CPE Catalog & Events

Are you an accountant or finance professional working in the state and local government space? Are you an auditor with state and local government clients? If you answered "yes" to either of these questions, you're aware that to succeed at your job and to uphold the public trust, you need a solid understanding of governmental accounting and reporting. This course will walk you through GASB standards and look to the future by exploring current GASB projects.

Part of one's duty as a CPA working in industry is to safeguard the assets of the organization. Cost cutting is one way to preserve assets and maintain a company's competitive position in the industry. However, what keeps us from ridding our organizations of unnecessary costs? In this course, we will look at the factors that prevent our companies from being as streamlined as they could be. By using statistics and survey data, we will attempt to show how to better negotiate and navigate budgeting and contracting decisions. We will also discuss financial statement analysis techniques, benchmarking, and cash flow management in an effort to better cut costs and maintain the long-run viability of an organization.

The course provides general information on proceedings that led to a grand jury indictment of television reality stars, Todd and Julie Chrisley. Participants learn how business decisions can lead to federal charges for conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. The grand jury also indicted the Chrisley's accountant, Peter Tarantino, on tax-related offenses. Participants learn how to develop resources and tools for effective detection and deterrence of federal crimes, and the learn the consequences that follow white-collar crime, including how responses can influence lengthy prison terms. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The COVID-19 pandemic and related supply chain issues demonstrate the importance of effective inventory management, control, and analysis of this business lifeline. Inventory management is all about having the right items on hand at the right time to meet customer demand while controlling costs and minimizing waste and loss. Companies with best-in-class inventory management practices don't guess how much stock to buy, and they keep a steady flow of raw materials, work-in-progress items, and finished goods moving from manufacturing to consumer, over a variety of distribution channels. Inventory control is a part of the inventory management process. It is the daily activity of managing stock within the warehouse. Inventory control activities include receiving, storing, and transferring stock, as well as tracking and fulfilling orders and returns. Inventory analysis helps you determine the right amount of stock to keep on-hand to fill demand while avoiding spending too much on inventory storage. This course will focus on "The Big 3" tools that best-in-class financial leaders use to sustain enhanced growth and profitability: inventory management, control, and analysis. These will allow companies to stay on top of trends in inventory management, understand the drivers behind them, establish and follow a state-of-the-art inventory control system, and master inventory analysis skills.

The life cycle of the small business can be summed up in three segments: 1) starting the business; 2) operating the business; and 3) getting out of the business. This course focuses on getting out of the business. The most elusive element of owning a small business can be finding the proper exit strategy. This course is designed to provide the business consulting practitioner with tools and concepts to advise the small business owner and assist them in developing the right exit strategy. The course covers exit strategies related to third-party sales and succession planning within a family.

Are you falling head over heels for the ASC 842 Lease Accounting Standard? Avoid the most common trip-ups associated with its implementation by analyzing lessons learned and reviewing potential audit issues.  

This course provides a concise overview of Google Sheets, a cloud-based spreadsheet application by Google. Similar to Excel, the tool allows users to enter numbers, apply formulas, prepare graphs, create charts, use pivot tables and more. While Excel is the default tool and industry standard for most accountants, Sheets has many underrated capabilities which are clearly superior to Excel. These include online collaboration, team communications, mobility, version control, revision history, cloud storage, translation, Google integration, and scores of third-party add-ons. You'll walk away knowing how to use a whole new array of spreadsheet features not found in Excel that can boost your analytical powers and accelerate your financial workflow. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

George Washington once wrote, "We ought not to look back, unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear bought experience." The cost of fraud, dearly paid by governments and nonprofits, is too severe not to learn and profit from. In this course, we will look back at real-world government and nonprofit frauds and derive useful controls to stop them. The course materials utilize a highly illustrative and innovative format. Over 15 focused exercises are included to provide an enhanced working knowledge of fraud and anti-fraud controls to both auditors and industry professionals.

Cybercrime is on the rise and CPAs that handle sensitive client data are often the target of cybercrimes.  By attending this session you'll learn what the eight biggest threats are to your business and uncover the three pillars of cybersecurity that you can build your firm's defense around.

When an email goes awry, its tone is often the culprit. When we write short, direct emails, our readers might think we are angry, yet when we write long, flowery messages, people don't read them. We need to find the right tone for every email: professional, friendly, and respectful. If you have received feedback that your emails could be more relaxed, or if readers routinely ignore your emails, sign up for this presentation. This webinar will give you practical tips to manage your email tone so that your readers stay open to your message and you continue to develop positive business relationships.

In this session, participants will delve into the differences and similarities that coexist between the Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z in the workplace. Guided by generational whisperer, Summer Jelinek, this immersive session will equip HR professionals with actionable strategies to foster understanding, drive productivity, and promote a harmonious working environment, irrespective of generational backgrounds.

Auditing Revenue Recognition - Grasping the Higher Risks and Special Audit Considerations will provide tips and techniques for obtaining sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to support conclusions related to accounting for revenues obtained from contracts with customers. Revenue recognition is presumed to be a significant risk for financial statement auditing purposes due to the increased risk of both fraud and error. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for supervisory or managerial auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has responsibilities in auditing revenues. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Explore the current audit environment, and recognize audit challenges triggered by the current environment. Provide a comprehensive review of recent audit pronouncement and exposure drafts. Understand topics critical to success in today's rapidly changing regulatory environment. This course provides 4 hours of CPE credit in the Auditing field of study.

Learn the basics of FASB's Accounting Standard Update for Leases (ASC Topic 842), the key differences between ASC Topic 842 and ASC Topic 840, Leases, and the practical challenges and complexities within the new standard and how they apply to you. We will focus on lessee accounting, and will discuss key issues within the standard, required analyses, critical judgments, policy elections, disclosures, and the lessons learned from public filings. 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 professionals have used different forms of automation over the years to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their work. So far, technology has not been able to replace the knowledge, experience, and decision-making of seasoned professionals. Times are rapidly changing. Today, systems easily exceed humans in accuracy and consistency. Artificial intelligence (AI) brings opportunities for accountants and finance professionals in the short term to improve efficiency and accuracy, while providing more value for businesses and customers alike. In the long term, AI will offer profound changes to how professionals work and process data. This course is designed to review where we are and where we are headed in the world of AI.

Many of us expect to use logic when it comes to how we allocate our investments. The adage of "buy low, sell high" is a saying that makes logical sense. So, why do we always seem to do the opposite? Every day we are faced with decisions, and we are often influenced by two seemingly opposing voices that come from two different parts of our brain. The frontal cortex processes lots of information to help us make logical and informed choices. But there's also a small part of the brain, known as the reflexive brain, that is responsible for emotions and survival instincts. Often, this reflexive brain can have a detrimental effect on the way we handle our investments. This course will discuss some behavioral biases that affect our financial decisions. As humans, we need to be aware of how our reflexive behavior impacts our investment decision-making ability. By uncovering and understanding these biases, we may have a better chance of meeting our long-term financial goals.

Congress was EXTREMELY busy in late December 2022! During this lame-duck session, Congress was able to pass SECURE 2.0, which is essentially the original SECURE Act that was passed in late 2019.  There are over 50 tax-related provisions within SECURE 2.0 which an advisor needs to be able to master.  This course will provide the participant with everything that that they need to know about SECURE 2.0 so that they will be able to better serve their clients’ retirement planning needs. **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.

To make more money in less time, all accountants need to learn to market themselves effectively to their clients or their firm. For better or worse, promotions and more money go to those who are the best marketers, rather than the most competent accountants.  In this fascinating and fun workshop, participants will learn seven key ways to get more clients and/or promotions through the art of marketing.

Payroll is among the most common tasks an employer undertakes in the course of running their business. At its most basic level, payroll consists of an agreement between an employer and employee related to compensation for services. Once you look under the hood, there is so much more to payroll, including various kinds of compensation, payroll taxes and required reporting on government forms. This course will provide a general introduction to the workings of the payroll returns an employer is required to file. We will cover the various types of federal and state payroll taxes, what various payroll returns an employer may need to file, how to complete the most common types of payroll returns accurately, and real-life illustrations for reconciling at year end and ensuring your payroll returns are correct. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Up-to-the-minute guidance Hear the latest updates on the CARES Act and progress of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) from AICPA executive leads Susan Coffey, EVP - Public Practice, and Erik Asgeirsson, President and CEO, CPA.com in these weekly town hall webcasts. Topics will be updated weekly. *** Free for AICPA members