CPE TOPICS 2010 by Garland Granger, CPA, CIA

CPE TOPICS 2010

By Garland Granger, CPA, CIA

(For CPE Sponsor – Professional Accounting Seminars, Inc.)

8 hours of CPE per Topic: (for all of the following seminars)

Live instruction format based on the provided course material
No prerequisites or advanced preparation required
Intermediate level of content (but flexible for each group)

(SIS) Survivor Island for Struggling Businesses (8 hours of Management CPE, New for 2010)

In a survey reported by USA Today, 51% of small business owners believe that they will not be in business by the end of 2011 if the economy does not improve (soon). Business owners feel that they are on Survivor Island struggling to remain a going concern. This presents the CPA with the opportunity to help management learn how to ride the stimulus spending wave safely and profitable to the beach. Times like these call for creative ways to compete: to increase revenues, manage expenses, and manage people. It also provides business owners with the opportunity to examine business processes to streamline operations. This course is a must for any business that not only wants to survive this economy, but learn how to thrive in the midst of the economy. This seminar will help the CPA learn techniques for stimulus to work for you and not against you.

This seminar has the following learning objectives:

Evaluate and manage individual assets to increase revenues.
Techniques for working more creatively with customers to improve your marketing strategy.
Ways to work with your employees to reduce anxiety and improve morale and productivity.
How to work with financial institutions and creditors to reduce debt.
How to be a better leader in difficult times.
Improve controls to avoid financial disaster due to fraud and errors.
Use short-term survival planning to establish proper survival priorities.
Evaluate business processes as a vehicle for streamlining operations.

(RBR) Reducing Business Risks Through Internal Controls (Updated for 2010; 8 hours of A&A CPE credit)

Managing business risk is a high profile job for management, the board of directors, and the CPA. Failures due to lack of risk assessment and controls negatively impact the reputation and image of the organization. This seminar will provide you with the information necessary to help assist management in evaluating and reducing business risk. This seminar covers a variety of useful techniques that are easy and inexpensive to implement.

This seminar has the following learning objectives:

Help companies preserve assets & prepare for a more efficient & less expensive audit or tax return.
Gain a good understanding of the nature of business risk, how these risks can negatively impact the organization, and the basic definition of internal control and the problems this definition has created.
Learn the role of ethics and integrity and how they affect the effectiveness of any internal control system.
Examine the COSO model for evaluating and developing internal controls.
Review the new standards on Managing the Business Risk of Fraud: A Practical Guide issued by the AICPA, ACFE, and IIA.
Examine the 5 principles for a proactive approach for establishing an environment to manage business risk effectively.
Use real-world cases to apply the COSO model to help establish good controls in a variety of risky situations.

(CR) Compilation and Review Update – 2010 (8 hours of A & A CPE credit)

The Accounting and Review Services Committee (ARSC) has issued SSARS 19, which will greatly change most previously-issued standards. This seminar will examine all recently-issued standards and their impact on the CPA. It is a must for new staff members as well as those not-so-new members who need a refresher regarding compilations and reviews. This seminar also addresses some of the practical problems of providing quality engagements, accepting and terminating clients, and some of the major issues with independence. The participant will work many short application problems that apply in a variety of practical situations that confront CPAs on a regular basis.

This seminar has the following learning objectives:

To understand the core requirements of SSARS (including all new ones)
To learn how to apply these requirements in a variety of practical ways.
To learn why engagement letters and representations letters are so vital.
To examine the various reporting issues in compilations and reviews.
To develop clear guidelines for dealing with quality work, dismissal of a client, and the legal environment.
To discuss and evaluate independence issues facing CPAs in compilations and reviews.

(BT) Business Ownership Transitions – Buying, Selling, and Exit Strategies (Updated for 2010) 4 hours of A&A + 4 hours of Management CPE)

With the onslaught of the retirement of the baby boomer generation, one can expect lots of activity in this area over the next five years. Proper planning for an ownership transition can make the difference between success, failure, or serious disappointments especially in the financial environment that exists today. This seminar is perfect for any CPA advising a client or for CFOs guiding management when a business transition is anticipated within the next five years especially in the current financial market.

This seminar has the following learning objectives:

To gain an understanding of the reasons why transitions often fail so we can learn from the mistakes of others.
To learn how to shape a good exit strategy.
To examine special problems related to family owned businesses in transition.
To learn how to prepare a business financially for a transition.
To understand the cultural differences between businesses and how to make those differences work in a transition, if possible.
To gain a better understanding of due diligence that goes well beyond the numbers.
To examine a variety of techniques for enhancing and determining business valuation.
To examine how negotiations should take place and the best people to be involved in that process.
To learn how to “close the deal” with proper financing.

(ET) - Ethics for Florida CPAs: The Keys to Integrity (4 hours of Ethics CPE) and Preparing Financial Statements with Integrity (4 hoursof A&A CPE) = 8 hours of CPE (entire day)

(Approved Florida Ethics course # 5874, Updated for 2010 / 2011 under the sponsor name Professional Accounting Seminars, Inc.)

(You may attend either or both topics for the same fee. CPE certificates (4 hours each) will be issued for each topic. The Ethics topic is the morning session & CPE certificates will be available at the lunch break)

This course will be taught by both instructors, as follows:

Fort Lauderdale & Orlando (Granger)
Miami & Tampa (Holt)

With the onslaught of ethical problems within the accounting profession over the past several years, a keen understanding of the ethical requirements of CPAs is a must. This 4-hour seminar will examine the Code of Ethics in Florida. The seminar will literally walk through the core requirements of the code. However, the most effective way to learn this material is through the use of practical application problems. This fast paced course will hold your attention and help improve your understanding of the ethical requirements we must follow.

This seminar has the following learning objectives:

To learn the Florida rules and statutes that relate to CPAs today.
To examine topics such as confidentially, advertising and solicitation, contingent fees, commissions, and referral fees, as well as the disciplinary action that can be taken when we fail to comply with the standards.
To spend time examining independence and the various ways that independence can be impaired. We shall use practical problems to apply the independence rules.
We shall examine the Florida Statutes that related to CPAs in industry, government & public accounting.

The session on Preparing Financial Statements with Integrity (4 hours A&A CPE) will focus on making financial reporting & disclosure “decisions” that enhance the value of the information for all intended users. We shall engage in numerous case studies & discussion questions for situations common to most preparers of financial statements. Issued addressed will include:

AICPA Ethics Interpretations & Rulings
Actual “ethical” decisions that are frequently faced when preparing & presenting financial statements.
Lessons learned through numerous, well-publicized “fraudulent” (unethical) financial statements.

(FS) Financial Statement Aerobics – Toning Your Fiscal Physique (Updated for 2010; 8 hours of A&A CPE)

This seminar will help you lose weight, lower your cholesterol, reduce your stress level and improve your mental ability to analyze and understand financial statements through financial aerobic exercises. One must kick the old habits of simply calculating ratios and percentages and realize that corporate environmental change will likely make analysis more difficult. This course is designed for CPAs in public accounting or in private industry who want to improve their fiscal physiques.

This seminar has the following learning objectives:

Learn the various tools available for analysis and the usefulness and limitations of these tools.
Use analysis for problem-solving (not just information) as well as providing expectations of performance.
Learn how to properly understand the current business environment prior to analysis

to develop a complete understanding of the nature of the business and risks before examining the numbers.

Calculate return on invested capital (ROIC) for operating income and assets.
Apply the return on invested capital model for more complex decisions to improve profitability.
Utilize the concept of economic value added for improving the net financial worth of a business (rather than piecemeal transaction analysis or ratios).
Use analysis as a vital tool in fraud detection.

(RM) Right on the Money – Modern Techniques for Analyzing & Controlling Cash & Liquidity (Updated for 2010; 8 hours of A&A CPE)

Every manager/owner spends untold hours each week dealing with cash flow (or lack of cash flow) issues and determining how to cut costs to increase cash flow. This seminar is designed to ease the burden that a lack of cash flows presents by examining some up-to-the-minute techniques for improving liquidity. This seminar will address ways to properly analyze cash flow, plan for cash flow, make good financial decisions, and develop proper controls over liquidity..

This seminar has the following learning objectives:

To examine ways to cut costs in a tight economy to improve cash flow.
To understand the ways cash planning can assist in keeping a company right on the money flow.
To discuss innovative ways to improve the inflows and control the outflows of cash.
To examine the wide array of financial instruments and bank programs designed to assist businesses in improving cash management.
To implement proper internal controls over cash as a means of improving cash flow.
To apply cash flows to various practical techniques for capital budgeting to improve allocation decisions by management.
To learn the various types of check fraud that can rob a business of cash flow.