Can anyone explain me about Continuing Education For Accountants?

continuing education issues : Is it really appropriate for Professionals?

The answer about: Can anyone explain me about Continuing Education For Accountants?

Answer by Jack C
The short answer is ‘it depends.’

Continuing Professional Education (CPE) is designed to keep CPAs, CMAs, CIAs, and other certified professionals up-to-date on technical, managerial, and administrative concepts for accountants. Most states require 120 hours of CPE for CPAs over a rolling three-year period, with at least 20 hours each year. Other certifications have similar CPE requirements.

CPE should be certified up-front to ensure that it meets each state‘s CPE requirements, as each state can have different rules. There is an organization, National Registry of CPE Sponsors, that lists over 1,500 approved providers, but there are hundreds more programs that qualify.

As to the appropriateness for professionals, that depends on the type of professional and the program. All CPAs, CMAs, CIAs, and other certified professionals require at least two years of ethics training each calendar year to keep their certifications, so that is always appropriate. If a tax professional takes 40 hours of accounting systems training when they do not intend to ever do systems work, that may be inappropriate. Similarly, if an auditor takes all tax courses for their average of 40 hours per year, that is not appropriate. The CPE program should be individually tailored to maximize the exposure to knowledge to make the person a better professional in their area of expertise.

I hope this helps.

Be Sociable, Share!

•