CPE Catalog
Note
AICPA On-Demand & Self-Study courses take up to 24 hours to process.
Aligning Analytics to COSO's Fraud Risk Management Principles
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Online
1.00 Credits
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.
The CFO Series-Artificial Intelligence: A Practical Guide for Financial Leaders and CFOs
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Online
2.00 Credits
In today's world, AI hype bombards us from every direction. Every system seems to boast magical AI capabilities, leading to confusion and overwhelming information. This course cuts through the noise to reveal the true, practical applications of AI for your business today. Our goal is to give you real world examples of using AI on a day-to-day basis, with a clear understanding of its particular strengths and limitations.
Better Business Writing: Improve Your Speed and Quality
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Online
2.00 Credits
Technology has given us many new writing tools, but they may just allow an inexperienced novice to turn out poor communications more quickly. Whatever your expertise level, this webinar will help you take your writing skills to another level, saving your time and making it far more likely your reader will read and understand your message.
Emerging Innovations in Forensic Data Analytics, Crypto Currencies and AI, ChatGPT
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Online
2.00 Credits
In this course, participants will learn about key trends and innovations impacting the field of forensic data analytics. From generative AI to ChatGPT, machine learning and transaction review, data sharing consortiums and cryptocurrency trends, this course is for the futurist who wants to be leading edge in compliance and anti-fraud technology innovation.
Mastering Charitable Remainder Trusts and Form 5227 ComplianceCompliance
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Online
2.00 Credits
Join us for an in-depth webcast on Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) and the essential aspects of preparing Form 5227. This course will provide a comprehensive overview of CRTs, including their purpose, benefits, and practical considerations. Moreover, we will delve into the intricacies of Form 5227, the informational return for charitable remainder trusts, ensuring you have the necessary knowledge to accurately complete and file this crucial document. During this webcast, Art Werner will guide you through the fundamental concepts of Charitable Remainder Trusts, illustrating how they can be utilized as a strategic tool for tax planning. We will explore various types of CRTs, their formation, and the different scenarios in which they are most beneficial. A significant portion of the webcast will be dedicated to Form 5227, the reporting requirement for charitable remainder trusts. We will provide an in-depth analysis of the form's components, line by line, ensuring you gain a comprehensive understanding of the information it requires. From trust assets and income to distributions and charitable beneficiaries, we will cover each section, discussing common pitfalls and best practices for accurate reporting. Mr. Werner will address the recent updates and changes to Form 5227, enabling you to stay up to date with the latest compliance requirements. **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.
The Competent Accountant - Mastering the Role of the Controller/ CFO
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Online
4.00 Credits
How do you raise your skills to the next level to master the Controller or CFO role? Welcome to a course that provides insights that align the CGMA Competency Framework. The course will examine each of the areas: Technical, Business, Leadership and People to increase your competency. How are your technical skills? Are you a traditional accountant or have you learned to expand your technical skills to go beyond “what are the financial numbers?” to “why did these financial results occur?” Are you able to use ratios to understand the business dynamics and the implications to change course or take corrective action? Are the systems that you implement and operate best practices or merely stop-gap solutions? How are your business skills? Can you set a vision? Can you develop a strategy? Do you understand the macroeconomic environment of your organization? Can you lead a major project to a successful conclusion? This session will explore the role of business as opposed to tracking the results of the business. How are your people skills? How good is your ability to influence others? How are successful are your negotiation skills? How well can you communicate? Are you a collaborator or a partner? This section will help accountants understand that it is people skills that drive the overall success of the accounting operations. Finally, how are your Leadership skills? Do you inspire staff or make them angry? Do you know why your staff work for your company and you? Do you understand what employees want from their position? Do you know how to deal with a difficult staff person? Can you lead difficult change? This session will help you recognize what leadership truly is as opposed to what passes for day to day management.
New Mergers & Acquisitions: Tricks, Traps, & Terrors
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Online
4.20 Credits
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.
Preparing for & Conducting Discharge Meetings
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Online
1.00 Credits
Over 80% of all employment-related lawsuits relate to termination. Every termination should be treated as a potential lawsuit. The facts supporting a leader's recommendation of discharge must be fully investigated. The discharge of an employee requires prior review and approval. Narrow self-interest, spite, or personal animosity must not play a part in making termination decisions. This course provides practical knowledge and scripts for handling discharges with good judgment such that personal and employer liability is avoided.
Employees Today and Tomorrow : Are Employees Assets?
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Online
2.00 Credits
As the managers' role continue to evolve, it is crucial for us to understand the strategic aspects of managing a diverse workforce, beginning with understanding the big trends in employee demographics. We begin with a rhetorical question - asking if employees are assets? GAAP tells us they are not, so discussion will revolve around whether this treatment delivers an unhealthy bias on our view of the people in our organization. What do the most successful organizations believe and why? If you have an opinion as to whether employees are an asset or not, this is a fun session intended to be interactive with participation either live, virtual or both.
Mergers & Acquisitions: Tips and Speed Bumps to Avoid
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Online
2.00 Credits
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.
The Controllership Series - The Future Role of the Controller Part 1
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Online
1.50 Credits
This is a two-part series that discuss new trends and concepts the financial controller should begin to execute in order to truly become a valued member of the senior leadership team. The rapid pace of the evolving technological landscape has promoted changes in how accountants and financial professionals focus attention on strategy and modernize their roles to leverage digital technology. There is increased demand for enhancing flexibility into finance cycles and initiating real-time reporting and insights. These are the core attributes that will assist in transforming the work that controllership function performs. Is the financial controllership prepared to meet future business demands? The IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) and Deloitte’s Center for Controllership aimed to better understand the current state of controllership and expectations of future demands for controllers and accounting professionals. They conducted a survey in late 2022 and identified several trends. The survey takes a look at how prepared controllership is to meet future business demands. It also highlights some insights for leaders to consider that may increase their preparedness. It also identified areas of additional insight and questions to answer on the controllership transformation journey. In this segment one, we go through numerous concepts in detail and the remaining concepts will be covered in segment two.
Inventory, Expense and Payroll Fraud
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Online
2.00 Credits
Inventory is a wonderful place to both hide fraud and commit fraud. The reasons that inventory is subject to so much fraud is the it is often very large, spread out over a large area, and many people have access to it. When there are little or no internal controls related to inventory control, you are begging employees to steal it. No with so many ways to dispose of stolen inventory via the internet, i.e., EBAY, inventory fraud is much more appealing to a lot of individuals. The more common ways to commit expense fraud and how to cover it up will also be discussed. Travel and entertainment are some of the favorite areas of committing expense fraud. In addition, payroll fraud will be discussed. Although there are many ways to commit payroll fraud, it is very easy to prevent. This presentation is designed to familiarize the participants with the many ways to commit inventory, expense and payroll fraud, how to detect it, and more importantly, how to prevent it.
The Role of Internal Audit in Enterprise-Wide Risk Management
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Online
8.00 Credits
Those charged with governance, with the assistance of internal audit, are responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the organization, and ensuring value is delivered to the entity's stakeholders. This course will provide guidance on fulfilling the responsibility for challenging how much risk and uncertainty to accept through the application of COSO's Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
Combatting Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
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Online
1.00 Credits
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.
Was It Fraud or Just Poor Audit Quality?
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Online
1.60 Credits
This session describes a state agency's quality review of a not-for-profit organization's A-133 Single Audit. The case study describes the organization audited, its federally- and state-funded programs, and the CPA firm retained to do the audit. Various anomalies in the financial statements alerted state officials to potential problems, and a detailed quality review followed. Find out how the entity turned hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank overdrafts into hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash on its balance sheet. Explore other “creative” ways to deal with fixed assets, accounts receivable, and related-party transactions. Were the auditors just sloppy, ignorant, negligent? Or were they active participants in producing fraudulent financial statements? You be the judge.
Common Sense CFO: Balance Sheet Issues Walk through to Understand and Build Value
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Online
2.00 Credits
We mostly focus on the income statement, but what about other financial statements and countless other accounting concerns? This seminar is dedicated to breaking down common balance sheet issues, both on-the-books and off, that have an impact on our stakeholders and the value of the organization. Using practical analysis, we highlight several key tools in understanding and communicating the importance of the forgotten cornerstone of accounting: the balance sheet. Most notably, we dedicate time to the pressing issue of “unrecorded assets”. This session is designed to also be fun and entertaining. This seminar stands on its own but is also part of the Common Sense CFO series.
Critical "Soft" Skills for CFOs and Controllers
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Online
4.00 Credits
Accounting and finance managers and executives must demonstrate sound soft skills necessary for personal growth and organizational success. This course will provide insights into the most crtical personal skills critical for CFOs and Controllers - or those that want to be!
The Ethics Hour: Ethics is the Engine to Better Leadership: Taking Action, featuring Bob Mims and Don Minges
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Online
1.00 Credits
Ethics is grounded in leadership and the finest leaders are always ethical. Every effective leader is ethical, in words and actions. The best leaders communicate effectively. Being trustworthy is more than being honest and fair. In today’s turbulent environment, leadership matters more than ever as the talented staff will readily move to ethical leaders. We must enhance our leadership skills to remain valuable. Simple stated - we all want to work for, and with, an ethical leader.
Ethics Aren't for the Byrdes in Ozark
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Online
1.00 Credits
Professional codes of ethics provide guidance to professionals who are frequently required to choose between doing the right thing and the wrong thing. Sometimes, professionals violate their ethical code and do the wrong thing for what they rationalize is the right reason. This session uses the popular television show "Ozark" and its multiple examples of seemingly good people doing bad things for the right reason to define ethics as well as explore why people make unethical choices and how they justify those choices.
The Controllership Series - The Future Role of the Controller Part 2
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Online
1.50 Credits
This is a two-part series that discuss new trends and concepts the financial controller should begin to execute in order to truly become a valued member of the senior leadership team. The rapid pace of the evolving technological landscape has promoted changes in how accountants and financial professionals focus attention on strategy and modernize their roles to leverage digital technology. There is increased demand for enhancing flexibility into finance cycles and initiating real-time reporting and insights. These are the core attributes that will assist in transforming the work that controllership function performs. Is the financial controllership prepared to meet future business demands? The IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) and Deloitte’s Center for Controllership aimed to better understand the current state of controllership and expectations of future demands for controllers and accounting professionals. They conducted a survey in late 2022 and identified several trends. The survey takes a look at how prepared controllership is to meet future business demands. It also highlights some insights for leaders to consider that may increase their preparedness. It also identified areas of additional insight and questions to answer on the controllership transformation journey. In this segment, we will go through numerous concepts in detail.