Need more CPE hours? Consider transient training

Posted by AccountingWEB on Nov 13 2009 4743 printer friendly

If you're feeling the grind of accumulating 40 hours of CPE by the end of the year, you don't necessarily have to sit through a Yellow Book Auditing class because that's what's near your office. It's not too late to incorporate learning with some fun in the sun by 12/31.

For instance, Western CPE [1] has three conferences this month and next month:

• November 16-20: New Orleans, Louisiana

• November 30-December 4: Cancun, Mexico

• November 30-December 5: Las Vegas, Nevada

Or, maybe you have friends or family in the Los Angeles area. The California Society of CPAs is presenting a CE Week [2] in Palm Springs November 30 through December 4. There's also a two-day International Tax and Business Conference [3] on December 7 and December 8 in Orange County and a Wine Industry Conference [4] in Sonoma County on December 9 and 10.

If you'd like to see the holiday lights on Fifth Avenue or catch a discounted Broadway show [5], the New York Society of CPAs offers several opportunities in Manhattan, such as the Sidney Kess Post-Election Tax Planning Conference [6]on Friday, December 4. Other options in Manhattan include a Corporate Taxation Conference [7]on December 15, accompanied by a Partnership Taxation Conference [8] on December 16. Farther south, the Florida Institute of CPAs [9] has several A&A and tax update courses scheduled in the Miami area, Fort Myers, Orlando, and Tallahassee—with a 25% discount to boot.

Elsewhere, the AICPA is offering a National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments [10] in Washington, DC on December 7-9. However, if you can't make it to our nation's capitol, you can register for a video simulcast in Chicago, New York, Dallas, or San Francisco. Or, consider the AICPA National Construction Industry Conference [11] in Las Vegas on December 3-4.

If none of these conferences suit your needs, you can easily locate other options by visiting state society Web site for the location to which you want to travel. So, no matter what state you live in, if you want to visit friends in Atlanta, visit the Georgia Society of CPAs [12] Web site to see what options they have in December, such as the Governmental Accounting & Auditing Conference [13] on December 11.

For many, this is the era of the "staycation," so maybe travel isn't in the cards for you right now. CPE providers are becoming more inventive: for example, you can attend the aforementioned Wine Industry Conference via webcast. More and more CPE is being made available via the Web, so in a pinch, crank up the heat, put on some shorts and flip-flops and imagine yourself someplace sunny as you get your CPE hours in at your desk.