CPE & Event Calendar

The annual budgeting process is often criticized as an accounting exercise that is obsolete soon after it is published, prone to gamesmanship, cumbersome, not volume sensitive, and disconnected from the organization's strategy and risk management processes. You can resolve these deficiencies using capacity-sensitive driver-based projections. Driver-based budgeting allows for quick scenario planning and far easier analysis of a growing organization whose future may look nothing like today. The driver-based budgets can be periodically refreshed to create rolling financial forecasts extending well beyond the fiscal year end. Learn how managerial accounting can become managerial economics.

The budgeting process can be a time consuming and frustrating process for accountants.  The constraints and pressures can lead to poor decisions in both the technical and human components.  This session will cover: Avoiding Budget People Issues:  Managing Budgeting’s Soft Side •    Financial plans have a technical component and human component.  We can resolve some of our budget issues by exploring the process’ human aspect.  This session includes a case study that measures an individual’s personality type and then explores how to use our strengths and weaknesses to create to a better plan.  

This  session provides HR Professionals with scripts for and tactics for coaching leaders in handling an array of employee relations situations with sensitivity, good judgment, and high confidence.  Topics include employee complaints, personality & attitude problems,  performance counseling, personal hygiene problems, disability-related performance issues, misconduct due to mental conditions. You will learn how to use a unique process, “Reset the Clock,” that prevents attorneys from taking something leaders did wrong or did not do in the past and using it to support legal challenges in the future.  Liability is replaced with credibility. Lawsuits are then avoided rather than won.  Financial assets are protected, morale stays high, and bad publicity is averted. HR Professionals avoid hearing from senior leaders:  “You should have anticipated this” after an avoidable legal claim.

Critics have claimed that traditional managerial accounting is at best useless and at worst dysfunctional and misleading. Most line managers do not trust their management accounting data. 21st Century management accounting develops cost/unit metrics that are useful for budgeting, cost analysis and control. Activity-based costing (ABC) brings truly accurate fact-based costing visibility. ABC does not broadly allocate overhead, but traces costs by identifying cause-and-effect relationships. Such information can provide the ability to reveal true profit margins for products, service-lines, specific sales channels and customers. The same information also helps reduce costs and improve productivity by reporting unit costs that you can use to monitor cost trends and benchmark against your competition. Removing the barriers caused by your current management accounting techniques can provide huge rewards.

Volatility and complexity are the new normal. Most organizations are drowning in data, but starving for information. The finance and accounting function has the opportunity to leverage Big Data and the continuum of analytics – descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive. All are useful for better decision making. Collecting, validating, and reporting data is not the same thing as analyzing information where we can glean valuable, actionable insights. In some ways the finance function is many years behind other disciplines such as marketing, sales, and supply chain managers, in applying analytics. How can the CFO’s function catch up?

The budgeting process can be a time consuming and frustrating process for accountants.  The constraints and pressures can lead to poor decisions in both the technical and human components.  This session will cover: Budgeting:  Presenting and Communicating your Numbers •    Now that the budget is complete, how we communicate our plan is critical.  this session reveals some key guidelines in budget presentation and will identify key problems in how people often communicate financial plans. 

This course corresponds to our Controllership series. Within this course, we specifically address the Controllers role and pro-active potentials in organization Strategic and Annual Planning. This series of courses is dedicated to exploring the traditional controller role and stepping out of the box to identify areas where the Controller can add strategic value to their organizations. Controllers are essential to the day-to-day accounting for organizations. Yet, the role is not often readily understood. In today’s world of acronyms such as CFO, CEO, COO, CAO, etc. the Controller function may get lost in the shuffle. However, they are a critical group of professionals who ensure the adequacy and transparency of accounting and financial reporting information. When it comes to the task of strategic planning, many feel this role is primarily the responsibility of the executive team and board. However, in this course, we delve into the various steps of the strategic plan and explore where the Controller can add strategic value through providing functional input and insight. Strategic planning is a process used to identify goals, the strategies necessary to accomplish those goals, and the internal performance management system that will be used to monitor and evaluate progress.  

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.

Cloud computing has become a source of cyber-crime. “Cloud forensics is the application of digital forensics in cloud computing as a subset of network forensics to gather and preserve evidence in a way that is suitable for presentation in a court of law.” Cloud forensics is a combination of the varied types of accounting forensics including: •    Digital forensics •    Network forensics. •    Hardware forensics In cloud crime, the cloud is considered the object when the target of the crime is the cloud service provider they are directly affected by the act. It is considered the subject of the crime when the criminal act is committed within the cloud environment. It is considered the tool when it is used to plan or conduct a crime. This course will delve into the many concepts involved in cloud forensics. The course complements other courses in the series of Becoming a Forensic Accountant.  

How well do you understand your organization’s cash flow? Good cash management techniques can provide a competitive advantage! This session shows you how to effectively measure and manage your cash conversion cycle. With a more complete understanding of how cash flows through your organization, you can eliminate impediments. Better cash management lowers your borrowing costs, reduces financing needs, and creates financial flexibility in your organization.

Financial forecasting is an important part of any successful business. It enables businesses to plan for the future and anticipate scenarios based on strategy. The controller helps forecast financials by calculating future revenue and income streams. In recent years, corporate finance has undergone many dramatic changes due to the growth of a number of high-tech tools. The responsibilities/competencies of the Financial Controller position (FC) has changed in recent years To maximize performance, Controllers must be aware of how the FC position is changing, and how they must adjust to these changes. There are many types and methods of financial forecasting. This course will review the most prevalent forecasts and relative methods being used.

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.

Cybercrime is on the rise and CPAs that handle sensitive client data are often the target of cybercrimes.  By attending this session you'll learn what the eight biggest threats are to your business and uncover the three pillars of cybersecurity that you can build your firm's defense around.

In the last year, our country has seen the passage of multiple federal laws impacting the enforceability to common employment documents. Several federal agencies have also issued opinions that could impact common employment documents. This presentation will review those new laws and opinions and discuss the potential impact they may have on arbitration agreements, severance agreements, confidentiality agreement, and non-disparagement agreements.  

How do you keep your team connected with the limitations of virtual meetings? Suddenly, it’s more important than ever for each member to understand and appreciate their differences; to see beyond the screen and see each other’s human-side to maintain trust. In this session, Tina Hallis, Ph.D., will explore the neuroscience of trust and why it’s critical for optimum teamwork. But more importantly, you will leave with specific strategies and tools that you can choose from to use with your people. 

Do you often hear people complaining about coworkers or other departments? Do you have talented people with the right skills who struggle to collaborate and cooperate as a team? You’re not alone. This can be a common situation when people’s values, beliefs and their approach to solving problems differ. The key is to help everyone understand that our differences aren't bad – they’re interesting and extremely valuable.  In this course, Tina guides you through tools and activities you can use to help your people (and yourself) broaden their perspective so they can more easily cooperate, collaborate, and communicate with the people around them. This program explores ways to help them connect, from personality assessments to team building activities. When coworkers or team-members understand each other better, it's easier to appreciate their differences.  

Whether it's changes in the market, a global pandemic, or loss of a supplier, at some point, most organizations will face a crisis. How you respond can make or break your organization. This intensive seminar on crisis management and business continuity planning will equip you with the knowledge and skills to manage crises confidently and ensure that your organization stays resilient. Resilient organizations recover faster from crises. Failing to plan for the next crisis is planning to fail.

The tools for managing performance and addressing misconduct are not identical. The failure to point this out to leaders has often resulted in the use of the wrong tool. Reinforcing good performance and securing improvements in performance requires skill in coaching employees, making effective requests, and providing effective feedback   This course provides practical knowledge and scripts for setting, communicating, and enforcing performance expectations, such that personal and employer liability is avoided.

The objective of corrective action is to change conduct through teaching.  Corrective action may be sequential, out of order, repetitive, or not appropriate to take at all.  The action selected should reflect the type, frequency, and severity of the misconduct.  Changing conduct through teaching requires effective employee relations skills. This course provides practical knowledge and scripts for handling a wide array of sensitive misconduct situations with good judgment, such that personal and employer liability is avoided.

When asked the question, “What would you like to improve about your leadership and communication style?” more than 65% of leaders say they want to be more confident and assertive in their communication. Confidence and clarity communicate leadership. If you are responsible for growing a profitable company or a productive team, you want team members who have the ability to reach goals, make sales, finish projects, and serve customers. Being a confident, compelling leader helps to inspire better relationships, promotes trust, and reduces stress in the workplace. Lack of confidence and assertiveness can lead to resentment, depression, low self-esteem, and loss of respect from colleagues and employers. Confident communication cultivates cooperation, goal achievement, and a more respectful work environment. Clear and compelling leaders are better equipped to move projects forward and make things happen while improving cooperation and respect from partners and subordinates.