Professional Development and Event Catalog

As uncomfortable as some conversations are, keeping your silence won't resolve the issue and may in fact add to it. No matter which side of the table you find yourself at in a "hard to have" talk, you can learn to benefit from the conversation. In the workshop, you'll learn how to recognize when a conversation becomes critical, how to plan effectively for the conversation, and which communications strategies can help you create a win/win outcome.

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The purpose of this program is to discuss the ethical mandates that govern the conduct of tax practitioners. The program focuses on the ethical pronouncements of the IRS in Circular 230, as well as the preparer penalty provisions set forth in the Internal Revenue Code. Please note: This ethics course does not cover state-specific issues and so is not applicable in states that require ethics courses to include specific state laws and regulations. Please check with your state board prior to registering for this program if you are in doubt about whether this program satisfies your state's ethics requirements.

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In the ever-evolving world of data analytics and business intelligence, Microsoft Excel continues to be an indispensable tool for professionals across industries. With the introduction of Copilot, Microsoft has integrated the power of artificial intelligence directly into Excel, revolutionizing how users work with data. This 2-hour interactive course, Unlock the Power of AI with Copilot in Excel, provides a comprehensive overview of how Copilot transforms traditional Excel workflows into dynamic, AI-driven processes, enabling users to accomplish tasks faster, more accurately, and with less manual effort. During this course, you'll discover how Copilot leverages AI to enhance productivity and streamline operations. Whether you're a seasoned Excel user or just beginning your journey, this course will guide you through practical applications and best practices to make the most of Copilot's capabilities. Through hands-on demonstrations and real-world examples, you'll see how Copilot can save time, improve decision-making, and elevate your analytical skills to new heights. This course not only focuses on the technical aspects of Copilot but also highlights its potential to transform your day-to-day work, from automating repetitive tasks to uncovering trends and insights you might otherwise overlook. By the end of the session, you'll be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to integrate Copilot into your workflows and unlock its full potential in Microsoft Excel. 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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If you do not understand the entity that you are auditing, you won’t know what type of transactions they should be entering into.  As a result, you won’t recognize those transactions they should not be there.  In other words, you will be performing the audit without having any idea of what you should be looking at.  This statement requires that the auditor document their understanding of the entity and its environment that it operates in as well as assessing the risks of material misstatement. Prior to this statement, auditors often assessed risk at maximum and did not evaluate internal controls.  A big change made by this statement is that, while it allowed the auditor to continue to assess risk at maximum, they now must first evaluate internal controls in order to have a basis for making such an assumption.  As a result, auditors are now required to document their evaluation of internal controls on every financial statement audit. This presentation is an overview of the many procedures auditors are now required to perform and document on every audit related to their understanding of the entity and its environment and the basis for assessing the risk of material misstatement.

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If you are an experienced Excel user seeking to elevate your skills, join the K2 team for K2’s Advanced Excel. In this laptop-friendly program, you will learn critical advanced Excel skills in six key areas: 1) collaborating with other users and securing workbooks, 2) using tables to analyze and report data, 3) integrating and manipulating data from external sources, 4) creating and auditing complex formulas, 5) advanced data analysis tools, and 6) visualization techniques to analyze and communicate information. The course draws from over twenty-five years of experience delivering Excel training to accountants and other business professionals. Throughout the program, relevant, real-world examples reinforce the topics presented. Take advantage of this opportunity to become more efficient and proficient in Microsoft Office Excel, the tool of choice for accounting and financial professionals. This course covers advanced Excel topics found in Excel 2019 and newer.

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The Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) of the AICPA has been very busy issuing new and updating existing ethics rules. This course will provide an overview of recently issued and soon to be effective ethics rules that CPAs in both industry and public accounting need to know to be compliant. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event. 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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This is a continuing part of our series on forensic accounting. Within this segment we discuss the concepts that are part of computer forensics known as cryptology. The term cryptography is from Ancient Greek and means “hidden secret”. It is the practice and study of techniques for secure communications in the presence of adversarial behavior. Cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages. Cryptography starts with secrets. Various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation (where a statement’s author cannot successfully dispute its authorship) are central to modern cryptography.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are being deployed in organizations large and small at a rapidly increasing rate. Your organization is likely testing, deploying, and perhaps refining AI-powered applications across a variety of departments and business functions. Why should this matter to accounting, internal audit, finance and cyber professionals? Should our teams be testing and deploying also? How and why AI can be used in accounting and audit? During this interactive session we will demonstrate and describe the differences between chat-based AI search tools and more robust AI-powered applications - e.g., an app to help prioritize and dispatch IT help desk tickets. The session will include example policies for responsible and ethical AI, and resources to help curious professionals learn more about these subjects. These technologies are powerful and quite capable, but they are not without risk. After all, with great power comes great responsibility. These technologies can also be misused (accidentally or intentionally) to destroy value instead of creating it. We also discuss which is the greater risk; a) not using these new technologies, or b) misusing these new technologies. Leading organizations have been using AI and ML. Successful leaders must be aware of the pros and cons and how to properly utilize these tools.

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. 

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A deeper dive into Cybersecurity topics specific to CPAs and Fintech Organizations, expanding on the fundamentals from Cybersecurity 101 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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This course will review the fundamentals of fiduciary accounting and provide a reporting guide for determining whether receipts and expenditures are assigned to income or principal/corpus. Critical issues, rules, and special opportunities when preparing your clients' Form 1041 U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts will be examined, including what is considered taxable income and allowable deductions. Planning and potential pitfalls will also be explored.  This course only qualifies for 2 IRS credits. *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

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Elevate your data analysis capabilities with our focused course on Power Query. Tailored for financial professionals, this training will show you how to get started using Power Query and teach you some of the ways to take advantage of its ability to handle messy data and automate repetitive tasks. Harness the efficiency of Power Query to revolutionize the way you work with data. Learn how to "program" your tasks once and set them on repeat, eliminating the need for repetitive, robotic work. This automation not only saves time but also ensures consistency and accuracy in your data processes. Whether you're dealing with complex datasets or simply looking to streamline your reporting processes, this course will equip you with the tools and knowledge to make Excel work for you like never before.

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This course will explore the use of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence chatbot technologies in the accounting profession. Participants will learn how to utilize ChatGPT to automate tasks, improve efficiency and accuracy, and provide real-time support to clients. 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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When we verbally communicate with an individual, we must make a conscious decision as to whether we believe what we have heard.  Little do we realize that we are not making a decision based on what we have heard; rather we make a subconscious decision based primarily on what we have seen, or how the body was behaving when the subject was speaking.  We often walk away from a conversation with a gut feeling that the person was not telling the truth.  That gut feeling is your subconscious.  Yet we often have no idea as to why we have that feeling. This presentation is designed to provide the participant with the tools to identify those both verbal and nonverbal indicators that we all give off when we are under stress.  Normally, telling the truth does not create stress.  When we lie, we know that we are not supposed to and that creates stress, and it will manifest itself in some manner, and that is what a trained interviewer is looking to observe. When we observe indicators of deception, how do we deal with it?  How do we get the subject to admit to a wrong-doing when it is not in their best interest to do so?  That is one of the many things that will be addressed in this presentation.  Whether you are a parent dealing with you kids; an employer dealing with employees or and investigation interviewing a suspect, this presentation will provide you with the tools to assist you in finding the truth.

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Discover the communication edge that will take your CPA career to the next level. This comprehensive course empowers CPAs with the tools to enhance clarity, build trust, and drive decisions. Learn to transform complex jargon into actionable insights and develop powerful persuasion techniques that resonate with clients and stakeholders. Join me to sharpen your communication skills and elevate your professional impact. 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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QuickBooks Online’s (QBO) market share continues to expand, and the Cloud-based accounting platform now dominates the small business market. Yet, most accounting and financial professionals have not participated in any formal training on the Cloud-based accounting service. Thus, they are unaware of many of the tool’s available features and do not work with QuickBooks Online as efficiently and effectively as they should. This course teaches you how to set up QBO and convert QuickBooks Desktop files into a QBO instance. You will learn how to process all types of transactions, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank feeds, inventory, and payroll. Further, you will learn how to implement appropriate internal controls and how to capitalize on advanced features such as workflow management and management reports. Join us in this session to learn how to set up QBO properly and take full advantage of all it offers while avoiding common errors and mistakes.

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This course dives into the powerful, but potentially under-utilized, capabilities of Microsoft Excel. Designed for sophisticated users willing to approach spreadsheets from a unique perspective, this program encourages users to challenge the status quo by considering opportunities to take acceptable spreadsheets to a new level. 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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This session will address the complex rules of retirement distributions, review key provisions of the SECURE Act 2.0, and provide practical strategies of maximizing tax benefits for your client. 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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PowerPoint is a widely available resource that is potentially underutilized by accountants because many accountants do not stray beyond Excel and Word in the Microsoft Office suite. You will learn how to create and edit a professional PowerPoint slide deck. This session places particular emphasis on efficiency tips and tricks that will allow you to develop creative, professional visual aids while minimizing time and effort. The course’s author will share personal insights he has cultivated throughout more than two decades of public speaking. Although the session will focus on creating and editing slides, we will illustrate best practices for presentation delivery. We will also explain how PowerPoint can be used for purposes other than delivering presentations.

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Advanced Excel for Staff - Build Reports and Analyze Data is a comprehensive, 2-hour course tailored for professionals looking to enhance their Microsoft Excel skills in creating reports and performing data analysis. This course bridges the gap between basic Excel functionality and the advanced techniques required for effective data-driven reports. Participants will learn to efficiently gather, organize, and structure data, apply calculations to derive key metrics, and create professional-grade reports that are both visually appealing and actionable. The course emphasizes practical application, providing participants with guidance on Excel's advanced tools and functions. By mastering workflows and best practices, learners will gain the confidence to tackle complex data challenges and streamline reporting processes. Additionally, participants will explore methods to validate and share their work, ensuring that reports are accurate, insightful, and easily communicated across teams. Whether you are tasked with preparing financial summaries, tracking performance metrics, or generating operational insights, this course will equip you with the tools to maximize Excel's potential, saving time and improving the quality of your outputs. 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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