Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1)
(a) Each Florida certified public
accountant's reestablishment period shall commence on the date indicated on the
licensee's Florida certificate. The initial designated reestablishment period
for each Florida certified public accountant shall end on the third June 30th
following the date indicated on the licensee's Florida certificate. Each
succeeding reestablishment period shall begin on July 1, and end on June 30,
two years thereafter and ending in the year the license expires.
(b) In any given reestablishment period,
except as stated below in paragraph (1)(c) of this rule, each current/active
Florida certified public accountant must have completed at any time or times
during the two-year period, at least 80 hours of educational instruction or
training in public accounting subjects or courses of study, as defined
hereinafter, of which at least 8 hours must have been in accounting-related
and/or auditing-related subjects and of which no more than 20 hours may be in
behavioral subjects and at least four hours shall be in Florida Board-approved
ethics. All CPE proof of completion must be reported in the DBPR On-Line
Services portal on or before July 31 prior to their biennial license
renewal.
(c) Effective with the
reestablishment period ending June 30, 2024, the licensee must report courses
completed and provide proof of CPE completion in the DBPR On-Line Services
portal on or before July 31 immediately following the reestablishment period
and prior to their biennial license renewal.
(d) A nonresident Florida licensed certified
public accountant seeking renewal of a Florida license may provide proof of CPE
completion in the State where the licensee's office is located by submission of
the Out of State Licensee CPE Acknowledgement Form (DBPR CPA 14, effective
April 2023), which is incorporated by reference in Rule
61-35.003, F.A.C., and proof of
completion of a Florida Board-approved ethics course in the DBPR On-Line
Services portal prior to renewal.
(e) Florida certified public accountants who
do not meet the requirements by June 30th will be granted an automatic
extension until September 15th provided the licensee submits proof of CPE
completion in the DBPR On-Line Services portal for an additional eight hours in
Accounting and Auditing subjects, totaling 88 hours of completed CPE on or
before the extension date. An automatic extension will be granted until
December 31st provided the licensee submits proof of CPE completion in the DBPR
On-Line Services portal for an additional 16 hours in Accounting and Auditing
subjects, totaling 96 hours of completed CPE on or before the extension
date.
(2) Educational
instruction or training in public accounting subjects or courses of study is
hereby defined as formal programs of learning as defined below, which
contribute directly to professional competency following licensure to practice
public accountancy. Subjects or courses of study qualifying an individual for
the purposes of this shall be limited to:
(a)
Accounting and auditing subjects to consist of: Accounting and financial
reporting subjects, the body of knowledge dealing with recent pronouncements of
authoritative accounting principles issued by the standard-setting bodies, and
any other related subject generally classified within the accounting
discipline. Subjects include auditing subjects related to the examination of
financial statements, operations systems, and programs; the review of internal
and management controls; and the reporting on the results of audit findings,
compilation and review. It also includes assurance services that relate to
Standards for Attest Engagements.
(b) Technical business subjects to consist
of:
1. Taxation including tax compliance and
tax planning.
2. Consulting
services including management advisory services; personal financial planning
services; planning and control systems dealing with planning, organizing and
controlling any phase of individual financial activity or business activity;
designing, implementing, and evaluating operating systems as well as business
advisory services and personal financial planning.
3. Management including practice management
for the public practitioner; financial management of an organization including
information systems, budgeting and asset management, planning, buying and
selling businesses, contracting for goods and services and foreign operation;
budgeting; cost analysis; human resource management; and financial
management.
4. Specialized
knowledge and applications including subjects related to specialized industries
such as not for profit organizations, health care, oil and
gas.
(c) The ethics
courses shall be obtained from a provider approved pursuant to Rule
61H1-33.0032, F.A.C., and
consist of:
1. A review of Chapters 455 and
473, F.S., and the related administrative rules.
2. The ethics course may include other
subjects including but not limited to: ethical conduct, core values and
competencies, professional responsibility, responsibility to clients and the
public, case studies that require the application of ethics principles,
national professional standards and interpretations, and appropriate national
issues related to the practice of accounting.
(d) Behavioral subjects including oral and
written communications and the social environment of business. All courses not
covered above are considered behavior except for business meetings, social
functions, committee service and courses in elementary accounting or basic
mathematics which do not qualify for credit.
(3) Credit may be prorated by the sponsor for
courses that cover more than one area of study by (1) prorating the amount of
time spent in each area or (2) awarding credit based on the lowest topic
covered with accounting and auditing being the highest and behavioral the
lowest. Therefore an eight-hour course that was 75% accounting and auditing and
25% management would receive six (6) hours of accounting and auditing credit
and two (2) hours of technical business or eight (8) hours of all technical
business. Hours cannot be prorated in less than half-hour increments.
(4) In order for a Florida certified public
accountant to receive credit for programs of learning, as defined above, the
following formalities and further requirements must be met:
(a) Courses taken at institutions of higher
education:
1. Higher education credit courses
taken from an accredited institution as defined in subsection
61H1-27.001(1),
F.A.C., shall be credited for continuing professional education purposes at the
rate of 15 hours for each semester hour of higher education credit and 10 hours
for each quarter hour of higher education credit, provided the number of
contact hours (hours in the classroom) totals at least 90% of the continuing
professional education credit so determined. Otherwise, continuing professional
education credit shall be limited to the actual number of contact
hours.
2. Higher education
non-credit courses shall be credited for continuing professional education
purposes equivalent to the actual number of contact hours.
3. Continuing professional education credit
for instructing a higher education course shall be twice the credit which would
have been granted participants for the first presentation of a specific course
of program, the same as the credit granted a participant for the second
presentation and none thereafter, except as permitted by subparagraph
61H1-33.003(4)(b)
4., F.A.C.
4. No continuing
professional education credit shall be permitted for attending or instructing
accounting courses considered to be elementary.
5. To receive instructor credit for courses
taught, licensees must submit a completed DBPR CPA 13, Instructor CPE Credit
Reporting Form, effective April 2023, which is incorporated by reference in
Rule 61-35.003,
F.A.C.
(b) Other
professional education or training:
1.
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. For this purpose, a
one-day program will be granted eight hours credit if the total lapsed time is
at least eight hours and the contact time is approximately 400 minutes. An
instructor, lecturer or discussion leader will be considered qualified if,
through formal training or experience, he has obtained sufficient knowledge of
the subject matter to competently instruct the course. A course participant
will be granted credit for only that portion of a course actually attended. If
a record of registration and attendance is not maintained by the sponsoring
organization, the course participant must be able to prove registration and
attendance.
2. Formal organization
in-firm educational programs shall be credited for continuing professional
education purposes to the same extent and by the same requirements as other
professional development courses.
3. Instructors, lecturers, panelists and
discussion leaders for professional development courses and formal organized
in-firm educational programs shall be credited for continuing professional
education purposes at twice the credit granted participants for the first
presentation of a specific course or program, the same as the credit granted a
participant for the second presentation and none thereafter, except as
permitted in subparagraph
61H1-33.003(4)(b)
4., F.A.C. Co-panelists and co-discussion leaders shall be credited for the
portion of specific course or program they must prepare to discuss and lead as
a co-panelist or co-discussion leader.
4. To the extent course content has been
substantially revised, the revised portion shall be considered a first
presentation for the purposes of subparagraph
61H1-33.003(4)(b)
3., F.A.C.
5. Credit may be granted
to an author for published materials related to an Accounting, Assurance, Tax
or Technical Business topic in a journal listed in or published by the (1)
Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List, (2) Cabells, (3)
American Accounting Association, (4) any state or national society of CPAs and
(5) any textbook addressing accounting, assurance, tax or technical business
topic that would otherwise qualify as continuing professional education. No
authorship hours may apply to fulfill the ethics requirement. Credit will not
be granted for repeated publishing of the same material. The maximum number of
continuing professional education hours in any re-establishment period for
authorship is 20 hours. The Continuing Professional Education Advisory
Committee of the Board shall determine the hours granted for each publication
submitted and the day of their approval shall serve as the date of awarded
credit for reporting purposes.
(5) As a part of each licensee's biennial
license renewal, each Florida certified public accountant shall comply with the
continuing professional education requirements during the applicable
reestablishment period, and upload proof of CPE completion to the DBPR On-Line
Services Portal. Each Florida certified public accountant's proof of CPE
completion shall be retained for at least two years following a two-year
reestablishment period and be made available if requested for a random audit by
the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to determine
compliance with the requirements. Proof of CPE completion for each course shall
be in a format as prescribed by the Board in subsection
61H1-20.001(9),
F.A.C.
(6) If staff review or
review by the Committee on Continuing Professional Education determines that
courses are either improperly classified by the provider or do not otherwise
meet the requirements of the chapter, then the Florida certified public
accountant shall be notified and given 60 days from the date of notification to
comply with the continuing professional education requirements. Failure to
timely correct the error consititutes grounds for disciplinary action pursuant
to Section 455.227 or
473.323, F.S.
(7) Sponsors of formal correspondence or
other individual study technical business and accounting and auditing programs
must be approved by the National Association of State Board of Accountancy
Quality Assurance Service.
Rulemaking Authority
455.213(7),
455.2179,
473.304,
473.312 FS. Law Implemented
455.213(7),
455.2179,
473.312(1)(a), (b),
(c)
FS.
New 12-4-79, Amended 2-3-81, 4-5-83, 10-19-83, 8-20-85,
Formerly 21A-33.03, Amended 9-18-88, 7-7-92, 12-2-92, Formerly 21A-33.003,
Amended 12-14-93, 1-26-98, 12-17-00, 8-21-01, 3-21-05, 5-18-05, 7-10-05,
7-23-06, 12-10-09, 7-7-10, 11-7-12, 8-7-13, 4-21-16, 11-3-19, 10-20-20,
12-23-21, 8-6-23, 10-26-23.
