CPE Catalog
Note
AICPA On-Demand & Self-Study courses take up to 24 hours to process.
Surgent's Excel Tables and Conditional Summing
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Online
2.00 Credits
In this webinar we will explore the powerful concept of splitting data from reports and dig into the mechanics that enable this technique. The key feature discussed is the Tables feature, and the key function discussed is the multiple-condition summing function. We will illustrate these items in a variety of ways, including building crosstab style reports and mapping tables.
Surgent's Top Individual Tax Planning Strategies
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Online
2.00 Credits
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and SECURE Act 2.0 both contained tax law changes that impact many individuals in 2025 and in later years. This program covers many of these changes as well as other tax topics that continue to impact individual income taxpayers.This course qualifies for IRS credit.
Surgent's Understanding and Managing Burnout Among Accounting and Finance Professionals
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Online
2.00 Credits
According to a recent study, over 70% of accounting professionals suffer from burnout, leading to feelings of exhaustion, inefficiency, and dissatisfaction with their careers. Recurring challenges for accounting and finance professionals include long hours, repetitive work, pressing client demands, and changing rules and regulations. Together, these conditions contribute to chronic workplace stress. Burnout is real, and firms that ignore this common problem pay a high price. Nearly three out of five employees in accounting and finance professions report psychological harm from work-related stress, including an overall feeling of lack of interest, motivation, or energy. Fortunately, individuals and organizations are beginning to take career burnout more seriously, especially in the post-pandemic era. This course looks at the causes of accounting burnout and examines strategies organizations are implementing to address and reduce a well-known but often overlooked problem.
Surgent's Getting Ahead: The Art of Marketing for CPAs
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Online
2.00 Credits
To many clients, CPA firms all look the same. While services and specialties may vary significantly from one firm to another, it is hard for the average person to see this by simply looking at the sign outside our office door. Is there any way to make us stand out more to the outside world? Through surveys, statistics, and examples, this course looks at how CPA firms can develop a marketing plan beyond just relying on referrals. We look at the pluses and minuses of various marketing channels, regulatory constraints, and how to measure success in the competitive financial services space.
Surgent's Business Law for Small Business Owners
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Online
4.00 Credits
One of the most intimidating aspects of going into business for yourself is compliance. Tax, employment, and regulatory laws are difficult to navigate, so it often falls on the CPA to know the basics in these areas to help their clients avoid costly litigation. In this course, we will cover basic compliance areas for small business owners. We will look at the main elements of a contract, taxation of entity types, worker classification, property law, and many of the other areas that are often overwhelming for small business owners. By being able to speak to these issues, practitioners will be able to add value and help their small business owner clients grow and thrive.
Surgent's Data Analytics for Accountants and Financial Managers
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Online
2.00 Credits
Data analytics and mining are the fastest growing disciplines in accounting and general management. Many organizations are either planning programs or have them already underway. Unfortunately, a number of these attempts fail due to poor planning/preparation and a lack of commitment, training, and clear vision of the program's goals. Today there is no shortage of data, but relatively few organizations have established an environment and ongoing process to isolate, capture, analyze, and convert data into actionable information. At times, even organizations that are employing leading-edge analytics are doing it with traditional, limited sets of data. This session explores how an organization can successfully become data driven. The discussion includes numerous examples demonstrating how accounting and financial professionals can build upon their current analytical skills to better perform traditional tasks and assume a role as a business partner with others in their organization. The program is aimed to assist those just beginning the journey, as well as those who want to test their current efforts or are considering the need for a restart. In addition to discussing a number of analytical tools, including available software, lists of reference books and next-level software are provided. This program continues to build upon the Controllership Update Series.
Surgent's Ethics for Tax Professionals
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Online
2.00 Credits
The purpose of this program is to discuss the ethical mandates that govern the conduct of tax practitioners. The program focuses on the ethical pronouncements of the IRS in Circular 230, as well as the preparer penalty provisions set forth in the Internal Revenue Code. Please note: This ethics course does not cover state-specific issues and so is not applicable in states that require ethics courses to include specific state laws and regulations. Please check with your state board prior to registering for this program if you are in doubt about whether this program satisfies your state's ethics requirements.This course qualifies for IRS credit.
Surgent's Lessons Learned from Successful Companies
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Online
2.00 Credits
Why do some companies fail while others grow and succeed for generations? Common perceptions often attribute organizational success to great leadership, timing, or unique ideas. Although these traits certainly play a role in helping companies grow, research shows that corporate success often hinges on whether a company is value driven. Such companies have core ideologies that drive almost every major decision. In this course, we look at empirical data on why some companies succeed while others fail. By looking at companies that were created prior to 1950 (e.g., Disney, Marriott, or 3M), we can understand why certain organizations have been able to grow and achieve exceptional success through many different eras in the American economy. The lessons learned from these visionary companies can be broadly applied to organizations of all sizes, including accounting and financial service firms.
Surgent's Individual and Financial-Planning Tax Camp
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Online
8.00 Credits
Each year brings its own set of tax planning challenges, and this year is no exception. This course aims to arm tax planners with planning strategies and ideas that all clients, but in particular, wealthy clients, middle-income clients, and closely held business owners need to consider right now to take advantage of present opportunities and plan for future tax advantages. Learn strategies that can really have an impact on client lives, while also bringing value to you and your firm. This material is continuously updated for recent legislation impacting individual taxpayers.This course qualifies for CFP credit.This course qualifies for IRS credit.
Surgent's Perplexing Financial and Economic Issues for the CFO/Controller
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Online
8.00 Credits
For CFOs and Controllers, the emergence of regulatory, fiscal, and monetary policy directly impacting their organizations' costs, competitiveness, and financing options, are causing them to understand the effect of shocks well outside of their control. The Dodd-Frank Act, health care reform, shortfalls in Social Security, unfunded pension liabilities, and deficit spending will all be explored relative to their impact on the CFO/Controller and your organization.
Surgent's Single Auditing Made Simple
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Online
8.00 Credits
Single auditing can seem complex. With thousands of pages of potential AICPA, GAO, and OMB literature coming together for the audit of one client, auditors can easily lose focus and confidence in what they are supposed to do; however, it does not have to be that way. This course is designed to sharpen your skills and knowledge in performing single audits and eliminate wasted efforts under the 2024 Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards revision.This course qualifies for yellow book credit.
Surgent's Schedules K-2 and K-3: Preparation of Forms
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Online
2.00 Credits
Many partnerships and S corporations are now required to complete the voluminous Schedules K-2 and K-3 to report foreign-related tax information. Updated for the 2024 tax year, this course is an essential guide for tax preparers on how to tackle the preparation of these forms. Understanding and preparing these forms requires a basic knowledge of various international tax topics, including sourcing of income, foreign tax credit income categories, effectively connected income, and fixed, determinable, annual, or periodical (FDAP). The course includes a brief discussion of key international tax concepts, a detailed walk-through of what information is required to be reported in different parts of the schedules, and practical advice from the field. The course also includes three comprehensive case studies on how the form should be completed for operating, real estate rental, and investment partnerships. Please note: Surgent also offers a companion course, "Schedules K-2 and K-3: Filing Requirements" (KFR2).This course qualifies for IRS credit.
Surgent's Avoiding Deficiencies in Peer Reviews: Focus on Engagement Quality
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Online
4.00 Credits
With the AICPA's heightened focus on enhancing audit quality, increased oversight of the peer review process and the auditor's overall responsibility to provide high quality services, the focus on compliance with professional standards has never been greater. Add to that the requirement to implement the revised risk assessment standards (SAS 145) and it's easy to see why it's more important than ever to ensure that auditors have a good understanding of the requirements and comply with documentation standards. Recent peer reviews have indicated that auditors are often failing to perform and/or document certain critical components of an audit such as the auditor's assessment of risk and linking the results of the assessment to substantive procedures performed. In addition, auditors are not adequately documenting their consideration of fraud, expectations in analytical procedures and the appropriate level of work needed to understand an entity's internal control. The AICPA issued its Quality Management Standards in 2022. Firms are required to implement the standards by December 15, 2025. And the firm's evaluation of the System of Quality Management is required within one year after that. This is not just a matter of tweaking the firm's existing QM document, the standard requires a risk assessment process to identify risk. The objective of the course is to provide the insights necessary to help auditors and accountants improve not just the quality of their work but also the perception of the accounting profession as a whole. We will focus on the most significant items resulting in deficiencies identified in the peer review process. We will also discuss the applicable audit standards, documentation requirements, and best practices. We will address the new QM standards.
Surgent's Defending Firms: Email Fraud, Cloud Risks, Cyber Insurance, and Remote Work Security
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Online
2.00 Credits
Cyber threats targeting accounting and finance professionals are growing more sophisticated, putting sensitive financial data at risk. This session explores the most pressing cybersecurity challenges accounting and finance professionals face today, including email fraud, phishing attacks, cloud security risks, and securing remote work environments. It also addresses the role of cyber insurance. Through real-world case studies and practical strategies, participants will learn how to recognize and mitigate cyber threats, evaluate cyber insurance policies, and implement security measures that protect their firms and clients. Attendees will leave with actionable steps to strengthen their cybersecurity posture and ensure compliance with evolving regulatory and industry standards.
Surgent's Key Roth IRA and Roth 401(k) Rules for Funding and Tax-free Distributions
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Online
2.00 Credits
How much can you contribute to a Roth IRA, Roth 401(k), SEP Roth IRA, or SIMPLE Roth IRA? How will a Roth distribution qualify to be tax-free? How did SECURE Act 1.0 and SECURE Act 2.0 change the Roth rules? These are only some of the key Roth questions advisors must know the answers to. Plus, as Roth accounts have increasingly become an essential component of retirement savings portfolios, with one-third of IRA owners owning Roth IRAs, advisors have even more reasons to be Roth-proficient. To that end, the instructor will simplify critical rules that govern Roth funding and Roth distributions for Roth IRAs, Roth 401(k)s, and sister plans.This course qualifies for IRS credit.
Surgent's What Practitioners Need to Know About Estate Planning and Administering a Client's Estate
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Online
3.00 Credits
Even though the current transfer tax exemption is extremely high to the point that few decedents have a federal estate tax liability, administering an estate is a burden for many family members. In many cases, the family members will look to their professional advisors for help in estate planning and administering an estate. The purpose of this program is to discuss those issues that practitioners with clients involved in estate planning administration need to know to advise those clients. Lack of planning and preparedness in estate issues can cost the heirs time and money upon a decedent's death.This course qualifies for IRS credit.
Surgent's Yellow Book and Single Audits: How to Stay in Good Graces and Out of Bad Places with Your Peer Reviewer
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Online
4.00 Credits
If you perform Yellow Book audits and/or single audits, it is a given that a peer reviewer will be looking at your work on those engagements! Why fret and sweat about what peer reviewers are going to be looking for? In this course, we will explore the key audit requirements that peer reviewers focus on, how the auditor complies with those requirements, and common pitfalls seen in Yellow Book and single audits. This course will help you proceed and succeed in your Yellow Book and single audits!This course qualifies for yellow book credit.
Surgent's Compilations, Reviews, and Preparations: Engagement Performance and Annual Update
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Online
8.00 Credits
Specifically designed for preparation, compilation, and review practitioners, this course will provide you with a comprehensive review and hands-on application for performing financial statement preparation, compilation, and review engagements. You will learn the ins and outs of applying SSARS No. 21, Clarification and Recodification, as well as the additional guidance related to SSARS engagements through the issuance of SSARS Nos. 22-26 by the ARSC. In addition to SSARS 26, the entire suite of quality management standards is discussed. However, knowing the standards is not enough. You need to be able to effectively apply them. To support this, the course will review recent peer review feedback on SSARS engagements, providing insights on how to successfully apply this guidance. Not only will this course bring you up to date on SSARS requirements and guidance, but more importantly, it will provide you with practical examples and illustrations to help you effectively and efficiently perform these types of engagements. This course is intended to be your go-to reference for training your staff and managing your SSARS No. 21-26 services in compliance with professional, ethical, and technical requirements.
Surgent's Introduction to AI in Accounting
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Online
2.00 Credits
This course introduces the foundational concepts of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI's relevance to accounting. Participants will explore various AI applications and understand the benefits, challenges, and future trends associated with AI integration in accounting. Case studies of successful AI implementation in accounting firms are included to enhance learning.
Surgent's Section 754 Step-Up in Basis: Understanding the Tax Issues for Partnerships and LLCs
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Online
2.00 Credits
When a purchaser buys an existing partner's partnership interest or the interest of a member of a limited liability corporation (LLC) taxed as a partnership, the amount paid becomes the basis for the purchaser's partnership interest (outside basis). If the partnership's assets have appreciated sufficiently, the difference between the new partner's inside and outside basis can be substantial. This disparity can deprive the new partner of depreciation deductions and inflate his or her share of the gain from subsequent property dispositions unless a Section 754 election is in effect. The Section 754 election can also apply when a partnership makes a distribution of property and the basis of the distributed property to the partnership and the basis the partner/distributee will take in the distributed property are not equal. In this case, a partnership can recover basis it would otherwise lose if the 754 election were not in effect.This course qualifies for IRS credit.