CPE Catalog & Events

This course will enable practitioners to understand the basic practical issues of preparing the gift tax Form 709. This course covers the disclosure requirements and the information necessary to properly prepare the form.

Audit documentation provides the principal support for the independent auditor's report. Therefore, it is important that workpapers meet professional standards. Anything less could result in peer or regulatory review deficiencies at as a worse case, lawsuits when fraud occurs at a company. The auditor is not responsible for identifying fraud. But the auditor is responsible for planning and performing the audit to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement due to fraud or error. Effective workpaper reviewer is an important part of meeting professional standards at the engagement level as well as the overall firm level. In addition, the workpaper review process should be used as a tool for professional development and promoting efficient audits. This module will provide the tips and tools for satisfying these important workpaper reviewer responsibilities for auditors at the in charge or newer manager levels. (Please Note: This module is part of Surgent's Audit Skills Training: Level 3.)

In many smaller organizations the job of risk manager is housed with the CEO, and many of the staff who better understand the details of the various risks are not included in risk-management discussions. This program will take a hard look at risk management and show how to develop a program that is specifically designed to work well in a small business. Based on proven management techniques, the risk-management system will better focus on good risk management and especially strong mitigation.

As experienced staff members master the preparation intricacies of an 1120-S tax return, they are expected to understand and apply the underlying concepts, principles and laws governing S corporation status. This course is designed to illustrate in both theory and practice overarching principles that govern S corporations from formation to revocation, termination and liquidation. Experienced, client-facing staff should be aware of the pitfalls that may inadvertently cause an S-status termination or may generate unintended tax consequences to shareholders.

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As experienced staff members master the preparation intricacies of an 1120-S tax return, they are expected to understand and apply the underlying concepts, principles and laws governing S corporation status. This course is designed to illustrate in both theory and practice overarching principles that govern S corporations from formation to revocation, termination and liquidation. Experienced, client-facing staff should be aware of the pitfalls that may inadvertently cause an S-status termination or may generate unintended tax consequences to shareholders.

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This course goes beyond the basics and addresses important practical issues that an experienced practitioner must know about S corporations.

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If you are a practitioner who wants the latest information on tax changes affecting your business clients or employers, then you should take this enlightening course. You will learn invaluable knowledge, strategies, techniques, innovative tax-planning concepts, income-generating ideas, and other planning opportunities available to S corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and LLPs. Continually updated to reflect enacted legislation.

For all the work performed on the audit, the one thing that the public sees is the auditor's report. So we need to make sure that the opinion is correct. With the effective date of SAS 134, the auditor's report underwent significant changes. This session will cover the format of the revised auditor's report and discuss the responsibilities of both management and the auditors which are now explicitly identified in the revised report. The session will also cover other conforming changes made to the auditor's report with the effective date of SAS 137-140. Lastly, the session will address both when, and how, the auditor would issue qualified and adverse opinions and when the auditor would disclaim an opinion. The session will also address when the auditor is required to add either an Emphasis of Matter or Other Matter paragraph and its contents. (Please Note: This module is part of Surgent's Audit Skills Training: Level 4.)

This course provides an overview of the SEC Form 8-K. This is a broad form used to notify investors in U.S. publicly traded companies of certain events that may be important - generally within four business days of the respective triggering event. This course provides a detailed look at the events that require a Form 8-K filing, the relevant disclosures, and presents a number of examples to help illustrate disclosure of these events.

This course provides an overview of two of the most popular SEC topics which result in comment letters from the SEC. This includes a discussion of management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) as well as Non-GAAP Financial Measures. These two areas consistently rank in the Top 10 for the most frequent comment letters issued to public companies by the SEC.

Many partnerships and S corporations are now required to complete the voluminous Schedules K-2 and K-3 to report foreign-related tax information. Updated for the 2023 tax year, this course is an essential guide for tax preparers on how to identify which entities need to complete these schedules and how to identify which parts are applicable to a given taxpayer. The filing requirements are broad and often not very intuitive, catching many practitioners unaware that more schedules and parts are applicable to more taxpayers than anticipated. This course includes a deep dive into the domestic filing exception, as well as a discussion of filing requirements of each part of Schedule K-2. Please note: Surgent also offers a companion course, "Schedules K-2 and K-3: Preparation of Forms" (KPF2).

Many partnerships and S corporations are now required to complete the voluminous Schedules K-2 and K-3 to report foreign-related tax information. Updated for the 2023 tax year, this course is an essential guide for tax preparers on how to tackle the preparation of these forms. Understanding and preparing these forms requires a basic knowledge of various international tax topics. The course includes a brief discussion of key international tax concepts, a detailed walk-through of what information is required to be reported in different parts of the schedules, and practical advice from the field. The course also includes three comprehensive case studies on how the form should be completed for operating, real estate rental, and investment partnerships. Please note: Surgent also offers a companion course, "Schedules K-2 and K-3: Filing Requirements" (KFR2).

Section 199A has been with us since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was passed. Your clients look to you for explanations and best practices to maximize the 20 percent deduction. Pass-through entities and real estate investors stand to benefit from valuable tax cuts. The average practitioner cannot afford to be uninformed on Section 199A. This program incorporates the experiences of many tax practitioners since the creation of Section 199A related to the calculation and application of this deduction. This course will cover all relevant facets and nuances of the deduction, as well as implementation issues and lessons that will be useful in advising clients this year. This program will include all relevant IRS guidance.

When a purchaser buys an existing partner's partnership interest or the interest of a member of a limited liability corporation (LLC) taxed as a partnership, the amount paid becomes the basis for the purchaser's partnership interest (outside basis). If the partnership's assets have appreciated sufficiently, the difference between the new partner's inside and outside basis can be substantial. This disparity can deprive the new partner of depreciation deductions and inflate his or her share of the gain from subsequent property dispositions unless a Section 754 election is in effect. The Section 754 election can also apply when a partnership makes a distribution of property and the basis of the distributed property to the partnership and the basis the partner/distributee will take in the distributed property are not equal. In this case, a partnership can recover basis it would otherwise lose if the 754 election were not in effect.

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This course gives CPAs the knowledge to help their clients plan for retirement by evaluating how much retirement income they will require and planning for how to reach their retirement goals.

This course gives CPAs the knowledge to help their clients plan for retirement by evaluating how much retirement income they will require and planning for how to reach their retirement goals.

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This course gives CPAs the knowledge to help their clients plan for retirement by evaluating how much retirement income they will require and planning for how to reach their retirement goals.

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Clients think that estate planning only applies to the very rich. In truth, there are many issues of critical concern for which the middle-income client needs to plan. This course is a must-attend for all Accounting and Financial Professionals who work with middle-income clients and are looking for ways to provide additional quality services. Updated for developments relative to estate tax changes.

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Clients think that estate planning only applies to the very rich. In truth, there are many issues of critical concern for which the middle-income client needs to plan. This course is a must-attend for all Accounting and Financial Professionals who work with middle-income clients and are looking for ways to provide additional quality services. Updated for developments relative to estate tax changes.

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As entities continue to oursource financially significant processes, auditors will need to rely on third party assessments of the effectiveness of the controls over these processes. These assessments are called SOC1 reports. Understanding the scope, level of testing and results of such reports is critical to the successful completion of any financial statement audit. In this course, we'll review the relevant information which auditors need to know about SOC1s, including their professional standards guidance, scope (Type 1 or 2), coverage and user auditor response to control deficiencies identified by the service auditor.