What is CPE in Accounting?
As a college instructor, I often get asked by my accounting students if education stops after the CPA exam. Every time they ask, I tell them about the wonderful world of CPE, which is not a very well-known topic to them. Because my students inspire so much of what I do here, I think it’s time to shed some light on CPE for them. Let's jump in!
What is CPE?
CPE stands for continuing professional education, and it is a requirement to maintain a CPA license in the United States. Every state has different CPE requirements that a licensed CPA must meet whenever they renew their license in a given state.
Why is CPE Required?
The core idea behind the CPE is that CPAs should not be able to maintain an active license without staying educated on recent topics. One of the most important requirements for many states is a course that must be taken for every single license renewal. In my state, I am required to have this ethics course along with 80 hours of other courses prepared every time I renew my CPA license, which is every 2 years. While the CPA renewal process may be a check the box activity for some, specialized CPE courses can offer insights into recent professional developments that will help you stay informed and educated about important topics such as artificial intelligence and people development.
What Does CPE Look Like?
Firms and companies will create CPE courses and seminars to educate and network with the wider professional community, and they can take many forms. Most CPAs I know get their credits through a combination of the following:
Pre-recorded CPE Libraries: most public accounting firms offer a subscription to CPE libraries as a way to support employee training and development. Employees will log in and select from a number of pre-recorded courses that will have some kind of assessment at the end, usually in the form of a multiple choice question test with five questions per CPE credit hour.
Internal Live Seminars: whether they are offered in person or remote, many public accounting firms will structure internal trainings to be CPE eligible. This is great for employees who can’t find the time for the self-study courses, but love sitting in meetings. Because these sessions are internal to a company, they can focus on whatever management deems is necessary for the participants that they select. For example, my former firm hosted a boot camp for newly promoted senior associates that awarded over 20 hours of CPE over the course of a week. Generally, these courses will require some type of attendance check in order to receive credit. For the ones that I have hosted, attendance was tracked using polling questions throughout the session as well as recording and tracking participants in the zoom meeting. If these meetings are done in person, there would be a sign in sheet where participants will check themselves in and out of the session.
External seminars: The administration of external seminars functions very similarly to internal seminars in terms of attendance, checking & in sheets depending on the method of hosting the session. The key difference between an internal and external seminar is the purpose. External seminars can be broken down into two categories:
Short & High Level: The main objective of these sessions is to support market presence, networking, or thought leadership. As a participant, you would be attending one of these typically 1-hour sessions to learn about the capabilities of the firm, hosting it, meet other people in attendance, or learn about the presentation topic.
Long & Specialized: The main objective of these sessions is to educate a specialized audience on a very specific topic. For example, a firm or association might host a conference that focuses on new developments for SEC filers with specific financial instruments. These courses are typically designed to be at least 3 hours long and sometimes have multiple sessions over the span of multiple days. These external meetings are also great for meeting people that have a similar specialized interest to you.
If the specialization and scope seem intimidating to you, don't worry. Most of the time, younger professionals aren't selected to attend these events unless the firm has a very specific purpose in mind.
Are CPE Credits Hard to Earn?
The idea of having at least 40 hours of education per year might sound daunting at first, but it is nothing compared to the CPA exam in terms of difficulty or time investment. Most CPE courses will award credit based on either attendance or an open book test, which are much preferred alternatives to a closed book for our professional exam. These courses are generally scheduled for you by your firm as a training tool or can be done as an online self-study. CPE credits are only difficult to earn if you don't prioritize getting them.
Is It Worth Getting the CPA license if I Have to Deal with This Every Year?
This is a question I get every year from one of my students and I feel like I must address it here. CPE requirements are a challenge for some and a learning opportunity for others. These higher requirements keep licensed CPAs informed and therefore desirable, making the credential even more worthwhile to get. Passing the CPA exam and maintaining my license has been instrumental in my career advancement and my time spent hosting and attending CPE courses has been time well spent.
Now get out there and earn some CPE credits for yourself!