CPE Catalog & Events

Forensic accounting, forensic accountancy or financial forensics is the specialty practice area of accounting that investigates whether firms engage in financial reporting misconduct. Forensic accountants apply a range of skills and methods to determine whether there has been financial reporting misconduct. Financial forensic engagements may fall into several categories.  Economic damages calculations, whether suffered through tort or breach of contract. Post-acquisition disputes such as earnouts or breaches of warranties Bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganization Securities and tax fraud Money laundering Business valuation Computer forensics/e-discovery This session is designed to delve a bit deeper into the world of forensic accounting and identify some of the specific areas of expertise required to become a forensic accountant. We will then first delve deeper into the art of document analysis and handwriting analysis.  

Women finance leaders face challenges that traditional corporate training and mentoring rarely prepare them to overcome. For example, you've demonstrated yourself as an excellent tactician, you know how to get the job done, and do it very well on your own. Yet, what got you to your current level of success won't get you to the next level. It's time to change the way you think and operate in your role. You need to move from doer to leader. You're familiar with the saying that if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. In this workshop, you'll learn key strategies that are unique and critical to women to be successful in their careers. These strategies will help you grow, expand and elevate yourself professionally. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Penalty abatement is a technique that tax practitioners can utilize to help their clients reduce penalties and interest they owe to the IRS if the taxpayer can prove “reasonable cause.” This informative and insightful webinar will provide you with some insider tips, practical steps and effective strategies to help your client manage IRS tax penalties and interest. Learn about various types of penalties that you may face and the various forms and procedures used for requesting penalty and interest abatement, including First Time and Reasonable Cause abatement. Plus, learn about the procedure to follow when requesting refund of paid penalties. **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.  

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Copilot are available to everyone and offer great promise for improved productivity. Learn how you can begin to take advantage of these tools by participating in this session.

This Masterclass is a one-hour training exclusively for employed accountants and bookkeepers. Start a business on the side offering CFO Advisory services to small businesses! Designed exclusively for accountants and CPAs, this class focuses on how you can use your knowledge and experience to start an advisory service in your spare time. By providing a service that your clients really want, you can supplement your income by upwards of $6k per month working only 4 hours per client - with only 3 clients. We'll cover the systems you need to start your own advisory service including how to package, price and market your business. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Why do for profit organizations exist??? To make money!!!!! What a great concept. But if the organization does not have the proper collections and credit procedures in place, they may not be able to access that money. Hence the importance of the credit and collection process.Credit and collections are critical areas for the financial statement controllers. Customer credit is a form of payment that allows small business customers to purchase a product or service before paying for it in full. The process works similarly to the way a credit card does - you procure something and pay it back later. Collections is a term used by a business when referring to money owed to that business by a customer. When a customer does not pay within the terms specified, the amount of the bill becomes past due and is sometimes submitted to a collection agency. The sales and collection process includes business activities related to selling products and services, maintaining customer records, billing customers, and recording payments from customers. It also includes activities necessary to manage accounts receivable, such as aging accounts and authorizing credit. This course delves into the topics that impact the sales, credit and collections process for management. We discuss strategic steps management can take to ensure their processes are efficient and that they are able to actually collect their revenue.  

Your home is now the digital center of your world, and even if you go to an office every day, you have more options to help you manage everything from shopping lists to email accounts. Unfortunately, many new devices your family connects to your WiFi can create security risks and may make remote work and school less secure. For example, tracking devices and services can help parents monitor children and seniors, but outsiders can use the same tools to stalk their loved ones digitally. This session will help you learn about devices, services, and app suites for families, share files, organize photos, manage passwords, and keep your home secure. Attend this breakout and learn about innovative new tools to help you stay safe and make the most of your time away from the office.

*** Save 15% on this event when you use the code SPRING25 at checkout ***Even though they have been around for several years, the tax laws pertaining to S corporations remain some of the more difficult areas of the Internal Revenue Code. Given the rising popularity of S corporations, understanding how shareholder basis and the equity section of the balance sheet work together for tax purposes is imperative for nearly any tax practitioner. In this course, we will discuss this relationship. Using examples and illustrations, we will show how contributions, operating transactions, and distributions affect shareholder basis as well as equity.

In this course we will look at the highlights of what valuation is doing, how to go about it and what to look for in business valuation reports.  Areas such as types of reports, the standards by which they are prepared and process that is used to go from data to report.  We will also discuss the purposes of reports and how that purpose may impact the value.  Finally, we discuss how to determine the value of minority interests.

The War for Talent is bad, and it's getting worse. In their efforts to win the war for talent, smart organizations have recognized the importance of fostering a great work culture. Many of these organizations are implementing Servant Leadership as their desired leadership style. In this session, learn what servant leadership is, as well as what it is not. Also, learn the benefits of having a great culture, the basics for assessing your culture, as well as how to coach your employees using a servant leadership style. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Many practitioners dealing with government and not-for-profit issues are asked to serve as expert witnesses in courts of law or other adjudicatory venues.  This session will discuss key issues you need to know when you are asked to serve in this capacity, including: Applicable standards and other engagement acceptance considerations. Preparation requirements and techniques. Dos and don'ts of testifying. Avoiding commons traps and tricks designed to undermine your effectiveness. The session will conclude with a “mock cross-examination” with participants serving as the jury to identify what our witness does right and what he does wrong.

Your writing represents you and your organization. Success in your career, success with customers or clients requires clear, concise, and polished communication. The sooner you learn professional techniques to plan, organize, and present your ideas for maximum impact, the sooner your proposals, e-mails, and reports will be read, understood, and acted upon! Developing practical skills will increase your ability to inform, persuade, and motivate your reader.

This course will explore significant elements of the FASB's technical agenda, focusing on recent updates to revenue recognition and lease accounting standards. A Special Purpose Framework overview will be provided, which may reveal salient alternatives to U.S. GAAP for certain entities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Recent research shows that emotional intelligence is twice as important as IQ in the development of business leaders. But what's the difference between emotional intelligence (EI) and manipulation? This course is designed to help you understand how EI is linked to leadership success. You'll learn how to assess your own emotional intelligence and how to identify the negative consequences of unmanaged emotions. You'll learn techniques that will improve your self-awareness, self-control, and self-motivation and you'll create a plan that increases your EI so that you can achieve optimal results in your relationships with others.

Valuation techniques and cash management activities are two other tool categories that can round out your analytical toolbox. In this course we will initially discuss how to turn your financial plan into a powerful valuation engine.  We then will discuss the formation of an efficient cash management program based on solid banker relationships.  Finally, we will review Ten Steps for keeping your financial toolbox full.

ChatGPT is the fastest growing application in the history of technology with over 100 million users adopting it in within two months. It is a revolutionary technology that boosts the quality and efficiency of business processes in every industry. As "knowledge workers", CPAs and CFOs are positioned to be prime beneficiaries of this technology. This half day hands-on course will get you well on your way to becoming a ChatGPT expert. John Higgins, a nationally recognized advisor and educator on CPA technology, will guide you through the process of accessing ChatGPT and applying it to a variety of practical accounting, finance and tax scenarios. This course will catapult you to the top of the pyramid of CPAs who are knowledgeable in ChatGPT and you will be ready to put it to use in your day-to-day tasks. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Recent new auditing standards are designed to improve overall audit quality. The course will address the most common misapplied audit concepts in planning and performing effective and efficient financial statement audits. 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 is designed as a comprehensive guide to the core concepts of trust and estate income tax preparation. The course explains the common terminology and complicated income tax rules of estates and trusts, fiduciary accounting, and an introduction to or refresher on preparing Form 1041. This practical, over 300-page manual is an excellent reference source for your practice, which begins with quite simple cases. Building upon that base throughout the manual, the course ends with two complicated preparation cases, one trust and one estate, each with filled-in forms.

Based on Government Auditing Standards, 2018 Revision, this course is essential for auditors performing Yellow Book audits. It provides detailed information about conducting engagements in accordance with the Yellow Book and requirements related to independence. This course will increase your knowledge of the requirements and application guidance related to ethics, standards for financial audits, attestation engagements, performance audits, and more.

This course begins with a look at the GASB standards effective this year, including GASB 100, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections and GASB 101, Compensated Absences. We'll include practical application of the topics in the form of case studies. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.