How many CPE hours does a CPA need?

It depends on the state board that issued the licence. The model used by AICPA members and many boards is 120 hours over a three-year period with a minimum each year, but some states run one-year or two-year cycles and set their own ethics and subject requirements. The NASBA Registry’s Search CPE Requirements page summarises each state, and the state board’s own rules are the final word.

Is free CPE accepted by state boards?

Free and paid courses are treated the same way: what matters is who issued the credit, not the price. CPE from a sponsor on NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors is widely accepted, and some boards also accept their own registered sponsors. A few boards add conditions, for example New York requires an ethics course approved by the New York State Education Department if New York is your principal place of business.

Who is responsible for CPE, the CPA or the firm?

The licence holder is personally responsible to the state board for meeting and evidencing their CPE. The firm has its own exposure, though: under the AICPA quality management standards, a firm with an accounting and auditing practice has to show its people have the competence their engagements require, and peer reviewers look at how that is achieved. In practice, firms that track CPE centrally avoid both problems.

Do auditors on government engagements need extra CPE?

Yes. Government Auditing Standards (the GAO Yellow Book) require auditors who plan, direct, perform or report on GAGAS engagements to complete 80 hours of CPE every two years, including 24 hours directly related to government auditing or the government environment. Those hours sit alongside state board requirements rather than replacing them, so firms with a government practice need to track both.

Can in-house training count toward CPE?

It can, if it meets the standards the state board accepts. Firms that want their internal sessions to issue CPE either become NASBA Registry sponsors themselves or check their state board’s rules for in-firm programmes. Whatever route you choose, the session needs learning objectives, attendance monitoring and a completion record, which is also what makes it useful evidence for a peer review.

Read · Practice guide

CPE requirements for CPAs: how a firm plans, funds and tracks them

US CPAs keep their licence by completing continuing professional education (CPE) set by their state board of accountancy, and the common model is 120 hours over three years with an annual minimum and an ethics component. The exact cycle, ethics rule and accepted providers differ by state, so the board that issued the licence is the final word; this guide is about running CPE across a whole firm.

Updated October 2026. Rules checked as at October 2026.

How CPE works in the US

Three layers sit on top of each other. The state boards (55 of them, counting territories and the District of Columbia) decide how many hours a licensee needs, over what cycle, and in which subjects. NASBA and the AICPA jointly publish the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education Programs, which defines what a CPE programme is and how credit is measured: one CPE credit is a 50-minute period of learning. Sponsors (training providers, state societies, firms) build courses to those standards, and NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors lists the ones it has approved.

The Standards were revised again in 2026. As at October 2026, NASBA says the new version applies from 1 August 2026 for new sponsor applications, from 1 March 2027 for programmes published for the first time, and by 1 November 2028 for programmes that already existed on 31 July 2026. For a firm buying CPE rather than selling it, the practical effect is small: the certificate still has to come from an accepted sponsor and show the credits earned.

AICPA membership adds its own requirement on top of the licence: members need 120 hours over a three-year period with at least 20 in each year. Many state boards use the same shape, which is why 120 hours over three years is the figure most CPAs quote. It is not universal. Some states run annual or two-year cycles, and the counting rules for self-study, carryover and technical versus non-technical subjects differ.

Ethics CPE is where states differ most

Nearly every board requires some ethics CPE, and this is where a firm with people licensed in several states trips up. Some boards accept any ethics course from an approved sponsor. Others want a state-specific course on their own rules. New York is the clearest example: if New York is your principal place of business, only an ethics course approved by the New York State Education Department counts. A national ethics webinar that satisfies one licence can leave another short.

The safe practice is to treat ethics as its own line in the register, per state, rather than as part of the total.

Why "CPE requirements by state" is a firm problem, not a personal one

On paper, CPE belongs to the individual. The licence holder signs the renewal and answers the audit. A firm that leaves it there carries three risks it cannot see.

Capacity. Learning time comes out of the same hours as client work. If nobody plans it, it lands in the last month of the cycle, which for calendar-year states is the run-up to busy season.

Licensing. A lapsed licence can stop someone signing work, and mobility rules for practising across state lines still assume the home licence is in good standing.

Quality management and peer review. The AICPA’s quality management standard (SQMS No. 1) was required to be in place by 15 December 2025 for firms with an accounting and auditing practice. Its resources component expects the firm to have people with the competence its engagements need, and peer reviewers look at how the firm achieves and evidences that. A central CPE record is one of the simplest pieces of evidence a firm can produce. Firms on government engagements have a further layer: the GAO Yellow Book requires 80 hours every two years, 24 of them directly related to government auditing, for people who plan, direct, perform or report on that work.

How to plan and track CPE across a team

1

Build one register, not one spreadsheet per person.

One row per licensed person: every state they hold a licence or practice privilege in, each reporting cycle end date, hours needed, ethics requirement and hours logged to date. CPAs licensed in two or three states are where deadlines collide, so record each board separately rather than assuming the strictest one covers the rest.
2

Start from the work, then fill the hours.

Map what each person actually does next year (new service lines, audit and attest work, a software change, a tax law change) and choose learning that covers it. Hours chosen to hit a number in December are the ones peer reviewers and quality monitors find least convincing.
3

Budget as a method, not a figure.

Work out cost per person from three inputs: hours required in the cycle, the mix of paid, free and in-house delivery you intend, and the billable time the learning displaces. The displaced time is usually the larger cost, and it is the one firms forget to plan for in busy season.
4

Collect certificates as they are earned.

State boards audit a sample of licensees and expect certificates of completion. Make uploading the certificate part of finishing the course, store it against the person in your practice management system (Financial Cents, Canopy, TaxDome, Jetpack Workflow, Firm360 or Mango Practice Management all hold staff records in some form), and keep it for at least as long as your board requires.
5

Check the quarter before each cycle closes.

A quarterly review of the register catches the shortfall while there is still time to fix it with structured learning rather than a weekend of self-study in the last week.

Mixing paid, free and in-house CPE

Most firms end up with three sources, and each does a different job.

Paid structured programmes (conferences, state society courses, subscription libraries) are where the technical depth usually comes from, and where specialist and ethics requirements are easiest to cover with confidence. A conference also buys time out of the office together, which is worth something to a team. Our 2027 accounting conferences calendar lists the events with dates and a verdict on each, and many US events publish the CPE credits on offer.

Free CPE is real and plentiful, and it counts exactly like paid CPE when the sponsor is accepted by your board. The usual sources are software vendors and their partner programmes, state CPA societies, professional bodies, and webinar series run by firms and associations that are registered sponsors. The test is the same for all of them: before you assign it, confirm the sponsor appears on the NASBA Registry’s sponsor search or on your own board’s approved list, that the course is in a field of study you need, and that a certificate is issued. Vendor-run sessions are useful for the tools you run but lean towards product training; keep them to a share of the plan, not the whole of it.

In-house training is the cheapest way to teach your own methods, and it is often the most relevant learning anyone does all year. It only issues CPE if it meets the standards: either the firm becomes a registered sponsor or it checks what its state board accepts for in-firm programmes. Even where it does not issue credit, keep an attendance record. It is still evidence for quality management.

Budgeting CPE without guessing a number

We will not tell you what CPE should cost per head, because the right answer depends on your mix, your market and how much time you are willing to give up. The method is the useful part. For each person, multiply the hours their cycle needs by the share you plan to deliver through paid, free and in-house routes, and price each route separately: course fees for paid, internal preparation time for in-house, and for all three the billable time the learning displaces at that person’s realistic recovery rate. Add travel for anything in person.

Two numbers come out of that: the cash budget and the capacity budget. Most firms only look at the first. The second belongs in your capacity plan next to leave, and it is worth tracking as a firm metric alongside the others in our accounting firm KPIs guide.

Deadlines worth putting in the firm calendar

Put every licensee’s cycle end date in the same calendar as your filing deadlines, with a reminder a quarter out. If you already keep a compliance calendar, add CPE to it; our compliance deadlines calendar for 2026-27 covers the regulatory dates that land on firms in the US, UK and Australia, and CPE cycle ends belong next to them.

Outside the US: CPD in brief

Most other countries call it CPD and set it through the professional body. As at October 2026, the headline requirements look like this. Check your own body before relying on any of it.

Australia

CPD for members is set by CA ANZ, CPA Australia and the IPA, each built around a three-year cycle with an annual minimum. Separately, registered tax agents owe CPE to the Tax Practitioners Board: the TPB guidance is a minimum of 120 hours over three years for tax agents, 90 hours for BAS agents, and at least 20 hours in each year, relevant to the services provided.

Source: tpb.gov.au

United Kingdom

ICAEW moved to hours-based CPD from 1 November 2023. Members in practice outside the specialist categories need 20 hours a year, 10 of them verifiable, with more required in categories that cover regulated work. ACCA members on the unit route need 40 units a year, at least 21 verifiable. ICAEW also publishes a firms’ guide, because firms carry responsibilities for their people’s CPD.

Source: icaew.com, accaglobal.com

Canada

Each provincial CPA body regulates CPD, but the requirement is largely harmonised: 20 hours a year (10 verifiable) and 120 hours over a rolling three years (60 verifiable), including 4 verifiable hours of ethics. Public accounting licensees can face more, so check your provincial body.

Source: cpaontario.ca and the other provincial bodies

New Zealand

Most New Zealand CAs hold their CPD obligation through CA ANZ, which runs the same triennial framework on both sides of the Tasman. Members of CPA Australia in New Zealand follow its rules. Certificate of Public Practice holders should check whether extra requirements apply to them.

Source: charteredaccountantsanz.com

South Africa

SAICA’s CPD policy is reflective rather than hours-based for most members, but registered tax practitioners need at least 18 verifiable hours a year (10 tax, 2 ethics, 6 related to the services they provide). SAIPA requires a minimum of 40 hours a year, at least 20 of them structured.

Source: saica.org.za, saipa.co.za

The short version

Let each person own their licence, and let the firm own the plan. A single register, a learning plan built from next year’s work, a budget that counts time as well as fees, certificates filed as they are earned and a quarterly check will keep every licence current and give a peer reviewer something concrete to look at. For ongoing reading that feeds the non-structured side of a plan, see our shortlist of accounting newsletters.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

How many CPE hours does a CPA need?: It depends on the state board that issued the licence. The model used by AICPA members and many boards is 120 hours over a three-year period with a minimum each year, but some states run one-year or two-year cycles and set their own ethics and subject requirements. The NASBA Registry’s Search CPE Requirements page summarises each state, and the state board’s own rules are the final word.
Is free CPE accepted by state boards?: Free and paid courses are treated the same way: what matters is who issued the credit, not the price. CPE from a sponsor on NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors is widely accepted, and some boards also accept their own registered sponsors. A few boards add conditions, for example New York requires an ethics course approved by the New York State Education Department if New York is your principal place of business.
Who is responsible for CPE, the CPA or the firm?: The licence holder is personally responsible to the state board for meeting and evidencing their CPE. The firm has its own exposure, though: under the AICPA quality management standards, a firm with an accounting and auditing practice has to show its people have the competence their engagements require, and peer reviewers look at how that is achieved. In practice, firms that track CPE centrally avoid both problems.
Do auditors on government engagements need extra CPE?: Yes. Government Auditing Standards (the GAO Yellow Book) require auditors who plan, direct, perform or report on GAGAS engagements to complete 80 hours of CPE every two years, including 24 hours directly related to government auditing or the government environment. Those hours sit alongside state board requirements rather than replacing them, so firms with a government practice need to track both.
Can in-house training count toward CPE?: It can, if it meets the standards the state board accepts. Firms that want their internal sessions to issue CPE either become NASBA Registry sponsors themselves or check their state board’s rules for in-firm programmes. Whatever route you choose, the session needs learning objectives, attendance monitoring and a completion record, which is also what makes it useful evidence for a peer review.