Seminar
Security Essentials: Protecting Data & Digital Assets
Join us Aug 17–20, 2026 online for 4 days of live CPE — 6 sessions taught by Brian Tankersley and Lawrence A. "Mac" McClelland and Stephen Yoss, worth up to 18 CPE credits.
Presented in partnership with Michigan Association of CPAs, Oklahoma Society of CPAs, New Mexico CPA Foundation, Montana Society of CPAs, Georgia Society of CPAs, Iowa Society of CPAs, Washington Society of CPAs, Kentucky Society of CPAs, Mississippi Society of CPAs, Alabama Society of CPAs, Connecticut Society of CPAs, Illinois CPA Society, Indiana CPA Society, Massachusetts Society of CPAs, Nebraska Society of CPAs, Ohio Society of CPAs, Oregon Society of CPAs, Society of Louisiana CPAs, K2 Enterprises.
On the agenda
6 sessions across 4 days, taught by Brian Tankersley and Lawrence A. "Mac" McClelland — see the full agenda ↓
Agenda
Select a day, then a class, for full details.
Day 1 Monday, August 17, 2026 1 session
Turbo Charging Productivity with Artificial Intelligence and Automation
1:00 – 5:00 PM · Stephen Yoss · 4 credits
Discover the real-world power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and equip yourself with the skills to conquer modern challenges in accounting and finance. In this engaging course, we demystify AI and unveil its practical applications, transforming it from theory into a hands-on tool. Learn the essential AI fundamentals and unlock its remarkable potential to boost your productivity and effectiveness alongside your team. Explore the specific problem-solving capabilities of AI, tailored to address the unique challenges faced by accounting and financial professionals. Gain expertise in leveraging AI features integrated into everyday applications, including the ubiquitous Excel. Uncover how these features enable you to effortlessly detect fraud, identify potential transaction errors, and elevate your financial operations to new heights. Witness firsthand how AI is reshaping the present...
- Recognize essential components of Artificial Intelligence.
- Distinguish AI, Machine Learning, and Robotic Process Automation.
- Explore practical AI applications in accounting and finance.
- Identify AI features in applications like Excel
- Evaluate AI's impact on accounting and financial fields
Day 3 Wednesday, August 19, 2026 3 sessions
K2's CPA Firm Update
7:00 – 9:00 AM · Brian Tankersley · 2 credits
In a rapidly evolving public practice accounting landscape, K2's CPA Firm Update continues to be your essential guide to staying ahead. This session provides actionable insights into transformative technologies and management strategies reshaping the profession. With a focus on data analytics, cybersecurity, practice management, and client service excellence, this year's update delves into how firms can thrive amidst change. Key technologies covered include AI-powered auditing, blockchain applications for financial processes, advancements in cloud computing, robotic process automation (RPA), and workflow optimization tools. Gain clarity on significant trends and how they affect your firm's strategy, enabling you to make well-informed decisions for sustainable growth.
- Understand supplier and market changes impacting the profession
- Compare and assess software solutions for various service lines and specialties
- Explore emerging technologies that enhance efficiency and deliver competitive advantages
- Select the most suitable technology stack for your firm's long-term success
K2's CRM - The Ultimate Business Automation Tool
9:30 – 11:30 AM · Brian Tankersley · 2 credits
This course provides an in-depth exploration of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems as a critical tool for business automation. Designed for accounting professionals, it emphasizes CRM’s role in streamlining workflows, organizing communications, enhancing client relationships, and improving efficiency. Participants will learn about key CRM features, integration with accounting software, and best practices for successful implementation. We will highlight practical applications with actionable insights to help attendees optimize their processes. This two-hour session ensures you walk away with a basic understanding of CRM’s transformative potential for business and financial management.
- Define Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and explain its significance in business automation
- Identify key CRM features that optimize accounting and financial workflows
- Name at least two best practices for implementing and customizing CRM systems for use in common accounting workflows
K2's Technology Update
12:00 – 4:00 PM · Brian Tankersley · 4 credits
Which technology trends will impact you and your business? What emerging technologies will potentially help you to address security and efficiency? How will the emergence of Windows 11 – and potentially Windows 12 – affect you? Should you consider subscription-based software? What does the future of communication technology have in store for you? Get answers to these and other questions by participating in K2’s Technology Update, a four-hour review of technological trends and developments affecting virtually all business professionals. In this session, you will learn about significant issues such as: • Hardware trends, • Software innovations, • Communication and collaboration tools, • Security issues and solutions, • Key products to consider for implementation, and • Unusual and emerging technologies you may have missed. If you’re taking just one technology-focused...
- Identify major hardware trends and software developments
- Compare examples of technologies that can improve communications and data transfers
- Differentiate between various communication tools and platforms
- Identify key security issues and appropriate responses
Day 4 Thursday, August 20, 2026 2 sessions
K2's Mastering Advanced Excel Functions
7:00 – 11:00 AM · Lawrence A. "Mac" McClelland · 4 credits
With approximately 500 functions now available in Excel, some newer and more powerful tools are easily overlooked. But, if you do that, your productivity will suffer. In this session, you will learn how to take advantage of many of Excel's more advanced features – some new and some legacy – to elevate your productivity to higher levels. In this session, you will learn about many of Excel's newer tools, including XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, SWITCH, and STOCKHISTORY. Also included in this session are discussions of advanced financial functions, such as IPMT and PPMT, and how to retrieve summarized data easily using GETPIVOTDATA and CUBEVALUE. Additionally, you will learn how to make sophisticated calculations easier with Dynamic Array formulas, harness the AGGREGATE function's power, and create more accurate forecasts with Excel's FORECAST.ETS function. Regardless of your experience working...
- List examples of best practices for constructing formulas in Excel spreadsheets
- Identify situations in which each of the following functions might be useful: SUMIFS, SWITCH, and STOCKHISTORY
- Distinguish between the XLOOKUP function and legacy Excel functions such as VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH
- Cite examples of when using Dynamic Arrays would be useful
- Differentiate between Excel’s AGGREGATE and SUBTOTAL functions
K2's Ripped From The Headlines: Lessons From Interesting Tech Crimes
11:30 AM – 1:30 PM · Lawrence A. "Mac" McClelland · 2 credits
Generative AI and “ransomware for hire” have helped cybercriminals thrive in the post-pandemic period – but how do they do it? This all-new session is a series of case studies that examine actual criminal filings and news accounts and use them to highlight some of the actions you can take to limit your exposure to similar schemes. Attend this session and learn more about how high-profile control failures occurred so you can be more effective at preventing crimes such as theft, malware, ransomware, phishing, and hacking.
- List at least three major security incidents reported in the headlines in the last year, and explain at least one major internal control design or operation flaw that allowed the hack to occur
- Select the correct definitions for common security terms such as attack surface, vulnerability, exploit, social engineering, phishing, malware, heuristics, biometrics, and multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- List at least three best practices learned by reviewing the control failures cited in the case studies
Your instructors
Brian Tankersley
Speaker & Author · K2 Enterprises · ★ 4.5 instructor rating
Brian Tankersley is a consultant who advises US firms and companies on accounting technology issues. Mr. Tankersley is a frequent speaker at continuing education courses for K2 Enterprises, and publishes a nationally recognized blog on accounting and technology (www.cpatechblog.com). He has also served as the technology editor for a major accounting industry publication. Mr. Tankersley has over 25 years of...
Full profile →
Lawrence A. "Mac" McClelland
Speaker & Author · K2 Enterprises · ★ 4.5 instructor rating
Mac McClelland, an attorney and accounting professional, is an associate of K2 Enterprises of Hammond, Louisiana, and Network Management Group of Hutchinson, Kansas. Mac was formerly the director of the Centre for Financial Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, where he lived and worked for seven years from 1990 to 1997. He was also a member of the faculty of the Advanced Business...
Full profile →
Stephen Yoss
Speaker & Author · CPE Today · ★ 4.7 instructor rating
Stephen M. Yoss, Jr., CPA, MS, is a certified public accountant, partner and CEO of Devmatics, LLC, a continuing education instructor for financial professionals, a and a licensed pyrotechnician. While his interests and skills are varied, they all share a common thread—his love for and skill in finding technology-based solutions. In 2017, Stephen and Alex White formed Devmatics, LLC, a company focused on helping...
Full profile →Co-sponsored with your state society
We're proud to co-sponsor this event with the societies below. Society members: register through your state society to receive special member pricing — check your society's CPE catalog or member portal for this event, or register directly with us here.
Not sure whether your society participates? Ask us — we'll point you to the right registration path.
What attendees say about these sessions
Every event runs once, so these are verified reviews from past attendees of the individual sessions on this agenda — the same instruction, the same courses.
“Stephen was very knowledgeable and easy to follow along with.”
“Very practical with relevant examples. Appreciate the insight to 'Best Practices'”
“An important look at some bad stuff. It's information we all need, so we can do our work with more care and caution and realism.”
“Great session to end the Tech conference. Lots of interesting real life cases.”
“First class I have taken from this instructor. Was very impressed and will be taking more from him. From someone who knew nothing about AI, I'm ready to dive into it and use it more in my practice!”
“The examples specific to accounting were interesting. That is mostly what I was interested in. I would say the first half was more fun and the second half was more specifically applicable to accounting. Some additional accounting examples would be helpful in this context. I...”
“I learned some great information today in this session.”
Similar events — see how comparable events rate
Seminar
Seminar
Seminar