CPE & Event Calendar

Tax planning is more than an estimated tax calculation, it's a process.  Where are we now and what can we change?  This timely program will highlight significant 2022-23 tax developments and discuss key tax planning ideas for your clients as you prepare for the upcoming tax season. Don’t wait until late December to start planning for your clients! **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 course provides a concise overview of how accountants can instantly and dramatically improve their Google search skills. Discover how to use the search service to spot opportunities and threats in your enterprise landscape earlier and faster, improve your research tactics as a trusted business advisor, slice through the endless online static and distractions, and interpret search results related to accounting in their proper context. You'll walk away with scores of practical and proven online discovery lessons that can be immediately applied, deliver instant results and serve you forever in both your professional and personal life. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This course provides an introduction to GASB 87 Lease Accounting requirements for State and Local Governments.

Seismic changes in tax legislation is currently taking place, and the well-informed tax practitioner will want to attend this two hour monthly program in order to stay abreast of these developments! Approximately one-half of the program is devoted to individual tax issues, and the remaining time is spend on business entity taxation, IRS procedure, tax legislation and other issues. Due to the changing nature of the topic, learning objectives, course descriptions and program content will vary and will be provided in more specificity closer to presentation time. This course provides a concise look at the hottest topics affecting every tax practitioner. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Review the sale of both C corps and S corps, including tax planning related to a possible liquidation after the asset sale. Also, identify tax and non-tax differences between asset and stock sales. The sale of a corporate business by selling the assets is a situation where effective tax planning can reduce the tax cost to both the buyer and seller. We'll discuss compensation for services, covenants not to compete, personal goodwill and contingent consideration.

Retaining Talent in a Competitive Marketplace -Creating a Benefits Program Employees Care About In today's competitive marketplace, retaining talented employees is becoming increasingly difficult. A solid benefits program can make a difference in the fight for talent - but only if those benefits matter to the employees you are trying to hire! Through statistics and case studies, this course will explore what benefits are most valuable to employees. We will also explore the basic types of retirement and health insurance plans and discuss what financial leaders should consider before adopting a benefits package. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The QuickBooks platform is robust with features and capabilities that many users are unaware of or do not know how to utilize effectively. This course helps you get more out of QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online and resolve the issues even experienced QuickBooks users struggle with, such as locking down prior periods. This program starts fast with a chapter covering the top issues accountants face with QuickBooks. Then, the day continues with practical guidance and solutions designed to help accountants get the most out of QuickBooks for themselves or their clients. You will learn about issues like setting up a new company, configuring and customizing QuickBooks preferences, and enabling system security and password protection features. Also, you will learn how to lock down transactions in prior periods, use the audit trail, customize reports, export reports to Excel, and extend QuickBooks' usefulness with tools such as the Fixed Asset Manager and Loan Manager.

This comprehensive case-driven training is designed to quickly get the accountant up to speed in basis calculations and distribution planning for the owners of pass-thru entities (i.e., S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies (LLCs)). The cornerstone of this course is the line-by-line analysis of the Schedule K-1s and how it affects the basis calculations. This session is taught using a Hands-On methodology. Real-world examples and cases demonstrate the complex income tax code and regulations to enhance the participant's learning experience. Each attendee will receive the most comprehensive reference manual with numerous practice aids, real-world examples, and case studies.

This Masterclass is a one-hour training to show accountants how they can grow their practice this year through CFO and business advisory services. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The Audit Risk Model - Understanding Foundational Principles is a critical foundational course. Financial statement auditors are engaged to provide reasonable assurance that financial statements are not materially misstated, whether due to fraud or error. Professional standards require auditors to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence to support that opinion. It is critical for effective and efficient auditors to have a clear understanding of all the important elements and concepts related to properly identifying, evaluating, and deciding how to respond to risk in a financial statement audit. Note: This course is recommended as a part of a 16-hour audit skills curriculum for beginning auditors, while it is also appropriate for anyone who has the need to understand the foundational principles of the audit risk model. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

It is easy for us to get caught up in our work, but it is better to examine the ‘big picture’ by studying the outside factors that impact our business beyond our internal processes and day to day responsibilities. We are sometimes so busy with our tasks that we miss new developments until the developments have a profound impact on us and the organization. This session is designed to review many of these current trends, while thinking and discussing how these trends can impact our organizations and us. This is a fun and lively session that is intended to be interactive with participants either live, virtual or both. Our ever-changing world is evolving more than many realize.

If you or your clients are facing that stage of life where careers are passing into the background, and a new "to be determined" life is emerging, then you are entering what is called "retirement". Some people are excited, some are scared, and most are both. There are many issues and questions people face at this time - what to do with time, financial, relationships, health, identity and more. This program summarizes the key research studies, provides stories from those who have made this work, and offers thoughtful, practical exercises from my award winning book NEXT STAGE. It will help you (or your clients) address key issues and develop a Master Plan for the transition. If not now, when? This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

This program addresses the recent changes imposed by recent tax legislation that real estate owners and investors need to know, including Section 199A, the new Section 163(j) interest expense limits and the opportunity to elect out.  An introduction to opportunity zones and other important issues will also be addressed. **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.

This course is designed to introduce CPAs to the concept of mental models and how they can be used to improve ethical, problem-solving and decision-making skills in the accounting profession. Participants will learn about a variety of mental models, including the Map is Not the Territory, First Principles, and the 80/20 Rule, and how to apply them to financial situations. The course will also cover the importance of building a "latticework" of mental models and the limitations of mental models. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Attracting and retaining staff is critical to an organization's success, especially in the age of the millennial worker who will change jobs multiple times in the course of a career. This course will focus on best practices for nurturing the human element of your organization, especially millennial workers who comprise a growing percentage or the workforce. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

A business conducted as a C corporation can be purchased through an asset acquisition or a stock acquisition. In an asset acquisition, the buyer purchases the business by purchasing the assets that make up the C corporation's ongoing business. In a stock acquisition, the buyer purchases the stock of the C corporation that owns all or a majority of the business assets. The seller and the buyer are usually at odds over how to structure the acquisition. Tax practitioners advising their business clients should be fully conversant in the tax rules that apply to stock and asset acquisitions. Discussing and explaining those rules is the focus of this course.

Conversations that expose truths, clarify beliefs, and uncover the underlying nature of events are amongst the most crucial interactions we can have. These communications offer a fleeting opportunity to recognize themes as they unfold and to ask the best questions that glean valuable knowledge. Whether interviewing for investigation, as part of an exploration or information-gathering process, or hiring for a critical role, the interpersonal style that you employ will make all the difference in your success. This session will teach attendees the nuances of an effective tone, how to ask questions that yield meaningful results, how to read important interpersonal cues, and how to adapt to different cultures or contexts. Attendees will leave the session armed with tools from the latest behavioral research to conduct successful information-gathering interviews.

Implementing ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) is sure to have a major impact on your balance sheet and potentially on your business as well. This course is a one-stop shop for what you need to know about the now-effective changes to the lease accounting guidance. In this course, we will review how to measure the lease liability and right-of-use asset that will now be recorded on the balance sheet for all leases. We will also tackle the tricky issues of accounting for lease modifications and other lease remeasurement events as well as address the other major provisions of ASC 842, such as disclosures and transition. We will also review the income statement treatment of lease expense for all leases for both lessees and lessors and discuss recent FASB implementation guidance. Lastly, the course will cover all recent updates to the originally issued guidance in Topic 842, including that related to discount rates. With Topic 842's effective date here, now is the time to get up to speed on this complex new standard.

Owners of S corporations and partnerships are subject to numerous limitations on pass-through losses, each with unique rules, applications, and complexities. With the increase in popularity of pass-through business entities, it is essential for CPAs to understand the complexities and interactions of these pass-through loss limitations.

This course examines actual fraud circumstances through the lens of potential prevention. We will examine how selected frauds were accomplished and consider what internal controls may have prevented fraudsters' ability to accomplish their nefarious acts. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.