CPE & Event Calendar

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.

Cover the basic requirements for performing preparation, compilation, and review engagements under Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS), including the new SSARS No. 25, Materiality in a Review of Financial Statements and Adverse Conclusions. Review common issues found on SSARS engagements in connection with peer reviews and the impact of various findings on the results of a peer review. Identify key issues to consider during SSARS engagements, and determine how to incorporate quality control recommendations and tips for performing high-quality SSARS engagements. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event

Recent research shows that emotional intelligence is twice as important as IQ in the development of business leaders. But what's the difference between emotional intelligence (EI) and manipulation? This course is designed to help you understand how EI is linked to leadership success. You'll learn how to assess your own emotional intelligence and how to identify the negative consequences of unmanaged emotions. You'll learn techniques that will improve your self-awareness, self-control, and self-motivation and you'll create a plan that increases your EI so that you can achieve optimal results in your relationships with others.

The workplace is shifting rapidly, and HR professionals are at the center of it all. The next four years will challenge us to embrace courageous leadership, strategic vision, and continuous learning. Here's the reality: " We're stressed, overworked, and often under-resourced. " The job market for HR professionals is more competitive than ever. " Aligning with organizations that share our values is non-negotiable. " Agility and the ability to lead change are critical. We cannot solely depend on our employers to rise to the occasion.  This is our moment to rise.  Join our Founder & CEO Anthony P. Howard on how we can empower ourselves and each other in 2025. Together, we can lead the future of HR. How are you stepping into courageous leadership this year? Bring the discussion to the event!

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs), unique, identifiable digital assets based on blockchain technologies, have become a fast-growing industry. This course will provide a background on how NFTs came into the mainstream marketplace.  These materials will assist the practitioner to understand the tax implications of the creation, purchase and sale of these assets.  **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 for accounting and finance professionals who desire financial reporting flexibility for small- and medium-sized entities (SMEs). We examine special-purpose frameworks (SPFs) that may offer simplification while enhancing the usefulness of financial reporting for SMEs. Our discussion offers practical ways to align financial reporting with the decision-making needs of users and other stakeholders. Real-world examples and case discussions will help attendees confidently prepare, review, and interpret SMEs’ financial statements. 

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.

Working in accounting and finance offers strong earnings and growth, yet chronic overwork remains the top driver of anxiety and attrition in the profession. Evidence shows that long hours and poor recovery harm both health and output: large studies link greater than 55-hour weeks to higher cardiovascular risk, specific-hour thresholds to productivity drops, and insufficient sleep to eroded performance. At the same time, well-designed flexibility works. A recent randomized trial of a two-days-from-home hybrid schedule improved satisfaction and cut quits without hurting results, and multi-firm pilots of shorter workweeks report lower burnout and stable revenue. This webinar translates that research — along with sector-specific findings on accountants' work-life priorities — into practical tools for financial professionals and their firms. We'll cover how to set evidence-based workload and availability norms (e.g., hybrid cadence, meeting discipline, focused work blocks), build manager habits that reduce stress without sacrificing delivery, and document simple recovery practices (sleep, boundaries, and time off) to sustain peak periods. We'll also address policy design: aligning work styles and responsibilities within teams, metrics that reward outcomes over hours, and how to pilot changes safely. Participants will leave with a concise checklist and templates they can implement immediately.

Participants will learn to create customized AI chatbots that can enhance client interaction and internal operations-all without coding experience. This course provides a concise overview of specialized, task-oriented AI chatbots and GPT builders, focusing on how these technologies are revolutionizing professional workflows. Through hands-on exploration of platforms like AgentGPT, Claude Projects, Gemini Gems, and NotebookLM, participants will learn to design, deploy, and manage custom AI assistants tailored to their specific needs. The course emphasizes creating advanced AI apps that can understand context and solve complex problems autonomously. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

The accounting profession is at a crossroads — not because of a new generation, but because the entire architecture of work is being rewritten. Smaller firms are feeling it most: recruiting has become harder, AI is changing client expectations overnight, and leadership succession looms large. In this fast-moving and practical session, global future-of-work strategist Steve Cadigan (LinkedIn’s first CHRO and author of Workquake) unpacks how small and mid-sized firms can reimagine how they attract, develop, and lead talent in a world where certainty is gone and adaptability is gold. Through real-world examples from progressive firms like Bookminders, Prestige Accounting, LedgerWise, Nova Accounting, and Insights CPAs, Steve shows how leaders are reshaping work models, leveraging AI as a time- creator, and making accounting a magnet for modern talent again. 

This session offers insight for tax practitioners beyond merely checking a box to satisfy accounting and auditing requirements for license renewal. We devote significant attention to extracting utility from financial statements to support decision needs of both external financial statement users and internal stakeholders. We explore best practices for cross-functional support within firms that perform tax, accounting solutions, financial statement, and consulting services. We also highlight similarities and differences between U.S. GAAP and tax-basis accounting.

In today's fast-paced world, maintaining a healthy work-life balance is essential for mental wellness. This course is designed to provide practical tools and strategies to help you create a balanced, fulfilling life. You'll learn actionable techniques for improving sleep hygiene, incorporating proper nutrition, fostering open communication, and managing stress. Whether you're struggling with burnout, seeking better work-life harmony, or simply looking to improve your overall well-being, this course offers valuable insights and tools to help you thrive. Designed to fit into your busy schedule, it delivers the guidance you need to make practical, sustainable changes in your life, starting today. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Technology adoption often comes with resistance, but it's possible to transform this challenge into an opportunity for growth. This course explores the journey from resistance to resilience in embracing new technologies, focusing on overcoming barriers and ensuring successful implementation. Participants will examine cutting-edge audit technologies, including AI, data analytics, and automation, and learn how to align these innovations with both organizational and personal goals. Through case studies, insights into the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and practical discussions, participants will gain the tools and strategies to foster acceptance, driving seamless integration of new technology into both individual tasks and team workflows. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Practitioners need to exercise caution to ensure they maintain independence as they assist their clients with reviews, audits, and compilation engagements. This course provides a roadmap to best practices and guidance provided by the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct and analyzes and applies it to actual scenario-based case studies, providing accounting professionals with ethical standards to integrate into their practices.

Many finance departments spend considerable time managing cash, particularly if the organization is highly leveraged or cash rich.  Many opportunities exist to reduce your financing costs or increase short-term cash returns if you manage cash effectively.  This session will cover a wide variety of day-to-day cash management tools.  

Stay current on significant developments affecting Single Audits with this focused update on recent regulatory and professional guidance. This course reviews the 2024 Uniform Guidance overhaul, including the increase in the Single Audit threshold to $1 million and other changes impacting audit planning and execution. The course also examines Appendix B of the 2025 GAS/Single Audit Guide issued by the AICPA, highlighting updates that affect audit efficiency and compliance considerations. In addition, participants will receive updates on recent guidance issued through Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memoranda, as well as reporting-related changes, including the transition from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse's prior systems to SAM.gov-based reporting. This course is designed to help auditors understand how these developments affect Single Audit requirements and what to watch for as expectations continue to evolve.  

Finance technology decisions (ERP, FP&A, AP/expense automation, close/consolidation, bank integrations, and AI-enabled tools) can dramatically improve close speed, forecasting, and control execution-but vendor demos and "AI" marketing often hide integration complexity, data readiness gaps, governance risk, and long-term total cost. This course provides a practical, vendor-neutral approach for CPAs and finance leaders to evaluate and implement corporate finance technology with an audit-ready mindset. Participants learn how to cut through AI claims using an AI capability framework, apply a weighted vendor evaluation scorecard focused on controls and assurance, build a five-year total cost model that captures hidden and ongoing costs, and follow an implementation roadmap with checkpoints and red flags to reduce failure risk and improve ROI realization. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Go in-depth to understand the three main components of self-funded plans: Stop Loss, Third Party Administrators (TPA), and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM). This section will review both Specific and Aggregate Stop Loss as a concept while also providing in-depth knowledge of contract terms and risk management. It will discuss the key components of a TPAs/PBMS and show examples of admin agreements. The instructor will also use real world examples to show how to avoid common pitfalls and use cost savings tools to ensure that waste, fraud, and abuse are eliminated from your plan structures. The end of this unit will also introduce point solutions and how they can be used to ensure peak plan performance and claims savings.

The budget and the forecast are two common tools used by controllers and CFOs across almost every industry. However, are we really getting the most out of these tools? Or are we merely replicating whatever was done last year? In this course, we will use examples and illustrations to demonstrate various budgeting and forecasting techniques. We will discuss traditional approaches, as well as newer approaches such as flexible budgeting, in an effort to show how companies can gain more value. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Trusts are not cookie-cutter documents. In fact, they can be rather unwieldy, especially in explaining the functions to a client and then having the client comply with the trust terms. This course delves into best practices. Given common scenarios, what are the best trusts to use? And how can the client be best protected?