Ethics CPE Requirement Required in 2004

Get ready to take your ethics course. On December 11, 2003, Gov. Mark Warner approved the first set of Virginia Board of Accountancy (BOA) emergency regulations, which include an ethics education requirement, language instituting the computerized CPA Exam and a provision allowing the BOA to enforce fines of up to $100,000 for statute violations.

All Virginia CPAs, including those in industry, must take two CPE credits in ethics each year. However, this is NOT an "Ethics 101" course. The BOA will issue an outline each year with important guidelines that each ethics course must follow in order to fulfill the BOA requirement. The ethics requirement may be split into two separate 50-minute sessions.

How do you know if a certain ethics course meets the BOA's standards? The BOA requires that all CPE providers state in course material and catalog summaries whether the course content includes the required material.

Non-CPA owners of CPA firms are also required to fulfill the ethics requirement.

In an additional part of the first set of emergency regulations, the BOA can now assess monetary penalties up to $100,000 — a significant increase from the previous cap of $2,500. Penalties will be assessed for a person or entity licensed by the BOA who violates the BOA statute or regulations and is not criminally prosecuted for the violation. The appropriate penalty is at the discretion of the BOA.