COVID-19 Resources for CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and Tax Professionals

The Information You Need to Help Your Clients Now

As the world continues to respond to the devastating and wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have scrambled to enact legislation and authorize numerous other changes to help businesses and individuals get through the crisis. This has resulted in an overwhelming amount of new information for CPAs, EAs, and other financial and tax advisers to sort through and understand.

Rest assured that Surgent stands ready to help you navigate these complex, challenging, and quickly changing times. Since the crisis began to emerge, our experts have been analyzing and distilling all of the legislation, executive orders, and other rules to bring you the information you and your clients need as quickly as possible.

The following CPE courses provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date information available about the tax, legal, and other financial impacts of COVID-19. Additional free resources and FAQs are also listed below the courses on this page. Please check back frequently, as we will continue to develop new courses and other content to help you and your clients as the situation continues to evolve.

Course Overview Summaries

Performing an Effective Audit Risk Assessment in the COVID-19 Environment (RAC4)
Recent auditing standards and peer review feedback have emphasized the importance of performing an effective risk assessment when identifying and evaluating the risk of material misstatement in a financial statement audit. These risk assessment procedures include both evaluating the design and implementation of internal controls, as well as determining how much reliance an auditor will place on those controls. Further, the risk assessment process provides the rationale for effectively and efficiently designing the nature, timing, and extent of further audit procedures, be they testing the operating effectiveness of internal controls or the performance of substantive audit procedures. While this requirement of an effective audit hasn’t changed, the level of risk brought about due to emerging accounting and disclosure issues brought on by the pandemic coupled with the new ways we will be required to obtain the information to assess risk and internal control stressors on our clients, certainly has. This course will focus on how to utilize a risk-based approach in audit engagements to enhance audit quality, with an emphasis on how to comply with the professional requirements in a virtual environment. As auditors continue to struggle with effective and efficient execution of the Risk Assessment Standards, it’s likely these struggles will increase in the new virtual reality. This course will give you a jump start on determining how you can comply with professional standards as you and your clients adapt to new working conditions.

Going Concern Accounting and Reporting Considerations in the COVID-19 Environment (AGC2)
One of the unfortunate outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic is the economic stress. Such stress has raised concerns about many entities’ abilities to continue as a going concern, which has significant accounting, disclosure and, reporting implications. This course will review the relevant considerations related to going concern, including when substantial doubt concerning an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern exists, management mitigation efforts, and required disclosures both when management, and the accountant, feel such efforts will be effective in mitigating the risk, as well as when they do not. Lastly, we’ll consider the accountant’s reporting responsibilities under various scopes of services in various scenarios.

A Complete Guide to Claiming the Employee Retention Credit (TPER)
The Employee Retention Credit is a fully refundable tax credit for employers equal to 50 percent of qualified wages (including allocable qualified health plan expenses) that Eligible Employers pay their employees. The maximum amount of qualified wages taken into account with respect to each employee for all calendar quarters is $10,000, so that the maximum credit for an Eligible Employer for qualified wages paid to any employee is $5,000. Many clients that are unable to obtain a Paycheck Protection Program loan will consider accessing Employee Retention Credits. This program is a detailed analysis of the Employee Retention Credit that will provide CPAs and other financial professionals with a comprehensive understanding of this credit so that they will able to intelligently advise their clients.

The Paycheck Protection Program and the New Forgiveness Application (PPP5)
Since the passage of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act on June 3, we have received important, new borrower-friendly changes, including two new and revised loan forgiveness applications and another Interim Final Rule. These changes will determine if, when, and how your clients with PPP loans will be able to have them fully or partially forgiven. The presenters have tracked each change and its implications and will tell you what you need to know to help your clients obtain maximum PPP loan forgiveness.

Financial Reporting Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic (FRC4)
In addition to being a significant business interrupter for many entities, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will also create significant financial reporting implications for virtually all entities. Many formerly profitable entities will be looking at charges for once unthought-of circumstances, from fixed asset impairment to inventory and receivables write-downs. Further, many entities will need to account for debt and other contractual modifications, including restructuring, forgiveness, and debt covenant modifications. Applying this often complex accounting guidance in these areas may be challenging. In this course, we’ll review in detail the accounting guidance that many entities will need to apply when preparing their next set of financial statements. We’ll also review disclosure guidance for such topics as going concern considerations and subsequent events as well as other relevant financial statement recognition and presentation issues.

Bankruptcy Basics: Understanding the Reorganization and Liquidation Process in These Uncertain Economic Times (BNK2)
Consumers and businesses file for bankruptcy to seek protection from creditors and to reorganize or liquidate debts. Bankruptcy filings rise and fall with the economy. Surveys show that loss of income is the leading cause of consumer bankruptcies, followed by medical expenses and foreclosure. Corporate bankruptcies, on the other hand, are often the result of several factors, including excessive debt, decreased demand, increased costs, lawsuits or poor accounting practices. It is no secret bankruptcy filings will see a tremendous uptick in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. As an accountant, CFP, attorney or other professional, you need to be able to discuss the process and different available courses of action with your clients. Both landlords and tenants will be influenced tremendously. Individuals will look to your advice for a discharge and new start. Businesses will do the same and will also need to advise loyal employees. Creditors will receive proofs of claim and look to you for your expertise. Take this webinar and make sure you can speak fluently to both creditors and debtors. As trusted advisors, then, professionals should have a basic understanding of the bankruptcy process. This course provides a thorough review of the consumer and corporate bankruptcy practice. Participants in this webinar will gain an understanding of how consumer and corporate bankruptcy proceedings begin and end, as well as learn about key issues that affect debtor and creditor rights during bankruptcy. This webinar provides information from the perspective of both debtor and creditor. Although bankruptcy concerns the debts of the debtor, the Bankruptcy Code provides substantial protections to creditors. Creditor rights, however, vary widely depending on the status afforded the creditor under the Bankruptcy Code. Do yourself, your clients and your profit margin a favor and sign up for this invaluable webinar.

Accounting and Financial Reporting Considerations Related To COVID‑19 (COV2)
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are wide-ranging, with significant effects on accounting and financial reporting for all entities. Complicating the application of the relevant accounting guidance is the inherent uncertainty in which everyone is making decisions, including those with financial reporting responsibilities. This webinar will discuss the various financial accounting, disclosure, and reporting implications, which all preparers of financial statements will be facing over the next few months. Our goal is to give you a thorough list of considerations, with references to the applicable authoritative guidance which will allow entities and their accountants to apply the relevant standards when preparing financial statements in this challenging environment.

COVID-19 IRA and Plan Provision Contributions, Distributions, and Loans (ACV9)
This presentation explains some of the retirement account–related provisions that have been made for individuals adversely affected by COVID-19. This includes the technical, compliance, and operational requirements that apply. The IRS recently issued Notice 2020-18: Relief for Taxpayers Affected by Ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic. This Notice provides relief from tax deadlines to affected taxpayers who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 emergency. The IRS defines affected taxpayers, for the purpose of this relief, as any person with a federal income tax payment or a federal income tax return due April 15, 2020. Under this relief, the due date for filing federal income tax returns and making federal income tax payments, which was previously April 15, 2020, is automatically postponed to July 15, 2020. Affected taxpayers do not have to file Forms 4868 or 7004 (both applications for extensions to file applicable returns), as this is a postponement and not an extension. In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and includes provisions that are intended to provide relief for the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).