CPE Catalog & Events

When clients ask questions about the impact of new tax legislation embodied in OBBBA, it is important that accounting and finance practitioners can reply with accurate and relevant planning strategies. This program prepares accounting and finance practitioners with the knowledge and insights to help their clients apply the new law to their advantage. This program is an introduction and review of some of these critical changes and their impact on individual and business taxpayers. By taking this program, accounting and finance practitioners will have a broader, deeper understanding of many of the OBBBA changes that impact their clients. This course is a two-hour review and analysis of what we consider some of the most important changes from the OBBBA impacting clients and perhaps their businesses.

This course is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of charitable gifting strategies and their implications for individual taxpayers. Participants will explore the fundamentals of charitable giving, including the tax benefits, legal considerations, and planning opportunities available under current tax law. The course will cover the types of organizations that qualify for charitable contributions, the income and estate tax treatment of gifts, and the various methods of structuring charitable donations to maximize tax efficiency. Attendees will learn about specific charitable gifting techniques such as donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, and qualified charitable distributions from retirement accounts. The course will also examine tax deduction limits, substantiation requirements, and the impact of state tax credits on charitable giving. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to guide clients in implementing effective charitable giving strategies that align with their financial and philanthropic goals.

Cash flow management is often the most important task of any CFO or financial leader. Regardless of whether one works in start-ups or established companies, non-profit or for-profit entities, cash flow makes our organizations run. Have you ever wondered whether you are optimizing your company's cash flow? In this course, we will explore how to improve your company's cash flow using analysis and financial theories in the context of real-world situations.

Starting and owning a small business remains one of the most powerful ways to build long-term wealth, alongside investing and real estate ownership. But today's business environment is fundamentally different than it was even a few years ago. Entrepreneurs must navigate rapid technological change, artificial intelligence, shifting workforce expectations, evolving regulatory frameworks, fluctuating capital markets, and increased federal and state scrutiny in areas such as non-compete agreements, data privacy, and employment law. Every large business begins as a small business, yet the risks and complexities of launching and scaling a company have increased. Owners and their advisors must address critical issues including selecting the proper entity, liability protection, financing, intellectual property protection, employment contracts, noncompete, insurance coverage, operations, and technology adoption. Decisions made at formation can materially affect a company's long-term value and ability to grow and ultimately sell. This course provides a practical, up-to-date overview of the legal, financial, and strategic considerations that business owners and their professional advisors must evaluate in today's environment. Drawing on current research, regulatory developments, and real-world trends, the program focuses on helping entrepreneurs build resilient, compliant, and scalable businesses in a rapidly changing economy.

Planning may be one of the most important assignments of the finance professional; however, it is often accomplished in a way that can harm the organization. In many cases, huge sums are spent only to have a planning document developed that does not serve to bring the company together, but rather causes internal division. In some situations the budget can actually harm both productivity and alignment. This course is designed to bring planning, budgeting, and forecasting together into one fully aligned process that is easier, more efficient, and fully engages all parts of the organization. Rather than the plan being owned by the finance department, it is owned and followed by everyone from the CEO to the entry-level employee.

The AICPA continues to reshape the auditing profession through an unprecedented pace of standard setting, with increased emphasis on technology, professional skepticism, risk assessment, and engagement quality. Since 2019, numerous new and revised auditing standards have significantly changed how audits are planned, performed, and evaluated. This course provides an update on recent AICPA standard setting activities, including SASs 142 through 149. It also addresses the AICPA's quality management standards, which replace traditional quality control requirements with a risk based approach to managing quality at both the firm and engagement levels. In addition, the program highlights emerging developments in fraud related auditing guidance, including the AICPA's proposed fraud standard currently in exposure draft form. Designed for accounting and auditing practitioners at all levels, this course helps participants stay current on key changes affecting audit performance, documentation, and engagement quality in a rapidly evolving professional environment.

Due to increasing scrutiny in the employee benefit plan area, it is imperative for auditors of 401(k) plans to remain up to date on the rules and regulations that may impact the audit engagement. In this course, auditors will enhance their knowledge by understanding the changes affecting audit procedures and reporting in accordance with recently issued Statements on Auditing Standards (SASs), identifying best practices, and performing efficient audit engagements.

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.

One of the most difficult things for any Client Advisory Services (CAS) professional to learn is how to communicate financial information to non-financial people. To be successful, it's crucial to master this skill, as we frequently explain accounting jargon to those unfamiliar with the field. In this course, we will explore how to properly communicate with stakeholders, including investors, clients, boards of directors, and even other departments. We will explore biases that people have when viewing financial information and even how to make sure we keep our message on point. If you are looking to move up in the financial services world, this course is a must for you.

This comprehensive course delves into the intricate world of executive compensation, focusing on the taxation and reporting procedures for various types of compensation arrangements. Participants will gain a deep understanding of the key differences between incentive stock options (ISOs) and nonqualified stock options (NQSOs), as well as the tax treatment and reporting requirements for restricted stock awards, stock appreciation rights (SARs), phantom stock plans, and employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs). The course will also cover the accurate analysis of tax forms and schedules used for reporting executive compensation, common tax reporting errors to avoid, and strategies for handling extensions, estimated taxes, and increased IRS scrutiny.

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.

Since its inception nearly 30 years ago, many have continued to struggle with applying the current model for accounting for income taxes, ASC 740. But this does not have to be you. This course will provide you with the basic knowledge necessary to understand the complexities of this challenging topic. Through discussions and the use of exercises, this course will analyze the authoritative literature to provide a thorough understanding of such topics as deferred taxes, income tax expense, uncertain tax positions, and other classification and disclosure requirements. We will also explore some specialized areas of income tax accounting, such as intraperiod allocations of income tax expense, global minimum tax developments, and the financial reporting impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law in July 2025, and review finalized and emerging updates to ASC 740, including expanded disclosure requirements under ASU 2023-09. In summary, this course is the place to be to enhance your accounting for income taxes IQ.

Globalization continues to make it easier for taxpayers to live abroad, do business in other countries, or invest in foreign enterprises. This creates significant complications and tax planning opportunities when it comes to filing U.S. tax returns. This course provides an overview of the unique tax challenges and solutions presented to U.S. expats or investors living or investing abroad. It examines how foreign-source income is taxed in the U.S. and how the tax consequences could be mitigated by applying the tax treaties, claiming credit for foreign taxes paid, or excluding foreign-earned income. Additionally, the course discusses the numerous foreign informational form reporting requirements and the significant penalties that could be imposed by the IRS. Examples from real-life client scenarios are included.

This hands-on course introduces accountants, auditors, and finance professionals to agentic AI by simulating autonomous behavior using the basic version of ChatGPT. Participants will use role-play, prompt engineering, and guided interaction loops to create agents that simulate planning, decision-making, and communication workflows. No coding or advanced access is required. Participants will practice designing task-specific prompts, simulating agent autonomy using flipped interaction patterns, and evaluating agent output for risk and effectiveness. This course makes agentic AI accessible to all learners through practical, scenario-based exercises using tools they already have.

Recent feedback from the AICPA has emphasized the importance of performing an effective risk assessment to identify and evaluate the risk of material misstatement in a financial statement audit. SAS 145, the 2023 amendment to AU-C 315, makes significant changes to the extant risk assessment standard and certain changes to other standards as well. The amendments clarify confusion that the AICPA believes auditors experienced under the existing standard and also conforms, for the most part, to the IAASB standard on the same topic. SAS 145 has been effective for two years now starting with December 31, 2023 audits. This course will focus on how to perform the risk assessment process under the new standard, providing participants with a summary of the changes to existing guidance. It will discuss linking the results of the risk assessment to further testing (internal control and substantive testing) and procedures performed in concluding on the evidence obtained. In addition, it will also discuss documentation and audit communications.

Deciding where to live in retirement is a challenge that involves a multitude of factors that differ for everyone. Each person and couple should evaluate their current living situation to see where their goals and lifestyles in retirement can best be met. The program covers the various factors that most people should consider when thinking about where to spend their retirement years.

Mergers, acquisitions and alliances have been — and will continue to be — major avenues to organizational growth and increased competitive advantage. Yet, despite the great initial promise of many business mergers and alliances, few seem to yield the anticipated results. Numerous studies indicate that between 55% and 77% of mergers fail to accomplish their intended purpose. This course helps CFOs, controllers and their advisors identify, negotiate and consummate mergers and acquisitions that create shareholder value while avoiding the many traps that can cause post-acquisition failure.

Why do some companies fail while others grow and succeed for generations? Common perceptions often attribute organizational success to great leadership, timing, or unique ideas. Although these traits certainly play a role in helping companies grow, research shows that corporate success often hinges on whether a company is value driven. Such companies have core ideologies that drive almost every major decision. In this course, we look at empirical data on why some companies succeed while others fail. By looking at companies that were created prior to 1950 (e.g., Disney, Marriott, or 3M), we can understand why certain organizations have been able to grow and achieve exceptional success through many different eras in the American economy. The lessons learned from these visionary companies can be broadly applied to organizations of all sizes, including accounting and financial service firms.

Client advisory services (CAS) professionals are becoming a more integral part of the operations of any CPA firm. As such, they must stay on top of changing tax law. In this course, we will explore tax changes in areas CAS professionals are involved with — information reporting, payroll tax issues, and tax credit and deduction documentation. We will also discuss relevant changes to individual and business tax returns so that CAS professionals can better assist clients with tax needs in the upcoming year.

All organizations are looking for ways to gain an advantage over the competition. This practical and interactive session will present a toolkit of ideas to help CFOs, controllers, and finance professionals better position their organizations for the future. We know change is occurring at an exponential rate, and that has proven to be the case in all areas of finance, management, and leadership over the past year. The course deals with these new issues and will continue to be updated as necessary throughout the year. This year, we will take a special interest in the opportunities and threats of AI for the finance professional. Become the "financial hero" of your organization and make a positive impact on the bottom line.