As an accounting professional, you might already know about how important it is to continue learning to help further your career and provide value to your company. 

The accounting world is constantly changing with new technology and processes to updated regulations and certifications. With that being said, it is important to know what resources are available so that you and the company you represent can remain competitive and excel. 

Oil and Gas Accounting: Continuing Professional Education Course Information

COPAS Energy Education offers live classroom (Group Live) and webinar classes (Group Internet Based) for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits as a NASBA and State of Texas sponsor.

All courses are taught by expert faculty with decades of industry experience, and courses cover a range of topics that will bring in-depth knowledge to accountants in the oil and gas industry. Live classroom courses are one to two-day classes and offer 8 to 16 hours of CPE; webinars range from 1 to 2.5 CPE hours.

Our Open enrollment classes are held in industry centers such as Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Denver, and Oklahoma City to reach as many of you as possible to support your continuing professional education. 

All COPAS Energy Education courses are modular and our webinar series in each subject area consist of modules from our main classroom courses presented monthly through the year.

CEE also runs a Building Your Foundation in Oil and Gas Accounting School in Houston every year. This open enrollment live classroom school consists of a combination of three of our primary classes for Oil and Gas Accountants. The school is four days long if taken in full. 

The first two days are an Oil and Gas Industry Primer with information about the history of the petroleum industry, petroleum geology, oil and gas industry sectors, petroleum exploration, production, and upstream operations. 

The second two days consist of a choice between either the Principles of Revenue Accounting Boot Camp or the Principles of Joint Interest Accounting Boot Camp.

The Foundation School, or any of these three base courses taken individually, are a great place to start if you are a new accountant, or you are an experienced accountant new to the oil and gas industry. 

These courses can also be a valuable refresher for more seasoned accountants, lawyers in the industry and others who just want to better understand the Petroleum business. 

Our aim with the school is to introduce fundamental concepts and data and provide a framework for understanding using a combination of lecture, video and interactive case studies and exercises.

Our Boot Camp classes are also offered several times a year in the various industry centers previously mentioned as standalone classes and they are both offered as a webinar series running once per month January through December each year.

Some of our other primary CEE courses presented in open enrollment classroom and live webinar formats are:

Introduction to the Petroleum Industry for individuals who want to gain an understanding of the petroleum industry. It is suitable for anyone who is unfamiliar with the oil and gas space. This course is presented in easy to understand, non-technical language.

Introduction to Oil and Gas Marketing and Sales was created for more experienced petroleum accountants and managers, this course provides a deeper understanding of Revenue Oil and Gas Marketing & Sales Accounting. Building on your knowledge and experience, this course will help you deliver the skills you need to align the appropriate costs.

Gas Balancing is a course that provides an overview of Gas Balancing and links directly into imbalances, owner responsibilities, and how to account for them. It is suitable for experienced Revenue Accountants, business professionals, investment advisors, analysts, regulators, government employees, and lawyers with prior industry experience.

Joint Interest Audit is an overview of auditing Joint Interest Accounting procedures and processes (excludes Revenue & Payout). This course provides accountants and other petroleum players with an understanding of the necessary functions and operations for Joint Interest Auditing. Ideally individuals will have prior training courses related to Joint Interest Accounting and Operations or comparable industry experience, including a competent understanding of key provisions in a COPAS model form accounting procedure.

Understanding the Landman is an interactive course designed for Non-Landmen and individuals desiring to expand and increase their Oil and Gas Landman knowledge. It covers minerals and ownership, Landman roles and responsibilities, leases and various interests and their calculation.

Introduction to Oil and Gas Exploration, Production and Upstream Operations is a basic introduction to the processes involved in the exploration and production of Oil and Gas Fields and operations in the upstream sector. Gives a detailed view of petroleum equipment used in all phases of oil and gas production.

Our Webinar Series Programs also bring our popular Knowing Your COPAS Documents (KYCD) presentations into one series for you through the year. 

The KYCD series was started in 2010 to help new professionals become aware of and understand the principles in many of the industry standard publications COPAS offers. It was designed as a way to transfer decades of industry knowledge

 and guidance to those who need it, as well as be a refresher for industry veterans. These classes are not intended to provide in-depth analysis of COPAS publications, but rather be an overview of the publications that are available for each topic covered. 

The courses in this series are suitable for petroleum industry accountants and other business professionals who would like an understanding of various COPAS documents and their applications to accounting functions and relation to governing agreements.

We are always working to update and expand our course library and we will be introducing three courses to the Group Internet Based course list at various times later in the year.  

First, the newly re-structured Principles of Payout Accounting is planned for the middle of the year. This course is designed to introduce the dynamic concept of “Payout” and its impact on various oil and gas industry functions. 

During this course instructors will discuss what payout means, review documents needed to identify and track payout, identify components of a payout calculation and what to do with them, and calculate several different payout examples.

We will also present Introduction to Oil and Gas Transactions: Tax Considerations  this year. An overview of Oil and Gas Federal Income Tax procedures and processes. Designed for new and experienced Petroleum employees, and service providers involved in Petroleum accounting and industry. 

Additionally, this course is for those who work in the Oil and Gas Federal tax arena and want to expand their understanding of the laws, processes, and procedures used.

Finally, we will be introducing topics in Revenue Audit later in the year. Development has begun on this much anticipated course and we hope to be able to schedule introductory sessions in the last quarter of 2020. 

More information on this new course will be released later this year, so check back on COPAS.org regularly for this and all our course updates or subscribe to receive our education updates via email.

A Final Word on Private Classroom Courses

It may be that you have a larger number of employees who require education. While we always offer company discounts on our open enrollment courses (classroom courses are currently “buy two seats get one free!”) COPAS Energy Education offers private classes for a flat fee. 

Not seeing a course available in your area or at a time that works for you? Private classes can be ordered for any of our 8- and 16-hour classes, and we are also able to offer modules of our shorter courses in combination with other similar topic areas. 

The modular design of all of our courses means a custom education package can also be easily arranged from any of the compatible course modules. Our prices are reasonable and competitive, so please contact us to ask about our private classes and request a quote!