Florida

BOARD INFORMATION FOR REFERRALS:

Florida Board Of Accountancy
240 NW 76th Drive, Suite A
Gainesville, Florida 32607
Phone: (850) 487-1395
Fax: (352) 333-2508
Website: www.myflorida.com/dbpr/cpa/index.html
Email: stephanie.carroll@dbpr.state.fl.us

DO PES COURSES QUALIFY FOR CPE IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA? YES

All self-study courses qualifying for accounting and auditing and technical business credit must be taken from sponsors approved as a NASBA's QAS provider. We are a registered QAS provider with NASBA. All courses available on this website that have a corresponding QAS course number qualify for QAS CPE.

Our QAS provider sponsor ID# is 008.

LICENSE RENEWAL INFORMATION:

• 80 hours every 2 years
• Minimum 20 hours in accounting and/or auditing
• Maximum 20 hours are allowed in the behavioral category. (NOTE: behavioral courses may be non-QAS courses and taken from non-QAS providers.)
• At least 4 hours of Ethics every two year renewal period. The ethics requirement must be administered by providers approved by the Florida Board of Accountancy and the Ethics Course must also have a specific approval number from the Board of Accountancy. The ethics CPE requirement must be taken prior to the "Laws and Rules Examination" noted below. PES has developed a course to meet this requirement and it is approved by the Florida Board of Accountancy. Course #4805/QAS4805: Ethics and Professional Conduct for Florida CPAs meets this requirement.
• Licensees must also take and pass the "law and rules exam" every two years. For more information regarding this renewal requirement, licensees should contact the FL Board of Accountancy or CPS (Cooperative Personnel Services) at (916) 263-3624 x3164.

LICENSE EXPIRATION INFORMATION:

• License expires biennially on 12/31.

SPECIAL CPE REQUIREMENTS:

• Any licensee who is involved in governmental audits shall be required to comply with the CPE requirements imposed by Government Auditing Standards, 1994 revision, commonly referred to as the "Yellow Book" which is hereby incorporated by reference if during the engagement:
  • 1. the licensee is the person in charge;
  • 2. the licensee reviews the working papers or reports both, or;
  • 3. the licensee supervises others or;
  • 4. the licensee is the only licensee performing the work.
• Licensees conducting audits controlled by either
  • 1. Government Auditing Standards, or
  • 2. The Rules of the Auditor General,
• shall be required to take 24 hours of governmental CPE. The required 24 hours of governmental courses may be used to meet the license renewal requirement as long as they comply with acceptable areas of study. PES-QAS courses designed to meet these requirements are: #5405/QAS5405: Audits of State and Local Governments (24 hour course) and #5145/QAS5145: Government Auditing Standards (8 hour course).

CPE COMPLETION DUE BY:

• Completed by 6/30 of license expiration year.

SELF STUDY CREDIT HOURS:

QAS continuing education credits are calculated as: 1 credit per 50-minutes of study time. Professional Education Services QAS courses are granted in the same manner, therefore the number of credits listed and issued by PES is what will be accepted by the board of accountancy.

MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE SELF STUDY CREDITS: 100%

ACCEPTABLE AREAS OF STUDY:

There are three areas of approved subject matter:

• a) Accounting and Auditing: the accounting and auditing category is narrowly limited to include only courses on accounting and financial reporting subjects, professional pronouncements of authoritative accounting principles issued by the standard-setting bodies and any other related subject generally classified within the accounting discipline. Accounting and auditing subjects consist of:
  • 1) accounting related subjects or courses including, but not limited to, financial accounting and accounting for specialized industries
  • 2) auditing related subjects including but no limited to general auditing theory and practice, auditing for specialized industries, and audit applications to computers and information systems.
    Additional examples of accounting and/or auditing are: annual updates of accounting and/or auditing; assurance services that relate to standards for attest engagements; auditing financial statements, operations systems and programs; compilation and review; financial statement disclosure; fraud detection; international accounting; professional pronouncements (APB, FASB, GAAP, GAAS, GASB, SAS, SSARS); review of Internal and Management controls.
• b) Technical business: this category is broad, including courses on taxation, general business, and management advisory services. Technical business subjects consist of:
  • 1) taxation
  • 2) management services and management advisory services
  • 3) general business including, but no limited to, economics; business law; production or operational systems; marketing, finance, quantitative applications in business and business policy; and computer and information systems without audit applications.
    Additional examples of technical business courses are: accounts payable/accounts receivable; budgeting and asset management; business valuation; computer programming or use of software package; financial planning; fraud prevention; general ledge; law (business related); management of an accounting practice; pension plan administration, personal financial planning, planning and control systems, real estate principles, specialized industries (banking, healthcare, insurance, etc); tax shelters.
• c) Behavioral: this category includes courses on oral and written communications, the social environment of business, and administration of an accounting practice. Examples of behavioral subjects are: effective speaking, employee supervision, human resources, leadership and motivation, management by objectives, speed-reading and time management. *If a licensee takes a non-QAS course that is accounting and auditing or technical business, FL will allow the licensee to move that course to behavioral for the maximum of 20 CPE hours.

If you have any questions regarding your CPE requirements, please call PES at 1-800-990-2731 or your State board. Updated 3/20/2008.

(PLEASE NOTE: Since state board regulations are constantly changing, the information contained here is deemed reliable however it is not guaranteed. We encourage you to contact your state board to answer any questions and confirm or clarify any requirements listed here.)

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