Professional Development and Event Catalog

Over the next decade, the area of “Advisory Services” has the greatest potential for growth in your practice.  Complexities within your clients’ financial, estate, and asset protection plans coupled with the ever-changing Internal Revenue Code has created an opportunity for the CPA, the EA, and other advisors to expand their client offerings. This course provides the practitioner with the framework for practice expansion as well as an understanding of a variety of necessary issues and techniques.  

We have all heard the statement that it is the people that work at a company that gives it value. It is, sometimes and unfortunately, also the people that provide fraudsters with an entry point into an organization that can lead to hardship. This is even more true now because cyber-attacks on both organization and individuals have increased notably. Many highly publicized corporate hacking events are successful, at least in part, because an individual was targeted. In this session, we look the types of fraud that take aim at individuals with a special focus on the growth of cyber-attacks. We then discuss measures that can be put forth to help employees protect both themselves and the organization. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Learn why creating an employer brand is so important and instrumental in competing in today's competitive marketplace. Elevate your recruiting experience for candidates and onboarding process for new hires to enhance your employer's brand.

For HR and Business professionals, navigating the intricate dynamics of executive decision-making can often be a daunting task. Despite the meticulous hours invested in research, strategy formulation, and planning, the true challenge often lies in effectively communicating and gaining acceptance for these transformative ideas. A key aspect of this is the art of persuasion, ensuring that the merits of our proposals are not just understood but wholeheartedly embraced by decision-makers. This session is designed to empower leaders with the tools and insights needed to craft persuasive pitches, build a robust business case, and confidently communicate the ROI of their initiatives. Moreover, attendees will gain insights into the common pitfalls that can hinder their pitches and learn techniques to address objections frequently raised by executive leadership.

This course provides a high-level overview and introduction into the world of the forensic accountant. Most accountants have an understanding of the concept of fraud and how it impacts companies, but many individuals do not have a full comprehension of the variance in the work performed by a forensic accountant versus a typical management accountant.   This course is meant for those individuals interested in understanding the variances in the job tasks and responsibilities of forensic accountants versus typical financial or management accountants. Forensic accountants or auditors take a unique focus on performing their work.  Typically, when a person with forensic experience is called in to examine financial records, it is due to suspicion of fraud, evaluation of assets, or even to track down fundamentally incorrect accounting – intentional or not. As fraud continues to raise its head in business processes, forensic accountants are discovering new and unique ways to identify, examine, and support their hypotheses and investigative techniques.  The work performed by a forensic specialist can be interesting and full of potential potholes if evidence isn’t examined according to proper protocols and standards.  

The Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) of the AICPA has been very busy issuing new and updating existing ethics rules. This course will provide an overview of recently issued and soon to be effective ethics rules that CPAs in both industry and public accounting need to know to be compliant.

The QuickBooks ecosystem of accounting tools remains the most widely-used set of accounting applications used by small businesses. Yet, many of these organizations struggle because of inadequate internal controls. In this seminar, you will learn options for improving internal controls in small businesses running QuickBooks Pro, Premier, Enterprise, or Online. Participate in this program to understand how you can create a robust system of internal controls in a small business environment, including businesses using QuickBooks accounting solutions. In this session, you will also learn about the four common types of internal controls and how to assess the relative condition of the internal control structure of a small business. With this background in place, the focus then shifts to discovering the opportunities to enhance internal controls in QuickBooks-based environments using features found in the application. In addition, you will learn about additional internal control procedures for situations where you cannot establish adequate controls in QuickBooks. In sum, while many believe that QuickBooks-based organizations will forever face weak internal control structures, by participating in this session, you will learn how QuickBooks-based businesses can benefit from strong internal controls.

For many small businesses, the standards issued by the FASB may have little to no effect as they impact topics that do not reflect the type of transactions that these entities most frequently experience. This class will focus on the Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) that are most likely to impact small businesses with a focus on ASUs initiated by the Private Company Council (PCC). We'll then look at alternative reporting options to GAAP including FRF for SMEs and IFRS for SMEs for entities who don't necessarily need to prepare GAAP financial statements but want to use accrual accounting. Finally, we will transition to audit standards that small business auditors will need to implement. 

With the increasing complexity and ever-changing nature of tax laws and issues, today’s accountant needs a partnership/LLC course focusing on the hottest tax topics and most frequently encountered issues. This case driven course will deal with both partnership/LLC and partner/member developments addressing the most common, yet complex Federal partnership/LLC issues and problems. **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 QuickBooks platform is a robust environment with features and capabilities that many users are unaware of or do not know how to utilize effectively.  This course helps you get more out of QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online and resolve the issues that even experienced QuickBooks users struggle with, such as locking down prior periods.  This program starts fast with a chapter covering the top issues accountants face with QuickBooks.  The day continues with practical guidance and solutions designed to help accountants get the most out of QuickBooks for themselves or their clients. You will learn about issues, such as setting up a new company, configuring and customizing QuickBooks preferences, and enabling system security and password protection features.  Also, you will learn how to lock down transactions in prior periods, the audit trail, customizing reports, exporting reports to Excel, and extending QuickBooks’ usefulness with tools such as the Fixed Asset Manager and Loan Manager.    

The adage, “what gets measured, gets managed,” has never been more true than it is today. Organizations of all kinds and sizes are creating systems and processes to categorize, track, and report on many of their operations by creating reports featuring key performance indicators (KPIs). This session will teach you about many different kinds of KPIs. Further, you will learn how to find data and use tools like Microsoft Excel and Power BI to measure performance. You will also identify the benefits and drawbacks of using KPIs in management philosophies like holacracy to make it easier for employees to know in real time where they stand.

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.  

This is a two-part series that discuss new trends and concepts the financial controller should begin to execute in order to truly become a valued member of the senior leadership team. The rapid pace of the evolving technological landscape has promoted changes in how accountants and financial professionals focus attention on strategy and modernize their roles to leverage digital technology. There is increased demand for enhancing flexibility into finance cycles and initiating real-time reporting and insights. These are the core attributes that will assist in transforming the work that controllership function performs. Is the financial controllership prepared to meet future business demands? The IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) and Deloitte’s Center for Controllership aimed to better understand the current state of controllership and expectations of future demands for controllers and accounting professionals. They conducted a survey in late 2022 and identified several trends. The survey takes a look at how prepared controllership is to meet future business demands. It also highlights some insights for leaders to consider that may increase their preparedness. It also identified areas of additional insight and questions to answer on the controllership transformation journey. In this segment one, we go through numerous concepts in detail and the remaining concepts will be covered in segment two.

Every business needs capital, and capital has a cost. Providers of debt and equity demand a return and the combination is the cost of capital for the business. This session discusses how to calculate the cost of capital, how to use it to make superior business decisions every day and some common ways organizations misuse this number. Who should understand your organization’s cost of capital? Even if you are not yet the CFO, you need to thoroughly understand the cost of capital and its use. The cost of capital allows managers to, “Get the biggest bang for the buck.” If you want to enhance your corporate finance skills, this session is for you.

Valuation techniques and cash management activities are two other tool categories that can round out your analytical toolbox. In this course we will initially discuss how to turn your financial plan into a powerful valuation engine.  We then will discuss the formation of an efficient cash management program based on solid banker relationships.  Finally, we will review Ten Steps for keeping your financial toolbox full.

Debt is a real problem for many clients, business owners, and the general public.  It can be ever increasing and causes financial, emotional and physical challenges that seem to spiral out of control. What if you could help your clients “do debt differently”? This strategy turns the game upside down and presents solutions from the inside out.  As a CPA, you are already a trusted advisor for your clients.  What if you could help your clients be free of this burden?  This is a tremendous resource you can offer to your clients, expanding the value of what you offer them by adding these processes to your packages.  Clients will be happy to pay for this kind of relief as you support them in doing debt differently.   If you are one of the many people who are personally burdened by this situation, these strategies, tools, mindsets and actions will personally help you get better results…so you can go back to the task of expanding and growing your business, sleeping better at night and gaining access to the creativity that will take you to your next level of financial fulfillment.  Paying off debt is an inside/outside job.  Successful strategies include the internal shifts to mindset and enhancing the inner qualities that are most helpful in paying off debt, and practical tools to help make the transition from thinking about paying off debt to actually doing it. This program combines both -- emotional support and dozens of tools and action steps to Do Debt Differently, including: An inventory process to objectively assess the situation and face it head on Guided mind/body processes to alleviate anxiety about the situation Creative exploration (writing and drawing) to gain clarity and specificity Stories and discussion to strengthen your access to the qualities that will be most helpful to your success Using a menu of options to create a personal action plan and an ongoing support team The techniques in this program are creative and easy, but immensely practical.   We will combine practical, nuts-and-bolts action steps with powerful tools for mindset-shifting. There is no reason to continue to suffer the burden and overwhelm of debt. Relief is here! Through discussion, interactive exercises, skill building, mindset shifting and powerful actions, you and your clients could be on your way to a debt free life. Please join me for this empowering approach to changing your financial situation.

Everyone knows that Excel is the most widely used spreadsheet application in the world today. However, because it is ever-changing, many users are unable to keep up with the latest features and capabilities of this ubiquitous application. In this session, we look at some of the most helpful new features and tools that have been added to both the Desktop version of Excel and the Web version. Content like this is valuable to anyone that regularly works with Excel - We hope you will attend! 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, we will share tips and tricks for working remotely.  You will learn what to do/what not to do in a virtual working environment, strategies for leading teams remotely, employee engagement ideas, and techniques and tools for teleworking.

By now, we should all understand the ethical obligations we have as CPAs.  So, theoretically, if we just all agree to remain ethical, we should not have CPA ethical violations.  But, of course, our professional ethics committees still have plenty of cases to investigate.  This session will examine several ethical frameworks, including the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct’s and the GAO Yellow Book’s Threats and Safeguards approach to remaining ethical and resolving ethical dilemmas.  The session will present several ethical case studies that illustrate the complexities of and challenges to staying ethical. By exercising our “ethical muscles”, we should be better positioned to effectively deal with the ethical dilemmas that we will inevitably encounter.

These are uncertain times. With constant economic fluctuation, geopolitical uncertainty and inflation pressures, corporations and their professionals are facing challenges at every turn. The Controllership function is accustomed to dealing with changing variables but when the change is constant and every evolving, even the simplest of tasks like cash flow and cash forecasting can become difficult.  This webinar is to focus on what methods the controller can elicit to attempt to address the current uncertainty when working with their cash flow issues and forecasting. Of course, there are basic measures that can be employed such as: Proactively managing receivables and payables Automate your accounts payable and receivables process Keep business expenses at a minimum Work with digital methods of payment from vendors Use credit wisely However, this webinar will explore methods used to create and manage your cash flow and forecasting processes. These methods go one-step past your typical forecasting to enable management to explore various alternatives and scenarios for the business.