Whether you’re in public accounting or industry, innovation is the key to future success. Learn why it is so important and discover why culture is the primary fuel for innovation. Receive ideas on how we can help build a culture of innovation within our own teams. Have your phones ready to provide input as we challenge the status quo together.

"One of the best sessions for small to medium sized firms!"

The AICPA is seeing significant quality issues with audits and other reporting engagements performed by CPAs. Learn what steps the AICPA is taking to improve quality, and the enhancements you can make in your firm.

Revenue recognition is one of the most important reporting areas faced by accountants and standard setters. Avoid the many traps related to recognizing revenue in the delivery of products and services while you become familiar with GAAP requirements of revenue recognition including multiple element arrangements. With illustrative examples and an examination of important rules and principals, acquire the background and context to accurately identify and resolve revenue recognition issues.

Ethics should be a black and white issue. However, if you ask most CPAs, they would say ethics is a very gray area. Why is this? Discuss real-world cases such as Wells Fargo, Theranos, and the most current cases of ethics violations.

First and foremost: why BAT is a “batty” idea; you and your clients operating domestically: “no worries since no impact;” competitiveness effects - stronger dollar has greater negative impact than a weaker dollar; supply chain disruptions; and impact of corporate tax rate to 15 percent.

In today’s mobile environment, everything centers on an app. From accessing the news to making travel plans to creating documents, today’s apps impact businesstransactions and environments as never before. Learn how leading-edge apps can help you to access and analyze your important information.

Learn what value pricing really means, how it is different than fixed fee pricing, and why using value pricing increases the value of your services in your clients’ minds. Discuss how to develop a personalized action plan to implement value pricing for your practice.

Improv is more than just laughs—it’s a valuable training tool that can make anyone a more effective business professional. It’s not slapstick—improvisation is a leadership tool. It’s all about respect, trust, support, listening, focus, and adapting to the changing landscape by maintaining a YES! AND attitude.

Focus on emerging substantive tax issues and the appropriate levels of due diligence required to advise your clients under the regulations in Circular 230. Learn to recognize Circular 230 provisions for due diligence; identify due diligence for tax returns; determine disclosure requirement; and recognize due diligence to avoid common errors.

Just as businesses have changed how accounting is performed, so too must auditors change how they conduct audits. Technology can be an auditor’s friend or foe when conducting audits. Learn how to perform audits not only more efficiently, but also to achieve better results.

One of the biggest mega trends today is the aging population. By 2020, the number of older adults will be greater than the number of children younger than five years of age. Discuss real life actions you can take immediately to expand your service offering to seniors. Learn how they to help seniors with the financial challenges of living longer, as well as living longer with illness, and how seniors can qualify for government benefits without going broke.

Receive an overview of best practice methodologies in budgeting and forecasting. Cover 33 actionable steps that are critical to successful budgeting and forecasting. These include areas such as strategy, prioritization, flexibility and accountability.

While many of us were busy with the tax season grind, President Trump released his ideas for business tax reform; Congress worked on its plans for the “repeal and replace” of Obamacare and its employer mandate; tax legislation from prior years was implemented; and the tax courts ruled. Hear what’s new for 2017 and what we can advise our business clients today about tax reform and how it impacts them, including what is a good “place holder” entity while we await the details of the proposed 15 percent tax bracket for pass through and how reasonable compensation in the pass through entity may be the new tax planning idea.

Dashboard reporting continues to revolutionize how businesses deliver information to team members. Many new tools have created opportunities for interactive dashboards to present financial information to non-accountants in easy to-use and easy-to-analyze environments. Learn how to put these tools to work to enhance your reporting processes.

Covering everything from Microsoft Windows and Office to mobile devices, discuss a wide variety of practical tips and tricks you can use in your day-to-day work to increase productivity and stand out among your colleagues. Leave excited to share and train others on the new tools in your belt.

Social Security seems poised for changes in benefits and eligibility age. Financial and tax planners can expect increased demand for strategies that dovetail Social Security with other retirement and estate-planning objectives. Receive background information on the Social Security system and the strategies clients will need in dealing with Social Security and all the other myriad of related retirement planning issues.

While many of us were busy with the tax season grind, President Trump released his ideas for individual tax reform; Congress worked on its plans for the “repeal and replace” of Obamacare; tax legislation from prior years was implemented; and, the tax courts ruled. Hear what’s new for our individual clients in 2017 and what we can advise clients today about tax reform and how it impacts them.

Because of the digital explosion, business management is facing a unique technology era. Technology developments offer faster ways to access data, talent and customers while providing customers access to new products, information and services. Responding to the digital revolution will allow for informed decision making and establishment of a competitive strategic advantage and survival for many businesses.

The speed at which we need to absorb and process all of the information we need to make daily leadership decisions without the interference of habit or unconscious bias is quickly diminishing. Not because we are getting older but rather because the amount of information thrown at us in any given minute is growing increasing greater and greater thanks to technology. Add the element changing demographics in the U.S. and the growth of global organizations, some may want to give up. Developing a global mindset will help you strengthen the skills to balance your knowledge of business, country and functional interest. Receive information on the skills and resources available to help professionals build the cultural dexterity they need to succeed in any setting.

Learn what you need to do now, and going forward, to prepare yourself, and your clients, for retirement.

IAS 36 Impairment of Assets sets out the requirements to account for and report impairment of most non-financial assets. IAS 36 specifies when an entity needs to perform an impairment test, how to perform it, the recognition of any impairment losses and the related disclosures. The application of IAS 36 is wide and its requirements may be open to interpretation. Discuss the rules of the standard and how it should be interpreted.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities, effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017 (calendar year 2018). The ASU provides the biggest changes in financial reporting for nonprofits since 1993. Nonprofits need to understand this ASU’s impact to their financial statements and address any implementation issues now.

Update on the progress, or lack thereof, of the replace and repeal of Obamacare, including the MacArthur amendment. Discuss the use of health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts. There is also a budget consideration, since the largest drain on federal revenues is the health plan deduction by employers with no corresponding tax on the beneficiary. Also discuss the impact of Medicaid and Medicare programs on the economy and federal budget.

President Trump and the House Ways & Means Committee want to repeal the federal estate tax. A review of the last time the estate tax was repealed, the prospects for repeal this time, what form repeal might take, estate planning while we wait, the fate of proposed estate tax regulations, and life (and death) after repeal.

From geopolitical shifts to regulatory changes occurring in Washington and beyond, business as unusual is now the new normal. The organizations that will thrive in these complex times are those with teams that are nimble, quick and confident to make critical decisions in today’s complex and changing world. Discuss what separates agile leaders from their peers, and what controllers should be doing to prepare your organization to operate in the unusual.

Designed for accountants in public practice and industry that want to increase their effectiveness in auditing employee benefit plans. Review ERISA regulations and focus on an efficient compliance audit methodology for those rules.

Receive an overview to the changes to the leasing standard for lessors and lessee as well as provide insights into how companies what need to be thinking about now to prepare their adoption strategies.

The ability to be creative, to generate more ideas is the key to increasing personal, team and corporate value. Increase your creativity so that you can see multiple options to problems or opportunities and not be trapped by limited ideas.

As a result of new FASB, GAAP and IFRS revenue recognition standards, companies are required to review their revenue recognition. The effective date of 1/1/18 for most companies may cause changes for book purposes in many instances. Accordingly, companies may be required to change methods of accounting for tax purposes as well. Further discussion will center around administration guidance from the IRS in order to effectively comply with the new pronouncements for tax as well as an tax reform considerations.

Focus on a key business succession ingredient that is often missed, which is the need to have a game plan for succession put in place sooner rather than later. This plan acts as the complete guide for a successful business transition and the comprehensive process covers the wishes of the owner, combined with an element of managing the risks along the way and the funding methods to make it happen.

Cybersecurity is a topic everybody needs, but nobody wants to sit through. Join Chris Jenkins as he uses humor to explain some of the most common types of cyber threats and how to defend against them. Find new ways to build and manage passwords, dissect email scams, and turn the tables on would-be attackers. Receive the tools and information you need to stay safe and maintain a healthy on-line presence.

A significant reorganization of the Attestation Standards replaced most of the attestation guidance effective for engagement reports dated on or after May 1, 2017. Discuss the updated requirements and seek to clarify the types of engagements and the CPA’s responsibilities.

Review FASB’s technical activities and the outlook for accounting standards in the United States. Special focus will be placed on the highlights of recently issued Accounting Standards Updates, as well as the status of certain technical projects.

Understand what is necessary to lead the organization as well as the accounting/finance department. Identify tools that are available to improve leadership, business, people and technical. Apply CGMA competency framework to each participant’s skill level and develop a plan of action to obtain competency in all levels.

Cover significant legislation, regulations, cases, and rulings nationally and in the southeast. Topics include major issues such as nexus (both income tax and sales/use tax), taxability of cloud computing, income tax apportionment, tax credits, and others. Also cover any federal legislation impacting state taxes.

What has changed in technology that would benefit my organization? What does the future of technology hold? What changes in hardware and software should I incorporate into my plans? Gain insights on long-term strategic choices and short term technology tactics to maximize your ROI.

What are some of the attributes of successful investing? How can you identify a financial advisor who might mismanage investments, or worse, engage in fraud? Discuss the important lessons these cases teach about investing.

Discuss the requirements of the SSARS standards, along with opportunities to tailor services to client needs. Make sure your engagements are in the Goldilocks Zone – not too much work that you cannot be cost-effective and not too little work that you risk peer review issues.

The Private Company Council (PCC) helps improve the process of setting accounting standards for private companies. Participants will have an opportunity to provide input about the PCC and FASB regarding areas to improve private company financial reporting.

Discuss a survey update of recent major developments affecting businesses including major legislative, regulatory and case law developments focusing particularly on legal developments likely to result in increased liability exposure for businesses.

Every disgruntled employee, every unscrupulous competitor, and every terminated vendor dreams of becoming rich at the expense of your anchor client. At the same time, the IRS has grown more aggressive in insisting upon interviews and then asserting penalties. In this environment, what is the best way to prepare the witness, ferret out the whistleblower, and protect the cause? We will drill down into every aspect.

Often overlooked, Gen X is sometimes seen as “place holders” rather than a force to be reckoned with. But Gen Xers may hold the key to successfully navigating your upcoming generational changeover. Explore the role Gen Xers play by discussing who they are, what they want, and how to maximize their positive impact on the generation retiring, the generation coming into the workforce and the sometime painful (but inevitable) transition period.