Auditors evaluate an abundance of information produced from client financial systems. Are you doing enough to evaluate the completeness and accuracy of this data upon which you are issuing an opinion? This session will explore the risks of undue reliance in situations where the auditor is not placing reliance on the controls related to Information Systems and will provide insights to help you ensure you are adequately addressing those risks.

This session will provide participants with guidance on auditing transactions that will be covered by the new FASB Revenue Recognition standards as documented in FASB ASC Topic 606.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify transactions that may signal improper revenue recognition
• Identify procedures that auditors may find effective in limiting audit risk arising from improper revenue recognition
• Identify audit challenges that may arise by the changes in revenue recognition

This session will focus on getting more value from risk and controls assessments to plan an effective audit to reduce exposure and improve engagement economics.

Objectives:

• Determine appropriate audit strategies and approaches to consider for implementation based on facts and circumstances
• Identify and assess inherent and control risks, and areas requiring continuing audit focus
• Identify certain audit areas to maximize engagement effectiveness

This session will combine the financial planning aspects of a successful retirement with the tax strategies that can contribute to that goal. A variety of retirement planning tools and requirements will be addressed from both the financial and tax perspectives, including social security collection and deferral, timing of distributions from qualified retirement plans and IRAs, beneficiary designations, annuity products, Roth conversion concerns, etc.

Learning Objectives:

• Focus on reasonable savings and spending objectives of retirees.
• Address how social security benefits and other retirement plan withdrawals should be viewed.
• Understand minimum required distributions – how determined, when required and how they are taxed.
• Emphasize avoidance of costly unnecessary penalties.
• Consider how to maximize tax planning options for retirees.

Are you attracting and the retaining the best employees? Competition for top talent is heated. A firm with an effective compensation plan is better able to recruit and retain quality employees, engage them in making the firm successful, and reward them for their contributions.

During this interactive session, you will learn how to:

• Determine the correct compensation philosophy
• Find the right balance of base pay and incentives
• Develop an incentive plan that incorporate individual and firm performance goals
• Financially sustain your plan year over year

What's broken today and threatens the livelihood of wealth advisors? What outmoded practices must be discarded to retain your clients? What new behaviors must be introduced to keep your business successful? Hear What UHNW rarely tell you about their own expectations and what practical steps you can take today.

Attendees will:

• Learn the ten corollaries to the 10 Principles of Principal, that, like a GPS, will show you how to sustain a successful partnership with your client.
• Discover how your own style and expertise can undermine that partnership.
• Hear a pragmatic solution to help you adapt to today's family dynamics.

This session will discuss P+C Insurance and how the PFP advises their clients.

Attendees will learn:

• The importance of structuring proper personal liability protection.
• Common pitfalls associated with liability & property insurance.

This interactive, hands-on session provides an introduction into innovation that is applicable for all firm types and sizes. You’ll be able to identify why innovation is important and practice techniques to generate and implement new ideas that you can immediately implement once you return back to the office.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize the importance of innovation
• Identify specific innovation frameworks to use in practice

For small firm owners and sole practitioners, this roundtable is the perfect opportunity to share insights about fundamental issues concerning all small firms. Develop your own network of public accounting colleagues, who are ready to offer professional support and advice.

Upon completing this session, you will have a better understanding of practice management issues firms are facing and will have suggestions on how to tackle some of those issues.

Interactive session for young CPAs to learn about opportunities in IMTA

• Engage young CPAs and provide an opportunity to learn more about IMTA opportunities
• Interactively answer questions and provide feedback to young CPAs about the challenges and opportunities of the IMTA fields.

We operate in a rapidly changing world. Trends in technology, demographics and regulations shape our decisions and require us to innovate for future success. We must be clear on:

Our vision

• Why are we in business
• Where we operate (virtual vs. physical presence)
• How do we respond to disruptive trends

In this interactive session, we will explore concepts shared by leading business strategists and trends impacting the profession; then strategize how to leverage the resources at ENGAGE to make the most of your time here. You will leave with a plan to get informed not overwhelmed by the 250 sessions available at this event.

Not every ‘alpha’ is attached to an investment return. During difficult life transitions, advisors can and do become confidants to their clients, who desperately need objective third party voices and advice on things that have nothing to do—on the surface—with money. From downsizing to difficult conversations about long term care, this presentation provides examples of how by getting out of their comfort zone advisors can deepen their relationship with their clients, provide clarity in their time of need, and help capture relationship alpha that can increase referrals and retention.

How do you become a more effective innovator? Scott Wayne shows you how to take head-on the challenge of innovating in a stressful, overloaded, technology-centric era.

Making a case for transforming the way we live, Scott explores an experiential approach to generating ideas by living more diverse personal and corporate lives.

Sharing current examples and non examples of innovation in the marketplace today, Scott poses the question—what is innovation? Reframing our ability to identify new risks and opportunities as markets and technologies shift, innovation becomes more accessible. Scott purports that by shifting our personal habits and attitudes and increasing our mindfulness, we allow our minds the space to make new connections, resulting in more new ideas. From the neurology of idea generation through the iterative execution process, Scott shares his unique perspective on the cartography of innovation.

What emerging trends are developing in firm practice management that you should know about? How are firms recruiting and retaining talent, dealing with succession challenges, keeping up with technology that changes rapidly? We'll explore these questions and more.

Upon completing this session, you will understand trends impacting practice management in CPA firms and will learn how to implement changes in your firm to adapt to these trends.

You read about technology, but what do you know about technology? Every business is dependent on technology, but only the best managed operations use technology as a strategic lever and for their business advantage. During this plenary session, learn about everything from applications to hardware innovations to cloud to collaboration and security issues. Discover technology tools that can help your firm.

Learning Objectives:

• List key solutions applicable to your organization
• Describe key technologies to use or avoid
• Discuss the impact of Cloud and mobile
• Define security strategies for you firm

Join Sage team members, Daniel Estlund and Robert Hazrati, in a text chat discussion about Sage’s services and products that may be of interest to you. They will also be able to address any questions that you may have. (Not eligible for CPE).

You’re already an expert in taxes – you know that clients’ retirement assets have varying tax consequences. But the order in which they’re tapped for income can have an amazing – or devastating – impact on the retirement portfolio. The right withdrawal strategy can provide years of additional income.

This discovery comes from the research article, "Tax-Efficient Withdrawal Strategies," published in The Financial Analysts Journal and written by William Meyer, CEO, Retiree Inc., and William Reichenstein, PhD, Co-founder, Retiree Inc. Their research shows how to combine tax-smart withdrawal strategies with sound investment management principles to help you optimize clients’ retirement income.

Join William Meyer to learn more about:

• Using tax-smart withdrawal strategies to generate more retirement income for your clients
• Coordinating Social Security into a holistic retirement plan
• Using tax optimization with financial planning and investment management

Geared toward accounting practitioners managing (or wanting to hire) non-CPA marketing/growth talent, this session aims to uncover the secret behind how some firms have accelerated their innovation by the strategic attraction of a rock star. With insights taken from interviews with some of the most successful non-CPAs in accounting marketing today, along with their managing partner or marketing champion, we’ll look at what it takes to attract, manage, and retain this talent. We’ll peek into the best marketing minds to discover how they think differently. And, we’ll uncover the risk and reward behind sponsoring the right growth partner, investing in marketing, taking leaps of faith and the bottom-line result.

The key to maximizing connections and minimizing unnecessary conflict lies in our ability to be adaptive communicators. Where most people struggle is not having a good understanding of their own preferences and inaccurately reading others. To avoid unwanted confusion, you must first understand your own communication tendencies and then assess others by interpreting the clues they provide when speaking. When you practice the Platinum Rule™ (Treat others the way they want to be treated), you build credibility and rapport. In this session, obtain a better understanding of your personality style, learn how to read people, adapt to their needs, and create lasting relationships critical to business and personal success.

CPA firms today face immense succession issues, and many are struggling with how to manage them. The real work starts once a firm has identified a successor and begins the process of client transition. In this session, we will introduce elements that growth professionals should consider in order to better support their firm through client transition, including communications surrounding the transition and internal client transfer among key relationship providers. Whether you have a managing partner retiring, or are transitioning a business for any reason, this session will address some of the most-important elements the growth professional needs to understand and how to help support their firm through this.

The Center for Plain English Accounting shares frequently asked accounting and financial reporting questions and answers with attendees. These FAQs are often asked by practitioners at local and regional firms. During this session you will: Learn about common accounting and financial reporting issues that may arise at clients. Gain answers to frequently asked accounting and financial reporting questions.

With tax abatement disclosures front and center, updated retiree healthcare liabilities looming, new leasing standards, and governmental financial reporting model being selected for further due process, 2017 is turning out to be a milestone year in governmental accounting and financial reporting. In addition to these important standards and projects, this session also will cover fiduciary activities, revenue and expense recognition, and debt disclosures.

Learning Objectives:

• The attendee will obtain a working knowledge of the basic principles found in tax abatement disclosure, retiree healthcare liabilities, and lessee accounting standards
• The attendee will acquire an basic understanding of significant tentative decisions associated major projects on the GASB’s current technical agenda.

This presentation will focus on the fair value valuation of acquired intangible assets for acquisition accounting purposes. This discussion will encompass the following topics:

• Procedures for identifying acquired intangible assets
• Procedures for distinguishing between identifiable intangible assets and (non-asset) intangible attributes
• Summary of generally accepted intangible asset valuation approaches (i.e., cost approach, market approach, and income approach)
• Summary of individual intangible asset valuation methods within such valuation approach
• Illustrative example of a cost approach valuation analysis, a market approach valuation analysis, and an income approach valuation analysis.

Learning Objectives:

• Distinguish between an identifiable intangible asset and a non-asset intangible attribute or characteristic
• Recognize the conceptual and practical differences between the cost approach, the market approach, and the income approach
• Select the appropriate valuation approach and method based on both the type of subject intangible asset and the quality and quantity of available data
• Evaluate an intangible asset valuation analysis for consistency with generally accepted valuation procedures, sufficiency of supporting data, and transparency and replicability of the quantitative and qualitative analysis

Retirement research often assumes that retirees make decisions only at or just before retirement. In reality, retirees and their financial advisors have the ability to dynamically adjust strategies over time. Modeling dynamic approaches significantly impacts optimal retirement income strategies on things such as safe initial withdrawal rates and the benefit of annuities.

Attendees will learn:

• Shortfalls associated with static retirement models
• Information about how dynamic strategies affect safe initial withdrawal rates and the benefit of annuities

A panel of experts will discuss multiple gender-related issues including why it is important to have women in executive positions in your firm. The panel will s also address the differences between working with men vs. women and the risk of ignoring these differences in client relationshiops. Learn what “the 6Ds” are and how you can engage the unengaged wife to ensure retention of the client members after the husband passes. Finally the panel will address how to attract and retain top female talent.

Math modeling matters in divorce to both parties - it's the 'on the page' view of how each party will fare financially under a particular settlement and on what financial foundation they will build going forward. We'll walk through 2 cases, 1 where modeling impacted the outcome as it often does - very positively for the client and another where modeling was not done with an awful avoidable outcome. We will also look at how to model finances for expert testimony.

This session will cover:

• Decision Modeling: Demonstrating how to set up financial models for divorcing clients which allows them to make informed choices before signing a settlement.
• Measurement: We will show the math that is important in modeling in divorce financial planning.
• Reporting: Being able to translate what you are modeling to a client, attorney, mediator, judge, etc. is essential to achieving a good outcome.
• Research: There is no winging it in divorce financial planning and no do-overs. Learn what research matters to the math models in divorce financial planning.

Alpha still exists, but that doesn't mean it is easy to find. In this session, Kevin Grogan explains in academic yet simple terms what is happening to the alpha for which so many investors yearn. Offering compelling data from decades of academic research, Grogan describes the current landscape in the quest for alpha.

Attendees will:

• Understand the history and evolution of asset pricing models in finance.
• Understand the current landscape for generating alpha in financial markets.

Increasing longevity and other disruptive factors are changing the face of life insurance valuation. Fiduciaries and insurance professionals are demanding a more defensible determination of fair market value for advanced planning with senior clients. New market-based valuations methodology, based on a real-time willing buyer-willing seller marketplace for life insurance, is filling a void for tax planning, longevity analysis, and complicated hold/pay/change/sell decisions with senior clients. The discussion has broad application across practice areas and will help fiduciaries to mitigate risk and assure that client best interests are served.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the inherent danger in health agnostic valuations that are currently being used for tax planning and complicated hold/pay/change/sell decisions with senior clients.
• Learn how new independent market-based valuation methodology differs from insurance carrier valuations (based on policy reserves) and standard independent appraisals (based on historical data and VBT tables.
• Discover when to use market-based valuations to mitigate risk and assure that client best interests are served.

AICPA Chairman Kimberly Ellison Taylor will lead a discussion with leaders of NABA (National Association Black Accountants), ALPFA (Association of Latino Professional for America), and Ascend—a pan-Asian organization dedicated to the progress of Asian Americans in the accounting profession. Each leader will provide insight concerning how their membership organizations increase innovation in entities. Their members and their resources can make the difference between your entity and your competitors.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify how to attract and recruit professionals to your organization
• Recognize how to increase the innovation of your organization through the practice of inclusion.
• Recall how to leverage the affinity organizations to boost your recruiting and retention strategy.

The Center for Plain English Accounting (CPEA) staff present a practical overview of the new lease accounting standard (ASU 2016-02) and the new revenue recognition standard (ASU 2014-09). Gain key insights into the new guidance and learn about important implementation challenges.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the requirements of the new lease accounting and revenue recognition standards.
• Gain practical insights into key implementation challenges related to ASU 2016-02 and ASU 2014-09.

Most firms focus process improvement on their tax and assurance practices, completely overlooking their own internal operations. Lean Administration will explain how Lean Six Sigma methodologies can improve your firm's Practice Management, Internal Accounting, Payroll and Knowledge Management processes to streamline your back office procedures.

Learning Objectives:

• Clearly understand what Lean Six Sigma is and how to apply it to your administrative procedures.
• Walk away with a listing of practical examples of improving your firm operations.

Employers of choice have certain employment practices in common. They understand that they are six key motivators that impact employee recruitment and retention. In this presentation, we highlight the reasons top talent stays, and outline low-cost, medium-cost, and long term strategies for recruitment and retention of women.

• Learn why people stay*
• Learn strategies for recruitment and retention of our women and all our top talent

Security has always been top of mind for CPA firms, but with the recent increase in breaches hitting the headlines, it has become an even higher priority. Topics will include: why breaches are inevitable, the current threat landscape, cyber risk insurance, questions executives should be asking and more.

• Identify the key reasons breaches are occurring
• Enhance understanding of what is needed to mitigate cyber risks
• Learn about common myths relating to IT security

Audit clients continue to become more global, diverse and technology reliant while the audit methodologies used by most firms hasn’t fundamentally changed in 25 years. While there has long been discussion that the future audit will shift from attesting on past results once per year to delivering real time assurance very little has been accomplished to date. This session will discuss approaches to better integrating technology into the audit process, accessing clients “big” data and that can be leveraged through use data analytics. Leveraging “big data” through use of “data analytics in our audit processes are sure to be foundational to the audit of the future. This interactive panel session will layout a model for how that could work, the potential benefits, and the current barriers around moving this from myth to reality. During this session real life examples of what is being accomplished will be presented.

Identification of issues getting in the way of success preventing the better utilization of technology Discussion of approaches to better leverage technology in the audit.

The need for companies to efficiently and intelligently manage HR processes — from recruiting, hiring, and onboarding employees, to administering benefits, training, and annual enrollments — is vital to minimizing compliance risk and improving workforce productivity. To effectively manage their HR needs, companies of all sizes are turning to human capital management (HCM), a set of processes and technology used to improve recruiting, management, and performance. In this session you will learn how HCM technology can help your clients streamline HR processes, engage employees and promote productivity, and provide actionable insight into the business.

Objectives:

• Review HCM technology trends — the current state and what’s on the horizon
• Highlight the benefits of HCM technology for employers and their current and prospective employees
• Discover new consultative opportunities with HCM technology

This session will include a review of regs, rulings and court decisions affecting 2017 tax return planning for high net worth individuals including last minute information on the progress of tax reform.

The states are out of money. And what better way to generate revenue than from nonresidents? This program will provide some practical advice about residency rules applicable to most of the United States and the steps necessary to insure that income and estate tax auditors accept your clients' change of residence.

Learn from a Family that runs a Family office the issues they face in dealing with tax strategies and issues that effect the family. A family member who runs a SFO will discuss how they deal with professional advisors.