1. Professional Competence

All CPAs and EAs should participate in learning activities that maintain and/or improve their professional competence. Respectively, acceptable continuing education imply programs contributing to the development and maintenance of professional proficiency. The fields of study represent the primary knowledge and skill areas that CPAs and EA need to perform professional services in all fields of employment. They may be reviewed regularly and modified as professional competence needs change.

2. Continuing Education Compliance

CPAs and EAs are responsible for compliance with all applicable CPE/CE requirements, rules, and regulations of state licensing bodies, other governmental entities, membership associations, and other professional organizations.

3. CPE/CE Credits Record Documentation

CPAs and EAs are responsible for accurate reporting of the corresponding number of CPE/CE credits earned and must retain appropriate documentation of their participation in learning activities. To protect the public interest, regulators require CPAs and EAs to document maintenance and improvement of professional competence through periodic reporting of CPE/CE. For easement, measurement is expressed in CPE/CE credits. In the absence of legal or other requirements, a reasonable policy is to retain documentation for a minimum of five years for CPAs and four ears for EAs from the end of the year in which the learning activities were completed. Participants must document their claims of CPE/CE credit. Examples of acceptable evidence of completion include the following:

• For group, blended learning, and independent study programs, a certificate or other verification supplied by the CPE/CE program sponsor.
• For self-study and Nano learning programs, a certificate delivered by the CPE/CE program sponsor after satisfactory completion of a qualified assessment.

4. Reporting CPE/CE Credits

Sponsored learning activities are measured by actual program length, with one 50-minute period equal to one CPE/CE credit. CPAs and EAs who complete sponsored learning activities that maintain or improve their professional competence must claim no more than the CPE/CE credits recommended by program sponsors subject to the state board regulations. CPAs and EAs may participate in a variety of sponsored learning activities. Although continuing education program sponsors determine credits, CPAs and EAs must claim credit only for activities through which they maintained or improved their professional competence. Those who participate in only part of a program must claim CPE credit only for the portion they attended or completed.