Certified Public Accounting – Continuing Professional Education

Licensees are still required to complete CPE, but there is no longer a need to report. Florida requires the completion of 80 hours of CPE for each re-establishment period. The 80 hours must include eight (8) hours of accounting and auditing, four (4) hours of board approved ethics, and no more than 20 hours in behavioral subjects. Florida statutes do not allow a CPA to obtain ethics credit for ethics courses not approved by the Florida Board of Accountancy even if courses are accepted by other jurisdictions. Below is a list of board approved ethics providers:

• Approved Ethics Providers

Florida certified public accountants who do not meet the requirements by June 30th will be granted an automatic extension until September 15^th provided that the Florida certified public accountant completes an additional 8 hours in Accounting and Auditing subjects. An automatic extension will be granted until December 31st provided that the Florida certified public accountant completes an additional 16 hours in Accounting and Auditing subjects.

Professional development courses shall be credited for continuing professional education purposes in increments of not less than one half hour, equivalent to the actual number of contact hours (hours in the classroom which must include at least fifty minutes of continuous participation per contact hour or twenty-five minutes per contact half hour) provided an outline (defined as a schedule of activity listing major topics of discussion) is prepared in advance and retained; a course is at least one contact hour or half hour in length; the course conducted by a qualified instructor, lecturer or discussion leader; and a record of registration and attendance is maintained.

All self-study continuing education courses qualifying for accounting, auditing or technical business credit must be taken from sponsors approved by NASBA’s Quality Assurance Service (QAS) program. Self-study providers offering behavioral credit only will not be required to register with the QAS program.  Sponsors that are approved QAS providers can be found on NASBA’s web site at www.nasba.org or by contacting NASBA at 615.880.4200.

Click here for more information on self-study CPE course requirements and for information on becoming a NASBA QAS self-study sponsor.

To obtain an application, you may download the information from:

• CPA Forms Center.

Continuing Professional Education can be obtained through either group study or self-study. Group study does not have to be taken through an approved sponsor, provided the content of the course qualifies based on the Board’s CPE Guidelines.

Below is a list of approved group study providers and their sponsor identification numbers. The letter “P” in parenthesis after the sponsor identification number designates a probationary sponsor. This simply means that the sponsor is currently in their initial two-year probationary period.

This list will be updated periodically, as new sponsors are approved for sponsorship, or sponsorships are revoked.

• Approved Provider List

If a licensee is unsure whether a course they have attended from a non-approved sponsor will qualify for continuing professional education credit they can request a determination of the course from the Committee on Continuing Professional Education (CPE Committee). In order for the Committee to review a course, a detailed course outline including the time spent on each topic along with a letter indicating the number of hours being requested and the classification of the hours must be submitted to the Division of Certified Public Accounting.

The CPE Committee is appointed by members of the Board of Accountancy and consists of CPA professionals who review questionable courses and make recommendations to the Board of Accountancy for rules and guidelines regarding other Continuing Education topics and issues. The CPE Committee meets at least four times a year. If you have questions regarding CPE Continuing Education, you may contact the Customer Contact Center at (850) 487-1395.