Best Ways for CPAs to Earn CPE
Maintaining your CPA license requires earning Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits each year, though the exact requirements vary by state. Most CPAs need 40 hours annually, including ethics education, to stay current with changing accounting standards and regulations.
Fortunately, earning CPE doesn’t have to be difficult. From online self-paced courses to live webinars and conferences, there are plenty of convenient options. Below, I’ve rounded up some of the best and easiest ways to earn your requirements.
1. Webinars
The most common way for CPAs to earn their CPE hours is by tuning into webinars. These are great because the time and place for watching them is extremely flexible. Plus, you can watch them either at home or work, at any time of the day.
Webinars are typically given by expert CPA instructors and are offered by many different services. An example of this would be Surgent’s CPE programs. They offer over one thousand live webinars for the purposes of earning CPE. Additionally, these webinars also count as live events, so you don’t need to take any exams or tests to earn credit from them.
Another alternative would be going directly to the American Institute of Certified Professional Accountants. They offer thousands of webcasts that cover a wide range of topics and are organized from foundational to expert level. Regardless of which provider you choose, webinars are an engaging and easy way to earn much-needed credits on-demand.
2. Conferences
If you’re attending a conference based on your professional work, you may be eligible to earn CPE credit for it. This is a great option because it allows you to develop your professional skills and relationships while maintaining your financial planning credentials.
Luckily, there are a couple of groups that offer conferences every year.
The AICPA has a list of annual events you can attend for hours. While attending, you’ll have the chance to interact with and get advice from leading accountants from across the country. If you have circumstances that make you stay close to home, you can still attend some of the conferences online. This is because all online conferences from AICPA are streamed live to your computer, so you can still attend in spite of any extenuating circumstances.
In addition to the AICPA, you may want to look into any CPA organizations based in your state. An example of this would be the CalCPA Education Foundation or any other state equivalent. These organizations tend to offer accounting and auditing conferences that are perfect opportunities for obtaining CPE credit hours. Ultimately, while they may not have as many options as the AICPA, what they do have will more than get the job done.
3. Networking Events
Networking events are a great way to earn CPE credits while building valuable professional connections. Many accounting conferences, industry meetups, and state CPA association events offer CPE sessions that let you learn from experts and connect with other professionals at the same time.
You can find upcoming networking events through your state CPA society, professional organizations, LinkedIn, or accounting conferences. They’re an excellent choice if you enjoy learning in a collaborative environment and expanding your professional network while meeting your CPE requirements.
4. Self-Study
If learning in your pajamas with a cup of coffee sounds like your ideal CPE experience, self-study is for you. It’s one of the easiest ways to earn credits because you can study whenever and wherever it fits your schedule—no travel or rigid class times required. From on-demand video courses and interactive lessons to digital textbooks and practice exams, there’s no shortage of ways to learn at your own pace. Organizations like the AICPA offer hundreds of self-study options covering everything from tax and auditing to ethics and technology, making it easy to find topics that are actually useful for your career.
5. Attending Classes
If you’ve exhausted all your online options or just prefer to learn in person, then it’s time to start looking at some in-person options for CPE. Several services offer live seminars and CPA CPE courses that you can attend to earn some much-needed credit. These cover a wide range of topics and are given out all around the country, so there’s no need to worry about being too far away from everything on offer.
College classes are actually eligible for CPE credits. A class on the quarter system is worth ten credits, while a class on the semester system is worth fifteen. Thanks to that, this can be a very efficient way to maintain your credentials while working on your education. Even if you’ve already finished school, taking a once-a-week class at your local community college can be a hugely beneficial boost to your continuing education at the end of the course.
6. Creating Materials
Up to this point I’ve only told you how to earn CPE hours by learning from people. Now it’s time for you to learn how to get credits from teaching others. Writing articles or books about your field can go a long way towards earning some credit. This is because the act of publishing materials related to your field is considered a direct contribution to your proficiency as a CPA. As long as your content is educational in nature, the time you put into educating others is recognized and accepted.
It’s also important to know some of the technical details of this method: Typically, one CPA hour is granted for each hour you spend creating your educational materials. However, you are only allowed to earn a certain amount of CPE credit through this method. Each state has its own cap for how much you can earn this way; make sure to check with your state’s requirements for this.
7. Deliver a Seminar
I’ve touched base earlier on attending seminars, but you can also earn valuable CPE credit by giving a seminar. State CPA societies need people to give out lectures and presentations and they reward people who do so. This can be as simple as speaking at local CPA chapters or as complex as teaching a course. Either way, this is an extremely valuable way to earn CPE hours since you’ll be developing your professional reputation at the same time.
If you’re interested in earning credit with this method, then contact your state’s CPA society. They’ll tell you how you can start becoming a discussion leader. Each state has its own requirements you must meet. Some states require certain credentials and others require you to have a certain amount of experience.
However, speaking isn’t the only way to earn CPE credit through working:
If you can’t meet the requirements or are feeling nervous about becoming a speaker, try signing up as a facilitator for a seminar. You’ll be in charge of sign-ins, distributing materials, and administering evaluations. Consequently, you’ll interact with both the discussion leader and the participants.
Final Thoughts
CPE hours are extremely important to maintaining your credential as a CPA, but they don’t have to be scary or difficult to earn. If you follow all of these tips, you’ll easily meet your state’s requirements on time.
Thanks to the wide range of opportunities, you can combine your requirements with the development of your professional skills. Don’t think of CPE as a dreaded requirement; instead, recognize that it is a chance to better yourself and increase your qualifications.
If you can do so, you’ll find that working on CPE is easier than ever!
