Get the most out of AICPA & CIMA Engage 2023 with these 24 essential sessions

You know what they say about when you’re in Vegas?

A slow-exposure image of the Las Vegas strip at night.

That’s exactly right: it’s time to transform your accounting business at AICPA & CIMA Engage 2023 🎉

Hundreds of accounting professionals are converging on ARIA Resort & Casino to make the most of:

9 educational tracks
450+ speakers
400+ sessions
150+ exhibitors

There’s a lot to keep track of, so here is a curated list of must-see sessions to make the most of your time there.

Day 1: Monday June 5, 2023

Elevate and modernize your client experience

ℹ️ Track: TCH (Tech+)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

How do you transition to a more modern client experience in an increasingly digital-first world?

David Leary (Earmark CPE), Stacy Shrader (ShareFile) and Blake Oliver (Earmark CPE) will draw on their own stories of transforming client experiences, best practices, and the important lessons they learned along the way.

Are you leading with inclusivity?

ℹ️ Track: All

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Embrace and deepen your knowledge on leading with inclusivity with Ranieka Weston (pLink Leadership) so you can increase staff connection and engagement, recognize barriers and formulate a commitment to be actively inclusive.

Creating a process for selecting technology in your firm

ℹ️ Track: TCH (Tech+)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

Learn how to select a vertical niche, assess the right technology to align to your mission as a practice, and explore other ways to re-engineer your business processes.

Amy Vetter (The B3 Method Institute) and Dawn Brolin (Powerful Accounting Inc.) will help you identify your purpose as a firm, select the right tech, and re-engineer your business processes to take full advantage of your tech.

Women in finance: Our seat at the table

ℹ️ Track: All

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

This exciting panel—Jennifer Horton (Designer Brands), Nicole Long (Agnes Scott College), Kristine Lemanski (AssuredPartners Aerospace) and Jennifer Reilly (Honeywell)—will share their stories as women in finance and their thoughts on the current status of inclusivity in the accounting profession.

The Bitcoin breakdown: A current perspective on digital assets

ℹ️ Track: PFP (Advanced Personal Financial Planning)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

David Oransky (Laminar Wealth) will explore the evolving regulatory environment of digital assets, uncovering potential implications and opportunities of Bitcoin.

You’ll learn:

The difference between Bitcoin and other digital assets
How the latest regulatory changes are shaping the future
Various use cases of Bitcoin

Small firm succession: Are you ready for the next wave of M&A?

ℹ️ Track: PRA (Practitioners)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Many owners of small accounting firms are expected to retire within the next 10 years. This panel will explain why the sooner you start planning for it, the more successful an ownership transition will be.

David Wurtzbacher (Ascend), Amber Goering (Goering and Granatino, P.A.) and Carl Peterson (AICPA & CIMA) will explain how to prepare for succession and the top 10 M&A issues (and how to avoid them).

Accountant support: Steal these automations

ℹ️ Track: TCH (Tech+)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Jason Staats (Realize) and Chad Davis (LiveCA LLP) will share 10 detailed automations that will help your firm run smoothly—automations that you can implement directly.

They’ll open up a Q&A where you can get their advice on your own automation ideas and desires.

Real-world ransomware incident and the lessons learned (live demo)

ℹ️ Track: PFP (Advanced Personal Financial Planning)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

This promises to be an enlightening session. Joseph Carson (Delinea) will take you inside the mind of a hacker, and follow the footsteps that led to a real and damaging CryLock ransomware attack.

Day 2: Tuesday June 6, 2023

How to nurture the new generation

ℹ️ Track: FMA (CPAFMA CONNECTIONS 2023)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

Sarah Dobek from Inovautus Consulting will unpack the principles of coaching and training for the next generation and give you ideas on how to develop your most motivated employees.

Five things to stop doing in your firm

ℹ️ Track: PRA (Practitioners)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

Sometimes moving forward doesn’t necessarily mean you need to add to what you’re already doing. Sometimes, it’s about stopping.

Keila Hill-Trawick (Little Fish Accounting) and Carrie Steffen (The Whetstone Group) will explore five things you need to unlearn so that your firm can thrive.

How to create compelling content and become a thought leader

ℹ️ Track: EDG (EDGE Career Development)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

Charlene Rhinehart (CEO Unlimited LLC) will give you tips for creating compelling content that helps you stand out. You’ll complete exercises to help explore your strengths and how you can connect with your audience.

AI and investments

ℹ️ Track: PFP (Advanced Personal Financial Planning)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

AJ Ayers and Shane Mason from Brooklyn Fi will explain how to use ChatGPT and other AI tools at your firm, including examples of where AI excels and fails, its pitfalls, and how due diligence is still a human endeavor.

They’ll share ways to:

Use AI to communicate with clients
Use AI for portfolio analysis
Ensure your client data is safe when using AI tools

Leading human organizations

ℹ️ Track: PRA (Practitioners)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

Often, leading a firm means leading humans. And to be successful at growing your firm, you need to understand humans.

Jason Blumer (Blumer CPAs) will discuss your role in leading your team, including:

The neuroscience of the brain and how to coach those you lead
The 4 areas of professional human capacity
Practical leadership tips that aid in team care

The art of the intentional ‘no’

ℹ️ Track: EDG (EDGE Career Development)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Does ‘yes’ always lead to more opportunities? Susan Stutzel from PartnersCoach will explain why every time you say ‘yes’ to something, you’re also saying ‘no’ to something else.

Plus, Susan will show you how to be intentional with where you spend your time, and how to actually say ‘no’.

Digital body language: Punctuation, channels, and emojis

ℹ️ Track: EDG (EDGE Career Development)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.0

Not quite sure which Slack channel to post in or which emoji to use?

Communicating in a digital world can be tricky to navigate.

Jaclyn Badeau (Badeau Consulting, LLC) will explore:

The four laws of digital body language
Reading between the lines
How to communicate effectively in a digital world

Day 3: Wednesday June 7, 2023

How to maintain your firm’s DEI momentum and why you should

ℹ️ Track: NAA (Advanced Accounting and Auditing) & PRA (Practitioners)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Kurt Simmons, Jr. (Withum), Jessica Velazquez (INDIVA Advisors LLP) and Crystal Cooke (AICPA) will provide strategies to ensure that your DEI goals remain a priority at your firm.

Trends and techniques in budgeting and forecasting

ℹ️ Track: FIN (Corporate Finance and Controllers)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Carl Seidman (Seidman Financial) is an FP&A practitioner with experience training 13,000+ finance and accounting professionals.

He’ll walk you through current trends and easy-to-comprehend techniques that will save you time, mitigate risk and elevate your forecasting and budgeting capabilities.

Cyber threats: What CFOs need to know

ℹ️ Track: FIN (Corporate Finance and Controllers)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

A panel of cybersecurity experts will share the latest trends in cybersecurity across the accounting industry and other business sectors.

Bryan Kissinger (Trace3), Joseph Nocera (PwC), Mike Ellerhorst (ImagineX Consulting), Chris Ramey (Honeywell) and Jennifer Reilly (Honeywell) will help you to:

Identify cybersecurity risks
Prioritize your security spend to effectively mitigate cybersecurity risks

Creating a tech stack for your Client Advisory Services (CAS) practice

ℹ️ Track: TCH (Tech+)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Kenji Kuramoto (Acuity), Sean Duncan (Chief Proactive Advisors, LLC) and Amy Vetter (The B3 Method Institute) will discuss best practices in creating your ideal tech stack.

You’ll learn how to:

Select technology that will meet the needs of your CAS practice
Identify technology solutions that your clients in vertical industries can take advantage of

Day 4: Thursday June 8, 2023

Know the top HR trends: Be a more valuable consultant

ℹ️ Track: TCH (Tech+)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Jarryd Rutter (Paychex, Inc.) and Gabrielle Luoma (MOD Ventures) will showcase critical HR trends so that you can help your clients recognize them too.

They’ll also provide an HR Assessment Checklist that you can use to guide clients through recruiting, retention, and compliance issues.

Offshoring: Lessons learned

ℹ️ Track: PRA (Practitioners)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

This panel will bring insight into outsourcing and offshoring staff, including how to start, what to avoid, and what your options are.

Aaron Stocks (PFS Global), Peter Wesch (Smith Marion & Co., Inc.) and Sandy Johns (Revolution Financial) will explain how to prepare for offshoring, what to expect, and some best practices.

Career and a life: Can you have it all?

ℹ️ Track: PRA (Practitioners) & EDG (EDGE Career Development)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

This diverse panel—Sabrina Cook (Sabrina P. Cook, CPA PLLC), Barbara Richardson (SpringWell Financial Solutions), Maya Ivanova (Wilson Ivanova CPAs, Inc. APAC)—will share how they overcame the struggles of balancing the profession, deadlines and family commitments.

Let go of it already!

ℹ️ Track: EDG (EDGE Career Development)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Tonya Moffitt from Merina+Co will explain why it’s important to trust your team so you can delegate.

Learn how to:

Trust your team
Free up your time so you can focus on more important tasks
Balance your time
Communicate your expectations

You are not an imposter. So why do you feel like one?

ℹ️ Track: EDG (EDGE Career Development)

ℹ️ CPE credits: 1.5

Chances are that at some point in time, you’ve had impostor syndrome. Despite it being so common, it’s got some serious negative impacts.

Lisa Ong from Wishing Out Loud, LLC will focus on:

How to identify imposter syndrome with greater self-awareness
How to build resilience and confidence
How to use inclusive leadership strategies so that everyone can feel safe and welcome