Professional Development and Event Catalog
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Surgent's Annual Accounting and Auditing Update
Wednesday, Dec. 16 11:30am - 7:30pm
Online
8.00 Credits
Member Price: $299
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Designed as an all-you-need-to-know update for accounting, auditing, and attestation practitioners at all levels in public accounting and industry, this course provides a comprehensive review of recent standard-setting and rulemaking activities of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On the financial accounting front, we will cover the FASB's Post-Implementation Review (PIR) report released in late 2025 for lease accounting under ASC 842 and discuss the best practices in applying the standard and identifying any ongoing issues practitioners are experiencing with applying the standard. We will also discuss the more than a dozen ASUs the FASB has issued since the beginning of 2024 and into 2026 covering government grants, derivatives and financial instruments, practical expedients for credit losses under ASC 326, and expense disaggregation on the income statement. Our focus on AICPA standards includes a detailed discussion of revamped AICPA quality management standards. The AICPA updated and modernized the standards by issuing Statement on Quality Management Standards 1, 2, and 3 (SQMS 1, SQMS 2, and SQMS 3, respectively), SSARS No. 26, and SAS 146, Quality Management for an Engagement Conducted in Accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (SAS 146). These standards, now effective as of December 15, 2025, modernize quality management standards to reflect an increased focus on risk assessment, technology use, and the presence of outside experts on engagements. We will also discuss AICPA's proposed SAS, The Auditor's Responsibilities Relating to Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements, intended to supersede AU-C section 240. We will also cover new rules impacting public company audits and present case studies on recent fraudulent accounting stories and best practices for detecting and preventing such frauds. In summary, the course is your go-to source for all things A&A and will prepare you for your upcoming engagements throughout the rest of the year.
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Strategic Government Budgeting: Tools for Long-Term Sustainability
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 12:57pm
Online
1.00 Credits
Member Price: $39
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This course equips participants with the tools and strategies needed to create sustainable, long-term budgets that align with policy goals and ensure fiscal responsibility. Participants will explore key budgeting frameworks, learn techniques for forecasting revenue and expenditures, and analyze scenarios to mitigate financial risks. The course incorporates practical exercises and case studies to provide hands-on experience with scenario planning, enhancing budget transparency and resilience. By the end of the session, attendees will have the knowledge and confidence to design and implement budgets that support long-term governmental priorities and strengthen financial stability.
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The Ethics Hour: Accounting Scandals: What Happened and Why? Can We Prevent Them?, featuring Tracy Cooper and Don Minges
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Online
1.00 Credits
Member Price: $39
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The staggering volume of accounting scandals is a scandal. What has happened and what were the root causes? Why do many financial professionals choose to do the wrong thing? What has been the cumulative impact on the profession? What can we do to enhance our professional reputation? We will discuss the many "fixes" imposed to address previous accounting scandals, including COSO; were they effective? We must understand that accounting fraud is prevalent and what should we look out for? Be aware. We do not want history to repeat itself.
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Compensation Fundamentals and Pay Transparency: Driving Fairness and Engagement
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:05pm
Online
1.00 Credits
Member Price: $39
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Understanding the principles and practices of compensation is essential for creating a motivated and satisfied workforce. In this webinar, we'll learn how to perform market pay research, key compensation concepts, discuss the pay transparency movement and explore how these crucial elements drive fairness and engagement in HR practices.
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The Controllership Series: The Controllers role in ESG
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:20pm
Online
1.50 Credits
Member Price: $79
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As ever more jurisdictions move toward mandatory disclosure of ESG metrics, (ex: the European Union’s new Corporate Sustainability Reporting directive and impending U.S. SEC requirements) the urgency to get those disclosures right has gone up. This course to as an introduction to the concept of requirements for Controllers and financial personnel to understand ESG disclosures .Whether the role related to ESG disclosures and information falls into the job responsibility of the controller or not is yet to be seen. However, it is clear the Controller must maintain some level of knowledge and expertise around the types and timing of such disclosures.
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Audit Risk Assessment in Plain English
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:46pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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Audit Risk Assessment in Plain English, is a 2 hour webcast highlighting the AICPA’s clarified risk assessment standards, along with a new Statement on Auditing Standard (SAS 145) related to understanding the entity, the entity’s environment, the entity’s internal controls, and assessing the risks of material misstatement. This session will attempt to simplify the requirements using common sense examples and language.
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Character and Trust: The Difference Maker in Effective Collaboration
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:46pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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This course examines the foundational role of character and trust in building effective collaboration. While individuals are often hired for their skills and knowledge, they are frequently let go due to behavioral issues—highlighting the importance of character in professional success. Participants will explore key attributes of character and engage in a thought-provoking self-assessment exercise to increase self-awareness. The course also delves into the dynamics of trust, offering practical tools and frameworks to evaluate trustworthiness—both in oneself and in others, including managers, colleagues, and team members. Ideal for anyone seeking to strengthen professional relationships, this course provides actionable insights into how character and trust directly impact workplace performance and collaboration.
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Fraud Risk Management
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:47pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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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.
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K2’s Excel’s Best New Features
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:48pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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With the latest updates in Microsoft 365 and Office 2024, Excel is more powerful than ever. Packed with cutting-edge features, more innovative functions, and seamless collaboration tools, the newest version is designed to take your productivity to the next level. Whether you're crunching numbers, building dashboards, or collaborating across teams, these enhancements unlock faster workflows, deeper insights, and more thoughtful decision-making. Don't miss your chance to stay ahead of the curve-discover Excel's most exciting new features and learn how to put them to work for you. Your spreadsheet game is about to change-let's make it extraordinary!
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Microsoft Excel: Moving Beyond the Basics
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 1:52pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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This course explores the increasingly complex features of Excel that facilitate efficient data analysis. We will introduce numerous analytical methods and techniques by using practical examples to illustrate how to unleash the power of Excel when manipulating, analyzing and reporting information.
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AI Lessons Learned for Accountants
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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This course provides accountants with the leading AI insights and strategies drawn from real-world experience, empirical studies, countless CPA case studies, and social media commentary. It goes beyond theory, offering practical lessons learned from the front lines of AI implementation in the business world and accounting industry. Participants will gain actionable knowledge on bridging the theory-application gap, navigating exponential technological changes, and creating secure, adaptive AI policies. By the end of the session, accountants will be equipped to leverage AI responsibly and innovatively in their roles. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
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Asset Misappropriation You Have It - They Want It
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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Have you ever thought about stealing? If the answer is NO, then you need to find another profession because you will never be a successful fraud examiner/investigator or a financial auditor. To find fraud, you must first determine, given the opportunity through weak internal controls, how a person would steal. You have to say to yourself, given the opportunity that exists, how many ways could I take advantage of it? In other words, you must be able to think how you could steal and not be caught. So yes, to find fraud, you must first think about stealing. For a fraudster to be successful, they must make you think fraud is a legitimate transaction. They must make you think it is something that it is not. There are so many places where fraud can be hidden. It is up to you to evaluate where the risks of fraud are in an organization, then design effective investigative procedures to determine if someone took advantage of the opportunity. If they did not, how else may they have taken advantage of the opportunity? One must remember that one weakness in internal control may create several ways to take advantage of it and you must examine every such one. During this session, the many ways fraud can be hidden in asset misappropriations will be discussed. Remember, the number of ways is only limited by one’s imagination.
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Procurement Standards 2026: What You Need To Know
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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Federal procurement requirements under the Uniform Guidance were significantly revised effective October 1, 2024, introducing new expectations for procurement methods, internal controls, contractor oversight, and domestic sourcing preferences. This session will provide grant recipients and subrecipients with practical guidance on implementing compliant procurement procedures under 2 CFR SS200.317-200.327 and aligning procurement policies with updated federal standards, and thresholds from the FAR. Attendees will learn how to strengthen procurement documentation, apply revised competition requirements, and prepare for federal agency or Single Audit procurement system reviews. This session provides the regulatory application to develop your own SOP.
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Strategic Use of Trump Accounts: Planning Opportunities for Tax Professionals
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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This course provides tax and accounting professionals with a focused overview of Trump Accounts and their practical application in client planning. Participants will examine eligibility requirements, contribution rules, tax treatment, and reporting considerations. Through practical examples, the course emphasizes evaluating suitability, identifying planning opportunities, and avoiding common compliance pitfalls when incorporating Trump Accounts into client strategies. *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 terri.storer@acpen.com
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Creating A Coaching Leadership Style
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 2:55pm
Online
3.00 Credits
Member Price: $109
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This course explores the leadership and coaching principles, concepts, frameworks, techniques, and competencies that will lead to a Coaching Leadership Style. While it is often said that effective leadership is situational, the leadership style that is employed in the everyday workplace is typically the dominant style of the leader. The leadership style that emphasizes coaching in lieu of others that are more autocratic, affiliative, or even more participative can be more fulfilling for the leader, employee, and team. The course illustrates how a Coaching Leadership Style leads to a highly desirable organization culture. This course takes the attendee through a coaching process and discovery that can be applied to various situations. Results one can expect from the Coaching Leadership Style are covered as are measurements depicting the success of this leadership style. The attendee will walk away with the knowledge and skills necessary to begin leading their company towards a coaching culture that will leave employees motivated, transformed and driven to higher levels of innovation and performance from the empowerment of the Coaching Leadership Style.
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Leading and Managing the Accounting Department
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 3:44pm
Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $149
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Welcome to a management course that helps CFOs and Controllers lead the Accounting Department. It is essential that the Accounting Department have a Vision which is aligned with the Business goals. Controllers must also be comfortable with wearing multiple 'hats' in the business. The head of the Accounting Department must be skilled in a variety of leadership skills, technical skills, managerial skills and current management techniquest.
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Eliminating Busy Season: Transforming Your Practice to Year- Round Advisory Services
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:00pm - 8:00pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $250
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This course provides tax and accounting professionals with a comprehensive framework for transitioning from a compliance-driven busy season model to a sustainable, year-round advisory practice. Participants will explore strategies for expanding services into tax, financial, and estate planning. The course addresses both transitioning existing clients and attracting new, higher-value clients while improving efficiency, client value, and revenue stability.
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Ethical Leadership: Power, Influence, Integrity, and Trust
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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Leaders naturally wield power and influence. But, to avoid the temptation of abusing power, leaders must apply ethical behaviors for themselves and others. Words, actions and deeds which demonstrate integrity and trust yield the credibility that make others want to follow ethical leaders. Betraying trust can destroy careers, whole organizations, and lives. This is why trust is a top prerequisite for principled and ethical leadership. Positive (and negative) influence is derived from the credibility trust brings. Ethical leaders who continually work to earn and keep trust reap enormous payback in all aspects of business including superior economic, competitive, and strategic performance.
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Financial Decisions that Led Two Businessmen to Prison
Wednesday, Dec. 16 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
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Two college graduates built impressive careers: One worked in sales, the other in technology and investing. Both of those people made decisions in the course of their business that led to government investigations. They had to hire attorneys, go through judicial processes, face charges, and plead guilty. Each of those people are on their way to prison. Learn from the lessons they offer. We interview both financial professionals, and they tell us more about how their decisions influenced the consequences that followed. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
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A WISP Away
Wednesday, Dec. 16 1:00pm - 2:50pm
Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $79
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Each year, the IRS issues an updated edition of its Written Information Security Plan (WISP) template to better assist CPAs, tax preparers and small practitioners with drafting an effective WISP. Develop a customized WISP to fit your business needs and identify the latest resources available to assist. Time will be spent on the requirement for a security plan as well as its implementation.