CPE & Event Calendar

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: Understanding and Preventing Budget Calamities •    Most of us lead or participate in the budget process at least annually.  Inherent flaws exist in the standard budget building process that you can solved by recognizing them and committing to solutions.  

Prior to the original SAS No. 82 on Consideration of Fraud In A Financial Statement Audit (now codified as SAS No. 122, AU 240), the word fraud never appeared in a single SAS, nor was it described anywhere.  SAS No. 82 stated that auditors failed to detect fraud for two reasons:  1) They did not know what it looked like and 2) They had not been trained to look for it.  Although the SASs did not provide any guidance, auditors have always been responsible for the detection of anything that would cause a material misstatement of the financial statements whether caused by error or irregularities.  (They would not even say the word fraud until it appeared in SAS No. 82) The standards were replete with guidance on the detection of an error but silent on how to detect irregularities.  Now auditors are required to document in every financial statement audit their process of determining the risk of financial misstatement due to fraud. This presentation is designed to focus on frauds that were missed by the auditors and, in some cases, why it was missed.  There will also be discussion as to what the auditor must do in order to improve their track record on detecting fraud.  As reported on the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Occupational Fraud 2022: A Report to the Nations, only 4% of frauds were initially discovered by the external auditor.  It was reported that more frauds were discovered by accident, (5%) then was discovered by the external auditor.

Most ethics courses focus on unethical individuals and their terrible misdeeds. We don’t need another course on lessons from Enron or individuals committing fraud.  Most unethical failures result from unethical individuals.  Instead, this session will focus on how good people can do better, why there is no such thing as business ethics and why we only need one rule to lead ethical lives.

Following on Part 1 of this course, in Part 2 you will learn advanced ways to solve problems without bruising egos, how to create profound trust quickly, and how to motivate clients and co-workers to do your bidding with a minimal amount of wasted time or hassles.    The bottom line will be better client and co-worker relationships, leading to increased enjoyment and productivity at work.

This is not your average CPE course! In this fun and practical course, you'll learn how to remember names, where you put things, what you read, or anything else 300% (or more) effectively than before. You will also learn how to prevent dementia, and halve your stress by using exercises that take under two minutes a day to do. Additionally, you'll receive information on ways to improve your memory by improving your overall health and wellness. This course will give you an overview of natural supplements to enhance your memory as well as share tips to improve your sleep. This course will change your life both now and in the future by making sure you know the best ways to remember information, handle stress and keep your mind sharp until the day you die. The information in this course to help increase your professional efficiency and improve your overall quality of life.

There is always too much to do and too little time to do it all.  Fortunately, if you know the right ways to manage people, projects and your time, you can get on top of everything by working smarter.  In this seminar you'll learn the best ways to get more done in less time, how to stay sane with all you have to do, and how to get other people to do some of "your" work by building great relationships.

As reported in the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Occupational Fraud 2022:  A Report to the Nations, on average, small businesses lose 5% of their revenue due to fraud.  Can the average small business owner afford to lose 5% of their revenue due to fraud?  I think not.  This presentation is designed to illustrate the numerous ways employees commit fraud in small businesses, how to detect it, and most importantly, how to prevent it.  Both auditors and small business owners would both benefit from this presentation.

In this course, participants will learn about the five principals of COSO's Fraud Risk Management Guide and the linkages each principal has to the use of forensic data analytics to measurably demonstrate effectiveness and ROI.  We will also explore key elements to a successful program that is sustainable as well as pitfalls to avoid. Finally, we will cover several case studies that demonstrate the key concepts discussed. 

Target setting can drive breathtaking positive results, the moonlandings, the eradication of smallpox or the repair of the ozone layer, for example.  They can also have a dark side that can put executives in jail, bring global businesses to their knees and even cause wholesale loss of life.  Using practical examples and case studies, this course walks you through the steps you need to follow to design robust, effective and credible targets for your organization.

Welcome to a course that makes the process of M&A easy to understand and easy to implement within your organization or your clients' organization. The course will provide an intensive overview of the M&A process. Focus will be on practical techniques to guide you through the M&A jungle and avoid the traps that have befallen many organizations.

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.  

Most ethics courses focus on unethical individuals and their terrible misdeeds. We don’t need another course on lessons from Enron or individuals committing fraud.  Most unethical failures result from unethical individuals.  Instead, this session will focus on how good people can do better, why there is no such thing as business ethics and why we only need one rule to lead ethical lives.

In this course, participants will gain a broad understanding of the various anti-fraud preventive and detective tests available to practitioners and take initial steps in building their own library of tests unique to their business or industry risks. Specific discussions and examples will include vendor analysis to look for potentially improper payments around conflicts of interests, fake vendor schemes, bribery & corruption, sanctions and trade compliance, anomalous payments, segregation of duties, among other risk categories.  Participants will also explore tests around customers or distributors that include margin analysis, free goods, discounts and revenue recognition. Further, we will explore employee related test to mitigate travel & entertainment expense abuses. We will also point out various online and public resources for participants to start building their own library of tests to support both reactive investigations as well as proactive prevention and detection.

Selecting the right KPIs for your organization can be complex and stressful. Rather than resorting to brainstorming and internet searches, there is a better way to discover the best KPIs for your organization - the ROKS method. In this session Bernie Smith, creator of the ROKS method, walks you through the first five steps of this powerful approach, using real-world stories to bring each step to life.  

This presentation will review what sex harassment is under the law, company compliance obligations, and describe how promoting a positive company culture can prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.   

What obligations does an employer have when an employee needs to take a leave of absence? This presentation will provide an overview of the complicated, intertwined compliance obligations triggered when an employee requests a medical leave of absence (including for pregnancy, mental health, or addiction).  

The audit standards state that one of the reasons auditors fail to detect fraud is that they don’t know what it looks like.  Prior to the original SAS No. 82, Consideration of Fraud In A Financial Statement Audit, nowhere in any SAS was there a description of what fraud looked like.  So, as they say, if you don’t know what you are looking for, you can often look right at it and not recognize it! This presentation illustrates some of the more common indicators of fraud they most individuals would overlook unless they 1) knew what they were looking for and were 2) actually looking for it.  Contrary to what the standards say about fraud being concealed, I have found that fraud is often laying on the table right in front of you; but no one has discovered it because they have no idea what the indicators of fraud are.

Imagine being able to see into the future with confidence.  The ability to be a great forecaster is not innate but learned.  By examining great forecasters, we can learn to improve our ability to predict the future.  We will examine best practices and current research to improve our ability to predict events that will affect our business.  

Performance targets and incentives can drive breathtakingly positive results: the moon landings, the eradication of smallpox, or the repair of the ozone layer, for example. They can also have a dark side that can create stress, overload and anxiety and even drive lawbreaking. What is the difference between a healthy ‘stretch’ target and one pushes people too far? How can we spot potential problems in advance and systematically design sensible, humane and effective performance targets? Using practical examples and case studies, Bernie will give you an overview of the essential steps for designing robust, effective, and credible targets for any organization. Designing effective, practical and realistic performance targets will never be easy, but this session will introduce you to the tools that help make the process clearer, simpler and more consistent.

In this introductory course, you'll learn the fundamentals of integrating forensic data analytics into your anti-fraud risk management program. We will cover key definitions, use cases, methodologies and some of the leading innovations and techniques driving this ever-evolving field of "finding hidden money."