• Basic Requirements for ALL members as of January 1, 2001

From January 1, 2001, forward and for each three-year reporting period thereafter, all AICPA members shall complete 120 hours or its equivalent, of continuing professional education.

• Basic Requirements PRIOR to January 1, 2001

o       Members in Public Practice

Public practice means a member pays AICPA dues under public practice.

• Number of Hours

• 120 hours over a three year period
• 20 hours minimum per year

o       Members Not in Public Practice

• Number of Hours

• 90 hours over a three year period
• 15 hours minimum

• Changing Employment from One Classification to the Other

If a member changes from public practice to not in public practice or from not in public practice to public practice, the number of hours for the three year block must be adjusted. Use the average number of hours per year for each classification, 40 for public, 30 for not in public, to determine the total number of hours required. Any year in which a portion of the time was in public must use the 40 hours.

 

As an example: Member's three year reporting block is 1994, 1995, 1996. Member was in public practice all of 1994, and January 1995. In February 1995 Member switched to not in public practice and was still not in public practice all of 1996. The total number hours required are 110.

• Reporting Period

Begins calendar year after joining the AICPA

 

Note: All members who were members on or before December 31, 1989 began their first reporting period January 1, 1990. At that time a transition period requirement of 60 hours was in effect for members not in public practice for the first reporting block January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1992. The full requirement is now in effect for all members not in public practice.

• Grace period:

Two months immediately following the reporting period. Hours credited toward a deficiency may not be counted toward the reporting period in which they are taken.

• Qualifying Programs

Programs which contribute to the member's professional competence and are formal programs. No specific subject areas are required. Examples of qualifying programs are in-house training courses, trade association conferences or college and university classes.

To determine equivalent CPE hours use the following:

College or university:

number of semester hours x 15 = CPE hours

number of quarter hours x 10 = CPE hours

Programs from associations granting CEUs (continuing education units):

number of CEUs x 10 = CPE hours

For programs which do not state the number of hours use:

actual number of minutes spent in program/50 = CPE hours (round down to the nearest whole hour)

• Reporting

Members report compliance by paying of dues. The yearly dues statement contains the following statement:

 

In making my dues payment, I affirm that I have complied with the CPE membership requirements for the year ending December 31, 1993 (or applicable year).

 

No other reporting is necessary.

• Documentation and Record Retention

Members bear primary responsibility of documenting compliance with CPE requirements. For each program the member should be able to document the following:

1. Sponsor
   
2. Title and description of content
   
3. Date(s)
   
4. Location
   
5. Number of CPE contact hours

• Application of State Licensing or State Society Membership CPE Requirements

If a state board or state society has the same CPE requirements as the AICPA and the member takes the yearly minimum, the state board or state society fiscal reporting period may be used instead of the calendar year.

• Exceptions to CPE Requirements

1. The following members are not required to take CPE:
2. Retired
3. Temporarily left the work place
4. Unemployed
5. Members who have placed their licenses/certificates on inactive status with their state boards of accountancy and who do not hold themselves out as CPAs now are exempt from the AICPA's CPE requirement while they remain in that status, as long as their states of licensure do not require CPE while on inactive status. Granting this exception to the membership requirement is permitted under existing Council resolutions.

• Request for Waiver of the CPE Requirement

Members may request a waiver to the CPE Requirement for:

1. Foreign Residency
2. Health
3. Military Service
4. Other similar reasons

Requests for waivers should be directed to:

AICPA Service Center Operations
220 Leigh Farm Road
Durham, NC 27707
Attn: CPE Grading
or
service@aicpa.org