CPE Catalog
Note
AICPA On-Demand & Self-Study courses take up to 24 hours to process.
Surgent's Excel Budgeting Ideas
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Online
2.00 Credits
Budget methods are the key to allowing department managers to efficiently prepare their budget in Excel. For example, a budget method may be to spread prior year actuals or match prior year actuals, or match prior year actuals less 10%. In this webinar, we will explore how to allow users to pick a budget method from a drop-down list for each account and then have Excel perform different calculations depending on the budget method selected. We use several features and functions at the same time to pull this off. Even if you are not involved in the budgeting process, the underlying features and functions discussed have a wide range of uses.
Surgent's Understanding Non-Compete Agreements
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Online
2.00 Credits
More and more employers rely on non-compete agreements to protect company assets. Although state laws vary, non-competes are often used to protect the creation and development of corporate goodwill, customer relationships and specialized training, among others. Today, employees are more likely to be asked to sign non-compete agreements as a condition to employment. Non-compete agreements are also a common component of a business sale agreement. This program surveys non-compete agreements from all angles. Whether you advise individual clients or work for an employer, the presentation provides an understanding of common issues that arise in the negotiation and enforcement of non-competes.
2024 Fiduciary & Tax Accounting Guide for Estates and Trusts
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Online
4.00 Credits
This course will review the fundamentals of fiduciary accounting and provide a reporting guide for determining whether receipts and expenditures are assigned to income or principal/corpus. Critical issues, rules, and special opportunities when preparing your clients' Form 1041 U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts will be examined, including what is considered taxable income and allowable deductions. Planning and potential pitfalls will also be explored.
S Corporation (Form 1120S) - Formation to Liquidation
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Online
8.00 Credits
With the increasing complexity and ever-changing nature of tax laws and issues, today’s accountant needs a S corporation course focusing on the birth, growth, maturity, and death of a closely held S corporation. This case driven course will deal with S corporation income tax laws from formation to liquidation. **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
Excel - Create KPI Dashboards for Maximum Impact
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Online
2.00 Credits
Most accountants use Excel to help them make decisions about their data. However, as the amount of data grows, it becomes difficult to make strategic decisions based on rows and rows and columns and columns of data. In this course, you will learn how to build robust dashboards for analyzing key metrics in Excel. We will begin with some dashboard design guidelines, such as understanding your audience and identifying necessary metrics. Then, we will work through importing data, setting up calculated fields and columns, and creating key performance indicators (KPIs) for the dashboards. You will learn how you can add charts and eye-catching visuals with Power View, in order to make your dashboards easily understood. This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Avoiding Budget People Issues: Managing Budgeting's Soft Side
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Online
2.00 Credits
The budgeting process can be a time consuming and frustrating process for accountants. The constraints and pressures can lead to poor decisions in both the technical and human components. This session will cover: Avoiding Budget People Issues: Managing Budgeting’s Soft Side • Financial plans have a technical component and human component. We can resolve some of our budget issues by exploring the process’ human aspect. This session includes a case study that measures an individual’s personality type and then explores how to use our strengths and weaknesses to create to a better plan.
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.
Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Analytics (BA)
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Online
2.00 Credits
Volatility and complexity are the new normal. Most organizations are drowning in data, but starving for information. The finance and accounting function has the opportunity to leverage Big Data and the continuum of analytics – descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive. All are useful for better decision making. Collecting, validating, and reporting data is not the same thing as analyzing information where we can glean valuable, actionable insights. In some ways the finance function is many years behind other disciplines such as marketing, sales, and supply chain managers, in applying analytics. How can the CFO’s function catch up?
2024 Forgotten Managerial Accounting Tools
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Online
2.00 Credits
This session explores managerial accounting techniques with an emphasis on internal decision-making tools. You will appreciate a reminder regarding concepts you may not have considered since your college days. We will revisit managerial accounting concepts by illustrating practical examples that you can immediately bring back to the office!
Audit 305: Strengthening Substantive Analytic Procedures
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Online
2.00 Credits
Substantive Analytic Procedures - Strengthening Evidence to Satisfy Audit Objectives will provide the tips and best practice techniques for strengthening substantive analytic procedures in order to reduce over-reliance on tests of details. One of the ways to perform a more effective and efficient audit is to maximize the use of substantive analytic procedures in the detailed audit plan. 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 analytical procedures. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
A Culture of Regulatory Ethics: A Competitive Advantage
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Online
4.00 Credits
In a competitive market, every company is looking for anyway to differentiate themselves from their competition. While we often look to new markets and data for a competitive advantage, ethics can be the factor that makes the biggest difference to customers, employees, and the public at large. Using surveys, research, case studies, and examples, this course will explore why the CPA credential and the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct is so different. We will discuss why CPA's are in a unique position of trust and how this can put their companies ahead. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
The Dark Web & Cybersecurity for Tax and Accounting Pros
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Online
2.00 Credits
This course provides a concise overview of the Dark Web, a part of the internet that isn't indexed by search engines, and is often associated with anonymous transactions and nefarious activities. Discover the leading threats and risks that the Dark Web poses to accounting firms. Explore how practitioners can effectively mitigate the risk of data breaches, ransomware attacks, financial fraud and other risks connected to the Dark Web. You'll walk away with a foundational understanding of leading cybersecurity strategies that can help you maintain client trust and protect your firm's sensitive data in this complex and ever-changing threat landscape. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Responding To Retaliation Concerns and Capturing Key Retaliation Case Metrics
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Online
1.00 Credits
Individuals may cite retaliatory concerns when weighing their decision to report an issue; during an investigation; or, after an investigation’s conclusion. No matter the timing, when an individual raises a retaliation concern, their claims should be taken seriously and fully reviewed. Does your organization analyze retaliation allegations and investigate outcomes as part of their cultural assessment? Most organizations track retaliation matters at a general, non-specific level. The type of retaliation and the perceived cause of the retaliatory act are not delineated. When a retaliation matter requires investigation, an organization should gather key data points for trending purposes and to fine tune future training and policy initiatives. This course offers recommendations for (1) framing responses to retaliation allegations (2) capturing key data points (3) developing specific metrics for retaliation matters
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.
Fraud Risk Management
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Online
2.00 Credits
The ACFE/COSO Fraud Risk Management Guide (FRMG) was published in 2016 (and updated in 2023). It has quickly gained acceptance as the set of best practices for preventing, detecting, and thus deterring fraud. The fraud landscape is constantly changing and evolving. The FRMG sets out a rigorous set of principles and leading practices for managing fraud risk for forward-thinking organizations to follow. It covers: How to establish fraud risk management governance. How to conduct rigorous fraud risk assessments. How to design and implement fraud control activities. How to establish reporting mechanisms and investigative procedures. How to monitor the overall fraud risk management program. Fraud risk can be managed. All anti-fraud and accountability professionals will benefit from this session's focus on effective fraud risk management.
Leadershift Ethics: Things Must Change!
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Online
2.00 Credits
With the rapid pace of change, change now happens daily in business and our personal lives. It can be difficult to navigate change when right and wrong get a bit fuzzy. New processes, new technology, new circumstances and new impacts to people must be measured and decisions made as the change evolves. Change always becomes something different than what was originally planned or imagined. In this session, learn how to measure your ethics through change. You will learn how to filter everything you do during change through a simple litmus test. Through the power of story, you will learn from the lessons of other organizations and their ethical mistakes. Lastly, you will take away what is required to manage yourself so that when ethical decisions arise, you have the mental capacity to manage through it well. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
2024 Financial & Tax Accounting for S Corporations
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Online
4.00 Credits
This program addresses the many complex financial and tax accounting issues that are common in S corporation transactions, with discussion of common pitfalls and the new AICPA "small" GAAP accounting standards.
2024 Fiduciary Accounting for Estates and Trusts
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Online
4.00 Credits
Financial accounting for trusts and estates is one of the least understood branches of accounting. It is not particularly concerned with recording income and expenses but is obsessed with determining whether receipts and expenditures are assigned to income or principal/corpus. This course will dive into this tricky area and provide a reporting guide for fiduciary accounting.
360 Budgeting: A Holistic Approach to Process and Solutions
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Online
8.00 Credits
The budgeting process can be a time consuming and frustrating process for accountants. The constraints and pressures can lead to poor decisions in both the technical and human components. This series will offer solutions to the budgeting woes from both the big picture and in the details. Understanding and Preventing Budget Calamities 2 Hours - Accounting • Most of us lead or participate in the budget process at least annually. Inherent flaws exist in the standard budget building process that you can solved by recognizing them and committing to solutions. Building Flexible Budgeting Models: Walking Through and Crunching The Numbers 2 Hours - Accounting • We can all learn from others and improve our budgeting process by listening to our colleagues’ wisdom and experience. This session takes a unique review of the fundamental budget issues faced by all and walks through a detailed modeling process intended to generate discussion and best practices to improve your organization’s financial planning. Avoiding Budget People Issues: Managing Budgeting’s Soft Side 2 Hours - Accounting • Financial plans have a technical component and human component. We can resolve some of our budget issues by exploring the process’ human aspect. This session includes a case study that measures an individual’s personality type and then explores how to use our strengths and weaknesses to create to a better plan. Budgeting: Presenting and Communicating your Numbers 2 Hours - Accounting • Now that the budget is complete, how we communicate our plan is critical. this session reveals some key guidelines in budget presentation and will identify key problems in how people often communicate financial plans.
Excel - Functions and Formula Shootout
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Online
2.00 Credits
Are you aware there are 470+ formula functions in Excel? Do you realize that they add new functions in every major version of Excel? Did you know that Microsoft adds new functions throughout the year in the Office 365 version of Excel? Are you stuck using old or simple functions like SUM or ROUND? Do you want to expand your knowledge of the extensive function library in Excel? If these questions peak your interest in becoming an Excel function expert, this course is right up your alley. This past-paced course digs into some of the most powerful functions in Excel. Although we cannot cover 470 functions, we will look at over 20 functions that will allow you to create advanced calculations in your spreadsheets. Some examples are: VLOOKUP, IF, IFS, FORECAST, RAND, SWITCH, TEXTJOIN, UNIQUE, SUBTOTAL, IS, TEXT and more! We will also provide example files that will include all the functions used during the class. It's time to take your Excel spreadsheets to the next level. This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.