Professional Development and Event Catalog

When a new employee is hired, there are a lot of things the employer needs to take care of. Aside from getting employment contracts signed, training lined up, and the new hire breakfast planned, employers are tasked with making sure all of the payroll forms are filled out. For many small business owners, this can be a source of anxiety. They often wonder if they have everything they need. They also hear horror stories about potential IRS penalties for not having all of the boxes checked. In this course, we will explore the payroll compliance side of hiring new employees. From the alphabet soup of forms that need to be filled out to the initial payroll tax forms, we have you covered if you are a new practitioner or new business owner. We will even discuss the surprisingly difficult-to-navigate world of unemployment insurance.

Health savings accounts (HSAs) are an effective way for employers to provide employees with financial help so they can pay their out-of-pocket medical expenses in a tax-efficient manner. Individuals who are not participating in an employer-funded HSA may set up their own HSA to achieve the same ends. Clients often ask tax practitioners about the mechanics of HSAs and whether they are beneficial. This program is a two-hour discussion of the topic led by Roy Ramthun, who will take you through the many rules and complexities of this challenging subject.

Starting and owning a small business has often been referred to as the "Third Pillar of Wealth," right behind investments and owning real estate. Essentially, all businesses start off as "small businesses." Small businesses, however, require a large amount of preparation in order to successfully launch and grow. Starting a business requires the owners and managers to address a host of issues, including an understanding of applicable laws, appropriate financing, staffing requirements, marketing, liability protection, and many more. This course provides a broad overview of the critical issues business owners, as well as their professional advisors, must consider when starting and growing a small business. There is extensive research regarding best practices in this area, and this webinar is intended to distill down such information and focus on what is critical to get a small business up and running as seamlessly as possible.

In order not to perform an excessive number of audit procedures (over audit) auditors must perform procedures in order to determine in what areas are there weak internal controls that could result in a risk that the financial statements would be materially misstated and not be detected.  SAS No. 122, AU 300 – 499, Measuring Audit Risk provides guidance as well as required procedures that must be performed in every audit in order to determine the risk of material misstatement.  No longer can the auditor state that they assess the risk of material misstatement at maximum without having a basis for making such assessment.  As a result, the standards now require that the auditor make such an assessment of a material misstatement of the financial statement on every audit in order to have a basis for such assessment.  This program is an overview of the statement documentation requirements in assessing such a risk.

In today's workplace, employees are faced almost daily with customers or teammates that may have needs or concerns that we are forced to handle. Though many of these situations are easily dealt with through simple communication skills, others may become heated and, in some instances, violent. Today we will discuss healthy ways to de-escalate a wide variety of potential issues.

Emotions get us every time. We all feel emotion. It’s what we do after we experience them that defines us. Emotional intelligence is critical in moving you, your teams, and your life forward. It’s all about your awareness and relationships with people.  In this course, you will learn what emotional intelligence is and why it is one of the essential factors in determining your success in your career and your life. You will apply the four key areas of emotional intelligence and strategies you can immediately use to increase your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a skill and practice that promises to influence your life positively. You will learn the value it brings to how you approach your work and your relationships with co-workers, clients, and customers.

In 2020, 96% of the world’s largest 250 companies published reports on their sustainability performance in accordance with national and international standards.   Now many more companies are committing to sustainability, and Net Zero emissions in particular.   This creates a new responsibility and opportunity for HR leaders.   Staff must be trained in new policies, goals and procedures.  Executives need help as leaders in this new approach.  This one-hour course summarizes SHRM research into HR and sustainability, plus other expert sources and the instructor's own 30-year journey helping companies become more sustainable.   The course presents key concepts, tools and sources to help HR find its role.

This is not your average CPE course--Part 2! In this second part course (which is equally fun and engaging), you will learn how to feel confident--even in highly stressful situations. You will learn new secrets to great health that take under 10 minutes per week, and you will learn how to know what is most important to you--so you can be happier and healthier in the long run. Tune in for techniques to relieve stress and tips on incorpating meditation into your daily routine. All of which will help improve your memory and overall mental health and wellbeing. In addition, you'll learn an unsurpassed method for making sure you stay consistent with actually implementing these methods in your daily life.

Enterprise Risk Management for SMEs

Good judgment works well in handling most employee relations matters.  However, there are special situations where legal requirements dictate specific handling to avoid significant personal and employer liability.   This course provides practical knowledge and scripts for responding to requests for accommodations regarding religious practices or disabilities, confronting employees in substance abuse situations, and handling disclosures of contagious infections so that individual is properly helped, and the health of your workforce is protected.

Numbers and especially the digits within those numbers can conceal a lot of information.  Benford's Law and other digital analysis techniques can be the keys to unlocking that information.  This session will explain what Benford's Law is, how it works, and how it can be used to reveal bogus information and made-up data.  Accountants and auditors should understand how to use this valuable audit tool as well as other digital analysis techniques.  But, if you attend this session, you must promise not to reveal the secret behind these techniques to any fraud perpetrators.

You often can perform an audit in accordance with all of the standards, and still have a substandard audit IF you did not get out among the clients employees (let them know you are there and where you located), talk to as many people as you can regardless as to whether you may think that they may have any helpful information; constantly observe your surrounding where ever you are at (you never now what you might see) and lastly, listen to not only what people are saying to you but are also saying around you. This presentation is designed to illustrate the importance of making yourself available to your client’s employees, let them know that you are there and where you can be found. Talk with them because if there is a problem, somebody knows and they will often tell you all about it IF you just ask them.  Look at your surrounding everywhere you go.  What are you looking for?  I don’t know but I’ll know it when I see it. Lastly, listen to what they have to say.  Every word is important because they may say something that you had not asked about.  Remember, you never want to discover something and go to an individual who you determined knew about it and ask, why didn’t you tell me about this and their response was, you never asked me!

Employees, now more than ever, are experiencing stress, anxiety and other mental health challenges and all of those come with them each day to the workplace. In order to ensure the safety and security of their workplace, employers need to address these issues and support their employees. Join us to discuss the challenges to providing mental health support to employees, the potential risks of deprioritizing mental health, and tangible actions employers can take to support the mental health of their work group. The cost of providing mental health resources and support pales in comparison to the cost of NOT providing it. Make a plan. Be ProActive.

Have you ever found yourself wondering why people won't just listen to you? Or maybe you have found yourself surrounded by people that make your jaw clench...you know the people...the challenging people.  HR Professionals walk a tight rope of being strong, but not aggressive, polite, but not a push over. It is exhausting! In this session, you will uncover the secrets to working with (and overcoming) challenging people derived from the decades of experience Summer brings from her time on the frontlines and as an HR Professional working with companies such as Walt Disney World, H-E-B and even a dude ranch.  

Appreciation affects your bottom line and your workplace culture. Don’t think so? Think again! Your customers, clients, and co-workers want and need to know they are appreciated. How do you show them appreciation? You show them in their preferred appreciation style.  You have a bias for how you like to receive appreciation, and so do the people with whom you work. In this program, we will build on the research of Gary Chapman and Paul White on appreciation languages – words, time, service, and gifts.  Appreciation is a skill and practice that promises to influence your work life positively. You will experience strategies you can employ in your day-to-day lives to improve your team culture and manage work relationships.

The business structure a client chooses influences virtually every tax and financial issue associated with the business, including the business's day-to-day operations, its tax liability, how much of the owners' personal assets are at risk, and much more. For this and many other reasons, it is critical that a client choose a business structure that gives the right balance of legal protections and tax benefits. From a tax perspective, in terms of selecting an entity to do business in, the universe shifted with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted at the end of 2017. The tax rate for C corporations was lowered to 21% and the 199A deduction offered pass-through entities the chance to significantly lower the rate at which they are taxed. But how do all these options work and which option is best for which business? Those questions are at the heart of this webinar. In this program, we discuss whether there is a "best entity" for our clients. Tax practitioners know that re-examining choice of entity determination is at the top of the agenda for client meetings because clients continue to want reassurance that they have the most tax-efficient entity structure. This program will equip you with the knowledge and insights you need to lead those discussions.

Budgets are the vehicle for allocating resources, measuring activities, and identifying needed changes and improvements. An organization's strategy is the primary driver of costs. To be effective, the budget must be linked to strategy and long-term plans. Numerous organizations have achieved a series of short-term targets (budgets) but failed longer term, demonstrating the lack of this necessary linkage. Forecasting, a critical part of any successful budgeting process, can be flawed by technical errors, organizational structure, or emotional forces. The establishment of a system to collect, process, and analyze big data can provide significant insights into the budgeting and forecasting process. An efficient system of incorporating big data and analytics into normal activities will improve management's decision-making. This brief program offers specific actions to improve your forecasting and budgeting activities. In addition, more advanced techniques are identified for the participant's further review, which can be applied throughout an organization. Good budgets effectively allocate resources, provide information for decision-making and serve as an early warning system for unforeseen events. A poor budgeting process fosters a false sense of security, provides inappropriate or inaccurate data, and reinforces the status quo. Budgets are about the organization's story, not just the raw numbers!

While ethics training is required by many states, the true value of the CPA license is in understanding how critically important ethical behavior is to our customers, our firms, and the public. This course will explore the basic tenets of ethical behavior and use case studies to explore ethical dilemmas in various companies and organizations with a focus on dilemmas that may face CPAs in the industry.

It is virtually impossible to pick up the daily newspaper and not find an article on some type of fraudulent event. In the wake of the “Era of Fraud, Waste and Excess,” one might suspect that potential fraudsters would think twice before committing illegal acts. However, just the opposite seems to be the case.  Is there really more fraud or is there simply more fraud awareness?  The harsh reality is that it is a little bit of each.  Not only has fraud worldwide reached a level of over $7.0 billion in lost  revenue but savvy C-level executives now realize that it could happen to their companies—very easily. When you put these facts together, it adds up to a completely new era of vigilance.

Following on Part 1 of this course, in Part 2 you will learn advanced ways to solve problems without bruising egos, how to create profound trust quickly, and how to motivate clients and co-workers to do your bidding with a minimal amount of wasted time or hassles.    The bottom line will be better client and co-worker relationships, leading to increased enjoyment and productivity at work.