Does that license card in your wallet say "CPA Active"? Then regardless of your future license plans, you've got CPE due shortly. Protect your license: Read these
7 CPE Tips
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CPE Tip # 1: Don't Be Late for These Very Important CPE Dates
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June 30, 2018. If you were licensed on or before this date, you have a minimum of 20 CPE hours you need to earn by June 30, 2019. (If you were licensed more recently, read on anyway. You'll be ahead on the knowledge curve for FY20, when you will have to report.)
June 30, 2016. If you were licensed on or before this day, you need to meet not just the 1-year CPE requirement (above) but also the rolling
three-year (FY17, FY18, and FY19) reporting
requirements.
July 1-June 30 (of any given year). This is the CPE earning (or "fiscal") year. If you don't earn what you need to meet requirements during this timeframe, you must complete and report carryback hours asap (see Tip #7).
December 31 (or the day in the fall when you renew/change status/retire). This is the absolute latest date you can report your CPE and not owe late reporting fees. You can report your CPE as soon after June 30 as you'd like; just remember you will still need to renew your license (or change status/retire - whatever your plans for your license are) in the fall (see Tip #3).
TODAY. This is the day you should visit
Online Services and check your CPE for FY17 and FY18 as recorded by the Board. See Tip #4 for what this can tell you about what you still need to do for FY19.
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CPE Tip #2: It's Your License, It's Your Responsibility
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The Board not infrequently hears some variation of the following: "My company/ assistant/ spouse forgot to enter/ incorrectly entered my CPE." Sometimes licensees say that they thought that a third-party recordkeeping service was the Board's online reporting system. The Board understands you may find it convenient to have someone else take this task off your already full plate, but always remember, "
your license, your responsibility."
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CPE Tip #3: Don't Assume You Have No CPE Requirement This Year Because You Plan to Retire, Go Exempt or Go Inactive
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After years of hard work, it's understandable that you are anticipating retirement. Just don't anticipate it, when you still hold an Active license, by thinking you can stop taking CPE now.
Until you
HOLD
a status that does not have a CPE requirement (Inactive or Exempt), you must meet the Board's CPE Rules.
Status changes to Inactive or Exempt are effective January 1 of the renewal year in which you select that status. So, for 2020 renewals, the effective date is January 1, 2020.
If you don't have your CPE in order for FY17-FY19, you'll have to scramble to earn CPE, plus pay CPE late earning fees, in order to change status.
The FY19 CPE year (July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019) is already three-quarters of the way over. Prepare now for a smooth status change next year.
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CPE Tip #4: Read Your CPE Reporting Table for Fun and Profit
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We told you in Tip #1 that today is an excellent day to go to the CPE Reporting section of
Online Services. Perhaps we are overselling the experience by calling it "fun," but you can certainly profit by preventing an expensive and unhappy renewal at the end of the year. It's one thing to
think you have the CPE you need to renew, it's another - a very simple "another" - thing to
check.
First, log in to
Online Services using your five-digit license (add a zero or C, if you have an old four-digit one) and the last four of your SSN. Next, on the Task Schedule, select "Click to Proceed" on the CPE Reporting task row.
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We're not going to actually entering your FY19 CPE right now. (You'll want to be sure you've earned everything you're going to before you do that, as you can only "submit" once.) Instead, we're just looking at the CPE Totals summary chart. Scroll
all the way down to the bottom of the page and look for the chart illustrated below.
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What that summary chart tells you:
Green Boxes are good,
Yellow Boxes
are advisory, and
Red Boxes indicate a shortfall. If you have any red boxes, you need to check if you have earned in FY19 the CPE that will turn those boxes green, once that FY19 CPE is recorded. If not, you know what CPE you still need to take prior to June 30.
In the image/example above, the blue numbers and arrows show:
- A minimum of 20 hours is needed in FY19 (would be true even if 120 hours had been earned in the previous two years).
- Two "Approved Sponsor" hours are still needed as are six Ethics hours.
- The total three-year cycle requirement of 120 hours is short by 17.8 hours - but given a minimum of 20 hours must be earned in FY19, meeting that yearly requirement will get this licensee over that shortfall.
Yellow can be golden. In this example, only 19 Teaching hours were earned and no Writing hours. Board rule allows for a maximum of 60 Teaching and 60 Writing hours to be applied toward the 120 three-year total. If the licensee in this example had had
60.2 Teaching hours, the accompanying box would have displayed yellow. That yellow color is to advise you that only 60 of the 60.2 hours will be counted toward the 120 three-year total.
All 60.2 hours, however (and for example), might have also been "Approved" hours and would apply toward meeting that requirement. If a portion of those hours had been earned in FY19, that ".2 overage" would count toward satisfying the one-year requirement of 20 hours.
That is why you should always record all CPE credits you have earned, as they might help you meet another requirement - in this period or a future one.
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CPE Tip #5: Meet Your New Best (CPE) Friend: The
NASBA Fields of Study
Document
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Pop quiz: Is the course "Excel for CPAs (Field of Study: Computer Software and Applications)" a Technical or a Nontechnical course?
Answer: Nontechnical. It doesn't matter that the course says it's "for CPAs." The field of study "Computer Software and Applications" is Nontechnical.
How are you supposed to know? That's where your new best (CPE) friend, the
2016 NASBA Fields of Study comes in. It's an 11-page document, but you may never need to look at anything other than the bottom half of the first page. If you are taking courses from approved sponsors, they are required to provide the field of study on your certificate or transcript. Refer to the two short tables on
page 1, and you have your answer to the "Technical or Nontechnical" question. Neglect to refer to those tables, and you might find yourself short the Technical hours you need to renew - or, even worse, on the wrong side of a CPE audit.
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CPE Tip #6: Meet Your
Other
New Best (CPE) Friend: The Board's CPE Page
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Not to toot our own horn too loudly, but we have packed the Board's
CPE page with information. See, for example, the "Tools" sidebar, which has links to useful PDFs and FAQs.
If you want to be sure you are meeting the Board's CPE rules, it only makes sense to
go to the source.
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CPE Tip #7: Fix CPE Reporting Errors or Shortfalls as Soon as You Become Aware of Them
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Correcting Errors: Let's start with the circumstance that you've looked online (good job!) at your FY17 and FY18 CPE and discover you have an error. Maybe you forgot to report some hours or misclassified some CPE earned under the rules that became effective 1/9/2018 (now that you understand the
fields of study). You aren't able to edit the tables in
Online Services. So what do you do?
Simply email the Board's CPE Coordinator (
holly.a.salmela@state.mn.us) with the details. If the changes don't negatively impact your compliance with this or a previous period, she'll just make the changes and you'll be able to see them in
Online Services in a few business days.
Submitting Carryback: What if the change
does put you
out of compliance or you see for yourself that you have a shortfall? In the first instance, the CPE Coordinator will advise you of the
noncompliance. In
all instances, you'll want and need to remedy the situation promptly. Just as you would advise a client, it's always cheaper and better to fix a problem immediately rather than wait.
CPE fees accrue monthly and are based on when you provide the Board copies of the proper documentation for the courses carried back and the fee. These must be submitted by mail to the Board office (no "attn" required). Consult the
CPE Fee Chart on the Board's home page to determine the proper fee.
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Notice of Proposed Rule Changes
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Rules Related to Examinations and Housekeeping Updates (R-04582)
The Board is considering rule amendments that:
- clarify that the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) shall determine the frequency by which an applicant may retake a failed examination section;
- clarify that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) shall determine the passing score for their professional ethics examination which is required for licensure as a CPA;
- eliminate the requirement for licensees to supply the Board with a facsimile number;
- eliminate the requirement for persons granted “exempt” status to inform the Board of address changes; and
- remove the requirement for nonlicensees, noncertificate holders, and nonregistrants who are registering with the Board in connection with a firm permit to indicate the individual’s percentage of voting and financial interest in the firm.
If you would like the Board to add you to its rulemaking mailing list and receive updates as they become available, please e-mail
Andrea Barker
.
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