CPE & Event Calendar

How well do you accept criticism? How might it enrich your business - and you - if you did a better job of it? This distinctive webinar will show you why it is in your best interest to accept criticism with gratitude. It's even better to welcome criticism. It's also a good idea to learn how to give criticism the right way. A related topic is the art of giving and receiving apologies, and we'll do a deep dive into this area as well. You'll leave with clear guidelines for how to criticize others, accept criticism from them, give meaningful apologies, and accept apologies with grace and ethical intelligence. The result will be a stronger CPA practice and a better you. 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 focuses on the key federal tax issues affecting businesses from the internal accountant's point of view, with a focus on 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.

U.S. Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) imposed a new reporting requirement that went into effect on January 1, 2024. Millions of businesses may have to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Report. In a surprise turn of events, the Federal District Court from the Northern District of Alabama ruled on March 1, 2024 in National Small Business United v. Yellen ("NSB") that the CTA is unconstitutional. This course will discuss the CTA's provisions and the court's decision in NSB. Also covered will be future implications for business entities and steps to consider given the recent ruling. We will also discuss recent proposed rulemaking by FinCen with respect to nonfinanced purchases of residential real estate and gratuitous transfers so that businesses can prepare for any additional reporting burdens that might arise. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Spear phishing. Ransomware. Malware. Like the threats your business faces, the cybersecurity lexicon is constantly evolving. This comprehensive presentation imparts practical privacy and data security know-how and creates fluency with the latest terminology. Learn best practices for cybersecurity safety, as well as tailored training for those in positions responsible for implementing security policies. It is just as important to be diligent, safe, and well-versed in the attacks that we face in our personal lives.

A significant number of projects fail to achieve their initial goals and/or are not completed within budget and their original timetable. As a team member, a CMA has a unique skill set and experiences to assist in project management. In addition to their analytical training and knowledge of budgets and controls, they typically have ongoing contacts with other professionals from a variety of backgrounds. Familiar analytical tools/techniques can be applied to managing projects. This brief program is designed to aid both experienced and less experienced participants in increasing their knowledge of, and comfort with, the steps and skills needed for success.

You could pay $0 for this course!This course qualifies for reimbursement through the State Workforce Training Express Fund. Firms/companies with fewer than 100 staff will receive 100% of the cost of training reimbursed. You must register for this course and apply for reimbursement through the Workforce Training Express Fund website a minimum of three weeks before the start date of the course to be eligible. The course code for this program is C-3958. To learn more click here or contact Julia Ekelund at jekelund@mscpaonline.org.As spreadsheets evolve, so must your creating, editing, and auditing practices. In this program, you will gain an in-depth understanding of the best ways to work with Excel by learning best practices associated with Excel spreadsheets in each of the following areas: creating and editing Excel workbooks, securing Excel workbooks, collaborating with others in Excel, and reporting on data contained in Excel. Today's best practices for Excel differ significantly from those used in the past, and you will learn the best ways to work with Excel spreadsheets in this "must-see" CPE program. Course materials include relevant examples to enhance your learning experience. Join us for this program to help you utilize Excel fully.

Most review techniques developed by professionals are self-taught and fine-tuned via experience. Yet how does one start? The purpose of this course is to give both new and seasoned reviewers additional and advanced procedures via a multitude of checklists to thoroughly review various tax returns. Its emphasis is not planning; rather, it is to develop a strategy to properly review a return effectively and thoroughly. The course includes dozens of practice tips for new reviewers and is updated for impacts of newly enacted legislation.

Performance Management is about getting the best out of everyone. It's about setting the stage so staff can excel as an individual and as a team member. It's about knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it to inspire and elevate staff performance. For staff to hear, understand, and act on performance feedback they have to trust the person delivering the feedback. The feedback must be constructive, useful, and implementable. And surprisingly, the performance management process is as much about listening as it is about delivering feedback. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Tax Season can be a daunting time for tax preparers, but it doesn’t have to be with the help of tax automation software tools and other innovative technology. This session will provide an overview of the latest technologies and tools that can help automate your workflow and make the entire tax return preparation process smoother and more efficient. From client portals, workflow management, and e-signatures to robotic process automation, you’ll learn about all the options available to help streamline your tax preparation process. So don’t dread Tax Season - attend this session and arm yourself with the tools you need to succeed!

According to Gallup's CEO and Chairman, Jim Clifton, "The single biggest decision you make in your job - bigger than all of the rest - is who you name manager." Gallup cites a person's manager as one of the top reasons given for a lack of employee engagement. Old norms and methods of managing team members don't work anymore - and with today's labor shortage, it's imperative that all leaders in your firm learn new strategies to lead and manage their teams.

Professional Requirements for Assurance Providers, Including Independence - Understanding Critical Code of Professional Conduct Concepts will dig deeper into important foundational principles, primarily focusing on threats to independence and how to avoid or appropriately safeguard them. The AICPAs Code of Professional Conduct provides guidance for ethical business conduct, as well as other potentially relevant ethical requirements from the PCAOB and international bodies. An important pillar of any Code of Professional Conduct is the rules governing independence when performing attest services, particularly when both attest and non-attest services are provided. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for in-charge or supervisor auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has audit or attest engagement responsibilities. 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 covers recently issued accounting and financial statement reporting standards from the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Key implementation challenges and experiences from public company filings will be identified. 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 is designed to refresh your understanding of the critical importance of risk assessment in the audit practice. We'll briefly discuss the impact of AICPA's Clarity Project for audits and the need to update firm processes to incorporate the risk assessment standards. Participants may alternatively need to fine-tune an implementation of the risk assessment standards. These standards are designed to eliminate the connect-the-dots methodology of checklist auditing and add critical thinking back into the audit process. They remain a problem area for many firms, resulting in engagement and peer review deficiencies. This course has been updated to include a more in-depth discussion of SAS No. 145, Understanding the Entity and Its Environment and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement. We will break down this complex and misunderstood subject with an easy-to-understand approach.

Many professionals, including corporate management, loan officers, investors, suppliers, customers and auditors, use financial statement analysis to perform their daily responsibilities. This program focuses on financial statements and the analysis of financial statements utilizing cases to assess profitability, liquidity, and resource management efficiency. We conclude with discussions of non-GAAP performance measurements, forecasting, and valuation.

Many Excel users have received little or no formal training to help them use the ubiquitous productivity application. This course can help users who wish to improve their Excel skills to increase their productivity. The material starts by covering fundamental topics such as time-saving tips and keyboard shortcuts and then moves to more advanced areas like conditional formatting and complex formula building. Users looking at the spreadsheets that others design and wishing they could do as much with Excel will benefit significantly by taking this course.

Did you know that simply by utilizing the built-in headings found under Styles in Microsoft Word you can create an automatic table of contents that can be updated in a matter of seconds if the body of the document changes? Did you know that Word can be used to open, edit, and re-save PDF documents? How about the fact that by using the Insert Caption tool in conjunction with the Cross-Reference feature, users can rid themselves of the need to manually renumber figures, tables or illustrations and will not even need to update references to these in the document text? This material shows tools and features that are easy to understand and use, will save time, and add consistency to documents. Participants in this session will come away knowing the power of Microsoft Word; this knowledge will benefit them greatly! This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Employment taxes are often overlooked as an area where more planning may be effective. Payroll taxes have become an increasing burden for the average business, and IRS penalties for noncompliance have risen dramatically in recent years. They have also been subject to employer incentives. The Service has announced that uncovering noncompliance by employers ranks high on its audit list. This course presents a comprehensive overview of federal payroll taxes, Form 1099, and related compliance issues.

The Tax Division, United States Department of Justice, is responsible for enforcing the nation's tax laws fully, fairly, and consistently, through both criminal and civil litigation. This course will explore the role of the Tax Division in ensuring fair and uniform enforcement of tax laws, protecting the public, encouraging voluntary compliance with tax laws, and how their operations impact regulatory ethics. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Tax procedures account for many internal revenue and revenue taxation codes. This course focuses on key tax procedure issues involved in tax compliance and representing taxpayers in tax controversy matters. Examine issues including return due dates, statutes of limitations for IRS assessments of taxes and taxpayer claims for refund, various 'relief' provisions available to taxpayers for oversights, and corrective actions. If the CPA tax preparer/adviser is unaware of or overlooks some provisions, it may be too late to take action. This two-hour webinar focuses on key tax procedure issues in tax compliance and representing taxpayers before the IRS and Franchise Tax Board in tax controversy matters.

This program provides an update to the latest tax developments, rules and regulations affecting individual taxpayers, including a review and integration of late 2023 -24 legislation.   **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.