Professional Development and Event Catalog

This course covers the foundational concepts of artificial intelligence (AI) and its relevance to accounting. Participants will explore various AI applications, including generative AI and prompt engineering, and understand the benefits, challenges, and future trends associated with AI integration in accounting.

This seminar updates participants on FASB and AICPA standards. It includes full coverage and discussions of all new FASB, SAS, SSARS, SSAE, and other standards

In an era of shifting job markets, high living costs, and financial setbacks, many young adults remain financially dependent on their parents well into their 30s. This course addresses clients' concerns about their children's and grandchildren's financial stability, offering strategies that integrate federal taxation with comprehensive financial planning. Participants will explore wealth accumulation, capital preservation, and estate distribution techniques to help their clients guide younger generations toward financial independence. By addressing common financial planning pitfalls and essential tax planning principles, this course equips participants to educate and empower young adults. Topics include college financial planning, risk management, and dynasty trusts as tools for building financial resilience across generations.

One of the major transactions CPA clients are faced with is the purchase or disposition of a business. To help tax professionals advise those clients, this course offers a comprehensive analysis of the business and tax aspects of buying and selling a business. It is a practical guide to help practitioners and industry CPAs understand structuring techniques. All CPAs, including controllers and executives in industry, should understand how difficult the process of buying and selling a business has become.

Tax Security Essentials: Implementing a WISP for Tax Professionals Tax practices face a critical responsibility: safeguarding client data against cyber threats. This course is tailored for professionals in the tax industry, offering a deep dive into the essentials of creating and maintaining a Written Information Security Plan (WISP) as mandated by IRS regulations and the FTC Safeguards Rule. With a focus on IRS Publications 4557, 5293, and 5708, along with insights from NISTIR 7621, participants will learn not just the theory but the practical steps needed to enhance their practice's security posture. The course content is designed to be direct and engaging, ensuring that attendees can easily translate knowledge into action. The curriculum covers a broad spectrum of critical topics, from developing a compliant WISP to recognizing and responding to cyber threats, and from implementing strong access controls to effective data protection measures. Special emphasis is placed on real-world strategies for preventing data breaches, including the use of encryption, backup procedures, and secure data disposal methods. Participants will also explore the importance of employee training and the continuous monitoring and improvement of security practices to address new cyber threats and business changes. For tax professionals committed to upholding the highest standards of data security and building a trust-based relationship with their clients, this course is a vital resource. Attendees will not only gain the knowledge to protect their clients' data but also the confidence to implement best practices within their organization.

The traditional process of chasing receipts and manually reconciling credit card statements is being replaced by intelligent systems that capture data at the point of purchase. This course provides a practical look at the current landscape of expense and bill management technology, featuring tools like Dext, Bill.com, and the automated features within leading small business accounting solutions. We will examine how these platforms use mobile apps, email integration, and OCR technology to stream transactions directly into the books, significantly reducing manual data entry while maintaining the necessary oversight and approval workflows that businesses require. Participants will explore the practical benefits of modernizing their "cash-out" processes, from deploying virtual cards with built-in spending limits to utilizing AI-driven anomaly detection to flag duplicate or unusual activity. We will discuss the features and benefits of various online payment systems and why a business might choose one solution over another based on their specific integration needs. By the end of this session, you will understand how to build an efficient, transparent expense management system that provides real-time visibility into company spending while strengthening internal controls.

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Disaster can come in many forms, from a flood to a data breach, to the death of a critical member of your team. When a disaster happens, it is never at a convenient time. It doesn't matter if it is the holidays, right before your vacation, or at the end of a grueling busy season. It just happens and you're left to pick up the pieces. The first 24 hours of a disaster are the most critical. How are you going to get back online? How are you going to organize a safe work environment for your staff? How are you going to communicate what has occurred and what you are doing to resolve it to your stakeholders? An organization that is without its data or communications for a prolonged period has a significant risk of going out of business. Every minute of downtime is lost productivity, a missed deadline, or a forfeited opportunity. It isn't a matter of if a disaster occurs, but when it does occur how you will respond. This course will discuss a wide range of disasters from acts of God to man-made calamities, including data breaches and employee maleficence. It offers insight into the major risks, their causes, methods for mitigation of risks, and recommendations for resolution. It will have a detailed discussion on how using technology effectively can help minimize and hedge business risk and ensure continuity of operations. It will examine best practices for data security, the use of hot/cold sites, how to ensure that data is properly backed up, utilizing the Cloud for enhanced redundancy, and more. It is a good course for any organization that is concerned about the continuity of operations and surviving a disaster.

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The purpose of this course is to provide an in-depth discussion of selected advanced-level issues affecting LLCs and LLPs.

Auditing not-for-profits isn't the same as auditing for-profits, so why treat them alike? This course gives you the tools to recognize what makes not-for-profits unique and shows you how to incorporate those differences into your audit approach. With practical insights and 20 focused exercises, you'll learn how to plan and perform not-for-profit audits more effectively, efficiently, and with greater confidence.

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*IMPORTANT:  This is a virtual conference that we are offering in partnership with the Illinois CPA Society. The Taxation on Real Estate Conference delivers a comprehensive, forward-looking examination of the tax, legal, and strategic issues shaping real estate investment and ownership in today’s rapidly evolving environment. Gain critical insight into how recent and proposed changes in tax law, regulatory guidance, and political dynamics impact real estate transactions, structures, and long-term planning. Group discounts are available for this conference as follows: 10+ Registrants - Discount: 5% 20+ Registrants - Discount: 10% Please email Kendalynn Morales at kendalynnm@ctcpas.org for more information. Please note that the Class Pass does not apply to this program.

In a rapidly evolving public practice accounting landscape, K2's CPA Firm Update continues to be your essential guide to staying ahead. This session provides actionable insights into transformative technologies and management strategies reshaping the profession. With a focus on data analytics, cybersecurity, practice management, and client service excellence, this year's update delves into how firms can thrive amidst change. Key technologies covered include AI-powered auditing, blockchain applications for financial processes, advancements in cloud computing, robotic process automation (RPA), and workflow optimization tools. Gain clarity on significant trends and how they affect your firm's strategy, enabling you to make well-informed decisions for sustainable growth.

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Wow! So many new Excel features and so little time! Microsoft continues to add tremendous functionality to Excel - the business professional's tool of choice. Yet most Excel users have not discovered these new tools and remain mired in yesterday's practices for working in Excel. In this session, you will learn how to use many of Excel's latest features to work more efficiently and effectively with your spreadsheets. Participate in this session to learn about recently released features such as PIVOTBY, GROUPBY, Office Scripts, integration with Copilot, new ways to share and collaborate in Excel, and data entry and formula improvements. If you work with Excel - and who doesn't - this session is necessary to help you improve your efficiency and effectiveness when using Excel.

This two-hour CPE course is designed for accounting professionals and technology enthusiasts seeking to enhance productivity through Microsoft 365's versatile applications. Participants will explore ten key apps — including Shared Mailboxes, Planner, Lists, To Do, Stream, Viva Learning, Forms, Bookings, Approvals, and Places — and learn to integrate them effectively into their workflows. The course emphasizes practical applications within accounting contexts, aiming to streamline operations and foster collaboration.

This course provides an in-depth exploration of trusts and their pivotal role in financial, estate, and asset protection strategies. Designed to give practitioners the tools to make informed decisions, this course covers the implementation, operation, and optimization of various trust types. It includes a detailed examination of the tax benefits, practical uses, and management techniques for trusts in estate planning and wealth preservation. Participants will gain a thorough understanding of when and how to utilize trusts to achieve specific client goals, from minimizing income, estate, and generation-skipping taxes to ensuring long-term financial security and asset protection. The course offers practical insights into advanced trust strategies and trustee responsibilities to help optimize clients' plans for future generations.

Many accounting and finance practitioners have had difficulty understanding and applying the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Accounting and finance practitioners are still confused and challenged by many of the new and extended tax provisions that the OBBBA delivered. Mastering these crucial provisions requires multiple exposures to these challenging tax changes. This program is a four-hour review and analysis of the most important changes from the OBBBA that impact both individual and business taxpayers. This course affords accounting and finance practitioners an opportunity to gain a broader, deeper understanding of this wide-ranging set of new tax rules, to grasp what is new and what is a continuance of prior rules, and to develop deeper planning insights into the many changes that the OBBBA contains. To the extent that the Treasury has provided guidance relating to OBBBA changes, we will discuss that guidance. We will also point out areas where Treasury guidance would be useful and areas where guidance is expected.

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This course provides an in-depth exploration of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems as a critical tool for business automation. Designed for accounting professionals, it emphasizes CRM's role in streamlining workflows, organizing communications, enhancing client relationships, and improving efficiency. Participants will learn about key CRM features, integration with accounting software, and best practices for successful implementation. We will highlight practical applications with actionable insights to help attendees optimize their processes. This two-hour session ensures you walk away with a basic understanding of CRM's transformative potential for business and financial management.

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Portable Document Format (PDF) documents are everywhere! Yet few know how to work effectively with these documents. If you are interested in working more effectively and efficiently with PDFs, this session is for you. In this session, you will learn valuable tips you can use to assist you with creating, editing, and securing PDFs. You will also learn how to convert PDFs to fillable forms and secure PDFs, among other features. Don't miss this chance to learn ten PDF tips you need to know to increase your ROI on PDFs.

Each year, states work quickly and furiously to overhaul their tax laws. As some states scramble to fund their budgets, they continue to look for additional forms of revenue. You can't afford to ignore recent changes in state and local tax. Even tax-savvy businesses and their advisers often neglect to consider the consequences of state and local taxes. Plan to attend this fast-paced class that covers developing topics in the area of nexus. Learn how nexus requirements have changed and where the state laws may be heading in the future.

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.

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This course is a 'deep dive' into all things real estate tax-related for the mid-level practitioner moving into this complex area. You will deepen your understanding of the complex considerations and strategies that individuals must navigate in acquiring, holding, managing, constructing, and disposing of real estate. You will leave the course able to navigate critical issues associated with the relevant returns and plan strategically for your company or clients. We will discuss in detail the impact of recent tax legislation, as well as historically difficult areas of the law like passive activity and at-risk rules.