CPE Catalog & Events

• Audit requirements for ERISA §103(a)(3)(C) audits • An annual update of the changes affecting 401(k) plans • Compliance issues associated with eligibility and enrollments, remittances, lack of oversight, compensation, vesting, and other topics • Best practices for engagement planning, internal controls, risk assessment, and detailed testing • Avoiding common mistakes while performing audit procedures • Plan mergers and acquisitions • Common audit reporting and disclosure issues

Benefits of public charity classification. Public support tests and common pitfalls. Preparation of Schedule B and related worksheets, including donor disclosure. Governance and public relations considerations. Board review and compliance expectations. Management company disclosure requirements.

Module 1: Living in the World of AI - How AI Has Changed Ethics • Is it ethical to use AI, or not? • What is ethical AI? Why it matters for finance and business professionals? • Understanding and managing AI hallucinations and misinformation. • Addressing bias in AI tools—even when you didn't build them. • Internal friction: navigating fear, resistance, and cultural challenges. • Guidelines for responsible AI use in your organization. • Accountability and transparency: who is responsible for AI outcomes? • Real-world use cases and what we can learn from them? • Creating sustainable, people-focused AI practices that build trust. Module 2: Accounting in the Age of AI: What Every Leader Must Know About Using AI • What are autonomous general ledgers: what are they and how much can you depend upon them? • Financial statement analysis using AI. • AI use in Budgeting and Forecasting. • Using AI for research and planning (tax and GAAP), e.g. o AI-driven fraud detection tools: capabilities and limits. o What to automate and what to leave alone? • Evaluating vendor claims and setting reasonable expectations. • What to automate, and what to leave alone. • AI ramification on staffing and hiring. • The impact of self-serve AI research on your relationship with your CPA firm Module 3: AI Is Not the Enemy: Practical Tools to Harness Technology • Common AI use cases in accounting and finance • Fraud, deepfakes, data abuse and related risks • Governance frameworks and oversight responsibilities • The EU AI Act and regulatory developments in the U.S. • AI bias, discrimination, and transparency concerns • Internal control and documentation challenges • Questions finance leaders should ask before adopting AI • Aligning AI oversight with your audit and compliance functions Module 4: Beyond Likes and Shares: Can Social Media Really Work at Work? • The huge scale of social media. o What are the many issues? • The impact on trust, reputation, our workforce, and confidentiality • The legal and ethical impact of social media o Examples of firings, dismissals, and silly blunders. • How to develop a marvelous Policy for social media at work o Reduce risk o Advance preparation for crisis management

• Rental activities and passive activities • Material participation • Real estate professional status • Active participation status • Depreciation recapture - Sections 1245, 1250, and 291 • Vacation homes rented out • QBI deduction and rental properties • Section 1237 safe harbor for divided parcel sales • Practitioner considerations

Module 1: Acute Uncertainty Will Never Go Away: Can We Prevent Our Plans from Failing? • How and why ambiguity is good, and how certainty can be harmful. • How the past blinds us to the real future. • What is the difference between risk and uncertainty? • Managing measurable risk and unmeasurable risk. • We need to ask, "What could happen, not what will happen?" • Why have our current planning approaches failed? What can we do to improve? • The need to analyze decisions from multiple perspectives, why we must 'think twice'? • Probabilities are not necessarily predictive. How statistics can be misused and misunderstood - thus increasing risk. • Not everything can be anticipated, e.g., the success of Google. • We must focus on our goal. • Our plans must be flexible! Module 2: Decision Making in a Non-linear World: What They Did Not Teach in Management Accounting? • Better plans require more planning, what do we need to change in our decision process? o How to use the OODA loop and other decision models? o New lessons from the Judgement of Solomon • Why do the best performing organizations always plan for the unexpected? o Multiple scenarios always! • Experiments always lead to success. • Tools to deal with randomness, including: o The Scientific Method, re-framing, and periodic reality checks. • Choosing the right, relevant costs? o The sunk cost fallacy reexamined o Opportunity costs. o Relevant costs for responsibility accounting. o Product or process continuance or discontinuance. o Fixed costs vs avoidable costs. Short run and long run. • Decision dynamics: How can today's right decision turn sour tomorrow? o Unintended consequences o Selling surplus capacity • How can statistics be misused and misunderstood - thus increasing risk? • Harnessing sensitivity analysis, multiple scenarios, and other tools effectively. • Real options increase certainty by making us more flexible. • All risks are subjective, but we futilely attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. Module 3: Advanced Financial Analysis: Choosing the Right Tools in a World Full of Randomness • Advanced financial analysis and modeling tools o Proper modeling of long-term decisions o Best practices in project analysis o Alternative evaluation methods o Why should you consider multiple metrics? o Capital rationing o Choosing the correct discount factor? o Year-end convention and other less understood assumptions o Sensitivity and scenario analysis o Monte Carlo Simulation in practice o Interpreting results properly? o NPV vs IRR vs MIRR vs ROI. o Considerations when metrics contradict other metrics. o Real options are hard to value but are invaluable. o Behavioral issues o Evaluating projects with no obvious return o Multiple numeric examples and work sheets Module 4: Diversification: A Risky or Risk Averse Strategy? • Does diversification truly reduce risk - or not? o Portfolio theory and how to use it properly? • The differences between specific risk and systematic risk and how can we reduce those risks? • The most common reasons why most organizations fail when attempting to diversify. • What happened to conglomerates? o Why conglomerates disappeared in the West? o Why are conglomerates in Korea and India successful? • Diversification via acquisitions o Is the control premium worthwhile? • Which cost of capital (WACC) should we employ? • What are the effective diversification methods and tactics that truly do reduce risk?

Schedule A planning considerations under current federal tax law SALT deduction limitation; application of the SALT cap Alternative minimum tax (AMT) implications Charitable contribution planning including timing and bunching strategies Medical expense deduction planning including threshold requirements Itemized deductions versus the standard deduction Compliance considerations and common pitfalls I advanced Schedule A planning

Passive activity loss (PAL) rules under IRC §469 Passive versus nonpassive activity classification Material participation and real estate professional requirements Partnership K-1 reporting and common PAL pitfalls Coordination of PAL rules with basis, at-risk, and §461(l) limitations Disposition rules and strategies for utilizing suspended passive losses"

• Overall landscape of the construction industry • GAAP and recent changes affecting the construction industry • FASB ASC 606 and its impact on the construction industry • The unique relationship between the contractor and the surety • FASB ASC 842 and its impact on the construction industry

Overview of IRC §1202 Qualified Small Business Stock QSBS Eligibility and Qualification Requirements Holding Period and Gain Exclusion Rules Disqualifying Transactions and Compliance Risks to include common qualification failures and compliance considerations Redemptions, Partial Exits, and Planning Considerations Application of QSBS rules to multi-year sales and exit scenarios

• Comprehensive coverage of the One Big Beautiful Tax Bill Act • Reading a tax return for developing client-specific tax strategies • Changes to the lifetime estate tax exemption considering proposed regulations • Retirement planning in light of IRA and RMD changes • Review of pertinent changes from recent legislation • Reading a tax return for developing client-specific tax strategies • Identifying tax opportunities: reviewing the prior-year return to develop a plan for the future • Compensation and fringe benefit issues • Identify clients with net investment income tax problems and the potential ways to reduce or eliminate them • All in the family: Tax tactics for spouses, children, and parents

• Timely coverage of breaking tax legislation • Tax consequences of retiring partners seeking liquidating distributions/redemptions and S corporation shareholders seeking the redemption of their shares • At-risk and passive activity loss considerations • Basis planning • Related party transactions: making them work • Income splitting and shifting with family can create considerable benefits • Sale of ownership interest and NIIT considerations

• Recent fraud cases • Common fraud schemes perpetrated by those within and outside victim organizations • Consider the lessons learned • Best practices to further our fraud prevention

• Real-life misappropriations involving federal awards and how they were carried out • The backgrounds, motivations, and methodologies of the fraudsters • The problems that allowed the frauds to occur without prevention or detection

Overview of Stock and Asset Transaction Structures Buyer and Seller Tax Consequences Purchase Price Allocation and Basis Adjustments Elections Under IRC §§338 and 336(e) Negotiation and Planning Considerations Post-Transaction Compliance and Reporting

• An overview of the beginning of the process and documents for preliminary tax planning • Recognizing the need for due diligence in acquisitions, including checklists of important points • Deemed asset sales - §338 and §338(h)(10) • The impact of the §197 amortizable intangibles regulations on the acquisition and disposition of a business • Allocating purchase price for tax advantage • Planning to avoid double taxation under the repeal of the General Utilities doctrine • Special problems and opportunities when an S corporation is the buyer or seller • Installment sale and interest issues • Avoiding tax pitfalls and recognizing tax planning opportunities • Unique issues in buying and selling LLC/partnership interests • Impact of the net investment income tax (NIIT) and the §199A pass-through deduction on the tax due on the sale of a pass-through entity • Individually owned goodwill

Recent fraud cases Common fraud schemes perpetrated by those within and outside victim organizations Consider the lessons learned Best practices to further our fraud prevention

• Revenue recognition overview • Identifying the contract with a customer and performance obligations • Transaction price

• Lease classification • Amortization of the leased asset • Derecognition of the underlying asset • Recognition of lease receivables • Lease modifocations • Sale and leaseback transactions

Overview of Partnership Interest Sales General rule under IRC §741 Capital asset treatment of partnership interests Interaction with Subchapter K principles Definition and Scope of Hot Assets (IRC §751) Unrealized receivables Depreciation recapture (§1245 and §1250) Accounts receivable for cash-basis partnerships Ordinary income recapture items Inventory items Substantially appreciated inventory Determining fair market value Mechanics of §751 Recharacterization Allocation of gain between capital and ordinary income Determining a partner’s share of §751 property Impact of inside vs. outside basis Effect of liabilities under IRC §752 Distributions and §751(b) Disproportionate distributions Exchanges of hot assets for other property Ordinary income recognition in rebalancing transactions Reporting and Compliance Considerations Form 4797 and Schedule D implications Partnership reporting responsibilities Disclosure considerations Documentation and valuation challenges Planning Considerations and Risk Management Transaction structuring strategies Timing considerations Due diligence in partnership interest acquisitions Common practitioner errors and audit risk areas

The $6,000 senior deduction The QBI deduction Changes in the estate tax Wagering losses The SALT cap Tips, overtime, and car loan interest 1099 changes Trump Accounts Investments in students and education Bonus and Section 179 changes, including depreciation for qualified production property Full expensing of domestic research and experimental expenditures Changes in the deduction of business interest and business losses Renewal of Opportunity Zones Individual and corporate charitable contribution changes Expansion of Section 1202 stock Termination of credits for environmentally clean autos and expenditures Many other individual and business income tax changes contained in the OBBBA