Educe held its first Calculo Advisory Panel hosted by Kathleen Waid, Partner at Educe and Calculo General Manager, and Vicky Zoccali, Calculo Product Owner, with representation from leading firms in the accounting industry.
The theme for the session was reducing risk in compliance management and the ways that Calculo addresses regulatory and firm requirements to do so. Topics covered included upcoming NASBA Standards changes and priorities for our future product roadmap. More details from the discussion are highlighted below:
Compliance Challenges
The leading challenge in compliance management voiced by attendees was traceability and documentation of changes and decisions. Change happens quickly and compliance leaders need to be able to react promptly, and ideally proactively, while also making sure that there is visibility as to who is responsible, the reason behind the change/decision, and how it is being addressed. When there is lack of visibility, it makes it difficult to track information down when needed.
Common NASBA Findings
Educe attended the AICPA & CIMA LEAD Symposium in March where NASBA presented common findings from their firm desk audits. Fortunately, none of these items are issues for customers using Calculo as the tool checks all these boxes.
| NASBA Finding | Calculo Enforcement |
| Inadequate attendance monitoring policy | Calculo enforces the required number of Elements of Engagement/Interactivity in the course set-up |
| Insufficient attendance monitoring documentation | Calculo enforces required documentation by Delivery Method |
| Not maintaining required documentation | Calculo retains documents per NASBA and firm policy |
| Incomplete or inaccurate information on certificates | Calculo includes information on the Certificates of Completion specified in the NASBA Standards |
Upcoming Regulatory Changes
There are a number of regulatory changes that will affect accounting firms this year. The highlights are documented below.
- IRS CE Updates: The IRS is instituting expiration for IRS CE Programs starting at the end of 2023. IRS CE Programs will expire on December 31 three years after IRS approval. If the program should remain eligible for IRS CE, it will need to be renewed with the IRS and will have a new Program Number for each renewal. Program Numbers will be unique and cannot be re-used.
- NASBA S16: CPE Program Measurement: NASBA is clarifying Standard 16 to state that credit for a program must be calculated in one-fifth or one-half increments, they cannot be combined.
- NASBA S16-05: Group Live Allows Web-Enabled Two-Way Video: What started as an exception during the COVID pandemic is now becoming an officially accepted delivery for Group Live sessions. Group Live sessions can be delivered virtually as long as participation is monitored and documented.
Future Roadmap
We took a look at some of the key items on the potential roadmap for Calculo, which aim to address the top pain points of accounting firms in managing compliance, such as:
- Calculating credit for Group Internet-Based classes
- Data visibility and reporting
- Vendor content updates
The participants provided feedback in polls and discussion regarding what they would like to see in the product and what would work best for their firm, which was very helpful and will inform some of our direction moving forward.
Thank you to all attendees for their active participation and input as we continue to seek ways to meet the needs of the accounting industry. We are looking forward to the next panel in the fall!
