CPE Catalog & Events

Do you ever get blank looks when you present your company's financial statements? Does your board nod knowingly, during your presentation, but never seem to have any meaningful questions? It could be that they have no idea what you are talking about and are just pretending to understand! Learn how to connect with your CEO, board, fellow managers, and ordinary employees so they understand your message. Learn to motivate them to action. Come hear a veteran CFO tell you how.Speaker - John L. Daly, MBA, CPA, CMA, CPIM

The course will cover the basic requirements for performing preparation, compilation and review engagements under the current SSARS standards including the new SSARS No. 25, Materiality in a Review of Financial Statements and Adverse Conclusions. The session will highlight common issues found on SSARS engagements in connection with peer reviews and the impact of various findings on the results of a firm's peer review. The discussion will highlight the key issues to consider during your upcoming SSARS engagements and will incorporate quality control recommendations and tips for performing high-quality SSARS engagements.Speaker - Allison M. Henry, CPA, CGMA

This session provides an overview of compilation, review, and audit engagements. We will explore major considerations regarding each type of engagement in addition to contrasting and comparing these three major professional services provided by certified public accountants.Speaker - Chris Harper, CPA

This comprehensive course will highlight the impact of the current financial reporting environment on financial statement reporting, evaluate recently issued accounting and financial statement reporting standards from the Financial Accounting Standards Board, recall other financial reporting frameworks, and key implementation challenges and identify emerging financial reporting trends.Speaker - Allison M. Henry, CPA, CGMA

The amount of electronic content that business organizations contend with is growing at incredible rates. Terms like "Big Data" and "Information Overload", are being used by overwhelmed information workers on a daily basis. Additionally, because of the move to a much larger telecommuter footprint, electronic data is now even more prevalently utilized. This session discusses the places that businesses keep digital information and addresses the importance of securing corporate electronic data. The material effectively shows ways to achieve high security standards for content stored in fixed locations, on mobile devices and in the cloud. Participants in this session will gain an understanding of the concepts needed to improve the way they, and their companies secure digital information.Speaker - Karl Egnatoff

Just about every company, no matter its size or the types of activities it undertakes, is at greater risk because of all the types of fraud that can be be carried out electronically. Potential perpetrators can be operating internally or externally and the scope of the damage that occurs is almost never limited to cyber-assets. While threat awareness is improving, there are still too many owners or top level executives that underestimate the scale of the issue. In this session, we delve into the types and the nature of many electronic defalcation schemes. The material then explores measures that organizations can implement to help stop these activities and add additional layers of security.Speaker - Karl Egnatoff

Staying current on significant changes in Government Audit Standards can be difficult. This course covers the most important issues and changes relevant to Yellow Book financial statement audits.Speaker - Jennifer F. Louis, CPA

This session explores tools and techniques that can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of client engagements and business processes using data analysis tools. We will introduce some of today's popular and software tools and examine the AICPA's Five-step approach to incorporating data analytics into public accounting engagements.Speaker - Chris Harper, CPA

Most organizations have many of the basic controls required to operate in place. However, a notable percentage of these companies do not have important measures that can help enhance security, productivity, and the quality of information available for decision making. In this session, we work to identify areas where important internal control measures are needed. We spend time explaining why these controls should be created, and show in detail some specific controls that would be beneficial if utilized. Those wishing to strengthen an internal control system should strongly consider attending this session.Speaker - Karl Egnatoff

With more than 30 years working with entrepreneurs and their employees, Sherr‚ has been able to identify five wishful thinking mindsets and six fearful thinking mindsets that hold individuals back from reaching their goals and achieving their desired level of success in life and at work. Based on her nationally acclaimed book, Me, Myself & Inc., DREAM WIDE AWAKE will help you shift your thinking from can't imagine to can-do, inspiring and motivating you to take action and shift from daydreaming to dream doing!Speaker - Sherre L. DeMao, CGS

This program reviews the statutory and regulatory guidance as they relate to fringe benefits. There will be an emphasis on entertainment, meals and business transportation expenses, including qualified employer-provided parking, with a focus on planning opportunities. Recent federal tax legislation, cases and rulings will also be addressed.Speaker - Steven C. Dilley, CPA, JD, PhD

The importance of Defined Names and Excel Tables is detailed in our course "Excel - Two Must Know Features: Defined Names & Tables." Once you understand these two features, how can you use them to build advanced spreadsheets?This course is designed to demonstrate how you can use these features to build better spreadsheets that are easier to read, easier to update and more accurate. Learn about the INDIRECT function and how to use it with Defined Names to build a summary table. You will also learn the importance of Consistent Column Calculations and how tables can help. We will demonstrate the use of Structured Table References, as this is the foundation for using the advanced data analytics.This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

In this course, we will focus on Financial, Statistical and Math functions. In the Financial functions section, you will learn how to use the financial functions to build better amortization schedules. In the Statistical and Math functions sections, you will learn how to use various statistical functions to analyze your data. Depending on your version, Excel has over 500 functions already built in and ready to use. How many of those do you incorporate into your spreadsheets? You will learn some powerful functions that will take your calculating power to the next level. This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

In the "Excel - Formatting Spreadsheets for Beginners" class, you learned basic formatting of a spreadsheet. In this class, we take you to the next level by teaching you how to customize many of the formatting options.Learn to customize cell styles and how to use these styles in other workbooks. Most Excel users know how to select number formats but this class shows how to leverage the Custom Number Formatting option to create special formatting options.Many of the formatting options are applied manually, cell-by-cell or by range. This can be tedious if there is a condition by which you want to apply a format. You will learn to use Conditional Formatting to format based upon a criteria.Have you ever finalized a spreadsheet, only to accidently make changes over the top? This action is something that is very easy to do. This class demonstrates various options to prevent this from happening and will look at various security options within Excel.This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

In this course, we will focus on debugging and troubleshooting complex formulas. You will learn various techniques that will assist you in creating complex compound formulas. You will also learn methods to resolve issues when you receive errors. Do you dread that annoying ERROR! message popping up on your spreadsheets? Tired of using the same long, elaborate formulas when you could be using Excel's built-in formulas? Then this class is for you!This session will also discuss Excel's nine built-in error-checking options and then demonstrate different approaches to error resolution. We will also review techniques to resolve rounding errors.This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

Did you know Excel has 400-500 functions depending on your version? Did you know there are 12 different function categories? Did you know you could create your own functions? After you attend this class, you will be in the know! In this course, we will focus on proofing and auditing your spreadsheets. You will learn how to build spreadsheets that validate the accuracy of your calculations and techniques to use the Data Validation feature to validate data entry. You will also learn techniques to cross-foot your data to ensure accuracy as well as how to use the various Excel Auditing Tools. This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

In this course, we will focus on the Logical, Information and Lookup and Reference functions. In the Logical function section, you will learn to perform logical tests using the IF function along with AND, OR and NOT. In the Information function section, you will learn various ERROR checking functions that can be combined with the Logical functions. In the Lookup and Reference section, you will learn to use the various LOOKUP functions and the INDIRECT function. Excel has over 500 functions that are built in and ready to use. You just have to figure out which one to use and when. Integrating functions into each and every one of your spreadsheets not only improves efficiency, it also makes your task easier to execute. This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

In this course, you will learn how to build robust dashboards for analyzing key metrics in Excel. We will begin with some dashboard design guidelines, such as understanding your audience and identifying necessary metrics. Then we will work through importing data, setting up calculated fields and columns, and creating key performance indicators (KPIs) for the dashboards.Most business professionals use Excel to help them make decisions about their data. However, as the amount of data grows, it becomes more difficult to make strategic decisions based on rows and rows and columns and columns of data. You will learn how to add charts and eye-catching visuals with Power View, which will make your dashboards easily understood.This session is presented using Excel 2013. Regardless of the version you are using, ALL concepts covered in this course apply to ALL versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

Over the years, Excel has added MANY new features and functionality, yet most people still use it the same way they first learned it. Many of the features were added to Excel to enhance your ability to create spreadsheets more efficiently and with more accurately. However, if you aren't aware of these new features, how can you use them? This class will focus on walking through each ribbon (menu) to explain the capability of various features in Excel. It is a great overview for both new and advanced Excel users to make sure you know all the capabilities of Excel. You may have seen many of the features but had no idea what they could do for you. This class will help you to understand these features and determine how you might take advantage of their capabilities. This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA

Formatting Excel spreadsheets to look their best can be a tedious task. From deciding which fonts to use to cell formatting to multiple sheets to printing to distribution, these factors can take considerable valuable time. This class is designed to help you efficiently format spreadsheets, so you can spend time on more profitable tasks like analyzing data.Learn to format multiple sheets at the same time as well as use Cell Styles to quickly format cells and ranges. Learn how to create and use templates that are pre-formatted. We will also review print options.This session is presented using Excel 2019/Office 365. Regardless of the version you are using, most concepts covered in this course apply to all versions of Excel.Speaker - Bryan L. Smith, CPA.CITP, CISA