The CPE course on Beneficial Ownership Reporting for CPAs, led by Charles Wismer of FincenFetch, provides guidance on planning a CPA firm strategy for managing FinCEN's reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The data in this presentation has been collected from over 5,000 conversations with firms and condensed to a one-hour course sharing critical information for EAs. Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reports are required for most U.S. companies to enhance transparency and combat financial crimes with 40M companies needing to file by the approaching deadline. The course identifies what EAs must know about the CTA, opportunities, issues, and best practices for accounting firms to support clients with these filings, as many business owners find the self-filing process complex and prone to errors. It underscores the importance of planning processes to streamline reporting, reduce errors, and manage the expected filing volume effectively. Additionally, EAs are informed on how to educate clients about fraud risks, utilize tools to support compliance, manage data, and reduce liability.

Major subjects and learning objectives:

• 6 key elements of BOI reports for EAs to know
• FinCEN BOI initial report market
• Ongoing updated reports requirements and firm programs
• Why clients expect EAs to help with FinCEN reporting
• Problem 1 with self-filing: FinCEN’s 60-page guide
• Problem 2 with self-filing: the direct filing portal Avoiding fraudulent letter scams
• The 8 essential steps of each BOI report
• Optimizing and automating the 8 steps
• The 4 critical considerations of your ongoing CTA compliance operations plan
• Reducing liability for FinCEN filings