CPE & Event Calendar

The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act ("TCJA") was approved by Congress on December 20, 2017, and signed by President Trump on December 22, 2017. The Act impacts virtually every individual and business in a way not seen in over 30 years. With most provisions effective 2018 and later, it lowers the individual and corporate tax rates, repeals numerous tax credits and deductions, enhances the child tax credit, boosts business expensing, and impacts the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by effectively repealing the individual mandate. This course is an overview providing reference to selected individual, education, business, retirement, insurance, international and estate tax provisions enacted or indexed for inflation by the TCJA. The resulting major tax changes carry special meaning to the tax practitioner and return preparer. The course is intended to be a resource for tax professionals and staff alike to gain easy access to the most important major changes enacted by TCJA.

Seniors face issues that complicate return preparation and planning. When to apply for social security? How is it taxed? What if they continue to work? Will an increased standard deduction affect charitable planning? Will downsizing affect interest and property tax deductions and payments? How to help children or grandchildren pay for a home or a college education?? We'll explore these questions and more.

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was enacted into law in 2021. The CTA mandates that millions of entities report their beneficial ownership information (BOI) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The requirement is for all domestic and foreign entities to file, unless they meet specific exclusions. While these filing requirements are not a part of a typical service engagement, your clients will likely have entities subject to these requirements and they may look to you for advice on how to comply, so it's important to understand the requirements and be prepared to make your clients aware. For entities already in place as of Dec. 23,2023, they must file their reports by Jan. 1, 2025. For new entities starting after Dec. 31, 2023, the reporting must be filed in 30 days. It's important to note that failure to file will have monetary and potential criminal penalties.

This course integrates federal taxation with retirement planning. The course will examine tax and savings strategies related to determining retirement income needs, wealth building, capital preservation, and estate distribution. The result is a unified explanation of tax-economics that will permit the tax professional to locate, analyze, and solve financial aspects of retirement. Designed to improve the quality of services to clients and the profitability of engagements, the course projects the accountant into the world of retirement planning.

Test the treacherous (and shark infested) waters of tax, bankruptcy and financial problems. This course will teach participants how to apply, implement, and evaluate the strategic tax aspects of bankruptcy, property settlements, debt cancellation, and foreclosure. Current perspectives on asset protection, repossession, and bad debts are examined with an emphasis on planning considerations. The cancellation of indebtedness income inclusion rules are examined in the context of debt forgiveness and property foreclosure. Emphasis is given to the exceptions from income inclusion contained in 108. The tax treatment of property repossession under 1038 is explored with detail given to the calculation of gain and received property basis. Finally, eldercare and estate planning are reviewed and detailed.

This course explores many tax issues that arise from filing for bankruptcy. Also addressed are asset protection for the tax practitioner and medical costs covered under 213. There is an examination of property settlements and other transfers incident to divorce. A tax surprise for many taxpayers is the taxability of debt cancellation and repossessing property sold on the installment method can also be taxable. Finally, practitioners are brought up-to-date information on tax issues affecting estate planning and business issues.

The healthcare industry in the United States marches on its evolutionary path, and political, economic, and legislative challenges will influence its future. This lesson explains the process of Telehealth, the documentation required and the environment around this new modality of the healthcare industry.

Surveys and field studies find that diverse teams are high-performing teams. Diverse teams value different perspectives and encourage the participation of team members through psychological safety, leading to higher team performance. Team diversity is an office-level characteristic, that is distinguishable from other characteristics studied in prior auditing literature, that has an incremental effect on audit quality. The positive association between team diversity and audit quality is robust to controlling other audit office and client characteristics. This positive association is even stronger for more complex and non-routine audit engagements.

This study examines associations between auditor provided tax compliance and tax planning services and tax avoidance and tax risk. Collectively, our results suggest that companies paying their auditors for tax planning advice are more effective tax planners (in terms of higher tax avoidance and lower tax risk) than firms that do not engage their auditor for tax work. Our tax avoidance results are more pronounced for clients of auditors with more tax expertise and longer tenure, as well as for firms with higher tax and operational complexity. We also find that our tax avoidance results hold only when firms also engage their auditors for tax compliance work, which is consistent with auditors seeking to minimize reputation threats. Our study's unique hand-collected panel dataset provides a more precise and nuanced perspective on the role auditors play in tax outcomes.

This study uses difference-in-differences (DiD) analyses to examine the consequences of adopting the U.S. critical audit matter (CAM) disclosure requirement for preparers and users of financial reports. The CAM requirement is one of the largest expansions of the U.S. audit report since the 1940s. We document significant changes to financial statement footnotes referenced by CAMs, which suggests an indirect consequence where management disclosure changes in areas that are expected to be scrutinized following auditor-provided disclosure. Results also suggest that, on average, CAM disclosures do not provide incremental information to the market. To further examine market reaction, we develop well-specified prediction models for the expected number and subject areas of CAMs. We find limited initial evidence that the market reacts negatively when unexpected CAMs are disclosed. Overall, the findings provide insights on the new CAM standard and particularly demonstrate its relevance to management disclosure decisions and to the market.

Everyone agrees we need to administer useful employee evaluations. However, few managers take the necessary time to effectively plan for upcoming reviews or think about how to correctly administer each one. As a result, an employee review can be an unhelpful and negative event-or could be a great catalyst for future high performance. Gain insight to the performance cycle; learn the importance of continuous improvement through coaching; and identify 360s and other forms of data, among other topics. The webcast was originally broadcast on July 18, 2016. Note: There is a minimum passing rate of 70% for this course.

Benefit plan audits, a material but less understood public accounting service, represent a non-audit service that is "audit-related." We explore the implications of benefit plan audits for the financial statement audit and find that performing a benefit plan audit for a company significantly increases the likelihood that the firm will be selected as a company's financial statement auditor in the future, particularly for smaller audit firms. Companies that engage the same audit firm for both their benefit plan and financial statement audits have a significantly lower likelihood of misstatements and shorter audit report lags. There is also evidence consistent with the joint provision of these services creating greater bonding and higher switching costs for the financial statement audit. The findings speak to the continued debate over the effective market expansion of financial statement audit providers, audit quality determinants, and audit efficiencies.

Despite the growing interest in blockchain (BC) technology, recent research shows mixed perceptions due to its risks and returns. We utilize event study methodology to examine overall market reactions and to delineate how specific contexts associated with BC technology influence market reactions. Using 149 BC technology adoptions announced between January 2015 and December 2019, we find positive abnormal returns, reflecting investors' optimistic perception toward BC technology adoption. Specifically, we find that abnormal returns from BC technology are higher when used in a transformative strategic role and offered by leading vendors, suggesting that investors view this adoption as a value-enhancing activity. Our results are robust to the use of an alternative sample and different methods of measuring variables. Overall, our study provides insights for academics and practitioners to better understand the market value of BC technology adoptions.

In this highly competitive labor market, prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within your, or your client's organization, can help attract and retain top talent, increase performance and employee engagement, and much more. In fact, job candidates and employees prefer to work at diverse organizations: 76% of employees say a diverse workforce is important to them when evaluating job opportunities.

Businesses are starting to be measured and evaluated on more than just their balance sheet. Join Jennifer as she delves into the world of sustainability and how accounting firms are uniquely positioned to take on this new service, offering a deeper view into your clients and the health of their organization. We will define what sustainability in business means in today's world and why it is quickly becoming the biggest disruptor. You'll learn how accounting firms fit into this forward-thinking puzzle and get a focused look at one of the fastest-growing ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) frameworks, B Corporation certification.

You'll never think about fraud the same way again after this session examining the psychology of both investigators and perpetrators. This story-based presentation will use first-hand accounts and the latest research to show why some traditional investigational practices are more harmful than helpful. This two-part series will expose myths and dangers lurking in our assumptions about fraud. We'll explore misunderstandings about skepticism and learn how auditors and investigators may unwittingly assist the same fraud schemes they are trying to thwart. We will challenge the "sacred cows" of the industry and help us develop more effective thinking approaches for fraud investigation, detection and deterrence. This course is Part 1 of a 2 part series.

Prepare to revolutionize your understanding of fraud in the second course of this two-part series. This session navigates the intricacies of Ethical Fading and Emotional Immune Systems among investigators and perpetrators-understanding how they influence auditors and investigators, often unintentionally supporting the fraud they strive to halt. Through compelling narratives and cutting-edge research, we'll unveil the flaws in traditional investigative methods, shedding light on their potential harm, and dismantle myths and uncover the concealed dangers rooted in our preconceptions about fraud. Brace yourself to challenge industry norms as we debunk established beliefs and equip ourselves with innovative strategies for more effective fraud investigation, detection, and prevention. Note: This course constitutes Part 2 of a comprehensive 2-part series.

We are all (including tax practitioners) getting older, and the need for effective retirement planning has never been greater. This course is essential for participants who wish to attain a comfortable retirement for themselves and their clients by maximizing tax saving strategies. This presentation integrates federal taxation with retirement planning. The course will examine tax and savings strategies related to determining retirement income needs, wealth building, capital preservation, and estate distribution. The result is a unified explanation of tax-economics that will permit the tax professional to locate, analyze, and solve financial aspects of retirement. This program is designed to improve the quality of services to clients and the profitability of engagements, and it projects the accountant into the world of retirement planning. This course will give the participant practice in analyzing problems, developing solutions, and presenting final, personal retirement plans to clients. The emphasis is on practical simplicity in dealing with the self-employed and highly compensated individual. Retirement income needs are calculated; net after-tax Social Security benefits are determined, and distribution options from IRAs and retirement plans are explored. Special consideration is given to the tax treatment of the home and business on retirement. Buy-sell agreements are discussed, and elder-care planning is examined.

Develop a framework of "effective" time management. Identify the three time factors: time wasters or stealers, time savers and time management techniques. Highlight concepts that distinguish the relationship of time management and behavioral science versus traditional time management tools or gimmicks. Also, explore the need for managing oneself in order to improve the management of time. The webcast was originally broadcast on May 4, 2017. Note: There is a minimum passing rate of 70% for this course.

Clients believe that estate planning is only for the wealthy. This isn't the case. Perhaps as a result of the pandemic, estate planning has a renewed focus. All practitioners should be familiar with the vernacular, acronyms and techniques. Estate planning involves personal issues that affect everyone, even when the estate tax doesn't apply. Learn strategies to pass assets to future generations; provide education benefits; distribute retirement benefits, and provide a charitable legacy.