Professional Development and Event Catalog

Excel remains a staple tool for virtually all accounting and financial professionals. In this session learn about many of the newer features in Excel, along with some you may have overlooked in the past…truly “must-see CPE!”

By 2025, millennials will represent 75% of the workforce. Whether you are an owner of a small practice or manager in a multinational corporation, it is important to understand characteristics and expectations of this large segment of the workforce. Research reveals that many of the common stereotypes surrounding millennials are unfounded and counterproductive. This course provides an understanding of who millennials are in comparison to their predecessors, the Gen-Xers and baby boomers. Equally important, the presentation will look at common myths regarding millennials and why understanding this class of employees provides opportunities for your organization to grow and succeed.

Since the early 2000s, the estate tax burden on taxpayers has gradually decreased along with the number of practitioners specializing in the field. Nevertheless, some of your most wealthy clients will have a taxable estate. For these select clients, making large gifts before death can be extremely tax efficient for the client and profitable for the practitioner filing the gift tax return. Learning how to file a basic gift tax return can help you attract and retain clients, increase your value-add, and generate revenue.

Auditors are entrusted with obtaining reasonable assurance that financial statements are free from material misstatements, whether caused by fraud or error. However, the risk of undetected fraud is higher because of its potentially sophisticated nature. Fraudsters may employ forgery, intentional omission of transactions, or misrepresentations to conceal their schemes. This webcast delves into the fundamental reasons auditors prioritize fraud detection. In this webcast, we will: Explore the evolving fraud landscape in today's business environment Share key takeaways from the ASB's outreach to forensic professionals Provide valuable insights into essential behaviors and strategies for auditors to effectively consider fraud risks.

This program explores the role of client internal controls for balancing efficiency and effectiveness in a risk-based audit. We offer practical insights regarding an auditor's assessment of the risk of material misstatement when auditing financial statements of non-issuers, with particular emphasis on internal controls of small-to-medium clients.

This course focuses on the key federal tax issues affecting business from the internal accountant's point of view, with a focus on the major ramifications of the TCJA and other recent tax legislation and developments.  Planning alternatives and the potential risks associated with those strategies will also be discussed.    **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.

New features in Excel provide tremendous opportunities to improve Excel-based operational and financial reports. For example, Data Models, Power Query, Data Analysis Expressions, Power Pivot, and many others can help you create more powerful summaries and schedules in less time than ever. Bundle these tools with some of Excel's "legacy" features, and you have significant new opportunities to improve your Excel-based reporting environments. In this fast-paced seminar, you will learn about the importance of using Power Query to link data into Excel data models and how you can manage these data models to facilitate better and more efficient reporting. Additionally, you will learn how to incorporate Key Performance Indicators, Slicers, and Timelines into your reports to enhance the analytics and understandability of the data. Further, you will learn best practices to format your spreadsheets quickly and efficiently to give them a polished and professional appearance. This course should be at the top of your professional development list if you use Excel for any reporting process.

This comprehensive training is designed to get the accountant up to speed quickly with the complex passive activity loss (PAL) rules that apply to certain investments in trades or businesses and rental activities. The cornerstone of the course is the in-depth coverage of the detailed tax law and regulations applicable to passive activities under IRC §469 and how and when the 3.8% net investment income tax under §1411 applies. **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

For practitioners, it’s a challenge to stay current or ahead of the curve! Change in the tax law is a virtual certainty and keeping up to date is always difficult. The 2024 elections may have an impact on the Congress, the Presidency and, probably the IRS. This ACPEN course will include a panel of national tax practitioners and experts reviewing the latest judicial, legislative and regulatory developments affecting individuals, corporations and other business entities. They will also try to project future developments! Even if Congress cannot muster enough votes to pass new legislation before the next elections, the IRS is instituting a variety of new audit programs directed at non-filers and high net worth individuals and passthrough entities. More are announced regularly! Various tax provisions will expire or benefits will be reduced if Congress fails to act. The courts and the IRS continue to churn out rulings and decisions that affect your 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.

This course is an updated overview of the single audit of state and local governments and not-for-profit organizations under the OMB Unified Circular, as well as the applicable AICPA standards for compliance audits. 

A comprehensive review of the newest version of the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Government Auditing Standards, otherwise known as “the Yellow Book.”  The standard will affect all auditors who perform audits of government and nonprofit organizations who receive federal funds, or where application of GAO standards is required by law, regulation or contract.  It does not address the standards applicable to performance audits.

Mastering two leadership skills will decrease your stress, and give you room to enjoy your career. Delegating and listening are key essential skills to hone to elevate your career. You were born with two ears and one mouth. And yet, good listeners aren't born. World-class listeners deliberately practice this skill, even when their audience is challenging. This is a skill which can be learned. Participants will gain awareness into their blind spots to listening, strategies to regain focus, how to stop interrupting, and demonstrate to their audience they are listening. How often have you said, "It would just be easier if I did this myself?" or "Nobody can do this task as well as I can, so I'll just do it myself." If this sounds like you, then it's time to start working on your delegation skills. Delegation is not only important as a means to save you time, but it is also about developing the next generation of leaders. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This program addresses the most recent developments impacting taxpayers incurring research and experimentation costs.  Emphasis will be placed on compliance with the 2022 change in Section 174 Amortization of research and experimental expenditures. **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.

OneNote is a fantastic application included in your Microsoft 365 subscription. Yet, it is underutilized and misunderstood most of the time. If you genuinely want to change how you work, embrace OneNote. Stop using Outlook as a filing cabinet for essential emails and move them to OneNote instead. If you share a OneNote notebook with others, you can stop emailing altogether within your group and use OneNote as your collaboration and reference platform.

"Transforming Strategic & Financial Management with ChatGPT: Insights for CPAs, CFOs, and Controllers" is a comprehensive 2-hour CPE course designed by Jim Lindell of Thorsten Consulting Group, Inc. This course delves into the revolutionary impact of ChatGPT on financial and strategic management, offering a blend of theoretical insights and practical applications tailored for financial professionals. Through an exploration of ChatGPT's capabilities in research, communication enhancement, benchmarking, risk analysis, and more, participants will learn how to leverage this advanced AI technology to streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation in their practices. The course not only highlights the current applications but also provides a glimpse into the future of AI in financial management, encouraging professionals to embrace technology for competitive advantage.

Critical Traits of a Thinking Auditor - Stretching Experienced Auditors Beyond the Basics will provide tips and best practices for stretching experienced auditor past the basics in each of the three pillars of success. Those in charge of the day-to-day supervision of engagements need to consciously embrace and demonstrate characteristics that will enable him/her to transition to a firm leader. This includes a focus on three key pillars: financial success, retaining clients through superior client service, and developing other professionals. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for supervisory and managerial auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has responsibilities by finding creative audit solutions. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

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.

Many CPAs are becoming full-time or fractional CFOs for small businesses. In that position, they are the resident expert in finances, cash flow planning, and budgeting. But what about dealing with the IRS? The IRS has broad powers to administer the assessment and collection of taxes. From removing penalties to criminal prosecutions, this presentation focuses on how CFOs can prevent problems with the IRS and how to develop winning strategies if the IRS knocks on the door. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

A discussion of recent law changes that impact capitalization, depreciation, and disposition of assets. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

We all are busy, pressed for time and we strive to do as much as we can – as fast as we can. This is our world.  However, there are times when we should stop and think. When we do not analyze (one of our many talents) this inaction causes problems. We will review the penalties of moving too fast. Let’s learn from the mistakes of others.