Division of Certified Public Accounting

Continuing Professional Education (Continuing Professional Education CPE Guidelines)
Florida requires completion of 80 hours of CPE for each re-establishment period.  The 80 hours must include 20 hours of accounting and auditing, 4 hours of a Board approved ethics course, and no more than 20 hours in behavioral subjects.  Florida statues do not allow a CPA to obtain ethics credit for ethic courses not approved by the Florida Board of Accountancy even if courses are accepted by other jurisdictions.  Here is a list of Board Approved Ethics Providers Approved Ethics Providers Approved Ethics Providers. Kindly use the CPE reporting Form for Renewal, available through this link or the Form Center to document the completed courses.

All self-study continuing education courses qualifying for accounting, auditing or technical business credit must be taken from sponsors approved by NASBA's Quality Assurance Service (QAS) program. Self-study providers offering behavioral credit only will not be required to register with the QAS program.  Sponsors that are approved QAS providers can be found on NASBA's web site at www.nasba.org or by contacting NASBA at 615.880.4200.

Becoming An Approved CPE Sponsor

To obtain an application you may download the information from Forms Center.

Group Study Provider

Continuing Professional Education can be obtained through either group study or self-study. Group study does not have to be taken through an approved sponsor, provided the content of the course qualifies based on the Board’s CPE Guidelines.

Below is a list of approved group study providers and their sponsor identification numbers. The letter "P" in parenthesis after the sponsor identification number designates a probationary sponsor. This simply means that the sponsor is currently in their initial two year probationary period.

This list will be updated periodically, as new sponsors are approved for sponsorship, or sponsorships are revoked.

Group Study Provider List

Self Study Course Approval

Effective July 1, 1999 all self-study continuing education courses qualifying for accounting and auditing and technical business credit must be taken from sponsors approved by NASBA's Quality Assurance Service (QAS) program. Self-study providers offering behavioral credit only will not be required to register with the QAS program. Sponsors that are approved QAS providers can be found at http://www.nasba.org or by contacting NASBA at (615) 880-4200.

Individual Course Approval

If a licensee is unsure whether a course they have attended from a non-approved sponsor will qualify for continuing professional education credit they can request a determination of the course from the Committee on Continuing Professional Education (CPE Committee). In order for the Committee to review a course, a detailed course outline including the time spent on each topic along with a letter indicating the number of hours being requested and the classification of the hours must be submitted to the Division of Certified Public Accounting.

The CPE Committee is appointed by members of the Board of Accountancy and consists of CPA professionals who review questionable courses and make recommendations to the Board of Accountancy for rules and guidelines regarding other Continuing Education topics and issues. The CPE Committee meets at least four times a year. If you have questions regarding CPE Continuing Education, you may contact the Customer Contact Center at (850) 487-1395.