California CPA CPE requirements
After earning your CPA license, you need to renew it periodically with the state board of accountancy. Part of this renewal process includes proof of earning continuing professional education (CPE). To help you meet the California CPA CPE requirements, we're walking you through what you need to know.
California CPE requirements
In California, all CPAs must complete 80 hours of CPE each two-year renewal cycle; within that cycle, you must complete at least 20 hours each year. This prevents you from getting it out of the way at the beginning of the cycle or waiting until the last minute. In addition to the basic CPE requirements, California does have more specific guidelines:
- Technical CPE: You need at least 12 hours of technical CPE each year, with a minimum of 40 hours during your two-year renewal cycle. “Technical” refers to courses in accounting, audit, tax, ethics, fraud, consulting, financial planning, and information technology.
- Non-technical CPE: No more than 50% of your 80-hour minimum can come from non-technical subjects, such as personnel, management, or communications.
- Ethics: You must complete four hours of ethics CPE during your two-year cycle. Courses covering sexual harassment, workplace harassment, or workplace violence do not count toward your ethics requirement but may count toward your total CPE hours.
- Lecturing: No more than 50% of your CPE hours can come from lecturing.
- Publishing: No more than 25% of your CPE can come from writing or reviewing published articles or books.
There are also California CPA CPE requirements for those working in specific areas of government, accounting, auditing, regulatory review, and fraud.
- Government: If you plan, direct, or conduct fieldwork, or you report on financial or compliance audits of a government agency, you must complete 24 hours of CPE in government accounting or government auditing-related subjects as part of the 80-hour requirement.
- Accounting and Audit: If you work in audit, review, or other attestation services or issue compiled financial reports, you must complete at least 24 hours of CPE in accounting and auditing related to financial statement reporting. These hours do count toward the 80-hour requirement.
- Fraud: If you need to meet the 24-hour accounting and auditing or government CPE requirement, you must also complete an added four hours of CPE related to preventing, detecting, and/or reporting on fraud affecting financial statement. This is in addition to the 24 hours of government or accounting and auditing CPE but does count toward the 80 hours.
Renewing your California CPA license
All CPEs must meet their California CPA CPE requirements and renew their license by the last day of your birth month, every two years.
Meeting your California CPA CPE requirements with Becker
With over 700 on-demand courses and an annual calendar of over 1,000 live webcasts, plus weekly podcasts, Becker has the courses you need to meet your CPE requirements and learn new skills or build on existing knowledge.
Tips to meet your California CPE requirements
While meeting your CPE requirements may feel like a hassle, these tips can help take the stress out of it.
Find CPE that suits your schedule
If finding time to take CPE while juggling everything else in your life is your biggest challenge, consider a more flexible format. On-demand CPE courses allow you to watch and learn any time, whether it’s your lunch break or sitting in the waiting room for your child’s dental appointment.
If you prefer to learn on the go, CPE podcasts let you listen to the material whenever and wherever you are, and then take a short quiz to earn credit. Simply turn on a podcast during your commute or while you’re doing household chores, and you’ll meet your requirements in no time!
Keep up with your progress
California CPA CPE requirements can be complicated, and it’s difficult to keep up with how many hours you’ve completed, when your hours are due, and if you’ve met the more specific subject requirements. Using Becker’s CPE Compliance Tracker makes it easy to see what you’ve earned, even from other platforms, and what you have left to complete. You’ll even get recommendations for courses to meet your requirements.
Block out time each month
Instead of only earning the minimum 20 hours in one year and 60 hours the next, we recommend keeping it even so you’re not scrambling to meet your requirements before deadline. Block out four to six hours each month for CPE—this will give you a cushion in case you get behind during busy season—and you won’t get overwhelmed.
Consider what you want to learn
Meeting your CPA CPE requirements isn’t just something you have to do—it’s something you get to do! CPE helps you learn new skills so you can excel in your career. Maybe you want to transition from tax to audit, or specialize in a more niche area, like real estate accounting or international tax? Take CPE courses that help you learn more about these areas so you can meet your career goals.
Consider what you want your career to look like and take courses to support it!