CPA Voice gives OSCPA members relevant information on trends in the profession, along with content targeted to their area of work. The publication covers the latest news, best practices, trends in the profession and information on what OSCPA is doing to serve you as a member. 

CPA Voice is complimentary to all OSCPA members and features a self-assessment exam offering convenient, free CPE to members.

You can find the latest issues of the CPA Voice here.

Review the objective of this GASB statement which is to enhance comparability in accounting and financial reporting and to improve the consistency of authoritative literature by addressing practice issues that have been identified during implementation and application of certain GASB statements.

"In December 2019, the AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) issued Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 138, Amendments to the Description of the Concept of Materiality, and Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 20 of the same title to respectively amend various AU-C and AT-C sections in AICPA Professional Standards. 

Understand the amendments to the description of the concept of materiality which aligns the materiality concepts discussed in AICPA Professional Standards with the description of materiality used by the U.S. judicial system and other U.S. standard setters and regulators. "

"In December 2019, Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 19, Agreed-Upon Procedures Engagements was issued. SSAE 19 supersedes SSAE 18 AT-C section 215 of the same name and also amends certain provisions of SSAE 18 section 105, Concepts Common to All Attestation Engagements. 

Examine the flexibility that SSAE 19 provides to a practitioner performing an agreed-upon procedures engagement in the following areas; assertion requirement, development and sufficiency of procedures,understanding with engaging party and general use. "

This standard update was issued in January 2020 meant to clarify accounting for certain equity method investments. Dive into how the new guidance addresses accounting for the transition into and out of the equity method and measuring certain purchased options and forward contracts to acquire investments.

Excel errors continue to plague organizations of all sizes and as spreadsheets become ever-more common, the effects of these errors will continue to impact virtually every Excel user and those who rely on Excel-based data and analyses. Fortunately, that need not be the case because many options exist to prevent, identify, and correct spreadsheet errors before they adversely affect reports and decision-making processes.

In this session you will learn how to apply best practices to reduce the error rate in workbooks that you and others on your team create and edit. Equally important, you will learn how to take advantage of add-ins for Excel that can programmatically scan and audit your spreadsheets to identify potentially disastrous errors while there is still time to correct them. You do not want to miss this opportunity to learn how tools such as PerfectXL, ClusterSeven, and ActiveData can help you and your team to identify and correct potentially disastrous spreadsheet errors.

Why Attend?

• List Common Causes of Spreadsheet Errors and the Potential Impact of these Errors
• Identify Best Practices to Reduce the Number of Errors in Excel Workbooks
• Implement Various Excel Add-ins to Programmaticaly Identify Spreadsheet Errors

In this module, we will explore some technology tools that are currently used in the field of accounting, including some exciting and emerging technologies. You may be familiar with some of these terms while others may be quite new. During this module, you will also have an opportunity to learn some practical applications of accounting software. 

Why Attend:

• Identify key factors that drive the accounting technology needs of an organization.
• Distinguish between internal and external accounting requirements for public and private companies.
• Define cloud computing, its risks and benefits, and accounting applications most suitable.
• Differentiate between artificial intelligence and machine learning and explain how current developments are impacting accounting processes.
• Explain robotic process automation and the opportunities it creates within accounting and finance functions.
• Identify the accounting decisions required to establish an entity’s accounting ledger (e.g., fiscal year-end, the basis of accounting, entity structure). 
• Use accounting software to generate internal and external financial reports. 

Who Should Attend:

• New professionals within the accounting profession.
• Professionals looking for a refresher in accounting technology tools, concepts, and application.

Additional Course Information:

This self-paced module is a part of The Ohio Society of CPAs Workforce Development: Upskilling & Reskilling the Accounting Profession Technical Skills bundle. We encourage you to explore each of these courses as a part of your professional development plan. If interested in purchasing the entire bundle, refer to the related products below the product description.

In this module, you will be exploring four key areas of the corporate accounting process. While some of these terms may be familiar to you, it is important to review these concepts and understand how they all fit together.

These include the key principles of financial accounting process; financial close process, trial balance, and account reconciliation; preparing financial statements; and key financial ratio.

Why Attend:

• Explain the key principles of the financial accounting process, including the accounting equation.
• Describe the purpose and key steps within the financial statement close process, describe the purpose of a trial balance and its preparation process, and describe the account reconciliation process.
• Identify the main elements of financial statements, explain compliance requirements, and identify key steps in preparing financial statements.
• Walk through the key financial ratios and explain the insights they provide in analyzing a company’s performance.

Who Should Attend:

• New professionals within the accounting profession.
• Professionals looking for a refresher in corporate accounting concepts and application.

Additional Course Information:

This self-paced module is a part of The Ohio Society of CPAs Workforce Development: Upskilling & Reskilling the Accounting Profession Technical Skills bundle. We encourage you to explore each of these courses as a part of your professional development plan. If interested in purchasing the entire bundle, refer to the related products below the product description.

In this module, you will learn how to use advanced techniques in Excel to analyze data at a deeper level. Using tools such as advanced pivot tables, you will learn how to ask the right questions to analyze your data in-depth and then find ways to answer those questions through several of Excel’s more advanced data analysis techniques. 

You will then move on to explore Power BI, a powerful tool for visualizing data. You will have the opportunity to explore some of its capabilities and think about how you might use data visualization to share complex information with a variety of audiences. 

Please note that this module focuses on a broad survey of some of Excel’s advanced data analysis tools as well as an introduction to Power BI. It isn’t meant to be a how-to tutorial. Rather, we want you to think about the various ways you can drill down into the data to investigate it from multiple perspectives and how to share that complex information through visualization. The overarching objective is for you to be aware of the various advanced tools and visualization techniques that enable you to add value to your job by enhancing your analytic skills. 

Why Attend:

• Identify when advanced Excel techniques are needed including when and how to use advanced options in Pivot Table, PowerPivot, and Regression Analysis. 
• Discuss four advanced Excel Visualization Techniques used to communicate financial information to internal and external customers and explain the purpose of each one.
• Learn two ways that Power Query and Combine Functions in Power BI are used to shape, transform, and combine data to meet different needs. 
• Describe the steps needed to build visualized reports from models and create an effective dashboard in Power BI.

Who Should Attend:

• New professionals within the accounting profession.
• Professionals looking for a refresher in data analysis and visualization tools and applications.

Additional Course Information:

This self-paced module is a part of The Ohio Society of CPAs Workforce Development: Upskilling & Reskilling the Accounting Profession Technical Skills bundle. We encourage you to explore each of these courses as a part of your professional development plan. If interested in purchasing the entire bundle, refer to the related products below the product description.

Gain a broad overview of the capabilities of Excel in the world of accounting. You may be familiar with Excel to enter data and create spreadsheets. But do you know what else Excel can do? It’s a powerful tool that provides a range of options to support your work. First, we will take a look at some tips and tricks accountants can use to improve their Excel experience. Then, we will delve a little deeper to understand how to use Excel to create financial reports, analyze the data we enter into Excel and create powerful visual presentations from Excel. Lastly, we will explore how to turn columns of numbers into understandable visuals that can be shared with the executive leadership team of our company.

Please note that this module focuses on a broad survey of some of Excel’s capabilities. It isn’t meant to be a how-to tutorial. Rather, we want you to gain an appreciation and understanding of the many possibilities of Excel when used by capable accountants who understand what to use, when, and why. The overarching objective is for you to be able to name and explain some of the various functions and how they can be used. But remember, if the information entered isn’t correct or accurate, then no shortcut or chart will fix that. 

Why Attend:

• Learn three Excel tools and techniques that can improve productivity.
• Explain how excel formulas can be used to create budgets and quarterly forecasts.
• Walkthrough how to use Excel to analyze financial data for key trends using Vlookups, Hlookups, and financial ratio functions.
• Identify the most appropriate visualization tools in Excel to present data.

Who Should Attend:

• New professionals within the accounting profession.
• Professionals looking for a refresher in excel accounting tools and application.

Additional Course Information:

This self-paced module is a part of The Ohio Society of CPAs Workforce Development: Upskilling & Reskilling the Accounting Profession Technical Skills bundle. We encourage you to explore each of these courses as a part of your professional development plan. If interested in purchasing the entire bundle, refer to the related products below the product description.