Professional Development and Event Catalog

Description: The term "artificial intelligence" (AI) has become mainstream and while most have a layperson's understanding of AI, few know the depth and breadth of this technology's capability. AI is affecting just about everything in business and in people's personal lives. The operation of an internal control system is also changing because of this incredible advancement. This session explains what AI is and how it works and then goes into detail about how it can be applied to a system of internal control. The material speaks about changes occurring in today's world as well as what's coming in the not-too-distant future. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Description:Many small to medium sized companies do not properly address the risk that arises related to fraud because these organizations do not have the resources needed to mitigate this risk or because owners or those in top level management underestimate the scope of the issue. All organizations, regardless of size, must be aware of the risks associated with intentional fraudulent acts and know that a significant and effective fraud scheme could even create going concern issues for some entities. In this session, we delve into the reasons that fraud takes place. The material discusses the types of defalcations that are often executed against smaller entities and then explores measures that organizations can implement to help stop fraud activities and add security.

Description:Many organizations are successful as they create a system of internal controls, however some fail to properly implement the measures that are established. Moreover, entities regularly neglect the important process of testing, monitoring, and updating control procedures, which weakens the entire internal control structure. This session provides an overview of control creation methods and discusses ways to successfully implement policies and procedures. Additionally, it includes an array of control maintenance checklists that participants can take and adapt to their organization as they work to improve policies and procedures. Finally, it provides an understanding of the need for dynamic, fluid controls that adapt to changes in business tools and methods. Participants that take this course will have a strengthened ability to implement and maintain an internal control system.

Description:Many organizations are successful as they create a system of internal controls, however some fail to properly implement the measures that are established. Moreover, entities regularly neglect the important process of testing, monitoring, and updating control procedures, which weakens the entire internal control structure. This session provides an overview of control creation methods and discusses ways to successfully implement policies and procedures. Additionally, it includes an array of control maintenance checklists that participants can take and adapt to their organization as they work to improve policies and procedures. Finally, it provides an understanding of the need for dynamic, fluid controls that adapt to changes in business tools and methods. Participants that take this course will have a strengthened ability to implement and maintain an internal control system.

Description:For the past two decades the trend has been to move away from brick and mortar offices and have a greater number of people work or telecommute from home. Because of the upheaval caused by recent events, the rate of this move has been accelerated. This has and will continue to create control challenges and organizations must work to address these. Such things as moving from time based employee value to task completion based measurement and the ability to drive needed inter-company communication are just a sample of the issues with which entities must contend. This session looks at the benefits and pitfalls of workers that telecommute. It then discusses important risks and controls to consider as this trend continues and evolves in the business world.

Description:Please join us for an introductory course in international cross border transactions. We will discuss typical situations in which a cross-border transaction arises, and how a taxpayer can utilize the rules to potentially decrease an entities effective tax rate. Other issues, such as documentation and IRS audit risk will also be covered. These rules will be illustrated by a hypothetical US- Canada transaction.

Description:Governmental accounting is very unique. This course will introduce the financial reporting basics for governments, including fund accounting and the modified accrual basis of accounting. Attendees will analyze the layouts of the fund financial statements as well as the government-wide financial statements.

Description:Nonprofits face unique accounting challenges. This course will introduce attendees to the financial statements and unique accounting principles applicable to not-for-profit organizations. Specifically, we will focus on the typical transactions and account balances unique to NFPs, including net assets, agency transactions, contributions, endowments, and programmatic investments.

Description:Penalty abatement is a technique that tax practitioners can utilize to help their clients reduce penalties and interest they owe to the IRS if the taxpayer can prove "reasonable cause".This informative and insightful webinar will provide you with some insider tips, practical steps and effective strategies to help your client manage IRS tax penalties and interest. Learn about various types of penalties that you may face, and the various forms and procedures used for requesting penalty and interest abatement, including First Time and Reasonable Cause abatement. Plus, learn about the procedure to follow when requesting refund of paid penalties.

Description: This CPE course provides an overview and changes with respect to ASU 2016-14 Presentation of Financial Statements and ASU 2016-18 Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents in Statement of Cash Flows for Not-for-Profit Entities. This course provides common pitfalls and tips on functional expense reporting and, how to manage liquid resources, common peer review findings related to ASU 2016-14, and tips and suggestions on a successful audit. This course also reviews items to consider, given COVID-19, when preparing for an audit and reviewing financial statements. The instructor will explain the key facts and impacts of ASU 2018-08 Clarifying the Scope and Accounting Guidance for Contributions Received and Contributions Made, ASU 2019-03: Updating the Definition of Collections, ASU 2019-06: Extending the Private Company Accounting Alternatives on Goodwill and Certain Identifiable Intangibles to NFP Entities, and ASU 2020-07 Presentation and Disclosures by NFP Entities for Contributed Nonfinancial Assets. Lastly, this course will cover Cybersecurity Issues. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Description:Many leaders in business organizations of all sizes view the system of Internal Control almost purely as a protective security measure. A well-designed internal control system can and will drive all entity objectives which includes successful operations. This session uses information gathered from years of creating internal control systems as well as concepts from well-respected authoritative pronouncements and frameworks to illustrate the power of a strong and well supported control system as well as actions that can help establish such a system. Those that work with internal controls who are tasked with developing ways to improve operation level capabilities should strongly consider this session.

Description: The course will cover the basic requirements of a peer review performed in accordance with the AICPA's Peer Review Standards for firms that perform preparation, compilation, and review engagements. Topics to be covered include the documents reviewed by the peer reviewers, the evaluation of the engagements, the types of matters and peer review reports, the administrative process, the peer review committee involvement, and the requirements of the state boards of accountancy.

Description: Personality Styles - Adapting to Different Types of Personalities for Improved Relationships and Interactions provides guidance for effectively adapting to various personality styles. Every individual has a dominant personality style, which includes relevant strengths and weaknesses. Effective interactions require individuals to adapt behaviors to complement, balance or counteract the traits of others.

* This course is #6 in the Microsoft Power BI series of webinars. * Description:This course focuses on using the Power Pivot features to enhance data analysis. We will review the 4 features of Power Pivot (data model, calculations, hierarchies and KPI's) and you will learn how you can use each of these features. Although, the majority of the time will be spent on building the data model and using calculations. You will learn how to add data to your data model either directly into Power Pivot or from Power Query. We will discuss the benefits of the data model relationships versus using the VLOOKUP function to access data in different tables. One of the strengths of Power Pivot is the formula language called DAX (Data Analysis eXpressions). We will introduce DAX so that you can use basic DAX formulas to build various calculations in the data model. You will learn the difference between calculated columns and measures as we build these various calculations into our data model. This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.

* This course is #1 in the Microsoft Power BI series of webinars. * Description: Excel is a popular data analysis tool, yet most users have never learned the basics of data analysis using Excel or the tools that Excel offers to help with data analysis. Those that learned to analyze data using PivotTables, soon learned there were many weaknesses in PivotTables that resulted in elaborate calculations in order to perform simple tasks. In 2010, after much development and little hype, Microsoft released Power Pivot, a new data analytic tool that removed the weaknesses of PivotTables. This single product took Excel from a low-end data analytic tool to one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive tools. Since 2010, Microsoft has continued their development of end-user data analytic tools. This entire suite of products is called Power BI. In this session, we will provide an overview of the various Power BI tools and discuss Microsoft's Power BI Strategy. We will begin by explaining the challenges faced by many accountants when it comes to analyzing data in Excel. You will learn how each Power BI tool reduces the challenges and improves your data analytic skills. You will also gain a complete understanding of when to use which tool. This session is an overview of the various Microsoft Power BI tools and should be your first step in learning the complete set of Power BI tools. As an overview, we will not be teaching the details of each tool but you will receive a thorough understanding of what each tool can accomplish. This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.

* This course is #9 in the Microsoft Power BI series of webinars. * Description:What good is data analysis if you can't share it? This course will focus on using Microsoft's cloud-based sharing/publishing platform, PowerBI.com. You will learn the interface as well as the benefits of using PowerBI.com. You will learn how to use PowerBI.com to leverage the work performed in Power Pivot or Power BI Desktop. Using PowerBI.com to create visuals is very similar to Power BI Desktop, so we will only review this feature. If you want detailed instructions on creating visualizations, please attend the Power BI Desktop course. This class can be taken with no Excel or Power BI Desktop knowledge, but some concepts will be a repeat from those classes and will serve as a knowledge reinforcement for experienced users. Many data analysts may create models in Power Pivot or Power BI Desktop, so we will spend time to learn how to share that data with PowerBI.com. This will ensure that everyone is looking at the same data, no matter the toolset. PowerBI.com adds the ability to create and share dashboards, so we will demonstrate how to create visualizations that can be turned into dashboards that allow users to customize their PowerBI.com with dashboards that are meaningful to them. This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.

* This course is #7 in the Microsoft Power BI series of webinars. * Description:This course focuses on using DAX (Data Analysis eXpressions) to create advanced calculations in Power Pivot data models. We will review what you learned in "Power BI - Go Beyond PivotTables with Power Pivot" and take your calculations to the next level using advanced DAX formulas. You will learn over 20 DAX functions that will allow you to perform calculations that were not possible with standard Excel. We will also review the use of a date or calendar table that allows us to perform date analysis that was never possible before. This will allow us to use the new time-intelligent functions to perform complex calculations on our data like: month-to-date, quarter-to-date, year-to-date, last year same period, last year-to-date, etc. You will also learn the DAX calculation process in order to proof and validate your calculations. We will be using Power Pivot to create our DAX calculations, however, the process is very similar in Power BI Desktop and the functions and formulas are identical. If you are using Power BI Desktop, you should be able to follow along and learn how to create advanced calculations. This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.

* This course is #8 in the Microsoft Power BI series of webinars. * Description: Power BI Desktop is a new stand-alone tool that adds visualization to your data. This course focus on learning the Power BI Desktop interface, connecting to data sources and creating the visualizations. We will demonstrate the creation of each of the various visualizations and the various options related to each. We will also show how the visualization can be connected together to provide fully-interactive reports with drill-down capabilities. This class does not require any Excel knowledge but understanding Power Pivot and Power Query can reduce your learning curve. This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.

Description: Professional Skepticism - Creating a Mindset for Finding Fraud and Error is a critical skill for audit and other attest services. The public places a high value on assurance services provided by an external public accountant, as the CPA's involvement directly enhances the degree of confidence intended users can place on the financial statements to make economic decisions. A proper mindset, including professional skepticism, is a critical feature of a high-quality audit or other attest service. Professional skepticism is an essential attitude that enhances the ability to identify and respond to conditions that may indicate possible material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Description:At its height, LIBOR was the benchmark for over US $350 trillion in financial contracts worldwide. Yet, due to concerns over the manipulation of the rate, standard setters determined that LIBOR should be discontinued. The global response to reference rate reform required financial reporting standard setters to provide practical expedients and exceptions to current modification guidance. This course will provide an overview of the standards issued (including amendments) from both the FASB and GASB to address the transition away from LIBOR.