The course covers what every accountant should know about computers and information systems and technology. The practical and efficient use of computer technology is highlighted. Popular accounting, compliance, taxes, audit, write-up, forecasting and statistical, budgeting and planning, project management, activity-based accounting (ABC) software are explained for easy use.   The importance of information system and data protection, data bases, artificial intelligence and expert systems, client/server computing, and telecommunications are discussed. The course also teaches you how to make lease-purchase decisions and analyze and evaluate information technology (IT) investments.

Click here for Course Objectives

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Course Description
The course is intended primarily to help business executives and information systems/computer professionals protect the computer and the data from a wide variety of threats.  Security concerns have heightened in the recent years.  Weak computer security and lack of internal controls increases an organization's vulnerability. The major steps in understanding and managing computer security are discussed in this course, and helps business executives identify resources in their organizations that need to be protected.  

Field of Study    Information Technology
Level of Knowledge    Overview
Prerequisite    None
Advanced Preparation    None

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

·        Recognize importance of computer and data security techniques

·        Recognize and understand how different social engineering techniques can breach computer and data security

 Recognize methods to prevent social engineering fraud schemes

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Arrays are a powerful Excel tool that few people know about. It allows you to take multiple steps and consolidate them into one.

• If you are doing and IF statement in a separate column and then copying it down and then summing or averaging the results - an array will let you do it all in one step.
• Do you sit there and delete error values in a column so that you can sum them? This will show you a more efficient way
• Do you need to compare 2 lists and see what is different on one from the other?... Yes an array simplifies the process.

MATCH, ABS, SUMPRODUCT,SUMIF, NESTED IFs are briefly discussed and used in the Ebook.
The manual walks you slowly through each process. The manual is 42 pages.

Course Learning objectives

• Gain an understanding of who arrays work

• Understand how to utilize arrays in the workplace

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Microsoft Excel provides some easy to use tools that can greatly enhance and expedite the fraud audit process. With all detective work, you want to be able to sift through a large volume of data and utilize a tool that is adequately flexible for you to perform immediate investigations of anything questionable. Excel provides a number of different tools however we are going to focus on a couple of extremely useful ones: Auto filter, Arrays as well as a couple of extremely useful functions that include WEEKDAY and MOD.

Another tool used in fraud audits that does not necessarily require Excel, but can be used in conjunction with Excel, is Benford’s Law. Benford’s law is based on an observation that in certain large data sets, certain digits appear more frequently than others. By comparing the distribution of first digits in some accounting data, this tool can assist you in determining where more investigation is necessary by helping to pinpoint where data may have been contrived through fraud.

This course provides step by step instruction and Excel practice exercises as well as answer files.

This is an introductory course covering the basics of Excel tools and techniques dealing with downloaded data in a text format. It covers converting numbers formatted as text to numbers usable by Excel functions, concatenation, text to Columns and specific Excel text functions to manipulate and analyze data.

This course provides step by step instruction however it does not provide any exercise files.

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Course Description:  This course covers how to create a custom function (sometimes called a user-defined function) in Excel.  A custom function is a calculation that the user creates and names. This custom function is then stored in Excel and can recalled when it is needed. In this course we will be using the Visual Basic Editor and using a couple of VBA keywords; however this is NOT a VBA or programming course.  You will create a couple of different custom functions and then see how to create an ADD-IN file so that these functions can be used in all your workbooks.

Course Objectives

·         Recognize how to find and access the Visual Basic Editor  

·         Identify the components of custom functions and how to use them

·         Recognize how to create, save and remove custom functions

·         Recognize the implications of creating custom functions and how they work

Category: Computer Science/Specialized Knowledge

Level: Intermediate to Advanced Excel user

Prerequisites: Excel 2007 or higher.  Should have a basic understanding of an IF statement.

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Course Description:

This course provides a comprehensive examination of the Lookup and Reference category in Excel.  It covers the LOOKUP and VLOOKUP functions.  
With VLOOKUP, you will learn how to: use Wildcards; search through multiple sheets for a match; and what to do if a match is not in the first column of your table.
The course also explores HLOOKUP. It explains the advantages and disadvantages of INDEX MATCH versus VLOOKUP.
The section ends with a brief overview of XLOOKUP() which is still in Beta as of December 2019.
It reviews the OFFSET function, which allows you to write calculations that automatically update as new data is added.  With the INDIRECT function, you will learn how to find data on other worksheets. Finally, HYPERLINK is briefly discussed since it is in the lookup and reference section.
Course Objective: To become familiar with the different Lookup functions in Excel and how to utilize them.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
1.    Differentiate among a variety of functions.
2.    Recognize lookup functions syntax and how to use them in calculations.
3.    Recognize the steps to incorporate data validation.
4.    Recognize the importance of a range name and how to create one.
5.    Recognize how to incorporate wildcards into functions
6.    Understand how to incorporate other functions, such as COLUMN and ROW, into Lookup and Reference functions.

Prerequisites: Assumes familiarity with Excel and how to use basic functions such as SUM and COUNT. Assumes the user understands what an absolute cell reference is.

Version: This course is written for Excel 365 subscribers but users with Excel 2010 or higher should have little difficulty.

Level: Intermediate

NASBA Category: Computer Software and Applications

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

This course is designed for the intermediate user of Excel 2010 and 2013 who are looking to improve their productivity and to learn some cool new Excel skills.  The course covers some basics, along with some advanced tips and tricks on selecting, navigating as well as copying and moving data efficiently. It also covers a spectrum of functions that can be used in everyday practice. Functions such as SUBTOTAL, SUMIF, SUMIFs as well as INDEX MATCH are discussed. The 2013 AGGREGATE and IFNA functions are covered. Comparing lists using arrays is overviewed. Pivot tables are discussed in detail. Other topics include: functions and tools for importing data into Excel, conditional formatting as well as charts. There are no associated Excel files.

Learning Objectives:

1.      Recognize different short cut keys and what they do

2.      Recognize the steps needed to pin a file

3.      Identify and create range names

4.      Recognize different ways to navigate within and between Excel workbooks

5.      Identify some of Excel 2013 new features and functions

6.      Recognize different copy and move methods

7.      Identify different types of formatting and how to apply them

8.      Identify different functions and formulas and when to apply them

9.      Recognize the different components of a pivot table and how to create and edit them

10.  Identify types of charts to use and how to create them

Version: Excel 2010, 2013
Advanced Prep: None
Prerequisites: Knowledge of Excel and how to create a formula and function

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

• Identify which Excel time value of money function should be used in a given circumstance
• Associate compounding periods with the appropriate adjustments to rate and number of periods
• Identify Excel’s sign convention
• Recognize how to solve for rate, number of periods and payment
• Recognize how to use Capital budgeting for internal rate of return and net present value
• Recognize how to use data tables to present alternatives

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Spreadsheet Controls Under Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404

CourseDescription:
Spreadsheets have become pervasive in most companies and have many uses.Those that are used in the financial reporting process are of most concern to the assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley. This course discusses how to evaluate spreadsheets under the rules of Section 404 and AS 2201as well as what specific compensating spreadsheet controls are supported by Excel 2007, Excel 2010, Excel 2013and Excel 2016.This course has been writtenfor Excel 2007.  Steps that differ in Excel 2010, 2013and 2016have been noted in gray shadow boxes for the few instances where there is a difference.

Learning Objectives:
The objectives of this course are:
Recognize fundamental aspects ofSection 404 of the Sarbanes-OxleyAct and Public Accounting Oversight Board AS 2201
Recognizethe process for evaluating spreadsheets under the rules of Section 404 and AS 2201
Identifyspecific compensating spreadsheet controls supported by Microsoft Excel

NASBA Category:Audit (1 Hour)/ Computer Science (1 Hour)
Level:Basic/Overview(See Prerequisites)
Prerequisites: Excel 2007/ Excel 2010/ Excel 2013/ Excel 2016 is needed.

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Course Description:

Google is a well-known and often used tool to search for information.  Many don’t know that there are certain search operators and tools embedded in Google search that may be used to find desired information quicker and easier.  This course reviews basic, intermediate and advanced search operators and techniques as well as other useful Google tools that are available.  Your new search skills are tested throughout the course with 10 short case study questions.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

·         Identify operators and techniques that enhance your ability to find information using Google

 Prerequisites: None

Level: Overview

NASBA Category: Computer Science

Recommended CPE:  1 hour

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

The malware and cybersecurity landscapes are constantly shifting in response to the actions of one another. On one side, cybersecurity experts are identifying, analyzing, and patching new forms of malware as consistently as possible so they can be detected by antivirus software and purged from infected systems before they can cause harm to their potential victims. On the other side, malware creators and cybercriminal organizations are constantly creating new malware, and altering old malware, to circumvent cybersecurity efforts and continue to infect as many computers as possible for a variety of purposes. This course will identify the overarching concepts that make up the current information security landscape. This course will provide an overview of the different types of malware that can infect a computer system as well as the different techniques used to conduct both phishing attacks and identity theft. This course will identify the general malware trends over the past several years and explain how the current malware landscape arrived at where it is today. Finally, this course will describe the most commonly seen pieces of malware from this year and provide both an in-depth explanation on how the malware operates and best practices to properly deal with each piece of malware.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify the importance of information security for CPAs and Tax Practitioners,

• Identify the different types of malware that can infect computer systems,

• Define the term “Phishing” and recognize how phishing occurs,

• Define the term “Identify Theft” and recognize how identify theft most commonly occurs,

• Identify the major malware events that have occurred in recent years, and

• Identify the operating processes and mitigation techniques for the most commonly seen malware programs of the current year.

CPE Credit: 6 CPE for CPAs and EAs

Level: Intermediate

Instructional Method: Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study: Information Technology

Program Prerequisites: None

Advanced Preparation: None

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Introduction

Internal control requires that the information systems in a company are secure, reliable, and can be trusted. Cyberattacks and data breaches represent the greatest threat to most company’s today. Network security for internal control assurance is a course that will describe the importance of network security for all types of businesses and practices. This course will identify the vulnerabilities and define safeguards for computers, networks, networking components, software applications, and mobile devices. This course will describe the threats that can compromise the computers and company data such as viruses, trojans and phishing. This course will describe some simple steps that users can take to properly protect themselves from any threats that penetrate the network and protect confidential company data. Finally, this course will discuss how to create a data security plan and an information security risk management plan along with some recommendations and best-practices for keeping networks safe.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

•        Identify the importance of network security for CPAs and Tax Practitioners.

•        Identify what a network is along with the different components that make up a network.

•        Identify the different types of network security that contribute to a comprehensive information security protocol.

•        Define the term “identify theft” and recognize how identify theft most commonly occurs.

•        Recognize why CPAs and Tax Professionals are being targeted by cybercriminals.

•        Recognize the importance of encrypting client data.

•        Identify the importance of creating internal controls and a security plan to protect client data.

CPE Credit: 7 CPE for CPAs and EAs

Level: Intermediate

Instructional Method: Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study: Information Technology

Program Prerequisites: None

Advanced Preparation: None

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

All CPAs and Tax Practitioners deal with very sensitive client data. Cybercriminals are highly sophisticated, well-funded, and technologically adept at hacking computers and sealing information. CPAs and tax practitioners are some of their most highly desired targets. Cybercriminals desire the client data of all CPAs and tax practitioners. If these cybercriminals can successfully obtain the client information of CPAs and tax practitioners, they can file fraudulent tax returns for refunds or commit identify theft. As a result, all CPAs and tax practitioners must protect their client’s information by protecting their computers, networks and by taking some simple safety approaches. This course will define information security, describe the numerous types of threats that exist today and define how to protect your computer systems and networks to keep client data safe.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

Identify the importance of information security for CPAs and Tax Practitioners,

Define the term “identify theft” and recognize how identify theft most commonly occurs,

Recognize why CPAs and Tax Professionals are being targeted by cybercriminals,

Recognize the importance of encrypting client data,

Identify the importance of creating internal controls and a security plan to protect client data, and

Recognize the actions that must be taken in the event of a breach of sensitive client identity data.

CPE Credit: 6 CPE for CPAs and EAs

Level: Intermediate

Instructional Method: Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study: Information Technology

Program Prerequisites: None

Advanced Preparation: None

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Course Description

Get & Transform Data is an Excel feature available within the newest versions of Excel. It is a business intelligence tool  that allows you to retrieve data from a variety of sources, clean it and then transform or refine the data as needed. For example, you can import a database file, parse data, split or combine columns, change data types, group data and more. You can then take that transformed data back into Excel and analyze it using your preferred methods. What makes this feature exciting is that Excel records all your steps so  the data in the file can automatically be refreshed with Excel retrieving the source data, applying the same steps and updating the file for you. This is a huge time saver and will also reduce errors.

Version:   **This feature is only available in Excel versions starting with Excel 2016 but not all 2016 versions have it. ** To, see if you have this feature, simply click on the Data tab in Excel. You should see a section of the ribbon called Get & Transform. If you do not see this section, then you do not have the Get & Transform Data feature and will not be able to do any of the exercises in this eBook.

Objectives:

• ·         Recognize when to use the Get & Transform feature and how it works
• ·         Identify the different parts of Get & Transform Data feature
• ·         Identify and recognize how to clean and refine data using Get & Transform
• ·         Recognize different data types
• ·         Distinguish different methods of Joining tables together
• ·         Recognize how to combine and append tables or files
   

Prerequisites: Intermediate to Advanced Knowledge in Excel.
An understanding of how databases work would be helpful but not necessary.

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

This course overviews some new features and functions that Microsoft offers in Excel 2019 and/or Microsoft 365. The eBook has an accompanying workbook that you can work through along with an answer sheet.

The course introduces the concept of dynamic arrays and related formulas such as SORT(), SORTBY() and Filter(). XLOOKUP() is an update and is intended to effectively replace VLOOKUP().  XLOOKUP() is a must know function and totally improves all the problems of VLOOKUP(). UNIQUE()  allows you to identify unique values in a range.  The course also covers CONCAT() and TEXTJOIN() which are  new  text functions that Excel has introduced. CONCAT() is intended to replace the older CONCATENATE().

The course ends with a discussion of some other new functions including IFS(), SWITCH() and MINIFS().  

Please make sure that you have the proper Excel version or some or all of these functions will not be available to you. If you are not sure, go to Excel and try typing  in an equal sign and then one of the new functions listed here. If the function does not start to display then you probably do not have access to it. Even if you do not have access to the new functions the course is worthwhile as you can use it to determine if you should upgrade to a newer Excel version.

 Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

•           Define an array 

•           Recognize how a dynamic array works

•           Recognize new Excel functions and how to use them

Prerequisites: You need Excel 2019 and/or Office365 to use these functions. Click on Account in Excel and it will show you what version you have. Please read last paragraph of course description.

Level: Overview

NASBA Category: Computer Software and Applications

Recommended CPE:  1 Hour

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Course Description

The ease of access to and rapid flow of information makes cybercrime different from real-world crimes. For example, the transformation of crime with the establishment of the computer and networked technologies leads to the shift of target from more tangible to less tangible forms in values of wealth; from things to ideas expressed in informational sources. Cybersecurity is a complex and ever-changing phenomenon. This course is designed to help you navigate the complexities of this field. It is divided into four parts:
Part I: Adopt A Security Mindset  Cybersecurity is not just about techniques, it is also about a mindset, which is critical to crime prevention efforts. Part I introduces the concepts and understanding of the field of cybersecurity. It discusses some common cybersecurity myths and explains how to address them, and identifies cybersecurity frameworks for managing risk and reducing vulnerabilities. It also describes different types of cyberattacks and threat sources.
Part II: Create A Security-Conscious Culture  Cybersecurity is only important to an organization if the board and management make it so. A successful cybersecurity program requires ongoing governance. Part II explains how to design and implementation of a holistic IT governance. It also provides guidance on how to develop an effective security policy.
Part III: Apply Security Countermeasures  Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their capability to exploit vulnerabilities inherent in the global business ecosystem.  Organizations need an innovative approach; allocating and prioritizing resources to effectively protect critical assets.  Part III discusses various strategies to help an organization advance to a high level of performance in its security ecosystem. It also includes recommended steps that organizations can take to address cloud privacy and security concern. Finally, it identifies key controls designed to protect data on portable devices and the network connected to the devices.
Part IV: Meet Regulatory Compliance  Compliance is challenging for many organizations, especially in heavily regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services. Understanding significant implications in the disclosure and governance of personal information reduces the risks of non-compliance, which may result in civil and criminal penalties, loss of public trust and reputation, and unnecessary down time. Part IV highlights key federal laws that concern cybersecurity and privacy and discusses examples of states that have enacted comprehensive consumer data privacy laws. It also describes some legal challenges in the cross-border data flow. It also reviews the major laws for regulating the healthcare and financial services industries.

Field of Study    Information Technology
Level of Knowledge    Overview
Prerequisite    None
Advanced Preparation    None

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies

Learn how to manage and organize data more effectively and transform it into information.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to

  Identify a PivotTable and its components and defaults
  Identify the steps needed to create a Pivot Table
  Recognize the steps needed to modify and format a pivot table
  Recognize how to use and modify slicers
  Recognize how to create fields, items and calculations in a Pivot Table
  Identify how to change and or update underlying data
  Recognize how to create a PivotTable Charta and how it differs from a regular chart
  Identify methods to update a pivot table and locate its data source

Delivery: Interactive using PDF file and Excel exercise files.
Level: Intermediate Excel user. See Version information.
Version: This course is designed for users of Excel 2019 and Microsoft 365 users but Excel 2010 and 2013 users should experience little difficulty. This course is NOT intended for 2007 or earlier versions of Excel. It assumes a familiarity with Excel and is intended for an intermediate Excel user.
Prerequisites: A good understanding of Excel is needed. Please see Version information.
Subject Category: Computer Applications and Software

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancelation and record retention policies

Course Objective: To improve analysis of key performance measurements through effective presentation of information.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this course, you should be able to:
• Identify and define a dashboard and its different components
• Recognize the design component of the dashboard
• Recognize, create and edit appropriate charts for a dashboard
• Recognize, create and edit in-cell charts and tables
• Recognize and create Sparklines
• Apply different linking methods in a dashboard
• Apply different filtering techniques and data validation to data
• Recognize and understand how to use absolute cell references and range names
• Recognize the pros and cons of pivot charts and how to use them in a dashboard
• Recognize the different types of conditional formatting and how to apply them
• Recognize and apply different functions within a dashboard
• Recognize how to protect and distribute dashboards

Prerequisites: An intermediate knowledge of Excel is assumed. Version: Excel – Microsoft 365

Advance Preparation:
• Basic understanding of file management- how to open and save files.
• Knowledge of how to create and format a simple chart and pivot table.
• How to use formulas and basic functions such as IF.
• Understanding of absolute cell references
Student Data Files
The files to be used with this eBook can be found at the same location as the eBook. Using this manual and these files you will be able to work at your own pace. The answers to each of the exercises are also in the file or a separate file labeled answer.

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
Click here to view cancellation and record retention policies