contracts Construction makes up a large portion of the economy. As such, a growing number of accounting and finance professionals may need to be aware of the accounting and auditing guidance for the construction industry. You'll delve into the audit considerations related to construction contracts, covering various topics, including: Audit planning and substantive auditing procedures The core knowledge necessary to succeed Key issues affecting construction auditing, including auditing under the new revenue recognition and leases guidance Audit risks and risk assessment

This comprehensive tax update is designed to prepare the practitioner for the upcoming filing season by providing an in-depth analysis and update of the business tax provisions enacted under OBBBA and other recent business tax developments. Participants will examine statutory changes affecting corporate, pass-through, and individual business taxation, including modifications to depreciation, credits, deductions, compliance requirements, and planning strategies. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Effective teamwork pays its own way by creating greater productivity and profitability in any accounting organization. A team of people working cooperatively can produce more than the sum of individual members working alone. One good idea stimulates another — but only if the team members are engaged and motivated to do so. Teamwork is inhibited in today's high-stress and changing accounting regulatory environment. Integrated into this informative yet pragmatic seminar are tried-and-true motivational principles for the realities of today's changing accounting workplace. It's not easy, but it can be done. You will learn how to form, motivate, steer, and get greater results from all team members by understanding what makes them tick and strategizing approaches to engage all team members.

Required minimum distributions (RMDs) must be taken from certain tax-deferred retirement accounts, starting when the account owner reaches their applicable age. The RMD rules are complex and must be simplified to help ensure clients understand them. Accounting and finance professionals must understand the basics of RMDs for IRAs and employer plan accounts so as to help IRA owners, plan participants, and beneficiaries meet their RMD obligations and avoid penalties that apply to RMDs not taken by their applicable deadline. Accounting and finance professionals should also be able to demonstrate tax-efficient solutions for RMDs. This course will walk accounting and finance professionals through the fundamental concepts and rules that apply to RMDs, demonstrate how to calculate RMDs, and explain how to correct RMD errors. It can be taken by anyone, including those without any experience working with RMDs. The course will include cases to promote understanding of the rules.

Do you want to build stronger relationships with your clients, improve client retention, and drive growth in your practice? This course delves into the essential strategies for effective client management in today's competitive landscape. Client relationships, like any relationship, can be challenging to manage. Miscommunication, differing work styles, and unrealistic expectations are some of the challenges accounting and finance professionals routinely encounter. However, when accounting clients and members of your team are on the same page, client loyalty and profitability improve while conflict is minimized. This webinar explores proven strategies to improve relationships between accounting and finance professionals and their clients.

This course explores provisions of Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Engagements (SSARS) that govern review, compilation, and preparation engagements. Participants will recall foundational concepts, examine recent updates, understand practitioner responsibilities, and apply best practices for engagement performance. Attendees will learn how to efficiently perform SSARS engagements while complying with professional requirements. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Reconciliation is how you confirm that your QuickBooks Online checking accounts, savings account, credit cards, loan balances, and liabilities are correct. If you don't reconcile correctly every month, your reports will be wrong! Even if you use the QuickBooks Online banking feed, it's not a guarantee that your bank balances are correct. And when you have extra or missing transactions, your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet are wrong! Reconciliation is the monthly step to confirm your checkbook balance, credit cards, liabilities, and loans have been entered correctly. The problem is that most businesses reconcile the transactions that ARE on the statement, but ignore the ones that are not. That's not Reconciling, that's "reconciling," and the result is that you may be paying your taxes wrong! In this class, not only will Alicia show you how to reconcile properly, but she'll show you how to trick out the interface to finish in seconds instead of hours. Even better, learn how to identify errors in your accounting data by how they appear in your Reconciliation window. Use reconciling as a troubleshooting tool for duplicated entries, misclassified categories, transactions coded to the wrong funding source, and receipt captures that didn't match the banking feed. 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 will explore some of the most essential tools for measuring financial and operational success, as well as improving results. Appendices will be provided to give students hands-on applicable materials that can be utilized after completion of the course.

This course profiles Brenda, a financial executive from the state of Washington. Despite earning her college degree, Brenda did not find employment in her area of study. Instead, she landed a series of dead-end jobs. Business reversals frequently led to the loss of employment. When a company that she knew to be unethical offered her an executive position that included bookkeeping tasks, including overseeing all finances, she accepted. While on the job, Brenda saw owners of the company misappropriating funds. Rather than reporting the fraud, she created an elaborate scheme to benefit herself - without the owner's knowledge. Her bad decisions led to a guilty plea for wire fraud, after authorities accused her of absconding with more than $600,000 in corporate funds. A prison term of 20 months followed. Listen and learn from Brenda's experience. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Each year, more states legalize cannabis (i.e., marijuana) for medical or recreational purposes. As legalization grows, so too does the cannabis industry. While some financial professionals have stayed away from this growing sector of the economy, others have embraced the opportunities the cannabis industry has to offer. The legalization of cannabis brings with it a complex regulatory landscape, which includes strict compliance with federal and state regulations. However, the complexity of this emerging market provides opportunities for accountants and other financial professionals. Behind the cannabis dispensaries are scores of related business sectors including food production, retail, farming, and chemical production, as well as facilities, design, and construction. Simply stated, the commercialization of marijuana offers financial professionals an opportunity to participate in an industry expected to reach $73 billion worldwide within six years.

Digital assets have moved from the fringes of tax administration into the core of IRS compliance and enforcement strategy. Practitioners today face a rapidly evolving landscape in which cryptocurrency transactions, digital wallets, exchanges, and blockchain activity present both unprecedented transparency and significant visibility gaps. This course provides a practitioner-level examination of how the IRS approaches digital asset compliance, where enforcement efforts are focused, and where reporting blind spots still exist. Drawing on firsthand experience inside the IRS, Trish Turner, former Head of Digital Assets at the Internal Revenue Service and now with CryptoTaxGirl, explains how digital asset data is identified, analyzed, and used in examinations, collections, and criminal investigations. Participants will explore how the IRS obtains digital asset information, including exchange reporting, summons activity, blockchain analytics, and third-party data sources. The course also addresses common compliance failures seen in audits, the practical limitations of current reporting regimes, and how visibility gaps affect risk assessment for both taxpayers and practitioners. Emphasis is placed on practical takeaways for tax professionals advising clients with digital asset exposure, including how to identify red flags, assess compliance risk, respond to IRS inquiries, and navigate evolving reporting obligations. This course is designed to help practitioners move beyond surface-level crypto rules and understand how enforcement actually works in practice. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Answering clients' tax questions accurately and on time is a key challenge for tax practitioners. Through simple, plain language explanations and examples, this course will help practitioners perform tax research more efficiently by describing the structure of the primary sources, highlighting the difference between primary and secondary sources, and describing the steps in the tax research process.

Learn how material participation rules can significantly impact the tax treatment of your real estate activities. This course explains the IRS tests for material participation, how to distinguish active from passive activities, and strategies for documenting participation to maximize tax benefits. A detailed analysis of the self-rental passive activity rules will be given, including forms reporting examples and integrates them with the flow-through entity rules related to self-rental. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Forensic accounting encompasses fraud investigation and prevention, as well as a wide variety of functions in litigation. Forensic accountants provide services ranging from serving as an expert witness, to litigation consultant and bankruptcy trustee. As our economy grows more complex, the need for forensic accountants grows as well. One critical role of the forensic accountant is exposing and examining financial fraud. Technology expands the way companies conduct business; however, technology also provides greater opportunities for those willing to commit fraud. Forensic accountants rely on their skills in accounting, coupled with their investigative skills, to explain to clients, courts, and jurors how fraudulent schemes occur and the effect caused by fraud. Forensic accountants also provide expert opinions in calculating damages in litigation and administering bankruptcy estates, as well as a host of other services.

This course provides a comprehensive overview of SOC 2 reports, focusing on their structure, purpose, and how to interpret and apply them in a compliance or risk management context. Participants will learn about the five Trust Services Criteria (Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy), the difference between Type I and Type II reports, and the key components of a SOC 2 report including the system description, management assertion, and testing results. The course also covers common pitfalls in relying on SOC 2 reports and best practices for evaluating scope, subservice providers, and complementary user controls. Designed for auditors, compliance professionals, and vendor risk reviewers, this session equips attendees to effectively analyze and apply SOC 2 reports in real-world scenarios. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

We see multiple stories about the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and its entry into our lives in the form of AI tools, including ChatGPT. They seem to be everywhere. It is difficult to overstate how much things will change with the rise of these new technologies, or how important it is that companies embrace the opportunity to execute them correctly. Having conversations regarding the proper adoption of these technologies and tools is a crucial first step, including drafting policies to assist companies with their beneficial and thoughtful implementation and use. This course will define the state of AI tools, what benefits and risks exist, and which steps to take to begin adopting these technologies with appropriate guardrails, policies, and training. It is less likely that AI will destroy industries, and more likely that companies that embrace AI will overtake those companies that do not.