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Don't Let This Happen To You

You started your professional life in public accounting and accumulated 40 hours of CPE every year in order to qualify for your permit to practice.  Then you moved on to a job in industry. Limited budgets, limited time, and the knowledge that you had no CPE requirement caused you to skip CPE classes. The next thing you know, your permit to practice has expired You think that it’s no big deal. You will catch it up next year, but you don’t for the same reasons that you skipped the CPE in the first place. This scenario plays itself out with many of us who are no longer in public accounting. 

So what is the problem? Primarily, you are not up-to-date on many current accounting issues (and there are a lot of them). Consider IFRS, XBRL, GAAP codification, and the stimulus package just to name a few. This can be a real professional limitation. Also, you are required to note that your CPA certificate is “inactive” on letterhead, business cards, etc. A big problem arises when you want to return to active status and receive a permit to practice. Section 30-X-5.01(2)(c) of the Alabama State Board of Public Accountancy Administrative Code requires that you obtain forty hours of CPE for each year that you were on inactive status, not to exceed 120 hours. This is not an easy thing to do, especially when limited budgets and time were at the root of the problem in the first place. There are also greater restrictions on how the CPE topics are split. Fifty percent of catch-up hours must be in the field of accounting and auditing, 25% must be in the field of taxation, and all of the hours must be obtained during the three-year period preceding the date of request for an annual permit to practice. This compares to only eight out of forty hours required for A&A topics for annual registration.  See www.asbpa.alabama.gov under the “Forms” tab for the CPE Catch-Up Form.

The good news is that CPE can be inexpensive and can fit into your schedule.  Half of our CPE hours can be self-study. For “live” CPE, consider the updates presented each year by the state society and the local chapters. After the eight hours of A&A required annually, the remainder can be based on topics of professional interest to the CPA.  See www.ascpa.org under the “CPE” tab for a great selection of courses.  Another form of “live” CPE can be earned from participating in certain web seminars.  You have to be careful in choosing web based CPE, because they don’t all qualify.  Look for a specific statement that the seminar qualifies for CPE, and, as with all CPE,  make sure that you receive a certificate of completion for your records. If in doubt, call the Alabama State Board of Public Accountancy at 334-242-5700. Remember that only web seminars viewed “live” will qualify.  Archived web based seminars are never acceptable for CPE credit.

A word to the wise, don’t let this happen to you. Catch-up CPE is very hard to make up at one time (and expensive). Find a mix of live, web based,
and self-study CPE that works for you and keep your permit to practice current. Especially in a volatile economic climate, keeping your license current will give you the flexibility to practice accounting in any environment.

Ron Box is Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer at Joe Money Machinery, a regional heavy construction equipment company based in Birmingham, AL. He has degrees in economics and accounting and holds credentials as a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Information Technology Professional, Certified in Fiancial Forensics, and Certified information Systems Security Professional.