CPE Requirements

	Va. BOA	VSCPA	AICPA	GAO* (Yellow Book)
CPAs in Public Practice	120 hours for 3 years, with 20 hours per year minimum (2 hours per year must satisfy new ethics requirement)*	No requirements for members, as of May 1996	120 hours every 3 years	80 hours every 2 years, with 20 hours per year minimum (24 of those hours in government subjects)
CPAs not in Public Practice	45 hours every three years, 10 hours per year minimum (effective Jan. 1, 2003). 2 hours per year must satisfy new ethics requirement.* (Effective Jan 1, 2006 — 90 hours with 15 hour per year minimum)	No requirements for members, as of May 1996	120 hours every 3 years	80 hours every 2 years, with 20 hours per year minimum (24 of those hours in government subjects)

*As of January 1, 2004, the Virginia Board of Accountancy has instituted an annual 2-hour ethics CPE requirement into the new regulations. The BOA will issue an outline every year on topics a course must contain to quality for this requirement. Click here for more information, including how to take an ethics course from the VSCPA to fulfill the requirement.

** Virginia Law no longer requires CPAs to use specific sponsors or to take specific courses (i.e. Tax or A&A)

Virginia Board of Accountancy CPE Requirements
AICPA CPE Requirements
AICPA/NASBA CPE Standards (PDF)
Continuing Education Requirements for Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book)
National CPE Curriculum

1. CPAs providing or offering to provide services to the public — 120 hours every three years, 20 hours per year minimum

2. CPAs providing services other than for the public (may include educators, members in industry):

July 1, 1999 – December 31, 2002 — No CPE required
January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2005 — 45 hours over the three year period, 10 hours per year minimum
January 1, 2006 – December 31, 2008 — 90 hours over the three year period, 15 hours per year minimum
Effective January 1, 2009 — 120 hours every three years, 20 hours per year minimum

As of January 1, 2004, the Virginia Board of Accountancy has instituted an annual 2-hour ethics CPE requirement for ALL Virginia CPAs into the new regulations. The BOA will issue an outline every year on topics a course must contain to quality for this requirement. Click here for more information, including how to take an ethics course from the VSCPA to fulfill the requirement.

3. The new regulations have eliminated all required course areas and all sponsorship requirements, allowing each individual to decide what classes to take. To meet Virginia licensure law, CPAs do not need to take a minimum number of hours in tax or A&A; nor do they need to take their CPE from a Board-approved sponsor. However, if you are preparing to commence services for the public after a period of performing services not for the public: please contact the VSCPA to learn about additional CPE requirements.

4. Individuals failing to meet the CPE requirements may be subject to re-qualification, including possible re-examination and submission of experience qualifications. The board may, at its discretion, waive or defer CPE requirements so long as such waiver or deferral is in the public interest.

5. For further information on the Virginia CPE requirements, VSCPA members can visit the BOA Web site or contact VSCPA Government Affairs Director Erin Collins at (800) 733-8272.

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
  • 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
  • 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.
    
    

    YEAR	1994	1995	1996	Total
    Public Practice	40	40		80
    Not in public practice			30	30
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total	40	40	30	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
  The following members are not required to take CPE:
  1. Retired
  2. Temporarily left the work place
  3. Unemployed
  4. 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:

Walling Almonte
AICPA
Harborside Financial Center
201 Plaza Three
Jersey City, NJ 07311-3881

3.6 To meet this standard, the audit organization should have a program to ensure that its staff maintain professional proficiency through continuing education and training. Thus, each auditor responsible for planning, directing, conducting, or reporting on audits under these standards should complete, every 2 years, at least 80 hours of continuing education and training which contributes to the auditor's professional proficiency. At least 20 hours should be completed in any 1 year of the 2-year period. Individuals responsible for planning or directing an audit, conducting substantial portions of the field work, or reporting on the audit under these standards should complete at least 24 of the 80 hours of continuing education and training in subjects directly related to the government environment and to government auditing. If the audited entity operates in a specific or unique environment, auditors should receive training that is related to that environment.

3.7 The audit organization is responsible for establishing and implementing a program to ensure that auditors meet the continuing education and training requirements just stated. The organization should maintain documentation of the education and training completed. (1)

[NOTE (1): The qualifications standard and continuing education requirements place responsibilities on both the audit organization and individual auditors. Carrying out these responsibilities requires sound professional judgment. To assist audit organizations and individual auditors in exercising that judgment, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued Interpretation of Continuing Education and Training Requirements (PDF), April 1991, Government Printing Office stock number 020-000-00250-6.]

3.8 The continuing education and training may include such topics as current developments in audit methodology, accounting, assessment of internal controls, principles of management or supervision, financial management, statistical sampling, evaluation design, and data analysis. It may also include subjects related to the auditor's field of work, such as public administration, public policy and structure, industrial engineering, economics, social sciences, or computer science.

3.9 External consultants and internal experts and specialists should be qualified and maintain professional proficiency in their areas of expertise and/or specialization but are not required to meet the above continuing education and training requirements. Auditors performing nonaudit activities and services also are not required to meet the above continuing education and training requirements. To view an electronic copy of the entire Government Auditing Standards document, click here (.PDF).

For other questions regarding Government Auditing Standards, call:

Michael C. Hrapsky
Senior Project Manager
Government Auditing Standards
U.S. General Accounting Office
(202) 512-9535

For questions directly related to Government Auditing Standards, contact the GAO yellowbook@gao.gov.

Have a question? Want more information? E-mail the VSCPA CPE Department.

The AICPA CPE Division has created a national curriculum for all CPE courses.

The goal of this structured and combined curriculum is two-fold:

• To provide CPAs and other accounting professionals with assistance in program selection through the use of an overall framework of specified knowledge and skills.
• To supply course developers with a guide to aid them in development of comprehensive CPE programs.

More than 100 members of the profession contributed to the curriculum project. Representatives from more than 40 states (including members of small, regional and national firms; federal, state and local governments; industry; academia; and state societies) volunteered a total of more than 1,000 working days to the project. After carefully analyzing the tasks and activities performed by accountants in their work, seven task forces identified the knowledge and skills to be acquired by CPAs.

To address the CPE needs of the three major segments of the profession CPAs in public practice, industry and government C the initial curriculum framework is organized by six fields of study. These fields of study are: accounting and auditing, advisory services, management, specialized knowledge and applications, personal development and taxation.

To maximize the usefulness of the curriculum, each CPE program is also designed to meet individual training needs at various levels of professional development and particular segments of the profession. Refer to the prerequisite and the level of knowledge within the course description to best understand the classification of these designations.

Fields of study

Accounting and auditing includes accounting and financial reporting subjects, the body of knowledge dealing with pronouncements of authoritative accounting principles issued by the standard setting bodies, as well as other related subjects generally classified within the accounting discipline. It also includes auditing subjects related to the examination of financial statements, operations, systems and programs; the review of internal and management controls; the reporting on the results of audit findings; and the compilation and review. This curriculum covers the needs of professionals in public practice, industry and government.

Advisory services deals with management, personal financial planning and other services. This curriculum also covers an organization's various systems and the services provided by consultant practitioners. Systems include those dealing with planning, organizing and controlling any phase of business activity. Services provided cover those from management, such as designing, implementing and evaluating operating systems for organizations For the most part, this curriculum is for consultants in public practice, but consultants in industry who are employed by large organizations will find these courses of interest.

Management emphasizes the specific management needs of accountants. Courses concentrate on the practice management of the public practitioner, such as organizational structures, marketing services and human-resource management. For accountants in industry, there are courses dealing with the financial management of an organization, including information systems, budgeting and asset management.

Specialized knowledge and applications comprises subjects relating to specialized industries, such as health care, banking and Nonprofit organizations. An industry is defined as specialized if it has unusual forms of organization, economic structure, sources of financing, legislative or regulatory requirements, marketing or distribution systems, terminology or technology and if it employs unique accounting principles and practices, unique tax problems, a need for unique advisory services, or faces unique audit issues.

Personal development is designed to assist participants in becoming a competent manager of people by covering such skills as communications, managing the group process, and dealing effectively with others in interviewing, counseling, and career planning. Public relations and professional ethics are also treated.

Taxation includes courses dealing with tax compliance and tax planning. Compliance covers tax return preparation and review, as well as IRS examinations, ruling requests and protests. Tax planning focuses on applying tax law to prospective transactions and understanding the tax implications of unusual or complex transactions. Recognizing alternative tax treatments and advising the client on tax-saving opportunities are also part of tax planning. Although the main topical coverage of this curriculum is for the practitioner, tax professionals in industry will also be interested in many of these courses.