CPE Catalog
Chronological events are listed below the Featured events.
We are pleased to offer live CPE seminars throughout the year. These are virtual presentations with a live instructor allowing for live interaction. These seminars are listed in the Seminars tab below.
Employee Stock Options: What Financial Professionals Should Know When Advising Their Clients
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
Companies often offer stock options as an additional form of compensation to attract and retain the best talent. Used appropriately, stock options can generate significant wealth, yet many employees are unfamiliar with how stock options work and why options serve as a valuable opportunity for employees to establish and grow their wealth. Unfortunately, employees who receive stock options are often unaware of their inherent risks. Research has shown that over 76% of employees have never exercised their stock options. Almost half of these individuals (48%), say they held off on selling their options due to fear of making a mistake. This course provides accounting and finance professionals with a broad overview of employee stock options. The webinar is designed to help participants better understand the fundamentals behind these investments and, in turn, better advise their clients.
Top 10 Celebrity Estate Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
This course uses the lives of the rich and famous as a template to better understand the realm of estate planning. With stories ripped from the headlines, we will examine pitfalls and best practices. Did you know that Prince died without a will, opening the door for 45 people claiming to be his beneficiaries? Or that Michael Jackson was not careful in properly funding his trust, leading to delays and legal battles in the administration of his estate? Even Abraham Lincoln, it turns out, did not have a will. In discussing an array of celebrities, from Jackie Kennedy, Joan Rivers, Jimi Hendrix, and Whitney Houston to Aretha Franklin, Barry White, Leona Helmsley, and Florence Griffith Joyner, the course is designed as an enjoyable learning experience with tips for all levels of expertise. We may not have their fame or fortune, but we can certainly walk the red carpet when it comes to estate planning.
Top Business Tax Planning Strategies
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
Business strategies for 2026 are based on important tax changes made in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). There are a number of important business tax changes that can be used to develop tax planning strategies that have great advantages for businesses and their owners. This program covers many important business tax changes and the implications for tax planning founded on them.
Comparing and Contrasting Retirement Plans for Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
Clients often ask accounting and finance professionals whether they have the "best" pension plan and whether they are using it to its maximum advantage. This program explains how various pension plans work and analyzes why a small or medium-sized business owner would choose one plan over another.
Financial Planning: Getting Money to Small Business Owners
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $119
Financial planning for a small business is inherently tied with the owner. When you plan for the future of the company, you are planning for the individual as well. Trying to get the owner additional cash from their company is a common issue faced by many advisors. However, it is important to realize that the form of that cash movement may result in very different tax implications. Using easy to understand examples and cases, this course will explore the common methods used to transfer cash from a small business to the owner. We will look at how the tax implications differ depending on entity type and the form of payment.
Work-Life Balance: Maximizing Productivity and 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.
Understanding Partnership Taxation: Types of Basis, Contributions, and Distributions
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
Calculating partnership basis is one of the most important things that we do as practitioners. However, it is also one of the most confusing. When we use the term "basis," we really could be referring to one of three different things. This course will explore the differences between inside basis, outside basis, and 704(b) basis. Through several examples and practice problems, we will show you how to easily distinguish among these terms. We will also explore the tax implications of initial contributions of property to a partnership as well as the different types of partnership distributions.
Navigating Your Client Through the IRS Appeals Process
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
Despite the fact that a client's tax matter may be taken directly to court, utilizing the IRS Independent Office of Appeals usually results in saving your client both time and money. Join us as we discuss the misunderstood process of navigating through the complex IRS Appeals.
Preparing and Writing Findings in Yellow Book and Single Audits
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
Reporting findings under the Yellow Book and single audit standards comes with unique rules - but mastering them is easier than you think. This course gives you the tools and techniques to prepare, write, and present findings that meet the GAO and OMB requirements while sparking meaningful improvements for your clients. You'll learn exactly what to report, how to report it, and where to report it so you can deliver results with clarity, compliance, and impact.
Privacy, Data Security, and AI: Reasonable Precautions in an Unreasonable World
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $119
This presentation explores modern confidentiality, data security, and AI-related professional obligations in an increasingly hostile and deceptive threat environment. It explains how evolving risks such as AI-generated phishing, account takeovers, deepfakes, and inadvertent data sharing intersect with long-standing ethical duties, emphasizing that competence today includes understanding both the benefits and risks of technology. Through real-world examples and practical guidance, the session reinforces core principles like the strategic pause, high-confidence verification, responsible use of generative AI, proper data storage, and personal accountability, concluding that reasonable precautions remain both expected and achievable even as tactics and technologies change.
Top 20 Effective Strategies for Avoiding RMD Mistakes and Penalties
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
Required minimum distributions (RMDs) must begin for the year in which the account owner reaches age 72 (older if they were born after 1950). RMDs must also be taken from inherited accounts, and the process for determining RMDs for these accounts is more complex than those that apply to RMDs for non-inherited accounts. Failure to comply with the RMD rules will result in the account owner owing the IRS an excess accumulation penalty on any RMD shortfall. Interested parties must understand the compliance requirements that apply to RMDs to be able to assist in ensuring that penalties are avoided. Additionally, the recent changes that affect RMDs must be considered when advising clients about their RMD obligations.
Applying the Yellow Book to a Financial Statement Audit
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
A thorough understanding of the Yellow Book is essential for anyone working with governments and not-for-profits. This course provides comprehensive coverage of the Yellow Book financial auditing requirements and prepares you to excel in applying the standards. The course uses a highly illustrative and engaging format, featuring 15 focused exercises designed to strengthen practical application and enhance working knowledge.
Business Law for Small Business Owners
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
One of the most intimidating aspects of going into business for yourself is compliance. Tax, employment, and regulatory laws are difficult to navigate, so it often falls on the CPA to know the basics in these areas to help their clients avoid costly litigation. In this course, we will cover basic compliance areas for small business owners. We will look at the main elements of a contract, taxation of entity types, worker classification, property law, and many of the other areas that are often overwhelming for small business owners. By being able to speak to these issues, practitioners will be able to add value and help their small business owner clients grow and thrive.
Ethical Considerations for the CPA
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Online
4.00 Credits
Member Price: $159
CPAs today face greater challenges than ever to maintain the high ethical standards of their profession. It is vitally important that all CPAs understand their professional responsibilities related to all aspects of their job. This course, which focuses on key components of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, reviews a history of the CPA profession and focuses on ethical requirements that CPAs must adhere to in their everyday practice, including practical examples of potential ethical dilemmas that practitioners may encounter, particularly those related to objectivity and independence. PLEASE NOTE: THIS COURSE COVERS GENERAL ETHICS AND IS APPLICABLE IN STATES IN WHICH STATE-SPECIFIC ETHICS IS NOT REQUIRED. This course does not qualify for IRS credit.
Annual Accounting and Auditing Update
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Online
8.00 Credits
Member Price: $299
Designed as an all-you-need-to-know update for accounting, auditing, and attestation practitioners at all levels in public accounting and industry, this course provides a comprehensive review of recent standard-setting and rulemaking activities of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On the financial accounting front, we will cover the FASB's Post-Implementation Review (PIR) report released in late 2025 for lease accounting under ASC 842 and discuss the best practices in applying the standard and identifying any ongoing issues practitioners are experiencing with applying the standard. We will also discuss the more than a dozen ASUs the FASB has issued since the beginning of 2024 and into 2026 covering government grants, derivatives and financial instruments, practical expedients for credit losses under ASC 326, and expense disaggregation on the income statement. Our focus on AICPA standards includes a detailed discussion of revamped AICPA quality management standards. The AICPA updated and modernized the standards by issuing Statement on Quality Management Standards 1, 2, and 3 (SQMS 1, SQMS 2, and SQMS 3, respectively), SSARS No. 26, and SAS 146, Quality Management for an Engagement Conducted in Accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (SAS 146). These standards, now effective as of December 15, 2025, modernize quality management standards to reflect an increased focus on risk assessment, technology use, and the presence of outside experts on engagements. We will also discuss AICPA's proposed SAS, The Auditor's Responsibilities Relating to Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements, intended to supersede AU-C section 240. We will also cover new rules impacting public company audits and present case studies on recent fraudulent accounting stories and best practices for detecting and preventing such frauds. In summary, the course is your go-to source for all things A&A and will prepare you for your upcoming engagements throughout the rest of the year.
Tax Forms Boot Camp: LLCs, Partnerships, and S Corporations
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Online
8.00 Credits
Member Price: $279
The course provides a comprehensive, hands-on, pencil pushing understanding of the preparation of both S corporation and partnership/LLC tax returns, along with the underlying laws, regulations, etc. The course uses the basic concepts underlying the two main types of business returns: 1120S and 1065 as building blocks for more complex concepts tax preparers should be aware of. The theoretical concepts get illustrated in comprehensive examples that incorporate the most up-to-date law changes and provisions.
The Best Federal Tax Update Course by Surgent
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Online
8.00 Credits
Member Price: $299
In this continually revised course, tax advisors will be fully updated on the most recent enacted legislation and IRS guidance, as well as major trends on the horizon with a view toward planning considerations. This update course is designed for all practitioners, both those working in public accounting as well as those in private industry, who need the latest information on tax changes. Please Note: Due to content overlap, it is recommended that this course NOT be taken together with BITU.
Choosing the Right Business Entity
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
The business structure a client chooses influences virtually every tax and financial issue associated with the business, including the business's day-to-day operations, its tax liability, how much of the owners' personal assets are at risk, and much more. For this and many other reasons, it is critical that a client choose a business structure that gives the right balance of legal protections and tax benefits. From a tax perspective, in terms of selecting an entity to do business in, the universe shifted with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted at the end of 2017. The tax rate for C corporations was lowered to 21% and the §199A deduction offered pass-through entities the chance to significantly lower the rate at which they are taxed. But how do all these options work and which option is best for which business? Those questions are at the heart of this webinar. In this program, we discuss whether there is a "best entity" for our clients. Accounting and finance professionals know that re-examining choice of entity determination is at the top of the agenda for client meetings because clients continue to want reassurance that they have the most tax-efficient entity structure. This program will equip you with the knowledge and insights you need to lead those discussions.
Financial Reporting Considerations for Current Year-end Reporting
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $119
From implementing new accounting standards to accounting for the impact of tariffs, entities have many considerations when preparing their current year financial statements. This course will address many of the financial reporting topics that entities must navigate when preparing their year-end financial statements.
Post-death Planning and Estate Administration Strategies
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Online
2.00 Credits
Member Price: $99
After a client's death, financial and tax outcomes are shaped not only by the estate plan itself, but also by decisions made during the administration process. Executors and advisors must evaluate liquidity needs, asset disposition, valuation choices, and available tax elections, all while coordinating estate, income, and transfer tax considerations. This course introduces the practical and strategic issues that arise after death and explains how post-mortem decisions can materially affect taxes, cash flow, and beneficiary outcomes.