CPE Catalog
Note
AICPA On-Demand & Self-Study courses take up to 24 hours to process.
Top Employment Tools to Protect Your Business and Recommend to Business Clients
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Online
1.00 Credits
Overview of the most important labor and employment policies and practices that every business should have. The review will go over confidentiality agreements, arbitration agreements, restrictive covenants, training, and severance agreements, as well as compliance issues related to each of them.
Networking Works: Build Relationships to Build Your Business
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Online
1.20 Credits
Networking strikes fear into the heart of even the most confident business leader. What if you don't know anyone? How do you introduce yourself? How do you enter a group conversation in progress, and how do you exit when you're ready to move on? How soon should you follow up and what's the best way to stay in touch? And: “Can't I just stay home, sit at my computer, and network on LinkedIn?” Networking is a critical tool for spreading your message and growing your organization, yet many business and nonprofit leaders don't represent themselves or their companies effectively. This workshop covers the nitty gritty of talking to strangers and building relationships and partnerships through networking.
Preparing to be a Forensic Accountant - Focus on Computer Forensics - Part 3 (Steganography)
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Online
1.60 Credits
This course is a complement to our series on Becoming a Forensic Accountant and the focus of the course is on steganography techniques. Steganography is the art and science of embedding secret messages in a cover message in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message. The first use of steganography can be traced to 440 BC when ancient Greece, people wrote messages on wood and covered it with wax, that acted as a covering medium Romans used forms of Invisible Inks, to decipher those hidden messages light or heat were used. During World War II the Germans introduced microdots, which were complete documents, pictures, and plans reduced in size to the size of a dot and were attached to normal paperwork. Null Ciphers were also used to hide unencrypted secret messages in an innocent looking message. Given the amount of data being generated and transmitted electronically, it’s no surprise that numerous methods of protecting that data have evolved. There are various types of steganography: Text Steganography - Hiding information inside the text files. This involves changing format of existing text, changing words in a text, generating random character sequences or using context-free grammars to generate readable texts. Image Steganography - Process of hiding text in an image without distorting the picture. Video Steganography - Technique to hide any kind of files into a cover video file. Audio Steganography - The secret message is embedded into an audio signal which alters the binary sequence of the corresponding audio file. Network Steganography - The process of utilizing active network protocols as carriers to transmit a covert message, undetectable by an uninformed party, from a host to its destination. This session will review these methods and also discuss relevant software.
Planning in an Uncertain World
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Online
2.00 Credits
We all make predictions in our personal and professional lives. We base our decisions to marry, buy a house, launch a new product or hire staff on expectations about the future. In the past few years, research into improving predictions has advanced. We will look at this research and current best practices in forecasting to help us prepare better budgets and projections.
2024 Yellow Book Update
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Online
2.00 Credits
More and more entities need Yellow Book engagements, including a growing number of for-profit entities. In this course, we will review the unique independence requirements in GAGAS. We'll also review the recent changes to quality management in Yellow Book. We'll close with a reminder of common deficiencies found in Yellow Book engagements.
Audit 304: Auditing Basic Investments - Common Risks
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Online
2.00 Credits
Auditing Investments - Understanding Risks and Procedures for the Most Common Investments will provide an overview for evaluating the proper recognition, measurement and disclosure of the most common investments types. Many small- and mid-size entities hold less-complex investments, including mutual funds, 'plain vanilla' derivatives (such as interest rate swaps), and permanent life insurance policies. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for in-charge or supervisor auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has responsibilities for auditing common investments. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Lessee and Lessor Accounting
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Online
2.00 Credits
What you need to know about the lessee and lessor accounting models This course explains the lessee accounting model, including Lease and non-lease components Lease classification Amortization of the right-of-use asset Interest on the lease liability This course also explains the lessor accounting model, including Transfer of risk Profit recognition Collectibility Included in this course are detailed and illustrated examples with amortization tables and journal entries.
Schedule C of Form 1040
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Online
2.00 Credits
Many self-employed or sole proprietors find themselves having to navigate Schedule C in reporting business income. While this attachment to Form 1040 seems straightforward on the surface, there are many traps for the unwary. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Surgent's A Complete Guide to Offers in Compromise
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Online
2.00 Credits
This course is designed to assist practitioners in preparing Offers in Compromise (OIC). After this course, you should have an understanding of how proper planning can make a significant difference in the amount eventually paid to the IRS and the resulting financial well-being of your client. This program covers the basics, from choosing the proper forms to utilize through the filing of an appeal if necessary. We will also explain how to increase your chances of having your OIC approved by the IRS by going over the complexities involved.This course qualifies for IRS credit.
Surgent's Guide to the Corporate Transparency Act for Accounting and Finance Professionals
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Online
2.00 Credits
Effective January 1, 2024, an estimated 32.6 million entities will be required to report information about their beneficial owners to FinCEN as part of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). In an effort to combat money laundering and other illegal activities, the law provides harsh penalties for the failure to report the required information. This reporting specifically targets small businesses and holding entities, creating opportunities for accountants, tax practitioners, and other business advisors to expand their service offerings. The reports require the listing of all "beneficial owners," and they are imprecisely defined, possibly requiring an exercise of judgement. Therefore, proper education of professionals and business owners is paramount for accurate reporting. The course includes an overview of the CTA and a detailed discussion of what information needs to be reported to FinCEN.
Secure Act 2.0 - Everything that you Need to Know
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Online
2.20 Credits
Congress was EXTREMELY busy in late December 2022! During this lame-duck session, Congress was able to pass SECURE 2.0, which is essentially the original SECURE Act that was passed in late 2019. There are over 50 tax-related provisions within SECURE 2.0 which an advisor needs to be able to master. This course will provide the participant with everything that that they need to know about SECURE 2.0 so that they will be able to better serve their clients’ retirement planning needs. **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.
ACPEN Signature 2024: Small Business: Hot Tax Issues Today!
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Online
8.00 Credits
In addition to the many challenges faced by small businesses in today’s Post-COVID world, with labor shortages, serious inflation and “supply-chain” issues, small businesses face a variety of tax challenges from the time of formation of the business until sale. There are numerous special rules in the Code. And the IRS plans on increasing its small business audit emphasis. **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.
Integrate ChatGPT into Your Client Advisory Services-Updated
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Online
2.00 Credits
Two of the hottest topics in the CPA profession today are CAS (client advisory services) and ChatGPT. This course will explain how to bring these two worlds together by integrating ChatGPT and other generative AI applications into your client advisory services. John Higgins, a leading advisor to the profession on ChatGPT and a seasoned client advisor on technology based solutions, will show you how you can position your firm and yourself as a "go to" advisor on how to embrace this technology in virtually any type of business. John will address how to use this technology as a research and writing assistant in your client services and how to advise your clients on this revolutionary technology and all benefits and "gotchas" that come with it. If you want to step up your advisory game, this course is a "must take." This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Surgent's Data Security: Best Practices to Protect Your Business and Yourself
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Online
1.00 Credits
Data security is a front-of-mind topic for most businesses because the risk and cost statistics are sobering. Each of us is in the crosshairs because a typical internet-connected computer faces a cyberattack every 39 seconds. Businesses of all sizes should be cognizant of the ethical issues that must be considered when planning their approach to privacy and data security. In this webinar, we will explore both the risks we have traditionally faced in the workplace personally, as well as the novel set of data privacy threats and compliance challenge issues employers face with a remote and mobile workforce.
What You Can Learn From the Statement of Cash Flows
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Online
2.00 Credits
This course allows you to get reacquainted with the statement of cash flows. We will refresh your skills regarding both the preparation and utilization of the statement of cash flows. Significant emphasis will be placed on the informational role of the statement of cash flows and insights that can be obtained using the statement of cash flows in concert with the other elements of a company's accrual-basis financial statements. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Preparing to be a Forensic Accountant - Focus on Computer Forensics - Part 2 (Cryptology)
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Online
1.00 Credits
This is a continuing part of our series on forensic accounting. Within this segment we discuss the concepts that are part of computer forensics known as cryptology. The term cryptography is from Ancient Greek and means “hidden secret”. It is the practice and study of techniques for secure communications in the presence of adversarial behavior. Cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages. Cryptography starts with secrets. Various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation (where a statement’s author cannot successfully dispute its authorship) are central to modern cryptography.
2024 Productivity Hacks for Working Remote
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Online
1.20 Credits
In this course, we will share tips and tricks for working remotely. You will learn what to do/what not to do in a virtual working environment, strategies for leading teams remotely, employee engagement ideas, and techniques and tools for teleworking.
Progressive Management Accounting
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Online
2.00 Credits
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.
What's New in Excel
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Online
2.00 Credits
Everyone knows that Excel is the most widely used spreadsheet application in the world today. However, because it is ever-changing, many users are unable to keep up with the latest features and capabilities of this ubiquitous application. In this session, we look at some of the most helpful new features and tools that have been added to both the Desktop version of Excel and the Web version. Content like this is valuable to anyone that regularly works with Excel - We hope you will attend! This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
2024 Accounting & Auditing Update
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Online
4.00 Credits
The course will start off with a look at the Accounting Standard Updates (ASUs) issued by the FASB that will be effective in 2024 as well as those that may be great for early adoption. The course will also review year 2 issues in lease accounting including how to handle lease modifications. We'll then turn our attention from accounting to auditing where we will cover the audit standards coming down the pike including group audit and quality management.