CPE & Event Calendar

This course equips practitioners with the knowledge needed to help clients navigate complex tax and financial challenges. It addresses difficult client situations including divorce, bankruptcy, debt issues, and other personal and business matters that create significant tax consequences. The course provides key insights into the tax implications associated with these situations and highlights planning considerations practitioners should evaluate when advising clients. Participants will explore the tax treatment of divorce-related matters, including filing status, support obligations, and property division. The course also examines bankruptcy, debt cancellation, business dissolution, and other financial hardships that may affect a taxpayer’s reporting and obligations. Through practical discussion and analysis, participants will gain strategies to help clients make informed decisions while understanding the related tax implications. 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 terri.storer@acpen.com  

Gerald Ford once said that "[n]othing in life is more important that the ability to communicate effectively." Public speaking remains a centuries-old skill that allows individuals to effectively communicate both at a personal and professional level. The benefits of good public speaking run long, whether it be the ability to persuade others, lead a team, or encourage critical thinking. This course is designed to refresh and refine speaking skills for professionals. Through this webinar, participants will gain a better understanding of the core skills of how to communicate effectively in groups — big or small. The webinar is intended to help those who already speak in public better improve their skills, while at the same time teaching more novice speakers how to approach a task that so many professionals dread — speaking in front of others.

Schedule 1-A is a new tax form designed to consolidate four key OBBBA deductions that can be taken for the first time in 2025. Ultimately these four deductions: the tip deduction, the overtime deduction, the deduction for interest paid on a new car loan, and the senior deduction, appear as a single entry on line 13b of Form 1040. These deductions are phased out at higher income levels, the calculation of which takes place on Schedule 1-A. Accounting and finance professionals who wish to understand the mechanics of the four deductions and how they are expressed on Schedule 1-A and consolidated on Form 1040 would benefit from taking this program.

Uncovering financial fraud and irregularities requires more than analyzing numbers'it demands strategic questioning and keen behavioral insight. This course equips CPAs with essential interviewing techniques to detect deception, gather critical information, and strengthen forensic audits. With financial fraud on the rise, mastering investigative interviewing is a crucial skill for CPAs committed to protecting organizations and ensuring financial integrity.

This course provides a practical understanding of IT controls and SOC reporting within financial audits. Participants will learn how to interpret SOC reports, evaluate control effectiveness, and determine reliance strategies. Real-world examples will demonstrate how IT controls tie directly to relevant financial statement areas and alignment with Complementary User Entity Controls (CUECs).

Good managers know how to delegate, but it can be a challenge to manage employees who are more interested in passing the buck than being responsible. Lack of ownership and responsibility can bog down processes and shut down projects. This workshop will help you create a game plan for building a culture of accountability with your team.

CPAs today face greater challenges than ever to maintain the high ethical standards of their profession. It is vitally important that all CPAs understand their professional responsibilities related to all aspects of their job. This course, which focuses on key components of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, reviews a history of the CPA profession and focuses on ethical requirements that CPAs must adhere to in their everyday practice, including practical examples of potential ethical dilemmas that practitioners may encounter, particularly those related to objectivity and independence. PLEASE NOTE: THIS COURSE COVERS GENERAL ETHICS AND IS APPLICABLE IN STATES IN WHICH STATE-SPECIFIC ETHICS IS NOT REQUIRED. This course does not qualify for IRS credit.

This course builds on the foundational knowledge from Part 1, Fundamentals of the 1040 - Core Concepts. It expands into business income taxation and additional reporting requirements. Participants will learn how to accurately report self-employment income, income from pass-through entities on Form 1040. This course covers Schedule C, Schedule E, and essential forms such as Form 7203 and Form 7217 to ensure accurate tax preparation for clients with business activities. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

A thorough understanding of the Yellow Book is essential for anyone working with governments and not-for-profits. This course provides comprehensive coverage of the Yellow Book financial auditing requirements and prepares you to excel in applying the standards. The course uses a highly illustrative and engaging format, featuring 15 focused exercises designed to strengthen practical application and enhance working knowledge.

Learn the basics of employment law and how they affect best practices to help control the interview and discover hidden talents of applicants.

Effective risk assessment is foundational to designing an appropriate audit response. This course introduces the audit risk model and provides an overview of the risk assessment procedures performed during engagements. Participants will review the components of the audit risk model and examine common risk assessment procedures, including inquiries, analytical procedures, and observation and inspection techniques. Emphasis is placed on understanding how risk assessment drives engagement planning and supports the development of appropriate audit responses. Designed for auditors seeking a structured introduction or refresher, this course builds foundational knowledge necessary for effective engagement planning and execution. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

We see multiple stories about the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and its entry into our lives in the form of AI tools, including ChatGPT. They seem to be everywhere. It is difficult to overstate how much things will change with the rise of these new technologies, or how important it is that companies embrace the opportunity to execute them correctly. Having conversations regarding the proper adoption of these technologies and tools is a crucial first step, including drafting policies to assist companies with their beneficial and thoughtful implementation and use. This course will define the state of AI tools, what benefits and risks exist, and which steps to take to begin adopting these technologies with appropriate guardrails, policies, and training. It is less likely that AI will destroy industries, and more likely that companies that embrace AI will overtake those companies that do not.

The QuickBooks Online (QBO) ecosystem is rapidly expanding, with millions of small businesses now relying on it for their accounting and business management needs. However, many QBO implementations lack adequate internal control infrastructures, which can lead to potential risks and inefficiencies. This is often due to a lack of understanding of the internal control options available in the cloud-based version of QuickBooks and how to implement them effectively. Join our session to learn about the four common types of internal controls and how to assess the internal control structure of a small business. We'll guide you through the opportunities to enhance internal controls in QBO environments using features found within the application. Additionally, you'll discover additional internal control procedures for situations where adequate controls cannot be established in QBO. Contrary to popular belief, QBO-based organizations can indeed benefit from strong internal controls, and this session will show you how. Don't miss this opportunity to strengthen your QuickBooks Online implementation and ensure your business is safeguarded against risks. Sign up now and take the first step towards a more secure and efficient QBO environment!

Advisors often ask clarifying questions as they increasingly gain an understanding of new and existing tax laws that govern IRAs. Some provisions see more questions than others due to their complexity, popularity, and level of impact on tax benefits. This course focuses on the top 20 of these questions and on SECURE Act 1.0, SECURE Act 2.0, and other hot topics. This course aims to help the advisor provide clients with the correct responses based on their IRA profiles.

A discussion of recent law changes that impact capitalization, depreciation, and disposition of assets. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

AI usage is everywhere! Is your organization taking all necessary steps to address security and privacy issues" In this session, you will learn how to enhance security and privacy when working with AI.

On May 28, 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued converged guidance on recognizing revenue in contracts with customers (ASC 606). The objective of the guidance is to establish principles to report useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue from contracts with customers. The new guidance provides several benefits to financial statement users.   This is one in a series of courses that outline the updated revenue recognition standard.

This 1-hour course is designed for CPAs and EAs who want to stay ahead in the ever-evolving field of tax resolution. Dive into the latest updates to the AICPA Statements on Standards for Tax Services (SSTS) #4 and explore their practical implications for your practice. Through real-world examples and case studies, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how to navigate ethical challenges while maintaining compliance with professional standards. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

With the constant churning of governmental accounting standards, now is the time to know more than just what the standards say; we need to know what they mean and how they will affect governmental entities. This course is designed to do just that! The course materials utilize a highly illustrative and innovative format. Over 15 focused exercises are included to provide an enhanced working knowledge of the most critical challenges in governmental accounting today.

Passive Activity Loss (PAL) rules have never been more critical in Federal tax reporting. This course provides a comprehensive and complete review of the laws and regulations impacting PALs, including the rules governing rental real estate, grouping and the 3.8% net investment income tax. Learn what qualifies as a passive activity and the rules governing its application by exploring several recent court cases and the existing regulations to know how the IRS views this critical area of the tax law. The IRS is actively auditing the failure to report passive losses properly. You and your clients can't afford to be left behind.