CPE & Event Calendar

According to the FBI, “white-collar crime is … synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals … characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust …. The motivation behind these crimes is financial—to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.”  CPAs can and should play a crucial role in preventing and detecting white-collar crime, as well as in prosecuting the perpetrators.  This session will explore whether we are up to this challenge, heighten awareness regarding the CPA’s role as a front-line defender of the public interest, and assess whether we are deserving of the public trust we enjoy.

This course will review common deficiencies identified by the AICPA and state boards of accountancy. It features discussion on a variety of topics, including analytical procedures, sampling, group audits and risk assessment. We will review the areas of concern and how you can overcome them by employing best practices. 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.  

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.

This session describes a state agency's quality review of a not-for-profit organization's A-133 Single Audit.  The case study describes the organization audited, its federally- and state-funded programs, and the CPA firm retained to do the audit.  Various anomalies in the financial statements alerted state officials to potential problems, and a detailed quality review followed.  Find out how the entity turned hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank overdrafts into hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash on its balance sheet.  Explore other “creative” ways to deal with fixed assets, accounts receivable, and related-party transactions.  Were the auditors just sloppy, ignorant, negligent?  Or were they active participants in producing fraudulent financial statements?  You be the judge.

Many practitioners dealing with government and not-for-profit issues are asked to serve as expert witnesses in courts of law or other adjudicatory venues.  This session will discuss key issues you need to know when you are asked to serve in this capacity, including: Applicable standards and other engagement acceptance considerations. Preparation requirements and techniques. Dos and don'ts of testifying. Avoiding commons traps and tricks designed to undermine your effectiveness. The session will conclude with a “mock cross-examination” with participants serving as the jury to identify what our witness does right and what he does wrong.

What can we learn from one of the largest municipal frauds in U.S. history? Rita Crundwell stole nearly $54 million from the citizens of Dixon, Illinois over the course of two decades. This course examines circumstances that allowed this landmark fraud to occur. We will explore internal control deficiencies and other circumstances that hindered prevention or timely detection of Rita's scheme. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Unlike a traditional financial audit objective (Are the financial statements materially misstated), performance auditing can address a wide variety of objectives.  Is this program working? Can it be improved? Where can we save money? How can we operate more efficiently and effectively? Are management’s assertions supported? And so forth.  This session will explain what a performance audit is, describe the applicable standards, and provide examples that indicate the value of a performance audit.  Performance audits can add value to any entity and practitioners can profit from adding these assurance services to their practices.

This intensive two-hour course addresses the critical need for accuracy and efficiency when developing spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel. Recognizing that even minor errors can have significant implications, this course delves deep into strategies and skills required to detect and correct errors in Excel. By the end of this course, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of how to efficiently identify and correct errors in Excel spreadsheets, enhancing their overall productivity and accuracy in their professional roles. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Specifically designed for preparation, compilation, and review practitioners, this course will provide you with a comprehensive review and hands-on application for performing financial statement preparation, compilation, and review engagements. You will learn the ins and outs of applying SSARS No. 21, Clarification and Recodification, as well as the additional guidance related to SSARS engagements through the issuance of SSARS Nos. 22-25 by the ARSC. The course will also review recent peer review feedback on SSARS engagements, providing insights on how to successfully apply this guidance. Not only will this course bring you up to date on SSARSs requirements and guidance, but more importantly, it will provide you with practical examples and illustrations to help you effectively and efficiently perform compilation, preparation, and review engagements.

If you work with governments and not-for-profits, a thorough understanding of the Yellow Book is essential. This course will equip you with a comprehensive knowledge of the Yellow Book requirements and increase your confidence and proficiency in performing Yellow Book audits. The course materials utilize a highly illustrative and innovative format including over 20 focused exercises on key practice issues.

Designed for accounting and attestation practitioners at all levels in both public accounting and business and industry, this course provides a comprehensive review of recent standard-setting activities of the FASB and AICPA. In addition to providing a detailed review of SAS No. 145, this course will bring you up to date on FASB and AICPA standards issued over the past few years. The course also provides many hands-on examples and illustrations to help you apply the guidance in practice. In addition to a financial accounting update, the course will discuss what you will need to do differently as you adopt new audit standards 142-149 over the next few years, including a detailed review of the new audit requirements under SAS 142. The course will also cover the key changes related to SSARS No. 25. Finally, the course reviews the AICPA's quality management project. In summary, the course is your go-to source for all things A&A and will prepare you for your upcoming engagements throughout the rest of the year.

The AICPA has identified risk assessment as an area of focus for its Enhancing Audit Quality Initiative as deficiencies in auditor's risk assessment procedures continue to be a common issue identified in peer review. SAS No. 145, Understanding the Entity and Its Environment and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement, was written to improve the quality of risk-based audits. While key concepts do not fundamentally change, the standard works to clarify and enhance certain aspects of the identification and assessment of the risks of material misstatement to drive better risk assessments and hopefully overall enhance audit quality. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Be the go-to person on financial statement compilation and preparation engagements. Specifically designed for those performing preparation and compilation engagements, this course will provide you with a hands-on application for performing preparation and compilation engagements under AR-C Section 70 and 80, respectively. You will learn the ins and outs of relevant sections of the SSARS related to preparation and compilation engagements with a focus on how recently issued updates to SSARS No. 21 impact these engagements. More importantly, you will be provided practical examples and illustrations to help you effectively and efficiently perform those engagements, including a detailed discussion of the reporting requirements under AR-C 80 related to compilation engagement. Lastly, the course will review recent peer review feedback on these types of engagements, highlighting areas where you can improve engagement quality.

A significant amount of information is electronically initiated, recorded, processed, or reported and information to be used as audit evidence may be available only in electronic form. During this session, we will look at different types of information commonly presented to an auditor during the audit of an employee benefit plan and identify considerations for auditors when evaluating information to be used as audit evidence. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Why do for profit organizations exist??? To make money!!!!! What a great concept. But if the organization does not have the proper collections and credit procedures in place, they may not be able to access that money. Hence the importance of the credit and collection process.Credit and collections are critical areas for the financial statement controllers. Customer credit is a form of payment that allows small business customers to purchase a product or service before paying for it in full. The process works similarly to the way a credit card does - you procure something and pay it back later. Collections is a term used by a business when referring to money owed to that business by a customer. When a customer does not pay within the terms specified, the amount of the bill becomes past due and is sometimes submitted to a collection agency. The sales and collection process includes business activities related to selling products and services, maintaining customer records, billing customers, and recording payments from customers. It also includes activities necessary to manage accounts receivable, such as aging accounts and authorizing credit. This course delves into the topics that impact the sales, credit and collections process for management. We discuss strategic steps management can take to ensure their processes are efficient and that they are able to actually collect their revenue.  

Specifically designed for preparation, compilation, and review practitioners, this course will provide you with a comprehensive review and hands-on application for performing financial statement preparation, compilation, and review engagements. You will learn the ins and outs of applying SSARS No. 21, Clarification and Recodification, as well as the additional guidance related to SSARS engagements through the issuance of SSARS Nos. 22-26 by the ARSC. In addition to SSARS 26, the entire suite of quality management standards is discussed. However, knowing the standards is not enough. You need to be able to effectively apply them. To support this, the course will review recent peer review feedback on SSARS engagements, providing insights on how to successfully apply this guidance. Not only will this course bring you up to date on SSARS requirements and guidance, but more importantly, it will provide you with practical examples and illustrations to help you effectively and efficiently perform these types of engagements. This course is intended to be your go-to reference for training your staff and managing your SSARS No. 21-26 services in compliance with professional, ethical, and technical requirements.

Since its inception nearly 30 years ago, many have continued to struggle with applying the current model for accounting for income taxes, ASC 740. But this does not have to be you. This course will provide you with the basic knowledge necessary to understand the complexities of this challenging topic. Through discussions and use of exercises, this course will analyze the authoritative literature to provide a thorough understanding of such topics as deferred taxes, income tax expense, uncertain tax positions and other classification and disclosure requirements related to income taxes. We will also explore some specialized areas of income tax accounting, such as intra-period allocations of income tax expense and accounting for changes in tax laws and rates, and we will review proposed updates to ASC 740 disclosures on which the FASB is contemplating. In summary, this course is the place to be to enhance your accounting for income taxes IQ.

Forensic accounting, forensic accountancy or financial forensics is the specialty practice area of accounting that investigates whether firms engage in financial reporting misconduct. Forensic accountants apply a range of skills and methods to determine whether there has been financial reporting misconduct. Financial forensic engagements may fall into several categories.  Economic damages calculations, whether suffered through tort or breach of contract. Post-acquisition disputes such as earnouts or breaches of warranties Bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganization Securities and tax fraud Money laundering Business valuation Computer forensics/e-discovery This session is designed to delve a bit deeper into the world of forensic accounting and identify some of the specific areas of expertise required to become a forensic accountant. We will then first delve deeper into the art of document analysis and handwriting analysis.  

Auditing Contingencies and Going Concern Uncertainty - Testing for Completeness and Proper Disclosure will provide tips and techniques for obtaining sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support conclusions related to contingencies and going concern uncertainty. Financial statements may contain significant uncertainties requiring special audit consideration for evaluating proper accounting and financial reporting treatment. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for supervisory or managerial auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has responsibilities for evaluating loss contingencies and substantial doubt about going concern. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.