Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1)
(a) In any given reestablishment period, 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.
(b)
Florida certified public accountants who do not meet the requirements by June
30th will be granted an automatic extension until September 15th provided 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 the Florida certified public accountant completes an
additional 16 hours in Accounting and Auditing subjects. For the
reestablishment period ending June 30, 2020, current active licensees who
complete continuing professional education (CPE) hours by December 31, 2020 are
not required to complete the additional CPE hours referenced in this
subsection. CPE hours approved for this extension shall apply solely to the
reestablishment period ending June 30, 2020.
(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.
(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)
Each Florida certified public accountant shall, as a part of the biennial
licensure renewal, on or before December 31 prior to his/her biennial license
renewal, comply with the continuing professional education requirements during
the applicable reestablishment period. Each Florida certified public
accountant's documentation supporting such compliance shall be retained through
the two years following a two-year reestablishment period. Documentation is to
be retained to support evidence of completion of the required hours to enable
an audit by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to
determine compliance with the requirements. Documentation for each course shall
be in a format to include course title and date, number of hours earned,
attendee name, certified public accountant course provider name, number, and
signature of the provider furnishing said certificate, and when requested shall
be recorded using form DBPR CPA 41, entitled Continuing Professional Education
Reporting Form, hereby incorporated by reference and effective January 2016,
and available at http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/cpa/forms.html, or in
electronic format prescribed by the Board at http://fl.cpetracking.com or at
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-06682.
If staff review or review by the Committee on Continuing Professional Education
determines that courses are either improperly classified 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. Florida
certified public accountants who complete the continuing professional education
requirements timely but who are found to be deficient after December 31 of
their renewal year must correct the error and pay a $50 fine within 60 days of
the aforementioned notice. Failure to timely correct the error and pay the fine
shall consititute grounds for disciplinary action pursuant to Section
455.227
or
473.323,
F.S.
(6) 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(6), 455.2179, 473.304, 473.312
FS. Law Implemented 455.213(6), 455.2179, 473.312(1)(a), (b), (c)
FS.
