WICPA CPE & Special Event Catalog
AI & Accounting in Construction
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
This course provides a concise overview of how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the construction industry and reshaping financial oversight, accounting practices and regulatory compliance. From autonomous equipment to predictive risk analytics, construction firms are increasingly adopting AI to enhance safety, efficiency and profitability. As this transformation unfolds, accountants and financial professionals must evolve their roles-leveraging AI for smarter budgeting, automated compliance and real-time auditing. The course highlights the top 20 macro-level AI trends in construction and explores how accounting professionals can align financial systems with operational AI, uphold audit integrity and prepare for emerging tax and compliance challenges. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Corporate Finance Technology Selection: Practical Frameworks
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Online
1.00 Credits
Member Price: $55
Finance technology decisions (ERP, FP&A, AP/expense automation, close/consolidation, bank integrations and AI-enabled tools) can dramatically improve close speed, forecasting and control execution-but vendor demos and "AI" marketing often hide integration complexity, data readiness gaps, governance risk and long-term total cost. This course provides a practical, vendor-neutral approach for CPAs and finance leaders to evaluate and implement corporate finance technology with an audit-ready mindset. Participants learn how to cut through AI claims using an AI capability framework, apply a weighted vendor evaluation scorecard focused on controls and assurance, build a five-year total cost model that captures hidden and ongoing costs and follow an implementation roadmap with checkpoints and red flags to reduce failure risk and improve ROI realization. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
The Controller Function: Elevating the Role
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Online
1.50 Credits
Member Price: $79
This is the beginning of a series that will cover major aspects of the Controllership function. Controllers are essential to the day-to-day accounting for organizations. Yet, the role is not often readily understood. In today's world of acronyms such as CFO, CEO, COO, CAO, etc., the Controller function may get lost in the shuffle. However, they are a critical group of professionals who ensure the adequacy & transparency of accounting & financial reporting information. A Controller is an individual who has responsibility for all accounting-related activities including high-level accounting, managerial counting & finance activities within a company. The duties of a Controller include assisting with the preparation of the operating budgets, overseeing financial reporting & performing essential duties relating to payroll. However, in today's evolving world, the Controller function can provide much more in-depth value to their organizations. This series is dedicated to exploring the traditional Controller role & stepping out of the box to identify areas where the Controller can add strategic value to their organizations. In this first course we focus on the typical Controller function & begin to identify ways to elevate the function.
Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS): Overview & Contrast to 2017 International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF)
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Online
1.60 Credits
Member Price: $79
In May 2023, the IIA released a draft of the new Global Internal Audit Standards. The intent was to provide more effective standards for Internal Audit globally. The new Global Internal Audit Standards were released on January 9, 2024 & will become effective January 9, 2025. The previous version, the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, released in 2017, remains approved for use during a one-year transition period. The Global Internal Audit Standards guide the worldwide professional practice of internal audit. They serve as a basis for evaluating & elevating the quality of the internal audit function. The Standards use 15 guiding principles with five separate domains that enable effective internal audit implementation & examples of evidence of conformance. The Global Standards are organized into five domains. Domain I: Purpose of Internal Auditing Domain II: Ethics & Professionalism Domain III: Governing the Internal Audit Function Domain IV: Managing the Internal Audit Function Domain V: Performing Internal Audit Service
Data Analytics: Practical Insights for Today's Accountant
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
This session explores tools & techniques that can enhance the efficiency & effectiveness of client engagements & business processes using data analysis tools. We will introduce some of today's popular & software tools & examine the AICPA's Five-step approach to incorporating data analytics into public accounting engagements.
Navigating IRS Correspondence: Responding to IRS Letters
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
Participants will learn how to interpret the most common IRS correspondence, adhere to response deadlines and effectively communicate with the IRS to resolve issues and minimize risks. It provides professionals with knowledge and strategies needed to handle the most common notices including audit requests, collections & return inquiries as well as error notices. Focusing on best practices to ensure compliance and avoiding penalties or escalation. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Accounting for Leases
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Online
2.60 Credits
Member Price: $99
In February 2016, FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which provides new guidelines that change the accounting for leasing arrangements. To be able to properly account for leases, financial professionals must understand ASU 2016-02 (also referred to as Topic 842). This guidance covers information on how leases should be accounted for. The previous leasing standard (ASC 840) had been in existence for almost 40 years. Under ASC Topic 842, lessors continue to classify leases as operating, direct financing, or sales-type. While lessees now classify leases as operating or financing leases. Previous guidance only required capital leases to be reflected on the BS. The new guidance requires all leases to be reflected on the BS. This is a major change for organizations & will cause their balance sheets to swell as leases must now be disclosed on the balance sheet. The standards original effective dates were prior to 2019. In April 2020, due to COVID-19, FASB voted to defer the effective date for ASC 842 for private companies & certain not-for-profit's for one year. For private companies & private not-for-profits, the leasing standard will be effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021 & interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022. For public companies the leasing standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The course covers elements of lease classification for both lessees & lessors. Also, numerous examples are incorporated as reference.
Will Your Ethics Be Burned by Burnout?
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
Ethical behavior is not a destination it is a journey with twists, turns and bumps in the road. We are faced with ethical dilemmas every day. Do I speed to make it to a meeting? Do I call in sick because I need a break? When does "helping my child with their homework" become "doing it for them"? CPAs are ethical most of the time, but staying ethical is hard. It gets harder when we are under stress. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.Note: This course qualifies to count toward the WICPA membership Ethics CPE requirement.
Resistance to Resilience: Strive for Tech Change Acceptance
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Online
1.00 Credits
Member Price: $55
Technology adoption often comes with resistance, but it's possible to transform this challenge into an opportunity for growth. This course explores the journey from resistance to resilience in embracing new technologies, focusing on overcoming barriers and ensuring successful implementation. Participants will examine cutting-edge audit technologies, including AI, data analytics and automation and learn how to align these innovations with both organizational and personal goals. Through case studies, insights into the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and practical discussions, participants will gain the tools and strategies to foster acceptance, driving seamless integration of new technology into both individual tasks and team workflows. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
The Controllership Series: The Future Role of the Controller Part I
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Online
1.50 Credits
Member Price: $79
This is a two-part series that discuss new trends & concepts the financial controller should begin to execute in order to truly become a valued member of the senior leadership team. The rapid pace of the evolving technological landscape has promoted changes in how accountants & financial professionals focus attention on strategy & modernize their roles to leverage digital technology. There is increased demand for enhancing flexibility into finance cycles & initiating real-time reporting & insights. These are the core attributes that will assist in transforming the work that controllership function performs. Is the financial controllership prepared to meet future business demands? The IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) & Deloitte's Center for Controllership aimed to better understand the current state of controllership & expectations of future demands for controllers & accounting professionals. They conducted a survey in late 2022 & identified several trends. The survey takes a look at how prepared controllership is to meet future business demands. It also highlights some insights for leaders to consider that may increase their preparedness. It also identified areas of additional insight & questions to answer on the controllership transformation journey. In this segment one, we go through numerous concepts in detail & the remaining concepts will be covered in segment two.
Creating Terrific Equity Compensation Plans: Beware of the Pitfalls
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
In today's business world, there is a war for talent & organizations with the best talent will win. We clearly need to motivate talented personnel. Equity compensation plans are useful to retain, reward & recruit. The GAAP & tax accounting for equity compensation plans is not static & decisions that you make during plan set-up can have major consequences to your organization's bottom line & your management team's personal tax situations. We will review nuances & details that impact proper accounting. Whether you are the CFO or CEO who has not been happy with prior equity compensation plans or the accountant who performs the intricate analysis & detailed accounting for these plans: this session will help you understand the issues & get it right the first time.
How to Choose the Right Business Entity for Your Client
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
Tax rates, personal liability, operations: these are all factors to be weighed when advising clients about their choice of entity decision. This session provides a comparison of the multiple entity choices to start the discussion with clients & selecting the best tax efficient option for them. 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 & submit to kori.herrera@acpen.com
Securing Your Data with a Password Management App: Updated
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
Cybersecurity protection is one of the most important responsibilities of every CPA professional to protect the confidentiality of sensitive client information. While there are many aspects of cybersecurity that need to be addressed, the biggest vulnerability to protect against is unauthorized access to your application login credentials. Once your login credentials are breached, the cybercriminal essentially has the keys to your data kingdom. John Higgins, a national leader in the CPA technology, will demonstrate the ease with which you can protect all of your login credentials with maximum security with minimal expense. You will leave this course prepared to deploy this state of the art security tool in your organization. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Surgent's Work-Life Balance: Maximizing Productivity & Understanding Related Tax Issues
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
Working in accounting and finance offers strong earnings and growth, yet chronic overwork remains the top driver of anxiety and attrition in the profession. Evidence shows that long hours and poor recovery harm both health and output: large studies link greater than 55-hour weeks to higher cardiovascular risk, specific-hour thresholds to productivity drops and insufficient sleep to eroded performance. At the same time, well-designed flexibility works. A recent randomized trial of a two-days-from-home hybrid schedule improved satisfaction and cut quits without hurting results and multi-firm pilots of shorter workweeks report lower burnout and stable revenue. This webinar translates that research — along with sector-specific findings on accountants' work-life priorities — into practical tools for financial professionals and their firms. We'll cover how to set evidence-based workload and availability norms (e.g., hybrid cadence, meeting discipline, focused work blocks), build manager habits that reduce stress without sacrificing delivery and document simple recovery practices (sleep, boundaries and time off) to sustain peak periods. We'll also address policy design: aligning work styles and responsibilities within teams, metrics that reward outcomes over hours and how to pilot changes safely. Participants will leave with a concise checklist and templates they can implement immediately.
Surgent's Annual FASB Update & Review
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
This course provides a detailed discussion on the key topics related to financial reporting, though in a summarized format. The course will focus on recent ASUs issued by the FASB, including the 12 ASUs issued in 2025, with a concentration on issues of greatest significance to most accounting practitioners. The greatest emphasis on the ASUs will focus on those effective in 2025 and 2026. Specifically, the course will review ASUs addressing financial instruments, disaggregated expenses, government grants, credit losses under ASC 326 and the final stages of the ASC 842 post-implementation review (PIR) report findings. Other hot-button accounting issues, such as what is on the FASB's technical agenda, are also discussed. This course is the place to go for a succinct but thorough update on the big topics impacting financial accounting and reporting.
Surgent's Project Management: Tips, Tricks & Traps
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
Recent economic, societal and political changes have shown us the need for numerous projects and the need to manage those projects in a unique way. Project management is a way of thinking highly recognized and practiced by large organizations, but often neglected by the smallest companies and entrepreneurs. This course quickly discusses the basics of project management thought and practice and then spends the majority of the time exploring some of the greatest mistakes that can be made, the ways to avoid them and some of the tricks that have been introduced into the discipline. In the program we will explore some of the specific types of project management as well as some of the available software programs to make the task of project management easier.
Surgent's The Essential Multistate Tax Update
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
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 state taxation, ranging from individuals to pass-through entities to corporate taxpayers. This class will focus on issues of small and middle-market companies and offer guidance for minimizing tax liability and negotiating the treacherous waters of compliance.
Complete Guide to Analyze Data with Excel PivotTables
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $149
Unlock the full potential of Microsoft Excel PivotTables with this comprehensive course. This training is designed to equip participants with the skills to effectively analyze and summarize data, transforming raw numbers into actionable insights. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to data analysis, this course provides an in-depth understanding of PivotTables and their capabilities, helping you uncover patterns, compare data and make informed decisions. The program includes a step-by-step approach to creating and customizing PivotTables, focusing on how to use them to analyze data efficiently. Participants will learn how to group and filter data, identify trends and apply advanced features to solve real-world business challenges. Beyond technical knowledge, this course introduces data visualization through PivotCharts, teaching participants how to present their analysis effectively to stakeholders. By the end of the course, you'll not only master PivotTable fundamentals but also gain advanced techniques to streamline data analysis and support strategic decision-making in any context. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Fraud & Embezzlement: Case Studies from the Trenches
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $89
Governmental entities are the second largest victims of embezzlement. This seminar examines recent events involving theft of public money and circumstances that allowed the fraud to occur. Case studies we examine include the 2012 $54 million embezzlement from the City of Dixon by Rita Crundwell. The events that impacted the small Illinois town of 16,000 residents was the largest governmental fraud case to date and spanned an astonishing 20 years. This remarkable story inspired an award-winning documentary, "All the Queen's Horses." We will also examine factors that led to scandals involving the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, World Com, Collin Street Bakery and the Ohio American Cancer Society, among others. This course is ideal for CPAs, government finance personnel, all Internal Auditors, lawyers, governance professionals, accountants and human resource personnel. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.Note: This course qualifies to count toward the WICPA membership Ethics CPE requirement.
Internal Controls Over Compliance versus Compliance
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Online
1.00 Credits
Member Price: $55
Accurately identifying and testing controls over compliance is critical, yet it remains a common deficiency highlighted in peer reviews. This course offers a comprehensive overview of internal controls over compliance, with a focus on their application to Single Audits. Participants will learn how to effectively align internal controls with specific compliance requirements. Additionally, we will address one of the most frequent findings in audits of governmental entities receiving federal grants: the misidentification of controls and the confusion between compliance and control processes. This course will help clarify the distinction, equipping you with the tools to enhance audit quality and ensure compliance effectiveness. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
