Margaret Gow, CPA, Fort Bend, senior manager accounting systems for GrowthForce, an outsourced finance and bookkeeping firm based in Kingwood, will teach business owners, including certified public accountants, how to automate routine business processes and provide advanced reporting based on key indicators designed to help businesses grow. CPAs who take the course should be equipped to advise clients on whether or not to upgrade to the new version.

Gow has been a pioneer in accounting systems and spent five years teaching QuickBooks all over the country for Real World Training Company before joining GrowthForce. She has advised Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, in developing future versions of the software, and she co-authored the certification exam for the QuickBooks Professional Advisor program. More recently, she achieved Intuit's "Advanced" certification.

The course is $35 for Houston and other chapter members or non-CPAs registering in advance; $55 for walk-ins; $55 for CPAs who are not Society members registering in advance $70 for walk-in nonmember CPAs, with all of these prices including a box lunch and two hours of continuing professional education for CPAs. To register, please go online at www.HoustonCPA.org/CPECalendar.

The Houston CPA Society is the largest chapter of the Texas Society of CPAs and the third largest CPA Chapter in the United States with more than 8,000 CPA members in Houston and 13 surrounding counties. In addition to providing continuing professional education to its members, the 78-year-old Houston CPA Society has donated millions of dollars to charities through its charity events and golf tournaments. The Society delivers toys and books to 6,600 children each year through Santa CPAs and supports education with scholarships for students, grants for schools and a variety of recognition programs and contests. Each spring, the Houston CPAs provide free tax help to disadvantaged citizens, including those with low income, physical impairments, non-English-speaking ability or elderly status. They provide ongoing help to other nonprofit organizations by lending skills to charity auctions, tallying results for KUHT-TV public television drives and providing accounting advice to other nonprofit organizations. For more information about the Houston CPA Society, log on to the web site at www.HoustonCPA.org