North Carolina CPE Courses for CPAs

Your Ultimate Handbook for North Carolina CPE

Are you feeling tired of reading several articles and posts to gather detailed information about North Carolina CPE? If so, you’ve come to the right page. We’ve created this page to help you develop a clear comprehension of all the North Carolina CPA CPE requirements quickly and efficiently.

You already know that CPE requirements differ from one state to another and the requirements in the “Tar Heel State” are significantly different from many other states. Therefore, by developing a clear idea of North Carolina continuing education requirements, you’ll be able to make a perfect CPE plan to obtain all your required North Carolina CPE credits in a timely fashion.

Let’s get started!

North Carolina CPE: General Guidelines

Here’re the general requirements including North Carolina ethics CPE.

• All North Carolina CPAs need to renew their license annually, ending on June 30.
• North Carolina CPA CPE reporting period is also annual, from January 1 to December 31.
• To meet North Carolina CPE requirements, you must earn at least 50 CPE credits each year.
• Your total credits must include at least one North Carolina CPA ethics CPE credit.
• North Carolina State Board doesn’t have any subject area requirements. This means you’re free to choose fields of study when pursuing North Carolina CPE as per your preferences and professional requirements.
• You can obtain all your required CPE credits by taking self-study courses.

North Carolina CPA CPE Requirements: Ethics

Here’re three important ethics-related things to remember when fulfilling North Carolina CPE requirements.

• You can earn your North Carolina ethics CPE credits in behavioral or regulatory professional ethics and conduct.
• You don’t need to take a North Carolina-specific ethics course to meet your North Carolina CPA ethics CPE requirement.
• The course must be taken from a sponsor present on NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors.

North Carolina CPE Requirements: Other Important Guidelines

The North Carolina State Board has some requirements notably different from many other states. Let’s take a look.

• You can carry over a maximum of 20 CPE credits from one reporting period to the next one. However, you cannot use these credits to fulfill your annual ethics requirement. If you earn extra North Carolina ethics CPE credits, they’ll be treated as general CPE credits in the subsequent reporting period.
• The state board doesn’t approve specific CPE activities or register CPE providers. Therefore, you can choose from sponsors present in the National Registry to pursue North Carolina CPE.

North Carolina Ethics CPE: Policies for Non-Resident Licensees

If you’re a non-resident licensee in North Carolina, the following guidelines will be applicable to you.

• You may be able to fulfill your North Carolina CPA CPE requirements by meeting the CPE requirements in the state where you’re licensed and presently reside or work. If the state doesn’t have any annual CPE requirements, you must fulfill North Carolina CPE requirements to keep your license active here.
• If your primary place of business is in North Carolina, you’re required to meet North Carolina CPA ethics CPE requirements.
• If your primary place of business isn’t North Carolina, you may fulfill the North Carolina ethics CPE requirement by meeting the ethics requirements of the state where you’re licensed and presently reside or work. If the state doesn’t have any ethics requirements, it becomes mandatory for you to meet North Carolina ethics requirements.

North Carolina CPA CPE: Non-Compliance with the Requirements

We’ve already mentioned that you need to obtain a minimum of 40 CPE credits by December 31 of every year. Here’re the guidelines you need to remember if you fail to do that.

• If you cannot meet your North Carolina CPA CPE requirements by December 31 of the last calendar year but fulfill them by June 30 and this is your first such failure within a period of five calendar years, you may receive a Letter of Warning from the board.
• For your second such failure within a period of five calendar years, the renewal of your certificate may be denied by the board for a minimum of 30 days, and until you fulfill the reissuance requirements.

North Carolina CPE: Reissuance of a Forfeited Certificate

If you have a forfeited CPA certificate and you want to have it reissued, you need to comply with these guidelines.

• Writing an application to the board requesting the reissuance of your forfeited certificate.
• Providing the board with three certificates of moral character completed by CPAs.
• Paying the present certificate application fee.
• Submitting proof of completion of your North Carolina CPE requirements as defined by the board. These include:
  • Obtaining 40 CPE credits during the immediate one-year period before you apply for changing the status of your certificate.
  • You’re required to earn eight of these credits by clearing an examination or completing a course in North Carolina accountancy rules and statutes (needs to include the Code of Professional Ethics and Conduct).

If the board determines that you’ve met all these requirements, it may reissue your certificate.

Obtaining Credits When Pursuing North Carolina CPE

Here’re the things you need to remember when choosing learning activities to fulfill North Carolina CPA CPE requirements.

You’ll receive CPE credits for these.

• Technical sessions at meetings organized by state and national accounting organizations and their chapters.
• Professional development activities organized by state and national accounting organizations.
• Courses offered at regionally accredited universities and colleges.
• Educational activities that are developed and designed for CPE activities conducted within an accounting firm, business, or association of accounting firms.
• Correspondence activities that are developed and designed for CPE.
• Authoring or instructing a CPE activity if it relates to one of NASBA’s fields of study and helps to increase your professional competence.
• Group activities where credits are awarded based on contact minutes.
• Self-study activities where credits are awarded based on the total number of minutes required to finish the activities. The total number of minutes needs to be determined by the CPE sponsor.
• Nano learning activities where credits are awarded based on the total number of contact minutes.
• Blended learning activities that let you pursue North Carolina CPE using different delivery methods such as self-study, group live, nano learning, and group Internet-based. In these activities, you’ll receive credits based on the total number of contact minutes included in the activity’s all delivery methods.

You may not obtain any CPE credits for these.

• Completing an activity that doesn’t belong to a field of study mentioned in this list of Fields of Study.
• Completing self-study activities where the materials you must study to clear the final examinations aren’t designed to meet CPE purposes. These include magazines, periodicals, guides, reference manuals, books, subscription services, and supplements that have an examination to evaluate the understanding of the material internalized.

Finding Qualified CPE Sponsors to Fulfill North Carolina CPA CPE Requirements

Although the North Carolina State Board doesn’t register CPE activities or CPE sponsors, it has some guidelines to determine qualified sponsors. Be sure to consider the following when searching for CPE providers to fulfill your North Carolina CPE requirements.

• CPE providers that don’t meet the requirements for getting listed on NASBA’s National Registry of CPE Sponsors need to adhere to the Standards for CPE Program Sponsors. You can check NASBA’s website to see these standards.
• The board considers CPE sponsors, listed on the National Registry, compliant with the Standards for CPE Programs.
• If a CPE sponsor doesn’t comply with these rules, its sponsorship with the board may get disqualified. The board may also notify the public and NASBA of this disqualification.

North Carolina CPE Requirements: Credit Limitations

You can choose from different methods to fulfill your North Carolina CPA CPE requirements. However, some methods such as finishing a college course, instructing a college course, authoring a publication, and presenting or preparing a CPE activity come with credit limitations.

If you want to opt for any of these methods, be sure to consider the limitations in mind.

• Finishing a college course

You can obtain North Carolina CPE credits by finishing a course in an accredited college or university. You’ll get credits based on converting the total number of credit hours given by the college/university to finish the program into minutes. However, you won’t receive any credits for auditing a college course. You’re also not allowed to earn more than 50 percent of your required CPE credits through this method.

• Instructing a college course

You can receive CPE credits for instructing a college course as long as it’s above the accounting principles level. Your credits will be calculated using the same method discussed in the above section. In this method also, you can earn a maximum of 50 percent of your total credits required to meet North Carolina CPE requirements.

• Authoring a publication

If you author books and articles and have them published, you may obtain CPE credits based on the total number of minutes you spent writing the piece. Note that, you won’t receive any credits for writing a business newsletter or for writing an article for one of your clients. You’re allowed to earn a maximum of 25 percent of your required credits using this method.

• Presenting or preparing a CPE activity

You may earn CPE credits for presenting or preparing a CPE activity based on the total number of minutes you spent in its preparation or presentation. Preparing includes activities like conducting or authoring a technical review. You cannot obtain more than 50 percent of your required credits using this method.

Note that, if you present or prepare an activity multiple times in a single CPE reporting period, you’ll receive credits only once.

North Carolina CPA CPE: Credit Calculations

Here’re the methods you need to apply to calculate your credits when meeting North Carolina CPA CPE requirements using different learning formats.

• Partial credits

The state board accepts partial credits in any amount. Since a 50-minute session is equivalent to one credit, a half credit will be equivalent to 25 minutes.

• College/university programs

In this method, one quarter hour is equivalent to 10 CPE credits and one semester is equivalent to 15 credits.

• Instruction of materials

Here, your credits will be equivalent to preparation plus presentation.

North Carolina CPE: Exemptions

Similar to other jurisdictions, you don’t need to pursue North Carolina CPE if you fall under one of these categories.

• Unemployed CPAs who don’t offer professional services to third parties
• Retirees who don’t offer professional services to third parties
• Members who’ve formally changed their status to “inactive” and don’t offer professional services to any third party
• Those who are out of the workforce temporarily and don’t offer professional services to any third party

In addition to these, you can get waivers based on these grounds:

• Active-duty military service
• Health issues
• Extreme natural disasters (in accordance with the policies of the North Carolina State Board) and similar situations for which you couldn’t meet your North Carolina CPA CPE requirements

Dealing With North Carolina CPE Audit

The North Carolina State Board audits the CPE records of its CPAs to ensure that they’re compliant with its rules. If you get selected for an audit, you’ll need to do these:

• Respond to the board within a certain timeframe (generally 30 days)
• Provide the board with all your certificates of completion
• Substantiate your CPE credits for the present year and the last four calendar years

If the board finds that you’re non-compliant with North Carolina CPE requirements, its Professional Standards Committee will take up the matter. The board may receive a recommendation from the Professional Standards Committee on taking disciplinary actions.

Closing Thoughts

These were all the vital pieces of information you may need to embark on your North Carolina CPE journey with confidence. If you want to start right away, browse our collection of courses to meet your North Carolina CPA CPE requirements efficiently and affordably.

For nearly two decades, we’ve garnered a strong reputation for helping CPAs fulfill their CPE requirements in the best possible manner. We also offer the industry’s best 100-day, 100% money-back policy to help you focus on your CPE with complete peace of mind.

If you want to get more information about meeting North Carolina CPE requirements, dial us today!

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