Professional Development and Event Catalog

Join us for this opportunity to gather with CTCPA Executive Director and CEO Bonnie Stewart to discuss issues affecting the profession.

This course may assist those who want or need to remain up to date on recently issued and effective guidance impacting the accounting and auditing of private companies.

The landscape of estate and financial planning challenges pertinent to Generations X and Y (individuals born after 1964) is expansive. This course introduces a fresh perspective on the multifaceted issues professionals might confront while strategizing for their Generation X and Y clients and executing those strategies.

Part one of a five-course series, Level I addresses common issues new staff members face. Learn to focus on strategies to improve efficiency and quality control, build technical skills, and make valuable contributions to a company. We will dive into the fundamentals: workpaper techniques, analytical procedures, compilation and review services, tax recognition and research techniques, understanding audit objectives, and auditing and reviewing selected accounts.

Develop your soft skills in training courses that benefit both the person attending and their organization. This course, part four of the five-course series, is applicable for various accounting departments (i.e. audit, tax, consulting, and accounting services) but because these are universal leadership concepts, they are equally applicable to other professional business leaders. AHI soft skills training will help improve efficiency, make managers and senior managers more effective with others, and increase the organization's bottom line. Also, as these courses often include other industries besides accounting, there is an opportunity to work and network with leadership professionals from other industries.

For many business professionals, accessing and managing data in Excel is one of the biggest stumbling blocks when creating reports and analyses. Common practices include far too many manual processes and formulas, including never-ending manual processes needed to update your data and related reports. Make plans now to join us in this session to learn best practices for accessing and managing data using Excel. In this session, you will learn how you can use Power Query and other Excel tools to quickly access and manipulate your data and generate reports in record time! This is a “must-see” session for any business professional working with Excel!    

Automating the tax practice is – or should be – a major initiative of almost all public accounting firms today. From ingesting data, processing returns, distributing draft and final copies, and billing and collecting fees, practitioners have outstanding opportunities to automate their tax practice. Those that choose to automate will experience the benefits of reduced staff turnover, increased productivity and efficiency, fewer errors, and improved cash flow. Participate in this session to learn the “how’s and why’s” of automating your tax practice. This session includes critical topics such as hardware and software options, workflows, and security and privacy issues. Plan to join us in this session to position your tax practice for greater success! 

Financial managers have long struggled to drive results through their financial planning and control processes. This seminar shows how to build a performance management framework, linking the company's high-level strategic objectives to performance metrics at the individual responsibility center level. The result will be an easier to use financial planning process that produces better projections and better control. Learn how to move the dials on every executive's dashboard

Based on Government Auditing Standards, 2018 Revision, this course is essential for auditors performing Yellow Book audits. It provides detailed information about conducting engagements in accordance with the Yellow Book and requirements related to independence. This course will increase your knowledge of the requirements and application guidance related to ethics, standards for financial audits, attestation engagements, performance audits, and more.

CPAs face an ever-present threat of malpractice claims regardless of the services performed. While impossible to eliminate all risk, accountants can, with forethought, identify and implement practical techniques to help mitigate the risk of a professional liability claim. This course will discuss day-to-day risk management protocols related to firm practice management and the delivery of services. Tools will also be provided for CPA firms to leverage related to client acceptance, engagement letters, client communications and more.

Designed to provide you with the knowledge to be more efficient and effective at planning and performing audits in accordance with the requirements of the Uniform Guidance and the Single Audit Act, this course examines how the Single Audit Act relates to OMB Uniform Guidance, as well as the different types of guidance and requirements found in the Uniform Guidance. The course also covers responsibilities and requirements of the auditor and the auditee, how to identify federal assistance and how to determine a nonfederal entity's major programs. Make sure your skills are up to date with the latest information in this challenging audit area.

With the largest overhaul of the federal income tax code in 30 years and the repeal of the physical presence nexus standards for sales tax in the Wayfair case, the states are working fast and furious to overhaul their tax laws. As some states scramble to fund their budgets, they continue to look for additional forms of revenue. 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.

Tax planning for 2024 is largely based upon legislation contained within the Inflation Reduction Act and the SECURE Act 2.0, both enacted in 2022, that offer new planning options and challenges for businesses in 2024. There are, however, other business tax changes in 2024 that result from different pieces of tax legislation, IRS pronouncements, and court cases that need to be taken into account from a planning perspective. This program analyzes the new opportunities and challenges that these tax changes offer to businesses and their owners that impact 2024 and sometimes later years.

Microsoft Teams is one of the most exciting personal and organizational productivity tools ever appearing on the business landscape. With Teams, you can communicate and collaborate easily and securely with others, including colleagues outside your organization. Further, you can extend the already-robust functionality in Teams by incorporating add-in solutions with just a few mouse clicks. Unfortunately, despite Teams' power and relatively simple interface, many organizations struggle to deploy and use Teams. In this session, you will learn how to get up and running quickly in Teams to take full advantage of this powerful tool. More specifically, you will learn how to get started in Teams and critical decisions affecting your deployment. Also, you will learn how to work in Teams, take advantage of the chat, voice, and video call services, and share documents securely with others. Moreover, you will learn how to extend your Teams platform to external organizations for improved communication and collaboration. Additionally, you will identify how to add other applications to Teams and optimize Team's configuration for the best overall efficiency and security. If you are working with Teams or plan to do so, this is one CPE session you can't afford to miss!

This course is designed for firm partners and managers to explore ways to incorporate data analytics and related technologies in their audit practices. Participants explore how small and mid-size firms are using these tools to improve engagement efficiency and quality while providing opportunities for value-added services to clients. All of AHI's courses rely heavily on participant interaction and these virtual programs have co-opted many of Zoom's features to preserve the same strengths of the in-person training: visual interaction between the instructor and all participants (plan to be "on screen" throughout the program); breakout rooms to ensure small group engagement; and instructor interaction screen share for small group presentations, easy delivery of video presentations, and fillable PDF for online note-taking in the course materials.

This 2-hour mini course is from our Level V course, which highlights leadership skills and situations that are common for managers and senior managers in CPA firms. Participants will be encouraged to examine and challenge their beliefs and approaches to managing and leading people. Leading Others - Coaching & Developing Staff - prioritizing the coaching and development of staff in a post-pandemic work environment, including delegation for development, effective feedback, and managing virtual employees. Building Leadership Communication Skills - strategies to influence and lead others through effective communication in both individual and group settings. Helping the Firm Grow - the three levels of helping the firm grow and how to involve the entire team in expanding services to existing clients and generating referrals to new clients. All of AHI's courses rely heavily on participant interaction and these virtual programs have co-opted many of Zoom's features to preserve the same strengths of the in-person training: visual interaction between the instructor and all participants (plan to be "on screen" throughout the program); breakout rooms to ensure small group engagement; and instructor interaction screen share for small group presentations, easy delivery of video presentations, and fillable PDF for online note-taking in the course materials.

Security is not optional, and yesterday's security techniques do not minimize today's threats. Therefore, now is the time to tune up what you know about protecting sensitive data. This program will teach you the latest tools and techniques for securing your data, including encryption, virus protection, safe communications, electronic signatures, secure authentication, and more. You will also learn how to implement a practical, five-step approach to securing your PC and the questions you should ask your staff to ensure server-based information remains protected. Security failures, such as client or customer data breaches, are costly - they can even drive your company out of business. So, what security tools do you need, and how should you use them to secure your sensitive data and systems? Can you risk attempting to manage today's threats using yesterday's techniques? Participate in this program to learn how to identify viable and practical solutions to mitigating today's security threats.

Do you prepare private company financial statement disclosures in accordance with accepted accounting principles (GAAP) issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), or a "Special Purpose Framework" (SPF), such as cash or tax basis? If so, then this course is for you. This course addresses many frequently encountered disclosures associated with the preparation of financial statements for private companies.

All small firm owners, partners, and principals are invited to join us for our virtual Small Firm Roundtable meetings on the last Wednesday of January, April, July, and October. CTCPA Executive Director and CEO Bonnie Stewart will lead open discussion on topics of importance to small firms.