Chapter 20-11 CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
| (1) |
CPAs by virtue
of their training have been certificated or licensed by the Board and,
therefore, are eligible to provide the public with needed professional services
not otherwise available. In furnishing these services, the CPA occupies a
unique position of public trust. It is essential in maintaining this trust that
each accountant continuously strive to increase his or her technical skills and
his or her understanding of the whole accounting body of knowledge. |
| (2) |
Pursuant to the provision of Section
43-3-19 of this Act, the Board
prescribes the following regulations establishing requirements of continuing
professional education to be met from time to time by CPAs and registered
foreign accountants in order to demonstrate that they are continuing their
professional education as a condition to continuing to practice as public
accountants. |
| (1) |
An applicant for renewal of his or her
individual license to practice as a CPA must have completed 80 hours of
acceptable continuing professional education, of which 16 hours shall be in
accounting and auditing subjects, during the two-year period immediately
preceding each biennial renewal date as a condition for renewal, except as
provided under paragraphs (2) and (4) below. A minimum of 20 of the 80 hours
will be earned in each year. |
| (2) |
An
applicant for renewal of his or her individual license to practice as a CPA who
has been initially certified by this state for one year, but less than two,
will have completed 40 hours of acceptable continuing professional education
after the date of licensure but prior to the expiration date of his or her
first license, of which at least 8 hours of continuing professional education
reported shall be in accounting and auditing subjects, as a condition for
renewal. An applicant who has been initially licensed as a CPA by this state
for less than one year at the date of expiration of his or her first license
shall not be required to have completed any hours of continuing professional
education prior to that first expiration date as a condition for
renewal. |
| (3) |
"Accounting and
auditing courses" for purposes of this section shall be defined as follows:
| (a) |
Accounting-related courses shall include,
but not be limited to courses which enhance or develop understanding of
generally accepted accounting principles, particularly as they relate to
presentation of financial statements, as promulgated by authoritative
literature in the United States and pronouncements of the Financial Accounting
Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. |
| (b) |
Auditing-related courses shall include,
but not be limited to, courses which enhance or develop understanding of
generally accepted auditing standards, particularly as they relate to reporting
on financial statements (including related standards for compilation and review
services) as promulgated by authoritative literature in the United States,
including the Statement on Auditing Standards and the Statement on Standards
for Accounting and Review Services issued by the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants and standards issued by the Public Company
Accounting Oversight Board as well as courses related to auditing in
specialized industries (e.g., governmental auditing requirements) and
environments (e.g., computer systems). |
|
| (4) |
Up to fifteen hours of acceptable
education completed during the period immediately preceding the renewal date of
a license in excess of the requirements for such preceding period may be
applied to satisfy the continuing professional education requirements of the
following period. No carryover hours can be used to satisfy the accounting and
auditing hours requirement provided for in this section. |
| (5) |
Any licensee who has attained 70 years of
age is exempt from the continuing professional education requirement for
renewal of his or her individual license to practice public
accountancy. |
| (6) |
The Board may
relax or suspend the requirements of continuing professional education for
reasons of individual hardship or health of the applicant. |
| (1) |
The overriding
consideration in determining whether a specific program qualifies as acceptable
continuing education is that it be a formal program of learning which
contributes directly to the professional competence of an individual licensed
to practice as a CPA or a foreign accountant by this state, and which meets the
minimum standards of quality of development and presentation and of measurement
and reporting of credits set forth in the Statement on Standards for Continuing
Professional Education Programs published by the National Association of State
Boards of Accountancy, or such other educational standards as may be
established from time to time by the Board. |
| (2) |
Subject Matter: The following general
subject matters are acceptable so long as they meet the standards specified in
subsection (1):
| (a) |
Accounting and
auditing; |
| (e) |
Oral and written
communications; |
| (f) |
Mathematics and
statistics; |
| (i) |
Functional fields of
business (e.g., finance, production, marketing, personnel relations, business
management, and organization); |
| (j) |
Specialized industries (e.g., real estate, agriculture, construction and
financial institutions); and |
| (k) |
Administration of an accounting practice. |
|
| (3) |
Subjects of study other than those listed
above will be acceptable if the applicant can demonstrate to the Board that
they contribute directly to his or her professional competence. The
responsibility for substantiating that a particular program is acceptable and
meets the requirements rests solely upon the applicant. |
| (4) |
Continuing education programs requiring
class or meeting attendance;
| (a) |
General
requirements:
| 1. |
An outline of the program is
prepared in advance by the program director and retained by the
student; |
| 2. |
The program is
conducted by an individual whose formal training and experience qualify him or
her as a competent instructor; |
| 3. |
Hours of continuing professional education shall be calculated in one-half
continuing professional education credit hour increments after the first credit
hour has been earned in a given learning activity; |
| 4. |
A record of registration and attendance
through substantially the entire program is maintained, a copy of which is
retained by the student. |
|
| (b) |
The following programs will qualify
provided the above are met:
| 1. |
Professional
development programs of recognized national and state accounting
organizations; |
| 2. |
Technical
sessions at meetings of recognized national and state accounting organizations
and their chapters; |
| 3. |
University
or college courses, credit courses, each semester hour credit shall equal 15
hours toward the requirement. A quarter hour credit shall equal 10
hours; |
| 4. |
Noncredit courses from a
college or university. Each classroom hour shall be deemed to be one hour of
continuing professional education; |
| 5. |
Formal organized in-firm or multi-firm
education programs. Portions of meetings devoted to administration and firm
matters cannot be included; |
| 6. |
Programs in other recognized organizations (accounting, industrial,
professional, etc.); |
| 7. |
Dinner,
luncheon and breakfast meetings of recognized accounting organizations may
qualify if they meet the requirements of subparagraphs 1. and 2. of this
Section. |
|
|
| (5) |
Formal correspondence or other individual study programs may qualify provided
that they are developed and conducted by qualified individuals, require
registration, and provide evidence of satisfactory completion. Programs should
be pre-tested to determine average completion time, and credit shall be
calculated on the basis of the average completion time. |
| (6) |
Credit may be awarded for published
articles and books provided they contribute to the professional competence of
the applicant. Credit for preparation of such publications may be given on a
self-declaration basis up to 25% of the total hours required. In exceptional
circumstances, an applicant may request additional credit by submitting the
article(s) or book(s) to the Board with an explanation of the circumstances
which he or she feels justify a greater credit. |
| (1) |
An applicant
for renewal of a license to practice public accountancy must provide a signed
statement, under penalty of perjury, that all applicable continuing education
requirements have been met. |
| (2) |
All
licensees shall maintain their records confirming attendance at and completion
of continuing education, including the following information:
| (a) |
School, firm or organization conducting
the program; |
| (b) |
Location of the
program; |
| (c) |
Title of program or
description of content; |
| (g) |
Evidence of satisfactory
completion. |
|
| (3) |
If
credit for published articles and books is claimed, the following information
must be maintained:
| (b) |
Title of publication; |
| (c) |
Description of content; |
| (d) |
Dates of publication; and |
|
| (4) |
Records described in paragraph (2) and
(3) of this section must be maintained by each licensee for five years after
the completion of the program and must be submitted to the Board upon
request. |
| (5) |
Evidence of
satisfactory completion shall take the form of certificates of completion,
attendance records, examination, transcripts, or other such independently
verifiable evidence acceptable to the Board. |
| (6) |
The Board will verify on a test basis
information submitted by applicants for licenses. In cases where the Board
determines that the requirement is not met, the Board may grant an additional
period of time in which the deficiencies may be cured. |
The following standards will be used to measure the hours of
credit to be given for acceptable continuing education programs completed by
individual applicants:
| (a) |
Programs
requiring class or meeting attendance:
| 1. |
All
programs will be measured in terms of twenty-five minute segments or one-half,
contact hours. The shortest recognized program will consist of one contact
hour. A contact hour is 50 minutes of continuous participation in a group
program. For example, a group program lasting 75 minutes would count for one
and one-half hours; however, one lasting between 50 and 75 minutes would count
for only 1 hour. For continuous conferences and conventions, when individual
segments are less than 50 minutes, the sum of the segments should be considered
one total program. For example, five 30 minute presentations would equal 150
minutes and should be counted as 3 contact hours. Sponsors will be required to
monitor group programs in order to accurately assign the appropriate number of
credit hours for participants who arrive late or leave before a program is
completed. Credit will be allowed for a question-and-answer period, but will
not be allowed for introductions, announcements or other activity which may be
a part of the program; |
| 2. |
Only
hours in class, or the equivalent, will be counted. No credit will be allowed
for time devoted to preparation; |
| 3. |
Each hour of service as a lecturer or discussion leader of an acceptable formal
program allows additional credit based on actual preparation time of up to two
hours of continuing professional education. However, no additional credit will
be allowed for repetition of the same program; |
| 4. |
Each semester hour of credit from a
college or university shall be deemed to be fifteen hours, and each quarter
hour of credit shall be deemed to be ten hours; |
| 5. |
Each classroom hour of noncredit courses
from a college or university shall be counted as one hour of continuing
professional education; |
| 6. |
Credit
as an instructor, discussion leader or speaker will be allowed for any meeting
or engagement provided that the session is one which would meet the continuing
education requirements of those attending. The credit allowed for presentation
by an instructor, discussion leader or a speaker will be on the basis of one
hour of continuing education credit for each hour of teaching. No additional
credit will be allowed for repetition of the same program. |
|
| (b) |
Correspondence and other individual study
programs:
| 1. |
In determining the amount of
credit to be allowed for specific correspondence and individual study programs,
the Board will determine the equivalency of the program to a comparable seminar
or comparable course for credit in an accredited educational
institution; |
| 2. |
Individuals
claiming credit for such courses will be required to obtain evidence of
satisfactory completion of the course from the program sponsor; |
| 3. |
Credit will be allowed in the renewal
period in which the course is completed. |
|
| (c) |
Preparation of articles and books:
| 1. |
Each hour devoted to preparation of
articles and books shall be deemed to be one hour of continuing professional
education, but limited to twenty-five percent of total hours required in any
two year period unless additional credit is specifically approved by the
Board. |
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