Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) CPAs'
fields of employment do not limit the need for continuing professional
education. CPAs performing professional services need to have a broad range of
knowledge, skills, and abilities. Continuing Professional Education will be
referred to herein as CPE.
(b) The
fundamental purpose of CPE is to help ensure that licensees participate in
learning activities that maintain and improve their professional competence to
serve in a competent manner. Courses the board regards as improving the
licensee's professional competence include:
(1) "Technical Courses" are those courses
pertaining to the profession of accounting. These courses include but are not
limited to accounting, attest, tax, management advisory services, economics,
finance, information technology, regulatory ethics, and other technical areas
of benefit to a licensee and/or a licensee's employer; and
(2) "Non-Technical Courses" are those courses
not meeting the definition of "technical courses" that increase the licensee's
ability to serve in a competent manner, such as but not limited to
communications, computer software and applications, behavioral ethics,
behavioral science, business management and organization, and advanced courses
in foreign languages, all of which must relate and must benefit a licensee
and/or a licensee's employer. Refer to §
523.118 of
this chapter (relating to Limitations of Courses).
(c) Licensees may participate in a variety of
sponsored learning programs , such as live, self-study, nano learning, or
blended learning programs .
(1) "Live
programs" are those educational processes that are designed to permit a
participant to learn a given subject through interaction with an
instructor/facilitator and other participants either in a classroom or
conference setting or by using the internet, which includes the following:
(A) Workshops, seminars, and conferences with
substantial interaction by a qualified instructor/facilitator.
(B) "Group self-study" programs that are
based on self-study materials presented in a group format with substantial
interaction from a qualified instructor/facilitator who is responsible for
answering participants' questions or who leads the discussion of individual
topics presented in the materials.
(C) "Webinars" are live online educational
presentations during which participating viewers can submit questions and
comments.
(2)
"Self-study programs" are those educational processes that are designed to
permit a participant to learn a given subject by oneself using books and/or
electronic media (internet and DVDs/CDs, for example) without interaction with
an instructor/facilitator. This type of program clearly defines learning
objectives and manages the participant through the learning processes by
requiring frequent response to questions that test for understanding of the
material presented, providing evaluative feedback to incorrectly answered
questions and correctly answered questions, and requiring the participant to
pass a final exam that tests the participant's comprehension of the course
materials. Refer to §
523.140(e)
of this chapter (relating to Program Standards).
(3) "Nano learning programs" are tutorial
programs designed to permit a participant to learn a given subject in a
10-minute time frame through the use of electronic media (including technology
applications and processes and computer-based or web-based technology) and
without interaction with a real-time instructor. A nano learning program
differs from a self-study program in that it is typically focused on a single
learning objective and is not paper-based.
(4) "Blended programs" are programs
incorporating multiple learning formats.
(d) "CPE credit" is 50 minutes of
participation in a program of learning.
(e) Courses completed at an institution of
higher education using semester credit hours shall earn 15 CPE credits for each
passing semester credit hour and those institutions using quarter credit hours
shall earn 10 CPE credits for each passing quarter credit hour, toward the
requirement.
(f) "Sponsor" means an
individual or organization offering programs to participants. The sponsor may
or may not have developed the program materials. However, the sponsor is
responsible for insuring the presentation of the learning objectives, through
the program materials and maintaining the documentation required by these
program standards.
(g) Staff
meetings and other settings cannot be claimed for CPE credit if the programs do
not meet program standards.
