Professional Development and Event Catalog

Looking to improve the quality of your 401(k) benefit plan audits? This is the course for you. Based on recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor and peer reviews on employee benefit plan audits, we know auditors need to up their game to meet stakeholder demands and provide the best possible audit services. In this advanced course, we will discuss the audit and reporting requirements in accordance with SAS 136 and other recently issued SASs. We will also discuss laws and regulations (such as ERISA) that are unique to employee benefit plans and provide practical guidance on their application. Course topics will focus on the most common compliance issues identified in 401(k) audits by the Department of Labor and peer reviews, as well as recommended corrections. Auditors will identify best practices for auditing areas such as payroll and compensation, participant loans, hardship distributions, investments, and plan mergers and acquisitions.

The most difficult concepts to master when dealing with flow-through business entities are the basis and distribution concepts. Major error and malpractice issues occur if the CPA does not fully understand the impact of these rules. This course is designed to focus on the practical applications of these rules.

We are now officially in the era of digital communications, collaboration and knowledge sharing. Is your organization prepared to embrace it? This course will show you how to do just that by strategically deploying the Microsoft Office 365 ecosystem of applications with the Teams app at the core. Office 365 provides the tools to digitally transform your workflows to increase efficiency, as well as to provide the ability for your team to work from anywhere, at any time, on any device. We will review how you can leverage specific Office 365 apps to foster online communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing among your team members, as well as externally with clients, customers and service providers. You will leave this course with a solid understanding of how to tap into Office 365 to take your business digital. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

*** This subscription includes four individual sessions for a total of 9 CPE. You receive significant savings when purchasing these webinars as a subscription. Each of the four courses runs live once a month beginning May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025. Register for these scheduled courses as your schedule allows - at no extra cost to you. Once registered for this subscription, log in instructions will be emailed to you separately for each individual course. *** Join us for a 4-course subscription featuring John Higgins, a renowned technology advisor to the CPA profession, who has assisted many firms with Microsoft 365 deployment. Discover how to leverage the M365 suite of apps to unlock new efficiencies and opportunities within your firm. Don't miss this chance to supercharge your practice with cutting-edge tools! Whether you are a solo practitioner or larger firm, this series will provide you with an ROI many times greater than your investment to attend.

*** This subscription includes six individual sessions for a total of 12 CPE. You receive significant savings when purchasing these webinars as a subscription. Each of the six courses runs live once a month beginning May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025. Register for these scheduled courses as your schedule allows - at no extra cost to you. Once registered for this subscription, log in instructions will be emailed to you separately for each individual course. *** Payroll is among the most common tasks an employer undertakes while 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. Strengthen your expertise in providing client payroll services with one of the nation's foremost authorities, and a practitioner herself, Elizabeth Bystrom.

*** This subscription includes five individual sessions for a total of 14 CPE. You receive significant savings when purchasing these webinars as a subscription. Each of the five courses runs live once a month beginning May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025. Register for these scheduled courses as your schedule allows - at no extra cost to you. Once registered for this subscription, log in instructions will be emailed to you separately for each individual course. *** This Power BI intensive series is designed specifically for those aiming to master data management skills in the modern business environment. As data becomes increasingly central to accounting and financial analysis, the ability to effectively manage, clean, and transform this data is critical. These five courses delve into Microsoft Power BI, a tool known for its robust data processing capabilities. This series will take you from an entry-level overview of Power BI and lead you through building an actual data model for analysis. Once you have completed the courses in this series, consider taking the advanced subscription, "Taking Power BI to the Next Level".

*** This subscription includes five individual sessions for a total of 14 CPE. You receive significant savings when purchasing these webinars as a subscription. Each of the five courses runs live once a month beginning May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025. Register for these scheduled courses as your schedule allows - at no extra cost to you. Once registered for this subscription, log in instructions will be emailed to you separately for each individual course. *** This advanced Power BI series is designed specifically for those aiming to master data analysis skills in the modern business environment. As data becomes increasingly central to accounting and financial analysis, the ability to effectively manage, clean, and transform this data is critical. These five courses delve into Microsoft Power BI, a tool known for its robust data processing capabilities. After learning how to build a data model in the previous series, this series will take you through using advanced calculations to create, manage and effectively use your data analysis. This is an advanced subscription and if you are new to Power BI or not confident using the tool, consider taking the basic series, "Getting Started With Microsoft Power BI".

Accountants in business and industry face ethical conflicts almost daily. This workshop (re-)introduces the revised AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and walks through the five basic rules of conduct and the related professional ethical principles applicable to accountants in business and industry. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This is a continuing part of our series on forensic accounting. Within this segment we discuss the concepts that are part of computer forensics known as cryptology. The term cryptography is from Ancient Greek and means “hidden secret”. It is the practice and study of techniques for secure communications in the presence of adversarial behavior. Cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages. Cryptography starts with secrets. Various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation (where a statement’s author cannot successfully dispute its authorship) are central to modern cryptography.

Pro forma statements are used by businesses to make decisions on planning and control, as well as for external reporting to owners, investors, and creditors. For example, giving financial estimates for a given period in a standardized manner is known as “presenting pro forma,” a Latin phrase that means “as a matter of form.” Pro forma statements can be helpful tools for business owners, investors, creditors, or decision-makers to analyze various scenarios of future events based on certain financial assumptions. It might aid in making predictions performance of the company. A pro forma income statement displays a firm’s anticipated sales and revenue. It also highlights anticipated fixed or variable operational expenses and, in the end, displays the potential profits and retained earnings for a future financial quarter. There are various types of pro-forma statements and methods to develop them. The responsibilities/competencies of the Financial Controller position (FC) has changed in recent years. However, the creation of pro forma financial statements is still a core part of their responsibility.  

When real property is sold for a gain, we always try to find ways to defer recognizing income so that it won't be necessary to send a check to Uncle Sam. There is a provision within the Internal Revenue Code that allows the taxpayer to defer recognition of immediate taxable gain in the year of sale known as an "installment sale." Knowing how and when to utilize this provision makes the Accounting and Finance Professionals very valuable to either their client or the entity they work for. We will also discuss recent proposals that could impact the future of this provision.

One of the most cost effective methods for storing your files safely and economically in the cloud is with Microsoft 365 OneDrive and SharePoint apps. If you use either or both of these cloud storage apps, this course is a "must take." There are often times when you want or need cloud based files to be stored on your local laptop or desktop PC. With the OneDrive Sync app, you can have the best of both worlds. You can have copies of a file stored locally and in the cloud simultaneously. The Synch app will update both copies of the file in real time for any changes that are made in the local or cloud copy of the file. A classic example is if you have a QuickBooks Desktop data file that you need to store locally to work with the files in QuickBooks. However, you also want the file stored in the cloud for anytime, anywhere access and enhanced security. The Sync app facilitates this scenario effortlessly. Nationally recognized accounting technology advisor and thought leader, John Higgins, will take you through the step-by-step process of setting up and using the Sync app. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

In today's dynamic business environment, preserving a unified and engaged team culture is more challenging than ever. As the rhythm of work accelerates and organizational structures evolve, silent threats can begin to undermine our established team dynamics. These undercurrents, if left unaddressed, can erode morale, dampen productivity, and weaken the team's cohesion. This session offers a deep dive into strategies that can help identify, address, and neutralize these challenges, ensuring a positive, resilient, and inclusive workplace culture. Attendees will be equipped with a blend of insights and actionable strategies, enabling them to both recognize and respond to these potential pitfalls.

What do investors want? They actively pursue three key strategies: 1) improve profit (most over used strategy) 2) reduce investment (an under used strategy) 3) reduce risk (a much-neglected strategy) In this third of three sessions, see 3) above, we will explore strategies to reduce risk. When risks are exhibited on the income statement - it is too late. Risk is silent and insidious. We must plan, as we have seen what happens when risk becomes real and reduces net income. We will discuss proven techniques to help your organization plan for risk before the next miscalculation. Be prepared!

Until recently, a percentage of organizations discounted the risk related to external fraud attempts. Most were only concerned with protecting physical assets such as inventory or fixed assets. However, because of the many highly publicized corporate hacking events, such as the ones that affected the Colonial Pipeline and JBS Meats, more attention is being paid to external fraud risk of all types. In this session, we look at what is included in a definition of external fraud and then delve into specific control issues that can give rise to increased risk. We then discuss measures that organizations can employ to help reduce exposure to external attacks. 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 explores actual fraud circumstances through the lens of potential prevention. We will examine how selected frauds were accomplished and consider what internal controls may have prevented fraudsters from achieving their nefarious acts. Then we will switch gears to an interactive, case-based discussion that asks participants to reach their own conclusions by analyzing facts in concert with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and other sources of ethical guidance. This course ultimately provides practical, action-oriented insight that can be implemented by accounting professionals in both public practice and industry. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available for questions during the event.

This series includes four 2-hour consecutive Friday sessions, airing live beginning November 1, for a total of 8 CPE. Once registered for this bundle, log in instructions will be emailed to you separately for each individual course. You receive significant savings when purchasing these webinars as a bundle. The CFO Series provides a convenient, one-stop way for senior level financial managers and executives, CFOs and those who aspire to be CFOs, to attend multiple webinars of CPE with a single decision. The CFO Series features high-quality presentations and an interactive, executive level colleague-to-colleague approach with case studies, group discussions, and team exercises.

It is now common for those who live to the age of 65 to expect to live at least another 20 years. With increased length of life comes the need to understand that certain necessities must be considered for elderly/disabled clients. We walk you through issue spotting, including senior housing and care giving options, guardianships, conservatorships, financial and health care powers of attorney, Medicaid qualification and asset protection planning. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

AICPAs Code of Professional Conduct - Exploring the Foundational Principles Underlying the CPA Profession as a whole will provide an overview of the basic principles of the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct with practical implementation examples. CPAs must seamlessly transition to a profession that relies heavily on conformance with technical and ethical standards. It is critical for CPAs to seek to serve the public interest with a strong sense of character, integrity, competence, and due professional care. In addition, CPAs must appropriately safeguard any threats to independence and objectivity. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for beginning auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has public accounting responsibilities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Today’s economy and all of the digital enhancements have impacted the way companies engage with their customers as well as how the company manages their internal practices. The business control function needs to keep pace. The rising importance of analytical capability is critical when defining the role of the modern controller. Execution of analytics can vary but there are still key questions that must be asked. What are the options and what we need to understand to decide the best way forward? This course focuses on the value that can be brought by the Controller when becoming involved with data analytics powered by technology and also Big Data. The digitized world we live in has made it important for the Controller function to evolve and take on this advanced task.