2024 - ISCPA's Annual Tech Conference - Keep Your Edge

Are efficiency and performance important to you? Do you value data security? Do you want to be more productive? The ISCPA Technology Conference can help you do all of this and more. Learn from technology expert Tommy Stephens and determine how to address your organization's most pressing needs. Walk away with practical, technology-based tips and tools to safeguard your systems, strengthen security, deter fraud and increase productivity.

Don't get left behind! Join us for exciting presentations on how to take full advantage of today's technologies to advance your business practices, processes, and workflows so that you and your team are working at peak efficiency.

Technology...There's always something new on the horizon...

Day One -

• Tech Update
  • Keeping pace with technology has never been more crucial, and K2's Tech Update is your key to staying informed and ahead. This comprehensive session is tailored for accounting professionals seeking to understand the landscape of technological advancements. You will gain insights into the latest developments and how they impact the accounting sector. Our expert-led program will delve into the newest software and hardware innovations, the evolving role of AI and machine learning in accounting, and the burgeoning impact of technologies like quantum computing and blockchain. This presentation guides you through the advantages and challenges of these technologies and helps you craft a technology strategy that aligns with your business goals.
    
• Getting Started With Artificial Intelligence
  • Much has been written and said about Artificial Intelligence (AI). But for many professionals, AI remains an enigma because they do not know how to get started using tools such as Bard, ChatGPT, and Copilot. If that describes your situation, relax because help is here! This session will teach you how to access and use multiple popular AI tools to improve efficiency and productivity. If you are starting with AI, this is one session you cannot miss!
    
• Accessing Your Company's Data With Power Query And Power BI
  • Power Query and Power BI are genuinely incredible tools to revolutionize your workflow. They offer the promise of "write once, refresh many" reporting, where your reports can instantly update by clicking a button. While incredible tools, these features require additional training and experience to master. This session will review the different methods of connecting to your data and have multiple hands-on activities to help you master these incredible tools. After completing this session, you will know how to turn your organization's data into repeatable, refreshable PivotTables, Power BI dashboards, and more!
    
• Optimizing Your Tech Stack
  • In the ever-evolving landscape of business technology, it is about having the right tools and optimizing for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. K2's Optimizing Your Tech Stack for Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness is designed for professionals seeking to balance functionality with financial prudence. This session delves into strategies for streamlining your technology stack without sacrificing performance. We will guide you through assessing your current tech tools, identifying redundancies, and exploring less expensive yet effective alternatives. You will learn techniques to evaluate the total cost of ownership of tech tools and make informed decisions to avoid overspending. This course is necessary for professionals seeking the most value from their technology investments.

Day Two -

• Ripped From The Headlines: Lessons Learned From Interesting Crimes
  • Remote and hybrid work during the Pandemic created new opportunities for cybercriminals and other fraudsters to exploit, and accounting professionals are among the most targeted individuals. This session is a series of case studies that examine actual criminal filings and news accounts and use them to highlight 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.
    
• Excel Best Practices And Features
  • Microsoft Office Excel is one of the most widely-used applications by accounting and financial professionals. Yet, many remain unaware of new and improved features in Excel and, therefore, fail to reach the level of productivity and accuracy they desire. Further, with new features appearing in Excel provided through Microsoft 365 subscriptions and the forthcoming release of Excel 2024, it is more important now than ever to get up to speed on the world's most popular spreadsheet!
    Make plans now to elevate your Excel skills by participating in this session. You will learn about the newer features available to improve efficiency and accuracy in it. You will also learn about the importance of numerous legacy features in Excel and how you can - and should - continue to use these tools to improve productivity.
    

See Below

Day One - September 23

• Tech Update
  • AI and machine learning trends
  • Quantum computing in finance
  • Understanding the growing impact of blockchain and digital currencies in accounting
  • Software and hardware innovations
    • Learning Objectives
      • Identify and assess the impact of AI and machine learning on accounting practices.
      • List potential applications and implications of quantum computing in finance.
      • Identify the evolving role of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in financial systems.
      • Specify examples of the practicality and benefits of using the latest software and hardware tools 
        
• Getting Started With Artificial Intelligence
  • Understanding AI tools available today
  • Creating accounts in AI platforms
  • Querying data from AI platforms
  • Customizing your AI subscriptions
    • Learning Objectives:
      • List the steps for querying data from tools such as Bard and ChatGPT
      • Identify the capabilities of Microsoft's Copilot
      • Differentiate between the capabilities of free and paid AI tools
      • Name examples of risks associated with AI
        
• Accessing Your Company's Data With Power Query And Power BI
  • Utilizing Power Query to access data from the web, spreadsheets, folders, and databases
  • Using Power Query to perform various transformations to clean up data before importing it to Power BI or Excel
  • Producing various reporting documents from data delivered from Power Query
    • Learning Objectives:
      • Outline Power Query's noteworthy features and functions and how you can use them for reporting projects
      • Demonstrate how to connect Power Query to web resources, spreadsheets, and databases to extract, transform, and load data into your reports
      • List the various methods to transform your data using Power Query before importing it into a report. 
      • Demonstrate connecting Power Query and Power BI to a sample data server
        
• Optimizing Your Tech Stack
  • Conducting a tech stack assessment, including an inventory of current tools and applications
  • Identifying essential and redundant tools
  • Exploring cost-effective alternatives
  • Calculating your total cost of ownership
    • Learning Objectives:
      • Accurately assess the technology tools used in your business environment
      • Identify common feature overlaps in tech stacks that lead to unnecessary costs
      • Discover affordable and efficient alternatives to conventional tech tools
      • Analyze and calculate the total cost of ownership for various technology solutions
        

Day Two - September 24

• Ripped From The Headlines: Lessons Learned From Interesting Crimes
  • Common security weaknesses that occur with hardware and software at home and in the office
  • Malware, ransomware, data breach, and incident response tips
  • Internal control failures which result in the theft of assets or unauthorized manipulation of data.
    • Learning Objectives:
      • List at least three major security incidents reported in the headlines in the last year, and explain at least one internal control design or operation flaw that allowed the hack to occur
      • Select the correct definitions for 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
        
• Excel Best Practices And Features
  • What to look for in Excel 2024
  • How to take advantage of new functions and features in Excel
  • Integrating Excel data with other applications
  • Improving Excel security
    • Learning Objectives:
      • List examples of new functions and features in Excel
      • Differentiate between Excel 2024 and subscription-based versions of Excel
      • Identify steps necessary to automate tasks in Excel
      • Specify the actions required to integrate data from other sources into Excel
        

• Manual
  • If you did not purchase a printed manual, download it from your upcoming events in "My CPE" on website, and bring it with you
  • If you did purchase a printed manual and would also like an electronic copy be sure to download it
• Review ISCPA Parking Map - found in your email confirmation
• Bring your laptop computer and follow along