61H1-33.003. Continuing Professional Education

(1)(a) Each Florida certified public accountant’s reestablishment period shall commence on the date indicated on the licensee’s Florida certificate. The initial designated reestablishment period for each Florida certified public accountant shall end on the third June 30th following the date indicated on the licensee’s Florida certificate. Each succeeding reestablishment period shall begin on July 1, and end on June 30, two years thereafter and ending in the year the license expires.

(b) In any given reestablishment period, except as stated below in paragraph (1)(c) of this rule, each current/active Florida certified public accountant must have completed at any time or times during the two-year period, at least 80 hours of educational instruction or training in public accounting subjects or courses of study, as defined hereinafter, of which at least 8 hours must have been in accounting-related and/or auditing-related subjects and of which no more than 20 hours may be in behavioral subjects and at least four hours shall be in Florida Board-approved ethics. All CPE proof of completion must be reported in the DBPR On-Line Services portal on or before July 31 prior to their biennial license renewal.

(c) Effective with the reestablishment period ending June 30, 2024, the licensee must report courses completed and provide proof of CPE completion in the DBPR On-Line Services portal on or before July 31 immediately following the reestablishment period and prior to their biennial license renewal.

(d) A nonresident Florida licensed certified public accountant seeking renewal of a Florida license may provide proof of CPE completion in the State where the licensee’s office is located by submission of the Out of State Licensee CPE Acknowledgement Form (DBPR CPA 14, effective April 2023), which is incorporated by reference in Rule 61-35.003, F.A.C., and proof of completion of a Florida Board-approved ethics course in the DBPR On-Line Services portal prior to renewal.

(e) Florida certified public accountants who do not meet the requirements by June 30th will be granted an automatic extension until September 15th provided the licensee submits proof of CPE completion in the DBPR On-Line Services portal for an additional eight hours in Accounting and Auditing subjects, totaling 88 hours of completed CPE on or before the extension date. An automatic extension will be granted until December 31st provided the licensee submits proof of CPE completion in the DBPR On-Line Services portal for an additional 16 hours in Accounting and Auditing subjects, totaling 96 hours of completed CPE on or before the extension date.

(2) Educational instruction or training in public accounting subjects or courses of study is hereby defined as formal programs of learning as defined below, which contribute directly to professional competency following licensure to practice public accountancy. Subjects or courses of study qualifying an individual for the purposes of this shall be limited to:

(a) Accounting and auditing subjects to consist of: Accounting and financial reporting subjects, the body of knowledge dealing with recent pronouncements of authoritative accounting principles issued by the standard-setting bodies, and any other related subject generally classified within the accounting discipline. Subjects include auditing subjects related to the examination of financial statements, operations systems, and programs; the review of internal and management controls; and the reporting on the results of audit findings, compilation and review. It also includes assurance services that relate to Standards for Attest Engagements.

(b) Technical business subjects to consist of:

1. Taxation including tax compliance and tax planning.

2. Consulting services including management advisory services; personal financial planning services; planning and control systems dealing with planning, organizing and controlling any phase of individual financial activity or business activity; designing, implementing, and evaluating operating systems as well as business advisory services and personal financial planning.

3. Management including practice management for the public practitioner; financial management of an organization including information systems, budgeting and asset management, planning, buying and selling businesses, contracting for goods and services and foreign operation; budgeting; cost analysis; human resource management; and financial management.

4. Specialized knowledge and applications including subjects related to specialized industries such as not for profit organizations, health care, oil and gas.

(c) The ethics courses shall be obtained from a provider approved pursuant to Rule 61H1-33.0032, F.A.C., and consist of:

1. A review of Chapters 455 and 473, F.S., and the related administrative rules.

2. The ethics course may include other subjects including but not limited to: ethical conduct, core values and competencies, professional responsibility, responsibility to clients and the public, case studies that require the application of ethics principles, national professional standards and interpretations, and appropriate national issues related to the practice of accounting.

(d) Behavioral subjects including oral and written communications and the social environment of business. All courses not covered above are considered behavior except for business meetings, social functions, committee service and courses in elementary accounting or basic mathematics which do not qualify for credit.

(3) Credit may be prorated by the sponsor for courses that cover more than one area of study by (1) prorating the amount of time spent in each area or (2) awarding credit based on the lowest topic covered with accounting and auditing being the highest and behavioral the lowest. Therefore an eight-hour course that was 75% accounting and auditing and 25% management would receive six (6) hours of accounting and auditing credit and two (2) hours of technical business or eight (8) hours of all technical business. Hours cannot be prorated in less than half-hour increments.

(4) In order for a Florida certified public accountant to receive credit for programs of learning, as defined above, the following formalities and further requirements must be met:

(a) Courses taken at institutions of higher education:

1. Higher education credit courses taken from an accredited institution as defined in subsection 61H1-27.001(1), F.A.C., shall be credited for continuing professional education purposes at the rate of 15 hours for each semester hour of higher education credit and 10 hours for each quarter hour of higher education credit, provided the number of contact hours (hours in the classroom) totals at least 90% of the continuing professional education credit so determined. Otherwise, continuing professional education credit shall be limited to the actual number of contact hours.

2. Higher education non-credit courses shall be credited for continuing professional education purposes equivalent to the actual number of contact hours.

3. Continuing professional education credit for instructing a higher education course shall be twice the credit which would have been granted participants for the first presentation of a specific course of program, the same as the credit granted a participant for the second presentation and none thereafter, except as permitted by subparagraph 61H1-33.003(4)(b)4., F.A.C.

4. No continuing professional education credit shall be permitted for attending or instructing accounting courses considered to be elementary.

5. To receive instructor credit for courses taught, licensees must submit a completed DBPR CPA 13, Instructor CPE Credit Reporting Form, effective April 2023, which is incorporated by reference in Rule 61-35.003, F.A.C.

(b) Other professional education or training:

1. Professional development courses shall be credited for continuing professional education purposes in increments of not less than one half hour, equivalent to the actual number of contact hours (hours in the classroom which must include at least fifty minutes of continuous participation per contact hour or twenty-five minutes per contact half hour) provided an outline (defined as a schedule of activity listing major topics of discussion) is prepared in advance and retained; a course is at least one contact hour or half hour in length; the course conducted by a qualified instructor, lecturer or discussion leader; and a record of registration and attendance is maintained. For this purpose, a one-day program will be granted eight hours credit if the total lapsed time is at least eight hours and the contact time is approximately 400 minutes. An instructor, lecturer or discussion leader will be considered qualified if, through formal training or experience, he has obtained sufficient knowledge of the subject matter to competently instruct the course. A course participant will be granted credit for only that portion of a course actually attended. If a record of registration and attendance is not maintained by the sponsoring organization, the course participant must be able to prove registration and attendance.

2. Formal organization in-firm educational programs shall be credited for continuing professional education purposes to the same extent and by the same requirements as other professional development courses.

3. Instructors, lecturers, panelists and discussion leaders for professional development courses and formal organized in-firm educational programs shall be credited for continuing professional education purposes at twice the credit granted participants for the first presentation of a specific course or program, the same as the credit granted a participant for the second presentation and none thereafter, except as permitted in subparagraph 61H1-33.003(4)(b)4., F.A.C. Co-panelists and co-discussion leaders shall be credited for the portion of specific course or program they must prepare to discuss and lead as a co-panelist or co-discussion leader.

4. To the extent course content has been substantially revised, the revised portion shall be considered a first presentation for the purposes of subparagraph 61H1-33.003(4)(b)3., F.A.C.

5. Credit may be granted to an author for published materials related to an Accounting, Assurance, Tax or Technical Business topic in a journal listed in or published by the (1) Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List, (2) Cabells, (3) American Accounting Association, (4) any state or national society of CPAs and (5) any textbook addressing accounting, assurance, tax or technical business topic that would otherwise qualify as continuing professional education. No authorship hours may apply to fulfill the ethics requirement. Credit will not be granted for repeated publishing of the same material. The maximum number of continuing professional education hours in any re-establishment period for authorship is 20 hours. The Continuing Professional Education Advisory Committee of the Board shall determine the hours granted for each publication submitted and the day of their approval shall serve as the date of awarded credit for reporting purposes.

(5) As a part of each licensee’s biennial license renewal, each Florida certified public accountant shall comply with the continuing professional education requirements during the applicable reestablishment period, and upload proof of CPE completion to the DBPR On-Line Services Portal. Each Florida certified public accountant’s proof of CPE completion shall be retained for at least two years following a two-year reestablishment period and be made available if requested for a random audit by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to determine compliance with the requirements. Proof of CPE completion for each course shall be in a format as prescribed by the Board in subsection 61H1-20.001(9), F.A.C.

(6) If staff review or review by the Committee on Continuing Professional Education determines that courses are either improperly classified by the provider or do not otherwise meet the requirements of the chapter, then the Florida certified public accountant shall be notified and given 60 days from the date of notification to comply with the continuing professional education requirements. Failure to timely correct the error consititutes grounds for disciplinary action pursuant to Section 455.227 or 473.323, F.S.

(7) Sponsors of formal correspondence or other individual study technical business and accounting and auditing programs must be approved by the National Association of State Board of Accountancy Quality Assurance Service.

Rulemaking Authority 455.213(7), 455.2179, 473.304, 473.312 FS. Law Implemented 455.213(7), 455.2179, 473.312(1)(a), (b), (c) FS. History–New 12-4-79, Amended 2-3-81, 4-5-83, 10-19-83, 8-20-85, Formerly 21A-33.03, Amended 9-18-88, 7-7-92, 12-2-92, Formerly 21A-33.003, Amended 12-14-93, 1-26-98, 12-17-00, 8-21-01, 3-21-05, 5-18-05, 7-10-05, 7-23-06, 12-10-09, 7-7-10, 11-7-12, 8-7-13, 4-21-16, 11-3-19, 10-20-20, 12-23-21, 8-6-23, 10-26-23.