CPE

Navigate CPE busy season with ease

VSCPA learning: Attendees listen to a presenter at the VSCPA Business & Industry Conference in May.

Children are back in school, the leaves are starting to turn and there’s just a hint of chill in the evening. It’s fall in Virginia, but just as importantly for your career development, it’s CPE season at the VSCPA.

The vast majority of the VSCPA’s CPE opportunities come in our own “busy season” from September through December. That’s mostly to best align with you and your fellow members’ busy professional schedules, but it’s also because you’ve got until the end of the year to fulfill your CPE requirements for 2016, and we’re here to serve all of you — even the procrastinators.

As a reminder, here are the requirements every CPA with an active Virginia license must fulfill, with the exception of those CPAs who have requested and obtained Active — CPE Exempt status from the Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA).

>> All CPAs: 120 hours in the past three years, with at least 20 hours per year, including the 2-hour Virginia-specific Ethics course

>> CPAs in public practice who release or authorize the release of reports on attest & compilation services: 8 hours annually related to attest services or compilation services >> Yellow Book: 80 hours every two years (24 hours in government subjects), with at least 20 hours per year

That’s what you need to take. But in which state do you need to take it? The VSCPA and the VBOA sent a joint letter last year to all state boards of accountancy and state CPA societies explaining the issue of CPE reciprocity among substantially equivalent jurisdictions. The letter reads, in part:

“Virginia has a longstanding practice of CPE reciprocity for dual and multi-state licensees. The VBOA applies the following practices related to CPE reciprocity:

>> If the licensee’s principal place of business is Virginia, then the licensee must comply with Virginia’s CPE requirements.

>> If the licensee’s principal place of business is in a substantially equivalent jurisdiction and the licensee holds a license of such substantially equivalent jurisdiction, then the licensee may claim a ‘Home State Exemption’ through the CPE Tracking

System for Virginia CPE compliance. The licensee must have an

‘active’ CPA license in good standing in their principal place of business to qualify for the Home State Exemption.”

The Virginia-specific Ethics requirement follows similar guidelines, as detailed in VBOA regulation 18VAC5-22-90: “If the person holds the license of another state and Virginia is not the principal place of business in which he provides services to the public using the CPA title, the ethics course taken to comply with this subsection either shall conform with the requirements prescribed by the board or shall be an ethics course acceptable to the board of accountancy of another state in which the person holds a license.”

There’s an easy place to find all the CPE you need — the VSCPA. Visit vscpa.com/CPE to search our online course catalog. n

Ever wonder how the VSCPA’s conferences go from idea to event? We spoke with the chairs of the planning committees for the VSCPA’s five major conferences to talk about their work. Read more at vscpa.com/ConferenceCommitteeChairs.