CPE Catalog & Events

This session explores the importance of internal controls with an emphasis on best practices for small- and medium-sized entities.  We will examine the roles of both preventive and detective controls and practical, cost-effective suggestions for implementing effective internal controls will be addressed.

This program will examine the key provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that was enacted to not only curb inflation, but reduce the deficit, promote clean energy solutions, and much more.  Learn how this new legislation can provide tax savings for both your individual and business clients.  **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.

You are likely familiar with and/or have experience with IRS summonses. BUT - Did you know there's a lot of procedure and decorum that goes into issuing a summons that you can leverage to help your client? This program will focus on the basics of an administrative summons, what the IRS can summons for, how you should comply with a summons, summons referral criteria, and common errors and misnomers the IRS can make in generating/serving a summons. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

In the last year, our country has seen the passage of multiple federal laws impacting the enforceability to common employment documents. Several federal agencies have also issued opinions that could impact common employment documents. This presentation will review those new laws and opinions and discuss the potential impact they may have on arbitration agreements, severance agreements, confidentiality agreement, and non-disparagement agreements.  

This course will allow you to get reacquainted with the statement of cash flows. We will refresh your skills regarding both the preparation and utilization of the statement of cash flows. Significant emphasis will be placed on the informational role of the statement of cash flows and insights that can be obtained using the statement of cash flows in concert with the other elements of a company’s accrual-basis financial statements.

Ethics is ultimately about our relationship to ourself, others, and the world in which we live. Therefore, to enhance our relationships with those around us, we must first start with the regard we hold for ourselves. From an ethical vantage, it can be said that we have a moral obligation to work toward self-love, honor, and respect. Matters of self-esteem are important in every aspect of life including goal setting, relationships, establishing boundaries, handling conflict, levels of productivity, and expressing our needs in respectful and dignified ways. This course explores traps of low self-esteem and ways to minimize those traps. We also explore components of high self-esteem and actions to foster higher regard for self. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This one-day course will teach effective skills for coaching and training employees. You'll learn how to identify the characteristics of effective coaches and develop coaching strategies to support and assist your team, with the goal of helping them improve morale, productivity and quality. And, you'll learn a five-step approach for giving constructive criticism while managing defensive reactions.

We kick off this course with a look at the GASB standards that are effective this year including GASB 100, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections and GASB 101, Compensated Absences. We will then switch to the audit side of the house to examine the impact of the 2024 Compliance Supplement on Single Audits and the changes to the Uniform Guidance. We close with a look at common deficiencies found in Single Audits. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

As our business environment shifts, so do trends with fraud schemes and perpetrators. This course will give you the absolutely latest information with how to identify and mitigate shifting fraud risks in any entity. 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 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.

In this course, participants will gain a broad understanding of the various anti-fraud preventive and detective tests available to practitioners and take initial steps in building their own library of tests unique to their business or industry risks. Specific discussions and examples will include vendor analysis to look for potentially improper payments around conflicts of interests, fake vendor schemes, bribery & corruption, sanctions and trade compliance, anomalous payments, segregation of duties, among other risk categories.  Participants will also explore tests around customers or distributors that include margin analysis, free goods, discounts and revenue recognition. Further, we will explore employee related test to mitigate travel & entertainment expense abuses. We will also point out various online and public resources for participants to start building their own library of tests to support both reactive investigations as well as proactive prevention and detection.

Selecting the right KPIs for your organization can be complex and stressful. Rather than resorting to brainstorming and internet searches, there is a better way to discover the best KPIs for your organization - the ROKS method. In this session Bernie Smith, creator of the ROKS method, walks you through the first five steps of this powerful approach, using real-world stories to bring each step to life.  

This presentation will review what sex harassment is under the law, company compliance obligations, and describe how promoting a positive company culture can prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.   

What obligations does an employer have when an employee needs to take a leave of absence? This presentation will provide an overview of the complicated, intertwined compliance obligations triggered when an employee requests a medical leave of absence (including for pregnancy, mental health, or addiction).  

You are not required to be a professional to prepare tax returns, but you are required to abide by regulations when preparing tax returns and representing clients with the IRS. Circular 230 is the guidebook that the United States Treasury uses to regulate those activities. Every year, return preparers are sanctioned, penalized, and sometimes imprisoned for violating various statutes and regulations. If a substantial amount of your CPA firm's revenue comes from tax preparation, this course is a must. Every year, return preparers violate these regulations, and are caught by the IRS. This presentation will help the CPA know the rules so they can stay in compliance with confidence while providing their client with tax preparation and IRS representation service. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

It takes a while for advisors to gain an in-depth understanding of all the changes made to the tax laws that govern IRAs. This course focuses on the top 20 advisor questions about SECURE Act 1.0, SECURE Act 2.0, and other hot topics. The objective is to help the advisor ask the right probing questions when interacting with clients and to provide clients with responses based on their IRA profiles.

Ethical behavior continues to be a problem in society and even in the CPA ranks. "Ethics - A Line in the Sand" looks at the behavioral issues that influence how CPA's act. The course will address why individuals make ethical blunders, the state of ethical conduct in business organizations, the relationship between strong cultures, policy and procedures and successful ethical work environments. In addition, the course will highlight the one behavior to watch for as an indicator of potential ethical violations.

This program examines the critical issues, rules, and special opportunities when preparing your clients' Form 1041 US Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts. Learn what is considered taxable income; filing requirements and deadlines; impact of the 3.8 percent Medicare surtax on net investment income; and the 10 principles of tax accounting for trust income. **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.

The IRS has recently increased the pressure on how to calculate and report partner and shareholder basis.  Changes in the forms reflect these developments.  This program provides a detailed analysis of the calculations related to determining tax basis for a partnership interest and S corporation shareholder shares and loans. How to use the Form 1065, Schedule K-1  and Form 1120S, Schedule K-1 information for basis determination.  Illustrated examples with filled in forms will demonstrate how the processes works and their many potential pitfalls.  **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.

In this five part master series, class participants will gain a comprehensive view into the world of forensic data analytics (FDA). From understanding practical use cases of FDA in the audit, internal audit, investigations and proactive monitoring to understanding necessary data sources, validation proceudres, success factors and pitfalls to avoid. We will also explore hundreds of leading anti-fraud tests around corruption, conflicts of interest, fake vendor schemes, segregation of duties, revenue recognition and sales abuse, among dozens of other schemes.  Participants will develop their own library of anti-fraud tests from various open source locations and apply them in relevant contexts such as the COSO Fraud Risk Management Guide. Finally, participants will also peek into future innovations in FDA and how technologies such as ChatGPT, data visualization, machine learning, AI and cryptocurrencies are all impacting the discipline.  We can't promise you'll be a programmer after this course, but you will certainly be armed with the information needed to project manage an FDA project and "direct" the programmers to accomplish your fraud risk / FDA objectives.