CPE Catalog & Events

If you are an experienced Excel user seeking to elevate your skills, join the K2 team for K2’s Advanced Excel. In this laptop-friendly program, you will learn critical advanced Excel skills in six key areas: 1) collaborating with other users and securing workbooks, 2) using tables to analyze and report data, 3) integrating and manipulating data from external sources, 4) creating and auditing complex formulas, 5) advanced data analysis tools, and 6) visualization techniques to analyze and communicate information. The course draws from over twenty-five years of experience delivering Excel training to accountants and other business professionals. Throughout the program, relevant, real-world examples reinforce the topics presented. Take advantage of this opportunity to become more efficient and proficient in Microsoft Office Excel, the tool of choice for accounting and financial professionals. This course covers advanced Excel topics found in Excel 2019 and newer.

This course dives into the powerful, but potentially under-utilized, capabilities of Microsoft Excel. Designed for sophisticated users willing to approach spreadsheets from a unique perspective, this program encourages users to challenge the status quo by considering opportunities to take acceptable spreadsheets to a new level. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Auditing PP&E, Including Leases under Topic 842 - Digesting the Risks of Improper Treatment of Tangible Long-Lived Assets will address tips and techniques for auditing tangible long-lived assets for various assessed risk levels, with a special emphasis on lease accounting under Topic 842. Property, plant and equipment can range from a low-risk to a high-risk audit area, depending on the nature of transaction and events engaged in by the reporting entity. Construction, capitalized interest and complex leasing arrangements tend to result in higher risk of material misstatement. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The Department of Justice updated guidance regarding their evaluations of Corporate Compliance Programs in March 2023: “Prosecutors should assess whether the company’s complaint-handling process includes proactive measures to create a workplace atmosphere without fear of retaliation, appropriate processes for the submission of complaints, and processes to protect whistleblowers.” This course offers recommendations for employers to consider when developing or augmenting an internal complaint handling process. Organizations benefit when whistleblowers trust the process and choose to promptly report their concerns internally. The measures offered promote a strong speak up culture and align with the Department of Justice's guidance. 

This course will review the Accounting Standard Updates issued by the FASB that impact nonprofit entities. We will also look at the work of the Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC) and the projects they are advising the FASB on.

Derivatives, embedded derivatives and mining (Bold) Complexities with digital assets increase when you move away from the fundamentals and start evaluating contracts to determine if they involve derivatives or have embedded derivatives. In addition, recording mining revenue has many unique considerations, especially if you have questions about differences related to transaction fees and block rewards or if you or your client are mining independently or within a mining pool. Part three of a series (bold) This webcast is part three of a series that will bring to life the content incorporated in the AICPA practice aid Accounting for and Auditing of Digital Assets. This webcast will walk you through: A specific fact pattern when evaluating whether or not there is an embedded derivative within the contract The difference between recording revenue for transaction fees and block rewards A flow chart for determining how to recognize revenue when participating in a mining pool Add more value (bold) Whether you're a CPA working with clients or an industry accountant responsible for corporate accounting policy, this webcast will give you a clear path to help your clients or entity by applying the appropriate accounting standards to your digital asset derivative and mining activities. Detailed examples and use cases will demonstrate the real-world application of this guidance. Note: FASB issued ASU No. 2023-08, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other-Crypto Assets (Subtopic 350-60): Accounting for and Disclosure of Crypto Assets, which is effective for all entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. This ASU is not yet reflected in this webcast.

Excel has over 500 functions that are built-in and ready to use. You just have to figure out which one to use and when. Integrating functions into each and every one of your spreadsheets not only improves efficiency, it also makes your task easier to execute. In this webinar, we will focus on Logical, Information and Lookup & Reference functions. In the Logical function section, you will learn to perform logical test using the IF function along with AND, OR and NOT. In the Information function section, you will learn various ERROR checking functions that can be combined with the Logical functions. In the Lookup & Reference section, you will learn to use the various LOOKUP functions and INDIRECT function. This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Office Scripts are an exciting new development for Excel and other applications. Although they are like macros in some respects, most users will likely find them easier to work with. Learn how to put this powerful automation tool to use!

Preparation, compilation and review engagements continue to be a hot topic for peer review despite SSARS 21 having been around for nearly a decade. This course will concentrate on the most common peer review findings with a focus on how to comply in an efficient but practical perspective. This course will discuss the root cause of noncompliance so that overall engagement quality increases.

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, as well an overview of K-2 and K-3 reporting requirements and effective dates. **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.

A multitude of tax changes have are currently taking place, challenging tax practitioner to stay well-informed. This 4 hour program will cover tax developments specific to business, including new court decisions, recent IRS publications, and the latest tax legislation that will impact individuals.  The remaining time will be spent on IRS procedure and other issues. This course will provide a concise look at the hottest topics affecting every tax practitioner.  **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.  

During this presentation, the most common mistakes made by employee benefit plan auditors, as well as plan sponsors will be identified. Best practices for handling specific issues that arise during the course of the engagement will also be explored. This discussion will help auditors recognize potential pitfalls in audit procedures/documentation and assist plan sponsors with compliance issues. 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 corresponds to our Controllership series. Within this course, we specifically address the Controllers role and pro-active potentials in organization Strategic and Annual Planning. This series of courses is dedicated to exploring the traditional controller role and stepping out of the box to identify areas where the Controller can add strategic value to their organizations. Controllers are essential to the day-to-day accounting for organizations. Yet, the role is not often readily understood. In today’s world of acronyms such as CFO, CEO, COO, CAO, etc. the Controller function may get lost in the shuffle. However, they are a critical group of professionals who ensure the adequacy and transparency of accounting and financial reporting information. When it comes to the task of strategic planning, many feel this role is primarily the responsibility of the executive team and board. However, in this course, we delve into the various steps of the strategic plan and explore where the Controller can add strategic value through providing functional input and insight. Strategic planning is a process used to identify goals, the strategies necessary to accomplish those goals, and the internal performance management system that will be used to monitor and evaluate progress.  

Network forensics - defined as the investigation of network traffic patterns and data captured in transit between computing devices - can provide insight into the source and extent of an attack. It is used in forensic accounting and with the expansion of information technology it has become a growing field. Network forensics is a relatively new field of forensic science. Computing has become network centric. Data is now available outside of disk-based digital evidence. Network forensics can be performed as a standalone investigation or alongside a computer forensics analysis. When used alongside a computer forensic analysis it is used to reveal links between digital devices or reconstruct how a crime was committed. Network investigations deal with volatile and dynamic information and is a sub-branch of digital forensics. It relates to the monitoring and analysis of computer network traffic for information gathering, legal evidence, or intrusion detection. This course is a complement to our other courses in the series on becoming a forensic accountant.  

This session will focus on the most common types of fraud in the procurement and contracting arena, with a focus on fraud in construction.  The session will examine fraud vulnerabilities in the four key phases of the procurement process: Presolicitation. Negotiation. Performance. Closeout and Claims.  Within each phase, “red flags” will be discussed.  These are the indicia of possible fraud that managers should be alert for.  Also, within each phase, the most common fraud schemes will be highlighted and discussed.  Finally, the session will describe the generally accepted safeguards or controls that should be established to prevent the various fraud schemes that can occur.  This part of the program will make extensive use of actual fraud case studies designed to demonstrate fraud risks and fraud detection strategies.

This session explores the nature of analytical procedures, with significant emphasis placed upon professional standards involving the use of analytical procedures in audit and review engagements. Practical examples to illustrate the application process will also be given.

We all make predictions in our personal and professional lives.  We base our decisions to marry, buy a house, launch a new product or hire staff on expectations about the future.  In the past few years, research into improving predictions has advanced. We will look at this research and current best practices in forecasting to help us prepare better budgets and projections. 

QuickBooks remains one of the leading accounting solutions for small and growing businesses and Intuit has added numerous advanced features to the application over the past few releases. In this seminar, you will learn how to take advantage of many of QuickBooks’ new and advanced features to solve important issues. For example, you will learn advanced inventory management techniques, including the ability to change the default costing methodology in QuickBooks, and implementing lot and serial number tracking. You will also learn how to build complete sets of financial statements in Excel that link in real-time to underlying QuickBooks data files and how to create multi-company financial statements. Additionally, you will learn how to put the Client Data Review feature to work to streamline the process of identifying and correcting errors and closing accounting periods in QuickBooks. Knowing how to take advantage of the advanced tools and features available can determine your level of success when working with QuickBooks. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn about QuickBooks’ “deep” features so that you maximize your effectiveness with the application.

Strategic Planning for SMEs

Microsoft Teams is one of the most widely used applications for communications, collaboration and knowledge sharing in business today. Most users are unaware of many time saving features available to help you manage your conversations, files and related content on a daily basis. John Higgins, a strategic advisor to the profession on Microsoft 365, will teach you how to leverage all the functionality Teams has to offer to compose, organize and retrieve your conversations, files and related content for maximum effectiveness. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.