CPE & Event Calendar

Globalization continues to make it easier for taxpayers to live abroad, do business in other countries, or invest in foreign enterprises. This creates significant complications and tax planning opportunities when it comes to filing U.S. tax returns. This course provides an overview of the unique tax challenges and solutions presented to U.S. expats or investors living or investing abroad. It examines how foreign-source income is taxed in the U.S. and how the tax consequences could be mitigated by applying the tax treaties, claiming credit for foreign taxes paid, or excluding foreign-earned income. Additionally, the course discusses the numerous foreign informational form reporting requirements and the significant penalties that could be imposed by the IRS. Examples from real-life client scenarios are included.

Whether you asked for it (or not) and its here!  The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed on July 4.  This program will dig into the meat of the Act that will matter to your clients, including No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime, increased Section 199A Deduction, 100% Section 168(k) Bonus and much, much more! *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  

Organizations of all sizes often fail to successfully install needed foundational components of an internal control system. Whether large or small, entities must view policies, procedures, and all controls in a wholistic manner in order to develop a system of controls that will keep the entity on its intended course. Moreover, those that design policies and procedures benefit by knowing why control measures are necessary. This session sets forth internal control concepts and explains the importance of strong internal control policies. It provides an understanding of the interrelated nature of all controls created by any organization. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

What would you do when ___? Is would the same as should? Examples; Rashmi Airan-Pace and Yale Law School. What should you do when a vendor offers to give you tickets to the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament and your organization will permit it? Prepare for ‘situations’ before they happen to you.

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.

The standard also requires information about the following categories:  disaggregation of revenue contract balances performance obligations This webinar will deal directly with disclosure requirements for the standard. Several courses currently exist on the platform related to an overview of the standard and deep dive into individual steps of the standards.   

SAS 122, AU 240 requires that auditors determine if there is a significant risk that the financial statements are materially misstated due to either error of fraud.  This presentation is an overview of how to determine if there is a significant risk of a material risk; whether it is due to error or fraud; and what to do in designing your audit program to address such risk.  It’s important to know that without documentation as to such determination, an auditor has no basis for performing any specific audit procedure and thus would be performing a substandard audit.  The standards require that each procedure be designed to decrease the possibility of a material misstatement. This program is an overview of how an auditor determines if there is a risk of a material misstatement; how document such determination; and how to address the risk if it is due to error vs fraud, because there is a big difference.

If sales increase, so should profits.  Yet, the opposite result often leaves executive’s scratching their heads.  When organizations work with inferior cost information, they make mistakes in four specific situations.  Bad information causes sellers to overprice easy, high-volume work and under-price difficult, low-volume work.  This session discusses how to use activity-based costing to build accurate costing models that consider far more than just the labor and materials necessary to provide goods and services. 

This hands-on course introduces accountants, auditors, and finance professionals to agentic AI by simulating autonomous behavior using the basic version of ChatGPT. Participants will use role-play, prompt engineering, and guided interaction loops to create agents that simulate planning, decision-making, and communication workflows. No coding or advanced access is required. Participants will practice designing task-specific prompts, simulating agent autonomy using flipped interaction patterns, and evaluating agent output for risk and effectiveness. This course makes agentic AI accessible to all learners through practical, scenario-based exercises using tools they already have.

Recent feedback from the AICPA has emphasized the importance of performing an effective risk assessment to identify and evaluate the risk of material misstatement in a financial statement audit. SAS 145, the 2023 amendment to AU-C 315, makes significant changes to the extant risk assessment standard and certain changes to other standards as well. The amendments clarify confusion that the AICPA believes auditors experienced under the existing standard and also conforms, for the most part, to the IAASB standard on the same topic. SAS 145 has been effective for two years now starting with December 31, 2023 audits. This course will focus on how to perform the risk assessment process under the new standard, providing participants with a summary of the changes to existing guidance. It will discuss linking the results of the risk assessment to further testing (internal control and substantive testing) and procedures performed in concluding on the evidence obtained. In addition, it will also discuss documentation and audit communications.

Please join us for an introductory course on the fundamentals of preparing and filing an individual federal income tax return. We will cover topics such as what the federal income tax is and how it is computed. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

How does a forensic accountant calculate financial losses? Federal courts have approved various ways to calculate losses ranging from net worth method of proof to the expenditures method. Each method of proof depends on the available facts to the forensic accountant. This presentation will focus on the various court approved methods of proof, when to use them, and how to calculate the total loss. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Deciding where to live in retirement is a challenge that involves a multitude of factors that differ for everyone. Each person and couple should evaluate their current living situation to see where their goals and lifestyles in retirement can best be met. The program covers the various factors that most people should consider when thinking about where to spend their retirement years.

This course provides a concise overview of how to utilize ChatGPT for advanced financial analysis in accounting. The session reveals how to combine sophisticated evaluation and interpretation of financial data with the cutting-edge AI capabilities of ChatGPT. Aimed at enhancing the understanding of an entity's performance, predicting future financial health, and aiding in informed business decision-making, this course goes beyond basic financial statement analysis to include a wide array of techniques and tools. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Mergers, acquisitions and alliances have been — and will continue to be — major avenues to organizational growth and increased competitive advantage. Yet, despite the great initial promise of many business mergers and alliances, few seem to yield the anticipated results. Numerous studies indicate that between 55% and 77% of mergers fail to accomplish their intended purpose. This course helps CFOs, controllers and their advisors identify, negotiate and consummate mergers and acquisitions that create shareholder value while avoiding the many traps that can cause post-acquisition failure.

Being neuro-inclusive is not only kind, but can also help your team get the right things done in less time. This course will be about what neurodiversity is, give an overview of brain science, and show you tactical tips and techniques you can use to help your company get more of the right things done in less time with a strategy designed with more brains in mind. 

The introduction to governmental budgeting course is an overview of the typical timeline and process a government uses when creating their annual budget. Topics covered include the basics of governmental budgeting, establishing priorities for the budget, the common steps and timeline of the budget process, what, when and how we should be monitoring the budget throughout the year, and how long-term budgets fit in with the annual budget process. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

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.

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.

This is Part 1 of a 5 part series on Emerging Risks - How Accountants and Finance are leading the way The rapid evolution of technology, globalization, and regulatory frameworks has introduced a range of emerging risks that are transforming the fields of accounting, finance, and auditing. Innovations such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and big data analytics are redefining traditional business models while creating new challenges related to data integrity, cybersecurity, and ethical decision-making. In accounting and finance, the growing reliance on automated systems raises concerns about vulnerabilities, algorithmic bias, and the potential for misinformation. Auditors face heightened expectations for real-time assurance, transparency, and adaptability to new reporting standards, including sustainability and ESG disclosures. Geopolitical instability, economic volatility, and evolving regulatory pressures add layers of uncertainty to financial reporting and audit quality. This four-part seminar series explores these emerging risks, analyzes their implications for professionals and organizations, and highlights proactive strategies for risk management, continuous learning, and technological competency.