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Audit CPE Courses For CPAs |
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Needless to say, accounting and auditing go hand in hand and are closely related to each other. While accounting offers information on the financial health of an organization, auditing tries to validate whether that financial data is accurate or not.
Auditing revolves around a large number of rules, regulations, and guidelines that are inherently complex. Therefore, if you specialize in audits, you’ve to prioritize pursuing audit CPE to constantly update your knowledge and skills.
Additionally, some state boards of accountancy have made it mandatory for CPAs, who are actively engaged in auditing, to obtain a certain number of auditing CPE credits to fulfill their CPE requirements.
If your state board too has this requirement, completing CPE auditing programs will help you enhance your professional competence and remain compliant with your CPE requirements at the same time.
By reading this page till the end, you’ll get to know about all the essential details related to audit CPE.
However, before we delve deeper into auditing CPE, it’s important to mention that this page isn’t about the CPE Audit Service of NASBA. CPE Audit Service is a platform that can be used by state boards to ensure their CPAs are compliant with their CPE requirements.
As a CPA, you can report your CPE credits and documentation to your state board by entering your account using your CPE Audit Service login details.
Let’s get started with the basics of auditing CPE.
The key objective of pursuing CPE auditing is to master the skills and knowledge required to identify whether or not the financial statements of an organization are in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations.
For instance, many mid-sized and large businesses need to carry out a 401(k) audit. This means these businesses need to have their 401(k) plans reviewed by third-party accounting firms. The duty of the accounting firms is to ensure that those plans are within the regulations and guidelines established by both the Department of Labor and the IRS.
If you specialize in 401(k) audits, you may need to complete relevant programs to meet your 401(k) audit CPE requirements.
Similarly, many organizations use the AuditBoard platform to automate their workflows and gain important insights into various risk factors. By pursuing Audit Board CPE, you can become a valuable asset to those companies.
Since the platform is used by many Fortune 500 companies, completing AuditBoard CPE programs can help you get an edge over your peers.
Basically, there are three categories of audits: external audits, internal audits, and government audits. Depending on your professional responsibilities, you need to choose the right audit CPE programs.
Here’re brief overviews of different types of audits.
External audits are performed to identify any errors or misstatements in the financial statements of an organization. Third-party audit firms carry out these audits and provide an impartial opinion about a company’s financial health.
External auditors often work together with government agencies and provide a comprehensive assessment of the financial records of the company. Their objective opinions can either guide the company to make better financial decisions or confirm that its records are both complete and accurate.
As many reputable accounting firms perform external audits, completing CPE auditing programs in this field can help you maintain and enhance your employability.
Internal audits are carried out by the employees of an organization. The findings of internal audits are utilized to ensure that the company is compliant with the applicable laws and regulations and to improve internal controls.
The audit reports also help the management to spot imperfections in the company’s processes before they’re reviewed by external auditors. If you’re responsible for performing internal audits for your organization, you should prioritize completing internal audit CPE programs.
These audits are completed to ensure that organizations aren’t misrepresenting the amounts of their taxable income. Government audits also help verify the accuracy of specific transactions done by an entity.
The IRS typically completes these audits and uses machine learning and a random statistical formula to select taxpayers for audits. If you want to specialize in government audits, choose the right programs when pursuing accounting and auditing CPE.
Regardless of the specific field you want to specialize in, you’ve to be meticulous and detail-oriented and need to possess a great degree of knowledge and skills in the relevant subjects. Whether you take paid or free audit CPE programs, they should be developed by experienced authors and instructors in the field.
By enrolling in such audit CPE courses, you’ll be able to deliver professional services with greater proficiency and confidence. This will also help you become a trusted partner on whom organizations can rely to gain better insights into their financial performances.
Auditing is an extremely important process that helps organizations ensure their financial statements are reliable and accurate. Therefore, you, as an auditor, can help these entities take their businesses to new heights.
Here’re two real-life benefits of taking quality auditing CPE courses and completing them on time.
With the help of your prowess gained from audit CPE, you can help company owners identify areas where expenses can be reduced and resources that can be optimized. Through an audit, business owners can spot loopholes within their accounting systems and take necessary steps to improve efficiency.
A compliance audit (also known as a Single Audit) is mandatory for every non-federal entity that spends $750,000 or more in federal awards in a financial year. The objective of this audit is to determine whether the grantees are compliant with material and direct compliance requirements for every important program.
Federal agencies can improve federal programs or make changes to them based on the reports of Single Audits. As the federal government awards a huge amount of dollars in grants, interest subsidies, loans, and many other forms, performing compliance audits has become one of the most vital auditing activities.
Compliance audits are part of governmental audits which also include financial statement audits. Financial statement audits are done on entities like local governments, states, institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, etc.
By pursuing government audit CPE, you gain the knowledge and skills required to help a wide variety of entities meet their compliance requirements. However, since governmental audits cover many different aspects, you should decide on your specialization before you start pursuing government auditing CPE.
In some states, CPAs must obtain a specific number of governmental auditing CPE credits if they perform certain engagements. For instance, if you perform Single Audits, you’re required to pursue Single Audit CPE in the associated areas.
If you perform activities under GAGAS, you may need to fulfill certain Single Audit CPE requirements or Yellow Book audit CPE requirements.
Businesses that have at least 100 participants receiving 401(k) benefits must complete a 401(k) audit performed by a third party. If you perform this audit, you should take 401(k) audit CPE courses to enhance your professional competence.
Since you’re required to take different accounting and auditing CPE courses, it’s best to use an advanced tool to track your compliance with auditing CPE requirements. NASBA’s CPE Audit Service is one of the best tools that you can use to do this.
Many state boards need their CPAs to report the details and documentation of their CPE through this automated tool when they conduct an audit.
As a CPA, you can store all your CPE details on this platform, which greatly simplifies the task of tracking your audit CPE credits. If you haven’t registered with it already, you can visit this page to start the process of obtaining your CPE Audit Service login credentials.
Auditing belongs to the technical fields of study and is divided into two subgroups: governmental and non-governmental. You may need to choose between these two subfields depending on your professional responsibilities and as per the CPE auditing requirements of your board.
Let’s take a quick look at each of these.
By taking audit CPE courses in this subfield, you’ll be able to learn about the government auditing standards set forth by the GAO together with the GASB standards applicable to local and state governmental contracts and entities.
Forensic analysis and evaluation of governmental contracts and agencies also come under government audit CPE.
Audit CPE programs in this area will help you gain the knowledge and skills required to conduct independent examinations of the financial statements, records, etc. of different entities for different purposes.
To do this, you may need to take internal audit CPE programs, audit risk assessment CPE courses, etc. If you want to enhance your competence in auditing organizations that have at least 100 participants having eligibility for the 401(k) plan, you may want to take auditing employee benefit plans CPE programs.
Whether you need to fulfill your 401(k) audit CPE requirements, want to pursue internal audit CPE, or wish to complete audit CPE programs covering other subjects, it’s vital to enroll in the right audit CPE courses.
Here, we’ve jotted down a few valuable tips that’ll help you navigate the complex world of auditing CPE with ease.
As we’ve already mentioned, CPE auditing programs can cover many different subjects. Therefore, before you start enrolling in programs in this field, you should have a clear idea of which subject areas are important to your professional career.
When trying to figure this out, you should consider both your present professional responsibilities and future career goals. For instance, if you want to build your career as a government auditor, your priority should be pursuing government audit CPE.
Similarly, completing internal audit CPE programs will be prudent if you desire to enhance your proficiency as an internal auditor.
In case you find it hard to decide on the right area of specialization, you should talk to a mentor. You can also follow articles and podcasts by eminent personalities in the field to comprehend the probable changes in it.
When it comes to pursuing audit CPE, you can choose from different learning formats. From self-study audit CPE courses and live webinars to conferences, there’s no shortage of learning formats.
Each of these formats has some unique benefits. For example, if you want to get involved in group discussions and obtain several auditing CPE credits in one go, you can attend conferences.
If you learn better in the presence of a live instructor but don’t want to travel to and from another location or want to spend a significant amount of money to obtain the credits, attending live webinars should be a good option for you.
Taking self-study CPE auditing courses will probably be the best option when your goal is to internalize the study materials and receive your credits at your own pace.
Auditing CPE courses often come with price tags higher than programs in many other fields of study. So, it’s best to look for cost-efficient ways to manage your overall CPE budget. Purchasing CPE subscriptions is perhaps the best method to do this.
Some premier CPE providers, including CPEThink.com, have different CPE subscriptions to help CPAs fulfill their specific needs efficiently. For example, if you buy one of our unlimited subscriptions, you may be able to receive all your credits, including the audit CPE ones, required to stay compliant with your CPE requirements.
You’ll get access to all our self-study programs and free webinars just by making a reasonable one-time payment. You’ll also get unlimited attempts to clear your final exams and unlimited certificate prints.
If you want to get the most out of your audit CPE affordably and efficiently, choosing CPEThink.com is your ultimate option. For nearly two decades, we’ve built an unparalleled reputation for providing CPAs with high-quality courses with reasonable price tags.
You can start browsing our auditing CPE programs if you want to start your journey right away. In case you need some more information about our platform and courses, feel free to reach us.
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