National Registry of CPE Sponsors

The National Registry of CPE Sponsors is a program offered by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) to recognize CPE program sponsors who provide continuing professional education (CPE) programs in accordance with nationally recognized standards. The names of approved CPE program sponsors are published in a listing distributed throughout the country via the internet and in printed format. State boards of accountancy and their licensees can refer to this listing to identify and select CPE program sponsors.

Approximately 1500 program sponsors currently hold approved Registry sponsor status after demonstrating compliance with the Standards.pdf and Program Sponsor Requirements.pdf [44 kb] approved jointly by the AICPA and NASBA. The CPE Compliances Services staff review applications on an ongoing basis and approve organizations to offer continuing professional education for CPAs.

.pdf documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be downloaded for free.


What are the benefits of the National Registry of CPE Sponsors?

• Allows CPE program sponsors to register on a national basis instead of with individual boards of accountancy.
  
• Provides licensees with a listing of quality CPE program sponsors that conduct programs in compliance with state accountancy boards' requirements and the uniform standards for continuing education in the accounting profession.
  
• Recognizes approved organizations by publishing their names on a list that is distributed periodically and appears in the CPE Registry Sponsor Listing tab on the NASBA Tools.com site.
  
• Identifies CPE program sponsors who issue certificates of completion and maintain appropriate records for licensees.
  
• Improves the overall quality of CPE.
  

Registered CPE program sponsors are authorized to use the National Registry of CPE Sponsors' logo and approved CPE program sponsor language in all marketing materials. Many accountants look for the logo as soon as they receive program materials in the mail.


Listing of jurisdictions that accept the National Registry of CPE Sponsors*

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas⁵, California^1a, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida ², Georgia, Guam¹, Hawaii¹, Idaho, Iowa³, Illinois¹, Indiana, Kansas³, Kentucky, Louisiana³, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota², Mississippi², Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey^{1b, 2a}, New Mexico, New York⁴, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio¹, Oklahoma⁶, Oregon², Pennsylvania¹, Puerto Rico¹, Rhode Island, South Carolina², South Dakota, Tennessee^2,5, Texas^1c, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Footnotes:
¹ Must be members of NASBA's Registry or a Board approved program, or fall into a special Board category for automatic approval
^1a California: Providers offering ethics courses must register with the Board
^1b New Jersey: Providers must register with the Board
^1c Texas: All providers, including NASBA sponsors must register with the Board.

² Requires providers of self-study courses be registered with NASBA's Quality Assurance Service (QAS).
^2aRequires correspondence or individual self-study courses to be offered by Sponsors registered with NASBA.

³ Iowa & Louisiana: Requires providers that offer interactive self-study courses be registered with NASBA's Registry. For Kansas CPAs, self-study course providers can be a state CPA Society, the AICPA, NASBA's National Registry or QAS.

⁴ Requires course providers that offer courses outside of New York register with the Board or NASBA. Course providers offering courses within the state of New York must register with the Board.

⁵ Requires providers in Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia offering 16 or more credits to register with NASBA. Those providers offering fewer than 16 credits may register with NASBA's Roster program.

⁶Effective July 1, 2009, all Sponsors of self-study CPE programs must be registered with NASBA's National Registry of CPE Sponsors, offered by the AICPA, or be approved by the Board.

* State boards who accept NASBA Registry or QAS Sponsors are not limited to only accepting NASBA sponsors. Please contact the board directly for information about any exempt entities.

Initial Applicants
Those CPE program sponsors willing to make the commitment to meet the highest CPE program standards are encouraged to carefully review the information found in the Potential Sponsors tab above.

Existing Registry Sponsor Renewal Process
Existing members of the National Registry of CPE Sponsors will receive an e-mail notification approximately 45 days before their renewal date. The notification will contain the renewal forms and information on the materials which will need to be submitted for the renewal review process to begin.