CPE Catalog & Events

The two sides of leadership Practices that build and destroy an organization’s value and spirit Toxic leader characteristics Four sources of leadership power Push vs. pull leadership styles Six 'Rules of Influence' that cause one person to say 'yes' to another person Ways to defend ourselves against toxic leaders How to use corporate politics to our advantage and still do the right thing

Methods of committing inventory, expense and payroll fraud What to look for when observing inventory Detection of inventory fraud How to recognize fictitious expenses How to recognize altered expenses Indicators of fake documentation The three main reason we ask for documentation Detection and prevention of ghost employees

Auditor independence and its importance to the public accounting profession Common threats to auditor independence AICPA’s framework for assessing conflicts of interest Unique threats related to non-attest services to attest clients Common safeguards to help assure compliance with relevant rules and regulations

What makes people really happy—and what doesn’t The 3 most important things you can do to increase both happiness and productivity How to handle stress in under two minutes How to deal with difficult people so they don’t bring you down How to use positive psychology principles to help your business

How our emotions follow the motion of our body, and how that can be used to instill instant confidence How to tap into a completely relaxed and/or confident state of mind in 10 seconds or less using advanced hypnotic conditioning and Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques How to stay motivated to use the methods outlined in this course to advance your career and achieve a higher quality of life How to use the concept of constant learning to help you maintain a balanced and fulfilling lifestyle

Discuss the most recent tax legislation, rulings and developments Section 163(j) interest expense deduction New 21% corporate tax rate Medicare tax on high income wages and SE income Tax provision and extensions Timing income and deductions Alternative minimum tax (AMT) issues

The major topics that will be covered in this class include:Learn best practices when designing your spreadsheets How to create a proper worksheet structureLearn to use Excel's built in features to find errorsHow to create your custom controls to prevent and find errorsUsing links to quickly move to controlsUsing Conditional Formatting to highlight errors

What are the signs of an ethical versus unethical organization? The need for clear policies Policies should be detailed, clear and unambiguous The importance of ‘doing the right thing when no one else is looking’ How exceptions offer opportunities to the unethical Should exceptions be allowed?

The major topics covered in this class include:FASB codification provisions for transactions with related parties, including business owners and special purpose entities.Compare and contrast those rules with the AICPA financial reporting framework for small and medium-sized entities.Review the tax accounting related taxpayer standards.Real-life examples applying the various authoritative standards. Consequences of failing to comply with the standards.

The major topics covered in this course include:Understanding the ELI5 Approach60 Variations of the ELI5 MethodApplication of the ELI5 Approach in AccountingELI5 Case StudiesStrategies for Implementing the ELI5 ApproachUsing ChatGPT to Enhance ELI5 CommunicationRole of Accountants in Leveraging the ELI5 Approach

Performance Metrics Budgets  

The major topics covered in this course include:ChatGPT and generative AI technology primerBuilding your generative AI vocabularyDig deeper into your engagement research to develop a higher quality advisory servicePolish your client reporting with the help of ChatGPTDeveloping your ChatGPT client advisory servicesStart with client education. You don’t need to be a technical expert to be an educatorUse AI to help your clients automate their workflows / business processesBuild better spreadsheets with ChatGPT and ExcelHelp your clients identify, evaluate and select applications for their business

The importance of professional skepticism The dangers of making assumptions How to listen and understanding the answer to a question Why it is important to leave all of your expectations at home Anticipation and why it’s so dangerous Determining materiality The fraud triangle Thinking about, given a set of circumstances, how you would steal Management and the Tone At the Top

Why we get off balance and how to overcome those tendencies Methods that turbo charge motivation, health and happiness The power of culture and friends to affect our lives The importance of clear intention in order to effect change that lasts

1.    Why people behave as they do, and how you can effectively motivate anyone to cooperate with you How to judge if your communication is effective in motivating someone How to get someone to really hear you How to communicate so that someone will happily do what you want 2.    How to create trust and get people to like working with you The 3 most important keys for getting someone to feel rapport with you Why rapport is so important, and how to use it to profit in your work How to quickly solve problems with people once you have their rapport 3.    How to handle difficult people Why some people are difficult to deal with, and what you can do about it How you can turn a difficult employee or customer into a powerful asset How to easily solve problems with people who are upset at you 4.    Secret techniques that super-successful communicators use How Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are similar, and how you can tap into their "magic abilities" The three most important keys all successful communicators use

U.S.  GAAP and Special purpose frameworks Form and content of financial statements: Balance sheets Income statements; Statements of cash flows Retained earnings and/or owners’ equity statements Comprehensive income Supplementary information Comparative vs. single-period financial statements Sufficiency of disclosures Illustrative disclosures frequently encountered in small-to-medium reporting entities Industry-specific nuances

The major topics covered in this course include:Lightning round review of the following apps, with an explanation and demonstration of what each of them offersTeams - the foundation of all that you do in Microsoft 365SharePoint / OneDrive - secure cloud storagePower BI - the new financial reporting modelStream - the YouTube for your organizationBookings - streamline your appointment scheduling OneNote - get your content organized for quick retrieval Lists - create custom list tracking reportsTo Do - consolidate all your Outlook, Planner and general "to do's" in one appPlanner - manage simple and complex engagements and projects in an intuitive appA quick look at many of the remaining apps

An objective look at retirement plan selection Pros and cons of different plan types Make you an even more valuable resource to your clients

The major topics covered in this class include:An analytical framework for analyzing and opining on reasonable replacement compensation for owner-employees of closely held businesses and professional practices in the context of tax planning, compliance, management consulting and business appraisal assignmentsExecutive compensation components, including the valuation of non-qualified plans and restricted stock units

Trends in financial statement closings including the Quick Close, Soft Close and Virtual CloseReview and discuss information systems' headaches that slow you downWork through examples of close cycle "time killers" and how to resolve themGet inventory and cost of sales under controlIdentify the improvement projects that will yield the biggest benefitReview what leading edge finance managers are doing to close more quickly