CPE & Event Calendar

One of the important roles of any member of the financial team. Including the controller, may be involvement in the preparation of the company’s financial statements. Even if that responsibility falls within the office of the CFO, the controller and other finance personnel must understand how their transitions recorded impact the financial statements. Financial statements (or financial reports) are formal records of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity. Relevant financial information is presented in a structured manner and in a form which is easy to understand. They typically include four basic financial statements accompanied by a management discussion and analysis: A balance sheet or statement of financial position reports on a company's assets, liabilities and owners’ equity at a given point in time. An income statement may have varying names including profit and loss report (P&L report), statement of comprehensive income, or statement of revenue & expenses. These report on a company's income, expenses, and profits over a stated period. A profit and loss statement provides information on the operation of the enterprise. These include sales and the various expenses incurred during the stated period. A statement of changes in equity or “statement of equity” also called “statement of retained earnings” reports on the changes in equity of the company over a stated period. A cash flow statement reports on a company's cash flow, particularly its operating, investing and financing activities over a stated period. A balance sheet represents a single point in time, where the income statement, the statement of changes in equity, and the cash flow statement each represent activities over a stated period. For large corporations, these statements may be complex and may include an extensive set of footnotes to the financial statements, management discussion and analysis and supplementary information. The notes typically describe each item on the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement in further detail. Notes to financial statements are considered an integral part of the financial statements.  

In an era when sharing a photo of lunch can be considered an "update," the ethical standards that define the CPA profession are not always as intuitive as they once were. Our expert helps you navigate this new realm by using real-world examples to help illustrate the dos and don'ts in ethical social situations. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This session will explore key aspects of getting more satisfaction out of the work you choose to do and how to find greater balance between the demands of work and other lifestyle choices in an ever more complex and changing world. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The most recent recession and its fallout, weather (look at 2017), process and product failures, and unethical behavior have again highlighted failures by numerous organizations in identifying and managing risk. The size and reputation of organizations proved not to be the key to success. Again, we saw that failures can result in areas/industries thought to be "under control" through their policies, practices and/or regulations. A core activity of financial management is to effectively protect the assets of their organizations, without significantly reducing new ideas and growth. This brief program provides insights and approaches to identify risk and manage the above noted trade-off. The course is designed for financial managers looking to quickly build upon their existing knowledge and experience, as well as to help to start the less experienced individual. It offers ideas that can be used immediately, as well as longer term approaches. Updated to include new information particularly in the areas of disaster planning, business continuity, and ethics, as well as a sample group exercise to test your current risk management systems.

LinkedIn is considered by many to be one of the most impressive growth stories in the history of technology companies in Silicon Valley. In just 16 years it grew from nothing into a game changing company in a new industry and the performance of the company and the stock broke all kinds of records. The untold story of LinkeIn's success is that they grew a world class company and a world class team in the midst of a massive war for talent where their competitors for talent (Google, Facebook, Apple and more) could out pay and out perk and out benefit them. They grew a company when all the leaders had never built a company before. Despite the odds the leadership team succeeded and built a company and a culture that many still consider the gold standard. Steve Cadigan was at the epicenter of this growth as the first Chief HR Officer of LinkeIn and he delivers a front row seat to the wild and crazy and amazing ride that took LinkedIn from an unknown career destination into one of the top places to work in the world! Steve delivers a first hand account of lessons learned, mistakes made and what it was like to be facing a situation he had never faced before - hypergrowth. Wherever you are in your learning journey you will enjoy this class.

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.

This session provides an overview of compilation, review, and audit engagements. We will explore major considerations regarding each type of engagement in addition to contrasting and comparing these three major professional services provided by certified public accountants. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Mergers, acquisitions and alliances have been and continue to be major avenues to organizational growth and increased competitive advantage. Despite the great initial promise of many mergers and alliances, few seem to yield the anticipated results. Numerous studies indicate that between 55% and 77% of mergers fail to accomplish their intended purpose. This course helps financial professionals, and their advisors identify, execute, and consummate mergers and acquisitions that create shareholder value while avoiding the many traps that can cause post-acquisition failure.

Leaders naturally wield power and influence. But, to avoid the temptation of abusing power, leaders must apply ethical behaviors for themselves and others. Words, actions and deeds which demonstrate integrity and trust yield the credibility that make others want to follow ethical leaders. Betraying trust can destroy careers, whole organizations, and lives. This is why trust is a top prerequisite for principled and ethical leadership. Positive (and negative) influence is derived from the credibility trust brings. Ethical leaders who continually work to earn and keep trust reap enormous payback in all aspects of business including superior economic, competitive, and strategic performance.

Please join us for our monthly Accounting & Auditing committee meeting. Committee meetings are open to all MassCPAs members. If you have any questions, please contact Melissa at mnystedt@masscpas.org

Bounded ethicality explores the edges of ethical decision-making and the invisible borders that exist in our ethical judgment. In an entertaining and enlightening session, we will unveil surprising judgment errors we make when we face ethical dilemmas and search for the reasons behind them. We will explore areas of ethical decision-making where people consistently predict they will do the right thing but rarely do so. We will find out why people repeat stubborn errors of ethical judgment, and review steps that behavioral researchers have identified that can help us stop making these errors once and for all. We will identify ways to recognize our own errors and steps we can take to improve our ethical thinking. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Review of the major employment laws governing the workplace, when they are triggered, and key compliance aspects under each law. This presentation is designed to give viewers enough information to issue spot when matters arise in the workplace.   

This session explores managerial accounting techniques with an emphasis on internal decision-making tools. You will appreciate a reminder regarding concepts you may not have considered since your college days. We will revisit managerial accounting concepts by illustrating practical examples that you can immediately bring back to the office!

We kick off this course with a look at the GASB standards that are effective this year including GASB 100, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections and GASB 101, Compensated Absences. We then move to the NFP side of the house with a look at the Accounting Standard Updates issued by the FASB that impacts nonprofit entities. Following that, we review the work of the Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC) and the projects they advise the FASB on. After the break, we will conduct a deeper dive into Yellow Book and Single Audit engagements. The course closes with a look at the significant changes in the 2024 Compliance Supplement, the changes to the Uniform Guidance and the common deficiencies identified by the federal agencies and peer reviewers. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

What can you do to enhance your commitment to the highest ethical standards of the profession? How will doing so bring you more business? In this unique and engaging ethics course, the instructor, Dr. Bruce Weinstein, The Ethics Guy (R), reveals ten crucial qualities of CPAs. They are: 1. Honesty 2. Accountability 3. Care 4. Courage 5. Fairness 6. Gratitude 7. Humility 8. Loyalty 9. Patience 10. Presence (focus or mindfulness) You're already a good CPA and a good person. This course will show you how to be even better. The result will be greater satisfaction in your professional relationships, a deeper commitment to the profession of accounting, and much more business. Please note that this is a stand-alone course for 2 CPE credits in Behavioral Ethics, but you'll maximize your ROI by also taking "Ethics: How to Build and Keep Your A-Team". Together these courses are two of the surest pathways to sustained success in accounting. 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 explore the various types of data - both structured and unstructured - used in conducting fraud risk investigations and proactive monitoring. We will explore the various tools available on the market and techniques to confirm completeness and accuracy of the data before the analysis begins.  The course will cover the process for selecting the right data sources to align with the various risks as well as pitfalls to avoid when preparing the data for analysis. 

If you... - Produce or revise dashboards and reports - Find your current reports and dashboards confusing - Are frustrated by the length, complexity and structure of your existing reports - Have many different styles of dashboards and reports in use and want to simplify things - Need to create a consistent “house style” that can be replicated by different teams - Want to look like a star by creating reports and dashboards that your internal customers love ... this workshop can help. In this session we explore the principles of what makes reports and dashboards easy, or hard, to understand, distil this into a simple set of rules and show you how to apply these rules using Excel.

Financial accounting for trusts and estates is one of the least understood branches of accounting. It is not particularly concerned with recording income and expenses but is obsessed with determining whether receipts and expenditures are assigned to income or principal/corpus. This course will dive into this tricky area and provide a reporting guide for fiduciary accounting.

This session features the latest behavioral science, demonstrations of experiments, and compelling real-life stories to disrupt everything you thought you knew about fraud. It will spur you to challenge "sacred cows" of the industry and help you develop better thinking approaches to detect, deter, or investigate fraud, waste and abuse. Learn why many of our basic assumptions about fraud are flawed, why some widely accepted investigative practices are more harmful than helpful, and how auditors and investigators sometimes unwittingly assist fraud schemes. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered corporate and public accounting in ways we could never have imagined. This broad-based course will discuss accounting and auditing implications that have arisen as a result of the pandemic.