Alabama
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Each person to whom the continuing professional education requirement applies must complete forty hours of acceptable continuing professional education each fiscal year by September30. Eight (8) hours must be in accounting and auditing, and no more than (8) may be in human behavior courses. No more than fifty (50) percent of the hours may be in self-study.
Alaska
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
A CPA who is engaged in public accounting and has held a certificate for two (2) years or more must complete eighty (80) hours of acceptable continuing education in the two (2)-year period immediately preceding each biennial renewal of the permit to practice. Practitioner applying for renewal of such permit must submit documents upon request indicating satisfaction of the continuing education requirements. Both the completion date and the reporting date are December31 in odd years.
Arizona
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Continuing professional education includes attendance at classes, authorship of articles conducting or teaching courses, and self-study courses if they contribute to the maintenance and improvement of professional competence in accounting. A minimum of 50% of any required credit hours must be in the subject areas of accounting, auditing, taxation, business law, or management advisory services. All applicants for registration renewal who are engaged in the practice of public accounting must complete eighty hours of continuing professional education during the two (2) year period immediately preceding biennial registration. Resident applicants not in public practice, who do not perform public accounting services for compensation, must complete sixty hours of registration. Registrants for registration renewal who have been certified less than two (2) years shall complete ten (10) credit hours of CPE for every three (3) months registered before registration renewal.
Arkansas
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
An applicant for renewal of an annual permit to practice must complete one hundred twenty (120) hours of continuing education within the thirty-six (36) month period, or forty hours within the twelve (12) month period immediately preceding the date of application. Both completion and reporting dates are December 31st annually.
California
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
A CPA who is engaged in public accounting must complete eighty (80) hours of acceptable continuing education during the two (2) year period immediately preceding each biennial permit renewal and certify such on the form at the time of renewal. No carryover of CPE hours is permitted from one (2) year period to another. At the time of renewal, the licensee is required to self-certify on the renewal form to the completion of the required number of hours and list the courses completed. To receive credit as continuing education, a licensee must maintain for four years, certificates of completion, or the equivalent, for all courses. A newly licensed CPA must complete twenty hours of CPE for each full six months that pass between the effective date of his/her initial certificate and the next renewal date.
All licensees must also complete eight hours of instruction in a board-approved professional conduct and ethics course every six years. The board may verify continuing education on a random and/or selected basis. Effective July 1, 1999, licensees who perform attest services must take twenty- four hours of accounting and auditing courses every two years. All licensees who engage in planning, directing, or conducting substantial portions of field work, or reporting on financial or compliance audits of a Government Agency while in public accounting are required to complete twenty four hours of Government Accounting and Auditing.
A licensee who is not engaged in public practice, and who has been accepted on that basis from the continuing education requirement at the time of last renewal, may reenter by completing forty hours of CPE within twelve months prior to notifying the Board of reentry.
CPE courses are acceptable so long as they contribute directly to the professional competency of the individual practitioner, i.e., accounting, auditing, taxation, management services, computer services, economics, business law, etc.
Colorado
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
A Colorado CPA who is engaged in public accounting must complete eighty hours of acceptable continuing education during the two- year period immediately preceding each biennial certificate renewal.
Acceptable courses are those in the following subject matters: Accounting and Auditing, Management Consulting Services, Taxation, Specialized Industry Accounting, Accounting Related Computer Sciences, Financial Planning, Ethics and CR&R. Other programs or courses, which contribute to the development and maintenance of other professional skills, may be acceptable. Such programs may include, but are not restricted to, the areas of communication, quantitative methods, behavioral sciences, statistics and practice management. The certificate holder must be able to demonstrate to the boards’ satisfaction that the coursework meets the requirements to these rules.
Connecticut
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Connecticut requires forty hours of continuing professional education each year as a condition for renewal of the individual CPA license. The completion date is 6/31 annually and the reporting date is 7/01 annually.
Delaware
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Applicants for a permit renewal to practice public accounting must display proof satisfactory to the board of no less than eighty hours of CPE attained during the two years since the previous biennial renewal date. Those individuals whose permits to practice have been issued at least one year prior to the renewal date but less than two years from the same date are required to satisfy the requirement for forty hours continuing professional education. A person holding a permit issued less than one year prior to the renewal date is not required to show proof of any CPE credits. There is a twenty- four hour limit on home study for a two-year period. In interactive self- study, one CPE hour equals fifty minutes of completion time. It is not necessary to pre-register for courses.
District of Columbia
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
An applicant seeking biennial renewal of a permit to practice shall provide proof having completed no less than eighty hours of acceptable continuing professional education during the two- year period preceding the date the license expires. Current biennial renewal of a permit to practice for CPAs licensed in the District occurs on October 31 of even numbered years.
An applicant seeking to renew an initial permit issued less than two years, but more than one year prior to renewal, shall provide proof of having completed no less than forty hours of acceptable CPE.
A program shall qualify as acceptable if it meets the following standard:
1: It is a formal program of learning, which contributes to the growth in professional
competence of an individual, and
2: It is substantially equivalent to the minimum standards of development and presentation and of measurement and reporting set forth in the statement of standards for formal continuing professional education programs adopted by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
Florida
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All licensees who practice public accounting in Florida must satisfy the continuing education requirement. The basic requirement is the completion of eighty hours of continuing education, of which at least twenty hours must be in accounting and auditing related topics, and not more than twenty hours may be in behavioral subjects during each two-year reestablishment period. Prior approval of courses is only required for self study courses. Interactive self study courses: fifty minutes equals one hour. Accounting and Auditing is narrowly limited to include only courses on financial reporting, financial auditing, and accounting and auditing credit are: Accounting for Non-profit organizations; accounting theory; annual update of accounting and auditing; compilation and review; computer auditing; financial statement disclosure, and professional pronouncements- AFB, FASB, SAS, and SSAR.
Effective July1,1999, all self study continuing education courses qualifying for accounting and auditing and technical business credit must be taken from sponsors approved by NASBA’s Quality Assurance program. Sponsors that are approved can be found on NASBA’s website at www.nasba.org.
Georgia
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
1: An applicant for renewal of his individual permit to practice as a certified public accountant, registered public accountant, or registered foreign accountant, must have completed eighty hours of acceptable continuing professional education, of which sixteen hours shall be in accounting and auditing subjects , during the two year period immediately preceding each biennial renewal date, except as provided under paragraphs 2 and 3 below. A minimum of twenty of the eighty hours shall have been earned in each year.
2: An applicant who has been certified as a certified public accountant, a registered public accountant, or registered foreign accountant by Georgia for one year, but less than two, shall have completed forty hours of acceptable continuing professional education after the date of certification but prior to the expiration date of his first live permit, of which at least eight hours of continuing professional education reported shall be in accounting and auditing subjects.
3: “Accounting and Auditing courses” for purposes of this section shall be defined as follows:
a: Accounting related courses shall include, but not limited to courses which enhance or develop understanding of generally accepted accounting principles, particularly as they relate to presentation of financial statements, as promulgated by authoritative literature in the United States and pronouncements of the financial accounting standards board and the Government Accounting Standards Board.
B; Auditing-related courses shall include, but not limited to, courses which enhance or develop understanding of generally accepted auditing standards, particularly, as they relate to reporting on financial statements (including related standards for compilation and review services) as promulgated by authoritative literature in the United States, including the Statement on Auditing Standards and the statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services issued by the AICPA as well as courses related to auditing in specialized industries (e.g. governmental auditing requirements) and environments (e.g. computer systems).
4: Up to 15 hours of acceptable education completed during the period immediately preceding the renewal date of a live permit in excess of the requirements for such preceding period may be applied to satisfaction of the CPE requirements of the following period. No carryover hours can be used to satisfy the accounting and auditing hours requirement provided for this section.
5: Any licensee who has attained seventy years of age is exempt from the CPE requirement for renewal of his individual permit to practice public accounting.
6: The Board may relax or suspend the requirements of CPE for reasons of individual hardship or heath of the applicant.
Idaho
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All resident licensees engaged in the practice of public accountancy must complete at least eighty hours of acceptable continuing education every two calendar years as a condition to license renewal. A minimum of thirty hours must be completed each year. Completion date is 12/31 annually, and reporting date is 1/31. If the minimum of thirty credits per year has not been met or if there is a lack of credit to meet the required eighty hours for each two- year reporting period, extra hours from previous reporting periods cannot be used to make up the difference. Credits are granted only in the year in which they were earned.
Interactive self- study programs receive CPE credit to the average completion of fifty minutes for each credit hour. Non-interactive self- study programs receive CPE credit equal to one hundred minutes for each credit hour. Idaho does not pre-register courses. Service as an instructor or discussion leader is limited to twenty hours during a calendar year. Credit for publication of books, articles, etc., is limited to fifteen hours per calendar year.
Illinois
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Triennial registration must be evidenced by completion of not less than one hundred twenty hours of CPE in public accounting courses attained through CPE sponsors approved by the Department of Professional Regulation by public accounts registered for two years or more.
Inquiries regarding the requirements for continuing professional education must be directed to:
Department of Professional Regulation
Public Accountancy Section
320 W. Washington ST, 3 rd. floor
Springfield, IL 62786
Indiana
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
The requirement is one hundred twenty hours of continuing professional education during a three-year period with a minimum of twenty hours each year. A minimum of twelve hours must be in accounting and/or auditing related subjects.
Iowa
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
A CPA who is engaged in public accounting must complete one hundred twenty hours of acceptable continuing education during the three- year period ending on December 31 preceding each annual permit renewal. A practitioner applying for renewal of such permit must submit a report indicating satisfaction of the continuing education requirements.
Credit shall be given for whole hours only, with a minimum of fifty minutes constituting an hour. As an example, one hundred minutes of continues instruction would count as two hours; however, less than one hundred minutes but more than fifty minutes would count only as an hour. Correspondence and formal individual study programs shall not exceed fifty percent of the renewal requirement. The Board does not pre-approve or register course sponsors, instructors or programs. The Board does encourage organizations to register with NASBA.
Kansas
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
After issuance of the initial or reinstated permit, any CPA who wishes to practice public accounting in Kansas must complete eighty hours of acceptable continuing education during the biennial period in order to renew a permit to practice and shall obtain a minimum of twenty hours in either year of the biennial renewal. All other CPAs shall report sixty hours. A practitioner applying for renewal of such permit must submit a report by June 30 of the biennial renewal year indicating satisfaction of the continuing education requirements. The Board requires verification of the self-study credit hours claimed and may request proof for other credits claimed.
An application for an initial or reinstated permit to practice must agree to complete the proportionate number of hours of continuing education required for the number of full months from the date of application for the permit to the following renewal period.
Kentucky
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All CPAs primarily employed in jobs in public accounting shall complete eighty hours of acceptable continuing education during the two calendar years preceding the July 1 permit renewal date. All CPAs employed in jobs other than public accounting shall complete sixty hours of acceptable continuing education within the same two-year period. If a CPA has a part-time practice in which he/she issues audits or reviews, he/she must meet the eighty- hour CPE requirement. All CPAs must hold certificate and permit to practice. CPAs are not granted inactive status.
The basic CPE course requirement is a formal program of learning that is professionally enhancing to the CPA taking the course. Courses and course sponsors are not required to register with the Board unless the course sponsor will advertise that it satisfies the CPE credit requirements. Courses registered with NASBA’s CPE Registry are considered approved sponsors and are not required to register with the Kentucky Board.
A CPE credit is equal to fifty class minutes. Each credit unit for a college semester course is equal to fifteen CPE hours. Quarter hours are equal to ten CPE hours. Self-study courses are given credit based on one-half of the average completion time. Services as a lecturer, discussion leader, or speaker may only be used to satisfy sixty percent of the reporting period requirement. CPE for published books and articles may satisfy only twenty-five percent of the reporting period requirement.
Louisiana
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Each licensee shall complete one hundred twenty hours of continuing education every three years as a condition to license renewal. The following limitations apply:
1: Instructor/teaching, fifty percent of the required hours; personal development courses, twenty percent of required hours; published materials, twenty-five percent of required hours.
2: The amount of credit to be allowed for “non-interactive” correspondence and formal individual study programs, including taped study programs, is to be recommended by the appropriate field tests (one hundred minutes equals one hour).
However, certain “interactive” self-study programs qualify for credit based on the average completion time (50) minutes equals (1) hour.
Maine
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All CPAs and PAs engaged in public practice are required to complete one hundred twenty hours of CPE in a three-year period, a minimum of twenty hours of CPE must be completed.
Maryland
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Regulations provide that all active licensees are required to have eighty continuing education hours (CPE) with the exception of those licensees renewing for the first time. For inactive status, no CPE is required (if renewing on a paper form, an inactive status application must be requested from the Department to move from active status to inactive status). Regulations allow a maximum of eighty hours of CPE (earned in excess of the eighty hours used to meet the CPE requirement) to be carried over to the next licensing period. CPE hours earned through individual study programs and teaching in excess of the forty- hour maximum may not be carried over to the next licensing period. To qualify for CPE, college credit or self-study courses must include an examination and must be final (examination corrected and a passing grade obtained) before claims for CPE can be made.
It is the primary responsibility of each licensee to fulfill the requirements of the law and to be able to document, to the Board’s satisfaction, such fulfillment. All active licensees must maintain, for four years, records substantiating (proof of attendance, course outline & expertise of instructor) the continuing education credits claimed by them as a prerequisite for renewal of their license.
A wide range of education programs are “recognized” by the Board as being of value in fulfilling the CPE requirement. The overriding consideration in determining whether a specific program qualifies is that it contributes directly to the professional competence of an individual after the individual has been licensed to practice certified public accounting. CPE credits must be earned in the two-year period prior to renewing the license.
Massachusetts
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
During the two-year period immediately preceding re-registration, applicants for biennial permit renewal who will engage in “public practice” must complete eighty hours of acceptable continuing professional education (CPE), except as otherwise provided by the Board. Although eighty hours acquired in one of the two-years covered by the registration period qualifies a registrant for the two-year period, no carryover is permitted from one two-year period to another. Only class hours or the equivalent (and not student hours devoted to preparation) will be used to measure the hours of continuing education submitted by individual candidates to the Continuing Education Committee, appointed by the Board.
Programs Which Qualify
1: The overriding consideration in determining whether a specific program qualifies as acceptable CPE is that it be a formal program of learning, which contributes directly to the professional competence of a registrant in public practice. It will be left to each individual registrant to determine the course of study to be pursued. Thus, the auditor may study accounting and auditing, the tax practitioner may study taxes, and a management advisory services practitioner may study subjects related to such practice.
2: The following are deemed to qualify as acceptable CPE:
a: Professional development programs of national and state accounting organizations.
B: Technical sessions at meetings of national and state accounting organizations and their chapters.
C: University or college courses:
1: Credit courses- each semester hour credit shall equal fifteen hours toward the requirement.
2: Non-credit courses- each classroom hour will equal one qualifying hour
d: Programs in other organizations (accounting, industrial, professional, etc.)
e: Other organized educational programs on technical and other practice subjects.
3: A program must:
A: require attendance,
B: be at least one class hour in length,
C: be conducted by a qualified instructor or discussion leader,
D: require a maintained record of attendance, and
E: require a written outline to be retained.
4. Formal correspondence or other individual study programs, which provide evidence of satisfactory completion, will qualify with the amount of credit to be determined by the Continuing Education Committee will not approve any program of learning that does not offer sufficient evidence that the work has actually been accomplished.
5. Credit for one hour of continuing education will be awarded for each hour completed as an instructor or discussion leader to the extent that the particular activity contributes to the professional competence of the registrant as determined by the continuing education committee.
6. Credit may be awarded for published articles and books. The continuing education committee will determine the amount of credit so awarded.
Michigan
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
A CPA who is engaged in public accounting must complete forty hours of continuing professional educational annually. At least eight hours shall be in the subjects of auditing and accounting, and only twenty hours may be earned annually in self-study. Biennially, an applicant must submit documents indicating satisfaction of the continuing education requirements. The State Board will review the programs taken and notify the practitioner of any deficiencies. An excess of continuing education credits for one-year can be carried over toward the continuing education requirement for the next period.
A CPA entering or reentering public practice must complete forty hours of continuing education (eight hours in accounting within the year preceding the dated application).
Minnesota
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All licensees engaged in public practice must complete one hundred twenty hours of continuing education during each three-year period preceding re-registration. A minimum of twenty hours must be reported each year. Computer, behavioral, managerial and motivational courses are limited to forty hours of CPE credit per reporting period.
Mississippi
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
1: All CPA certificate holders who use the CPA designation must maintain a minimum of forty hours within each one- year compliance period. One-year compliance periods end on June 30, Twenty, of the forty hours may be from carry-over hours.
2: The initial compliance period will consist of twelve months, July1, 1995 through June 30, 1996. A minimum twenty hours of CPE must be earned during this period. CPAs with excess CPE hours from the compliance period, ended June 30, 1995, may carry-over a maximum of sixty hours.
3: If more than forty hours are accumulated in a one-year compliance period, a maximum of sixty hours may be carried over and applied up to twenty hours per year.
4: A minimum of twenty percent of the one-year compliance period requirement shall be in accounting and/or auditing topics. Attorneys who are non-licensed CPAs and are in the practice of law are not required to satisfy the accounting/auditing requirement.
The overriding consideration in determining whether a specific program qualifies as acceptable CPE is that it be a formal program of learning, which contributes directly to the professional competence of an individual certified public accountant.
Missouri
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All CPAs certified for at least three-years are required to have completed one hundred twenty hours in the last three reporting years in order to renew their permits to practice.
Montana
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Each applicant for a renewal of a permit to practice accounting must complete one hundred twenty hours of acceptable continuing education in the three-year period ending on June 30 immediately preceding the license year, which runs from January 1 through December 31. At least twenty four hours of the aforementioned one hundred twenty hours of acceptable continuing education credit must consist of subjects related to the reporting on financial statements, and at least two hours must focus on Board unprofessional conduct rules.
Nebraska
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Effective with the 1998 renewal period, A CPA engaged in public accounting must complete either one hundred twenty hours over three-years or eighty hours within the preceding two-years. Beginning with the July 1, 2000 renewal period, all licensees must have eighty hours of acceptable continuing education within the two preceding calendar years.
Effective with the 1998-1999 license renewal, there is no longer a mandatory forty percent requirement in accounting and auditing. The Board recommends that any licensee performing audits, reviews, or compilations continue to obtain a minimum of forty percent of the required credit hours in accounting and auditing subjects. The behavioral category was also eliminated. You should check with the Board for pre-approval of any courses you plan to take to be sure that the credit will qualify for the continuing professional education. Courses are no longer categorized as “technical business” or “accounting and auditing”. A course will either be approved or not approved for CPE credit. Licensees are restricted to a maximum of fifty percent in self-study programs and fifty percent in instruction and presentation of courses. The reporting form is mailed to all permit holders the first of each December.
Reports of continuing education attendance are due on an annual basis. Hours taken each calendar year must be submitted to the Board office no later than January 31.
Nevada
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Licensees are required to complete eighty hours of continuing education over a rolling two-year period. A minimum of twenty hours must be completed during each calendar year.
Credit may be claimed for formal correspondence and self-study programs meeting all the requirements of the continuing education regulations.
Applicants for reciprocal certificates must complete twenty hours of continuing education within one-year of filing an application. Credit may also be granted for continuing education completed within six months prior to filing.
New Hampshire
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All applicants for renewal of a permit to practice must complete one hundred twenty hours of acceptable continuing education in the three-year period preceding renewal. Excess credit may be carried over to the next succeeding triennial period only. A minimum of twenty new hours is required by June30 of every year. A maximum of sixty hours may carry forward.
New Jersey
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
As of January 1988, this jurisdiction approved mandatory CPE for accountants. As of April 8, 1998, with the implementation of the Accountancy Act of 1997, all licensees are required to have evidence of completion of one hundred twenty CPE credits for each three-year period. Licensees in public accounting must have twenty- four of those hours in audit.
New Mexico
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
An applicant seeking renewal of a permit shall show that the applicant has completed no less than one hundred twenty hours of approved continuing education in every three-year period. Each person holding a permit issued by the Board shall report to the Board annually on or before January 15 for the reporting period ending on the preceding December 31st. The report must be postmarked or hand delivered no later than January 15th or the next business day if the 15th falls on a weekend or a holiday.
Beginning in 1999, for each three-year reporting period ending on the preceding December 31st, at least ninety-six of the hours reporting shall be courses, programs or seminars whose content is in technical subjects such as audit, attestation, financial reporting, tax, management, consulting, financial advisory or consulting and other areas acceptable to the Board as directly related to the professional competence of the individual,
For each three-year reporting period, at least twenty four of the hours reported shall be taken outside of the individual’s firm in a public presentation environment which is defined as a group program in which at least ten percent of the registered participants are not members, associates, clients or employees of the firm.
With regards to the subject areas, the Board will accept programs meeting the standards set forth in the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy CPE Registry of such other programs acceptable to the Board.
New York
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
In order to qualify for renewal of registration to practice for the period beginning September 1, 1990 and thereafter in New York State, all licensees engaged in the practice of public accountancy must be able to document the completion of either a minimum of forty hours of acceptable formal continuing education in recognized areas of study, or a minimum twenty four hours of acceptable continuing education exclusively in accounting or auditing or taxation, completed each year ending August 31. Those not in practice in New York, newly licensed individuals, and those who are prevented from meeting the requirements for reasons of health, extended active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, or for other good cause may be exempt from continuing education requirements. All newly licensed individuals (including endorsements from other licensing jurisdictions) are exempt from the MCE requirement for their initial triennial registration period. All licensees employed by public accounting entities, regardless of function performed, are considered engaged in the practice of public accountancy and therefore must meet the mandatory continuing education requirements. The formal course work must be taken in courses sponsored by entities registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA).
North Carolina
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
A CPA must complete forty hours of acceptable continuing education annually be December 31 of the year preceding the July 1 renewal date as a condition precedent to renewal of the certificate. Up to twenty excess hours may be carried forward to the following year. Interactive self-study is allowed and is counted one hour of CPE credit equals two hours of average completion time.
CPAs cannot claim CPE credit for reading accounting journals, periodicals or reference materials and taking tests designed to assess their comprehension of what they have read.
North Dakota
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All licensees in public practice in North Dakota must complete one hundred twenty hours of continuing education during the prior three-year period. A licensee who enters public practice may commence with sixty hours and a letter of intent to complete the balance within six months. Non-public licensees need only file the annual CPE form (no CPE need be listed).
Ohio
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All CPAs who hold permits to practice are required to complete one hundred twenty hours of continuing education during every three-year reporting period. At least seventy five percent of the requirement must be related to the licensee’s professional work. Twenty- four hours of accounting and auditing is required of licensees who sign reports; twenty -four hours of tax is required of licensees who sign tax returns.
Oklahoma
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
The requirement is forty hours in each single calendar compliance period. Permits must be renewed before June 30 of each year. Applicants for reciprocal certificates and registrants applying for permits between June 30 and May 1 of each year must claim credit for course work completed within the twelve months immediately preceding the filing of the permit application. Interactive self-study is equal to the average completion time. The only limit on CPE credit is for instructor/discussion leader credit and authorship of publication. Detailed listing of courses is required on the permit application.
Oregon
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Actively licensed CPAs and Pas must report eighty hours of CPE every two-years on their renewal forms. Even numbered licenses report their CPE when they renew on June 30th of even numbered years. Up to twenty excess hours may be carried forward for a period of two-years provided that a minimum of sixty hours are taken each two-years by CPAs and Pas (with a minimum of twenty-four hours to be taken each year). Any carry forward hours that the licensee may have accumulated do not count toward the twenty-four hour requirement.
Only sixteen hours of non-technical courses are allowed per renewal period. If you are a Municipal Auditor, there is a requirement of twenty-four hours of government-related CPE every renewal cycle. Oregon does not pre-register courses. It is the obligation of each licensee to select a course of study, which will contribute to his/her professional competence as a CPA or PA. Licensees must be able to explain how a course contributed to their competence and verify attendance, upon the Board’s request.
Pennsylvania
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Each CPA filing an application for a license or a renewal of a license must, during the two-year period immediately preceding a biennial date, complete eighty hours of continuing education. Any applicant, upon successful completion of the uniform CPA Examination, shall be exempt from the continuing education requirement for only the biennial period during which the applicant successfully completed such examination. Applicants for reciprocal certification must fulfill the continuing education requirement, unless they are exempt as provided. In interactive self-study, one CPE hour is equal to fifty minutes of completion time. There are limits on the amounts of different types of CPE. Pre-registration of courses is not necessary.
Puerto Rico
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Each applicant for renewal of a permit to practice public accounting must complete forty credit hours of acceptable CPE for each year ending July 31.
Rhode Island
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Applicants for an annual permit to practice public accounting must submit evidence of having completed one hundred twenty hours or fifteen days of acceptable continuing education in the last three-year period immediately preceding registration. The maximum credit for self-study programs shall not exceed fifty percent of the CPE hours claimed by the licensee in that calendar year. Not more than twenty-four hours of the one hundred twenty hours required shall be devoted to practice development and management skills.
The Board follows AICPA guidelines with respect to the number of recommended CPE hours granted for self-study courses (interactive and non-interactive, including taped study programs). Pre-registration of courses is not necessary. The responsibility of registering, and the reporting of quality education programs to fulfill the CPE requirement, for the annual renewal of a license to practice public accounting rests solely with the licensee.
South Carolina
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Each licensee must complete at least forty hours of credit each year including eight hours in accounting and/or auditing subjects and not more than eight hours in personal development subjects. A waiver from the requirement may be requested by persons not engaged in public practice. Persons who have attained the age of seventy-two years are not required to follow CPE rules.
When a licensee completes more than the required number of hours of continuing professional education in any calendar year, the extra hours, not in excess of twenty-four hours, may be carried forward and treated as hours earned in the following year.
South Dakota
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All permit holders must complete one hundred twenty hours of CPE during a three-year renewal cycle. There is a minimum annual requirement of twenty hours. Individuals whose permits were issued less than one-year prior to the renewal date have no requirement; those whose permits were issued more than one-year but less than two-years prior to the renewal date must complete twenty hours; and those whose permits were issued more than two-years but less than three-years prior to the renewal date must complete a minimum of forty hours. These individuals must then have a total of one hundred twenty hours by the end of the third renewal date. If an individual has more than one-year lapse in public practice or if his/her CPA certificate was issued four-years prior to the initial permit application, he/she must show evidence of forty hours of CPE in the twelve months preceding his/her application to return to practice. A maximum of twenty-four hours in behavioral courses, and a maximum of sixty hours teaching by employees of colleges and universities, is allowed in the three-year renewal cycle. One hour of CPE equals fifty minutes. No pre-registration is required.
Tennessee
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All active CPA certificate holders are required to obtain CPE. The new Accountancy Act of 1998 exempts inactive certificate holders from CPE.
Active CPA certificate holders must have:
Eighty hours every two-years with a minimum of twenty hours in each.
At least forty of the eighty hours must be in Accounting & Auditing, Tax, Management Advisory Services or Computer Science.
If performing attest services (including compilations), twenty of those forty hours must be in Accounting & Auditing.
If providing expert witness testimony, twenty hours must be in the general area in which the court deems you as an expert, such as tax, auditing, etc.
A maximum of sixteen hours of your eighty-hour requirement may be obtained through the magazine reading program such as reading through TSCPA journals or AICPA/CPE Direct Credit courses and returning those questions for a score.
Transition to new reporting period
“Odd number” active certificate holders will have to report CPE considering the above guidelines for the two-year period ending 12/31/99 and for each subsequent two-year period (i.e. 2001, 20003, etc.).
“Even number” active certificate holders will have to report CPE considering the above guidelines for the two-year period (i.e. 2002, 2004, etc.).
Also note that excess hours earned in one reporting period (i.e. any over the eighty hour requirement) can be carried forward into the next reporting period but not beyond. This does not however, contribute to the minimum twenty- hour requirement.
No CPE will be required after 1998 for inactive licenses.
Texas
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
A licensee is required to accrue one hundred twenty CPE hours every-years (with a minimum of twenty CPE hours earned per year) and to report CPE hours accrued during the applicable reporting period. In interactive self-study, one CPE hour is equal to fifty minutes of completion time. Pre-registration of courses is not necessary, but sponsors must be registered with the Board or with NASBA. Non-technical CPE courses are limited to fifty percent of the total requirement.
Utah
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All CPAs are required to have eighty hours of qualifying continuing professional education in each two-year reporting period in order to renew the license. The CPE reporting year will be a calendar year with repots due in January 31 of each even-numbered year, with licenses renewed on August 31 of each even numbered year. Licensees must have at least twenty hours of CPE in a given year.
Vermont
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Public accountant licenses and firm registrations shall be renewed every three-years prior to July 1, 1999 and every two-years thereafter. A licensee seeking renewal on July 1, 1999 shall show that he/she has completed no fewer than one hundred twenty hours of continuing professional education during the three-year period ending one month before the renewal date. A licensee seeking renewal after July 1, 1999 shall show that he/she has completed no fewer than eighty hours of continuing professional education during the two-year period ending one month before the renewal date.
Virginia
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
In order to renew a license, CPAs must complete one hundred twenty hours of continuing professional education during each three-year period with a minimum of twenty hours per year. The CPA certificate holder may choose the areas of study and courses.
Effective July 1, 2002, CPAs shall meet the following CPE requirements as a condition of renewal of the person’s CPA certificate: 1) for the three-year reporting period beginning July1, 2002, a minimum of forty-five credit hours with a minimum of ninety credit hours with a minimum of fifteen hours per year; for the three-year reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2008, a minimum of one hundred twenty credit hours with a minimum of twenty hours per year.
Virgin Islands
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
There is currently no provision for continuing professional education.
Washington
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
Holders of licenses to practice must complete eighty hours of CPE in the two calendar years preceding license renewal. CPAs involved in preparing financial statements must complete thirty-two hours of the required eighty in accounting and/or auditing-related subjects. Licensed CPAs who are not involved in preparing financial statements must complete sixteen hours of the eighty hours required in accounting and/or auditing subjects. Non-licensed certificate holders must complete eighty hours of CPE to maintain a valid CPA certificate, including eight hours in accounting and/or auditing subjects. The board will accept up to sixteen hours of non-technical CPE.
West Virginia
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
West Virginia requires forty hours of CPE annually in order for a CPA to be eligible for renewal of a license. With regard to interactive study, the board will award one hour of credit for the completion of each fifty minutes of actual participation in the program, or its lesson equivalent in a home-study course. Currently, there is no limit on the different types of CPE a CPA can report.
Wisconsin
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
This jurisdiction does not currently have a provision mandating CPE.
Wyoming
What are the continuing professional education requirements?
All CPAs who hold permits to practice are required to complete one hundred twenty hours of acceptable continuing professional education during the three fiscal years immediately preceding the renewal of a permit to practice. Holders of reciprocal certificates must comply with the above requirement upon renewal of each annual permit. Inactive certificate holders are not required to comply with CPE requirements. No pre-registration of courses is necessary. Credit is based on a fifty- minute hour.