License Renewal Date
Triennial based on date of issuance (current) and birth month (prior to 1/1/1993)
CPE Reporting Period
1/1 to 12/31 annually
General Requirement
CPAs have the following options:
- Complete a minimum of 40 contact hours of acceptable formal continuing education in any of the recognized subject areas, or
- Complete a minimum of 24 contact hours of acceptable formal continuing education concentrated in one subject area.
- Approved subject areas are: accounting, attest, auditing, taxation, advisory services, specialized knowledge and applications related to specialized industries, and such other areas appropriately related to the practice of accounting as may be acceptable to the Department.
Ethics Requirement
- Four (4) hours of professional ethics during the three calendar years preceding the license expiration date. Providers offering ethics courses must register with the Board and/or have their content approved by the Board.
- For registered licensees who choose the 40 hour per calendar year option – the 4 hours of professional ethics may be counted toward the annual contact hour requirement in the calendar year that they are taken.
- For registered licensees who choose the 24 hour calendar year requirement – the 4 hours of professional ethics may be counted toward the annual contact hour requirement in the year that they were completed if the hours in professional ethics were taken in the recognized subject area of the concentration.
- Regulatory ethics taken in a licensee’s principal jurisdiction to maintain an active license and accepted by the Board to meet the ethics requirements of that state, may also be used toward the New York ethics requirement.
Other Subject Area Requirements
Any licensee who supervises attest or compilation services or signs or authorizes someone to sign the accountant’s report on financial statements on behalf of a firm shall be required to complete at least 40 contact hours of continuing education in audit, accounting, and/or attest during the three years immediately prior to the performance of such services. These contact hours may be counted toward the annual contact hour requirement in the calendar year that they are completed.
Credit Limitations
- Instruction: The maximum credit for instructors and articles/books is 50% of total hours. No repetition of courses without significant revisions or new materials for instructor credits.
- Instructed University/College Credit: The course must be delivered for academic credit at a regionally accredited college or university. The content area of the course must fall within the approved subject areas. However you may not claim CPE credit for teaching any one of the accounting courses that is required for licensure as a CPA.
- Published Materials: The maximum credit for instructors & articles/books is 50% of total hours. An author’s work must be published in a peer-referenced journal or book dealing with relative topics approved by the department.
Credit Calculation
- Instruction: Instructors of formal CPE course offered by a NYS approved CPE provider can claim 1 hour of CPE credit for each hour of the actual presentation plus actual preparation time of up to 2 hours of preparation time for each one hour taught.
- Instructed University/college credit: CPE credit for teaching a college course is recognized based on 15 CPE credits per credit hour of course delivery. Thus teaching a 3 credit college course would be worth 45 CPE credits.
- Partial credit: Contact hours in one-half hour increments, equal to 25 minutes, shall be permitted after the first continuing education credit has been earned in a given program.
- University/college credit: University or college courses. Credit courses: Each semester hour equals 15 hours CE; each quarter hour equals 10 hours CE.
Other State Policies
- Provider Approval:
- Courses taken inside the state of New York must be sponsored by entities registered with the NY State Board or with NASBA.
- Courses taken outside the State of New York must be sponsored by entities registered with the NY State Board, the Board of the state in which the course was taken, or with NASBA.
- Self Study courses, regardless of physical location, must be sponsored by entities registered with the NY State Board or with NASBA.
- Professional development programs and technical sessions of national, state and local organizations and firms in the practice of public accounting approved by the board are acceptable. Other organized education and technical programs relevant to the practice of public accountancy that are approved by the board.
Contact Info
State Education Department Division of Professional Licensing Services
89 Washington Avenue, 2nd Floor, East Mezzanine
Albany, NY 12234-1000
Phone: 518-474-3817 ext. 160
Fax: 518-474-6375
Email: cpabd@nysed.gov
Website: http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/cpa/