CPE & Event Calendar

Attracting and retaining staff is critical to an organization's success, especially in the age of the millennial worker who will change jobs multiple times in the course of a career. This course will focus on best practices for nurturing the human element of your organization, especially millennial workers who comprise a growing percentage or the workforce. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

In the "Excel - Formatting Spreadsheets for Beginners" class, you learned basic formatting of a spreadsheet. In this class, we take you to the next level by teaching you how to customize many of the formatting options. Learn to customize cell styles and how to use these styles in other workbooks. Most Excel users know how to select number formats but this class shows how to leverage the Custom Number Formatting option to create special formatting options. Many of the formatting options are applied manually, cell-by-cell or by range. This can be tedious if there is a condition by which you want to apply a format. You will learn to use Conditional Formatting to format based upon a criteria. Have you ever finalized a spreadsheet, only to accidently make changes over the top? This action is something that is very easy to do. This class demonstrates various options to prevent this from happening and will look at various security options within Excel. 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 event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This presentation will provide a detailed analysis of the Circular 230 rules for conduct of a tax practice, with a review of the political, legislative and regulatory rules impacting every accounting and tax professional. Best practices and guidance provided by the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct will 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.

Accountants with good writing skills are more likely to get promoted. What makes good writing good? Short, concise sentences with powerful, energetic verbs and lean word choices. This fast-paced, interactive course teaches you five principles for writing strong sentences. The principles include writing with verbs, using an active voice, simplifying sentences, and focusing on the reader. You will also explore three essential editing principles that provide quick and accurate correction. By taking this course, you will upgrade your capabilities in writing clearly and concisely.

A project doesn't just happen, it takes a dedicated person to help a team create something from nothing. The best project managers incorporate the art of people management and science of execution to guide an initiative from an idea to reality. Not everyone can hire a project manager, so the great news is these skills and techniques can be learned. This class will show how a project manager breaks down a concept and applies techniques needed to effectively lead a team through the visioning, scoping, testing and rolling out of an initiative. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

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-6495. To learn more click here or contact Julia Ekelund at jekelund@mscpaonline.org.Which technology trends will impact you and your business? What emerging technologies will potentially help you to address security and efficiency? How will the emergence of Windows 11 affect you? Should you consider subscription-based software? What does the future of communication technology have in store for you? Get answers to these and other questions by participating in K2's Technology Update, a four-hour review of technology trends and developments affecting virtually all business professionals. In this session, you will learn about significant issues such as:  Hardware trends,  Software innovations,  Communication and collaboration tools,  Security issues and solutions,  Key products to consider for implementation, and  Unusual and emerging technologies you may have missed. If you're taking just one technology-focused training session this year, this should be it!

Introductory Session of Borenstein's Form 990 Foundational Series: This "initiation and introduction to" the Form 990's mechanics and importance will prevent you from drowning in the Form 990's force-field! More than 80% of the Form's inputs and relevant definitions are NOT found in the statutes and Regulations that apply to the exempt sector, a reality that can be overwhelming for both novices and more advanced preparers. This session provides an easy-to-digest synopsis of the entirety of the Form's key definitions as well as the mechanics that preparers need embrace from the moment they first approach preparing a 990. Packed with practical tips and perspectives on data gathering, this class is a "must" gateway for beginning (and even more experienced) preparers to learn "how to befriend Form 990 preparation." This webinar will vault preparers past all the initially confounding problems of the Form 990, providing baseline info on the critical nuances the form uses. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Our goal is to keep you current with the changing tax environment by focusing on recent legislative, administrative, and judicial decisions and examining topics addressed in the media, publications, journals and conferences. Our belief is that the better informed we are, the better we can serve the profession and our clients. Check in monthly to see the current topic and objectives.

PowerPoint is a widely available resource that is potentially underutilized by accountants because many accountants do not stray beyond Excel and Word in the Microsoft Office suite. You will learn how to create and edit a professional PowerPoint slide deck. This session places particular emphasis on efficiency tips and tricks that will allow you to develop creative, professional visual aids while minimizing time and effort. The course’s author will share personal insights he has cultivated throughout more than two decades of public speaking. Although the session will focus on creating and editing slides, we will illustrate best practices for presentation delivery. We will also explain how PowerPoint can be used for purposes other than delivering presentations.

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.

The course provides a concise overview of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting -- an emerging system of non-financial record-keeping and governance. Around the world, organizations of all sizes and kinds are under increasing pressure from regulators, consumers, employees, and other stakeholders to provide a fuller and more integrated picture of the way in which entities operate, invest, and create value. This includes taking into account how their operations impact financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social, relationship, and natural capital. Participants will walk away with an increased situational awareness of ESG reporting, and an ESG starter strategy. This can be used immediately to position themselves for ESG success in an era of growing expectations for conscious capitalism, ethical investing, and moral leadership. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

MassCPAs Member Networking nights are coming to a neighborhood near you! Join us for an evening of networking and fun with fellow accounting professionals in your community. The event will kick off with a professional issues update from MassCPAs President and CEO Zach Donah, CAE. Please note: This event location is on the 2nd floor with no elevator access.

Governmental entities are the second largest victims of embezzlement.  This seminar examines recent events involving the theft of public money and the circumstances that allowed the fraud to occur.  We will be looking at a variety of case studies to illustrate these points.  

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 course, we'll 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. This course is for anyone who regularly works with Excel-We hope you'll attend!

Individuals who work in a governmental environment have many rules of ethics that must be followed. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issues Yellow Book providing rules related to ethics and independence, which received a significant update in 2018. We'll review some of the key elements of ethics relevant to governmental entities and auditors to prevent independence noncompliance. 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 dives into the powerful, but potentially under-utilized, capabilities of Microsoft Excel. Designed for sophisticated users willing to approach spreadsheets from a unique perspective, this program encourages users to challenge the status quo by considering opportunities to take acceptable spreadsheets to a new level. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Think about how much time you spend reviewing and creating PDF files. This course teaches you how to take advantage of a multitude of features and functions available in Adobe Acrobat to create, review, organize, edit and secure your PDF files more effectively and efficiently. Like many personal productivity software applications, it is very likely that you are using only a fraction of the potential of Adobe Acrobat when working with your PDF files. For many CPAs, a PDF file is the final presentation of your work product, whether it is a tax return, financial statement, audit report or other financial reports. This course will teach you how improve the quality of those report presentations. The tips you learn in this course will save you time on a daily basis. 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 will explore some of the most essential tools for measuring financial and operational success, as well as improving results. Appendices will be provided to give students hands-on applicable materials that can be utilized after completion of the course.

This highly informative course comprehensively covers all the latest tax law developments. The focus is on individual taxation and discussion of the planning opportunities practitioners need to understand to help clients respond effectively. You will come away from the course with the up-to-date knowledge to educate your individual tax clients and implement tax-saving ideas that will serve their ever-evolving needs. This course is continually updated to reflect enacted legislation. Please Note: Due to content overlap, it is recommended that this course NOT be taken together with BFTU.

Many Excel users have received little or no formal training to help them use the ubiquitous productivity application. This session can help users that wish to improve their Excel skills to increase their productivity. The material starts by covering basic topics such as time saving tips and keyboard shortcuts and then moves to more advanced areas like conditional formatting and complex formula building. Users that find themselves looking at the spreadsheets that others design and wishing they could do as much with Excel will benefit greatly by taking this course. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.