Learn about the AICPA's Financial Reporting Framework for Small- and Medium-Sized Entities. Its features and benefits will be covered in providing a thorough understanding of who the framework is for and why it can be an ideal financial reporting option for many entities. In addition, the accounting principles and topics that are contained in the Framework will be presented and explained.

Speaker: Bob Durak, CPA, AICPA

Part 1:

The U.S. economy continues to heal from the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and while the rest of the global economy is not cooperating with this healing, at least it is not pulling the U.S. economy down. Still, the recovery is not complete and will remain very fragile to any external shock. Thus, absent any external economic shock U.S. economic growth will continue but at a relatively weak pace.

Speaker: Eugenio J. Alemán, Ph.D., Wells Fargo Securities, LLC


Part 2:

The U.S. economy is gradually improving but still performing at a sub-par level.  But the S.C. economy is moving with stronger momentum.  It is our turn? What are the prospects for 2013, for S.C., the nation, and the world? This session will examine these and other economic questions and trends.

Speaker: Bruce Yandle, Ph.D., Clemson University

It is time for employers to examine the specifics of health care reform.  Attend this session to discover the information your company needs to plan ahead. 

Topics Include: 

• Guidance to help determining FTE's
• Information to determine if you will pay or play
• Updates on Exchanges
• Overview on new fees
• Summary of new rules on wellness programs

Speakers: Bruce T. Williams, RHU, REBC, BB&T Boyle Vaughan & Michael Brittingham, CPA, JD, Nexsen Pruett, LLC  

Ready or not, Office 2013 has arrived! With Office 2013, Microsoft unveiled a number of new features sure to improve productivity across all of Office's familiar applications. In this session, you will learn about these new features, how to put them to use, and how to handle the upgrade process, including the potential to transition to Office 365 to save money on licensing. You will also learn about the deep integrations between Office 2013 and Windows 8, setting the stage for even greater levels of productivity.

Speaker:  Brian F. Tankersley, CPA, CITP, K2 Enterprises     

While many occupational fraud schemes are made possible by failures in internal controls, the ability to properly investigate, quantify, and ultimately recover these losses are often hampered by control failures.  While it is often possible to recover physical source documents, they only tell half the story in many complicated fraud schemes.  Properly preserving and investigating electronic evidence has become an increasingly critical part of unraveling and proving many fraud schemes.  This evidence has evolved far beyond the recovery of deleted email messages.  In this session, you will learn about the different types of electronic evidence that need to be preserved, the best controls for preserving it, and how it can be effectively utilized in a forensic investigation.

Speakers: Richard Livingston, CPA, CFF, CFE, CVA & Jeremy Gilbert, CPA/CFF/CITP, EnCE, CFFA, CFE, Dixon Hughes Goodman, LLP 

This 100 minute - 2 CPE hour session will focus on the most relevant accounting and auditing topics to the Industry and Business CPAs.  The focus will be on upcoming and newly issued pronouncements as well as major projects on the standard setter(s) agenda.  It will be a session you will not want to miss-  the session guarantees to be informative, entertaining and RELEVANT. 

Speaker: Mark T. Hobbs, CPA, CFF, CGMA, The Hobbs Group, PA

It is convenient, it is often a better solution, and implementation is quicker and less risky, but moving business data to the Cloud poses new risks.   What happens if your Cloud provider goes under?  What happens if you become dissatisfied and want to switch to another service?  Attend this session to learn about the risks of using Cloud solutions and how to manage them.

Speaker:  Brian F. Tankersley, CPA, CITP, K2 Enterprises     

Post-fee disclosure, post-2008 crash,  where are plan sponsors looking when they look past simply "checking the box" in terms of offering an employee retirement plan?   Topics include enrollment and education tools, Target Dated Funds (QDIA) evolution and other industry trends emerging from providers and plan sponsors.

Speakers: Mark Owens, ERPA & Ed Proulx, AIFA, APR, QPF- American Pensions

The AICPA Information Management and Technology Assurance (IMTA) Section assists CPAs who want to leverage technology to provide expertise in information assurance, internal controls, business process improvement, data analytics, and enhanced business reporting in order to increase efficiency and boost profits.

This session will review the various aspects of IMTA and the resources and guidance available from the AICPA.

Speaker: Don West, CPA, CISA, CISSP, Donald P. West, CPA, LLC

This session will help participants improve their presentation skills. It will cover how to gain credibility with an audience, how to put together what you are going to say, and how best to say it. Everything from the parts of a speech, to posture, gesture, and the image of the presenter will be discussed. We'll also address how to overcome the fear of public speaking and the use (not abuse) of humor.  After this you might even WANT to give a presentation!

Speaker: Denise Ryan, MBA, CSP, FireStar

No company is immune from a data breach. Learn what you need to know about cyber liability insurance, how to determine if your company needs it and what it covers.

Speaker: Tommy Suggs, KeenanSuggs Insurance

If you have ever thought, "Argh! Where did the time go?" or "How did I work all day and get nothing done?" this is the session for you! Opening with a quiz to see how you manage your time and identify areas for improvement, we continue by tackling the biggest time wasters - lack of planning, lack of organization, meetings, interruptions, procrastination, ineffective delegating and more! You'll leave with dozens of tips and techniques you can use to start saving time immediately. There will always be 24 hours in a day, but this session will help you get the most out of them.

Speaker: Denise Ryan, MBA, CSP, FireStar                     

This course will provide the practitioner with both a summary of the 2012 last minute "fiscal cliff" changes to the Internal Revenue Code as well as how these changes will effect the 2013 tax year.    

Speaker: Art Werner, J.D., M.S., Werner-Rocca Seminars, Ltd. 

Hear the latest on employee benefits including:

Selected Issues and Hot Topics in Executive Compensation 

• Deferred compensation agreements
    >  Avoiding tax calamity with deferred compensation
    >  Correcting errors in deferred compensation plans and programs
    >  Terminating deferred compensation arrangements
    >  Resolving disputes regarding deferred compensation
  . . . all in compliance with IRC Section 409A.
• "Synthetic Equity"
    >  Using phantom stock, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock and other equity measured programs to provide long-term incentive compensation to executives
• Bonus Plans
    >  Designing executive pay arrangements to drive management performance.

General Benefits Update

• IRS Updates retirement plan correction program - EPCRS
• Health Care Reform - The top 5 questions asked by clients  . . . and the answers too!

Speakers: Michael Brittingham, CPA, JD, & Sue Guitar Odom, JD, Nexsen Pruett, LLC