Renewal Date: Last day of birth month in odd or even year corresponding to the odd or even year of birth
Reporting Period: Biennial
Required Hours: 80 hours, 20 hours yearly minimum, 40 hours in technical subjects, 12 hours yearly minimum in technical subjects
Ethics Required: Four (4) hours of ethics are due every reporting period. A two (2) hour, board approved, Regulatory Review course is due every 6 years.
Subject Breakdown:
– If the individual engages in planning, directing, conducting substantial portions of field work, or reporting on financial or compliance audits of a government agency, 24 hours of government CPE are required.
– If the individual engages in planning, directing, approving, performing substantial portions of the work, or reporting on an audit, review, compilation or attestation services on a non-governmental entity, 24 hours of A & A are required.
– For licensees who are subject to the A&A or Government CE requirement, an additional 4 hours of fraud CE, related to the detection and/or reporting of fraud in financial statements, is required. The fraud CE is part of the 80 hours of CE required for license renewal, but not part of the 24-hour A&A or government CE requirement. .
– A minimum of 50% (at least 40 hours) must be in technical subject areas such as accounting, auditing, taxation, consulting, financial planning, Board-approved professional conduct and ethics course, computer and information technology (except for word processing) and specialized industry or government practices related to public accounting skills.
Credit Limits:
A 50% cap (at most 40 hours) in the non-technical subject areas such as communication skills, word processing, sales, marketing, motivational techniques, negotiation skills, office management, practice management, and personnel management. The maximum credit for instructors is 50%; for writing articles/books/instructional materials/Uniform CPA exam questions is 25%. Half credits are accepted after the first hour.
State Policies:
Learning or teaching the use of accounting software qualifies as general CE in the technical subject area but not as A&A credit. California does not accept CE in the following subject areas: personal growth, self-realization, spirituality, personal health and/or fitness, sports and recreation, foreign languages and cultures, etc. California accepts courses from providers that are members of NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors. Only interactive self-study continuing education courses will be accepted by the Board for CPA/PA license renewal. For additional information concerning these requirements, you may contact the Board’s Renewal staff by e-mail at renewalinfo@cba.ca.gov.
Contact Info:
California Board of Accountancy
2000 Evergreen Street, Suite 250
Sacramento, California 95815-3832
Phone: 916-263-3680
Fax: 916-263-3675
Web address: http://www.dca.ca.gov/cba