Arkansas

Date of Last Revision:    9/21/2022

License Renewal Date
1/1 annually

CPE Reporting Period
1/1 to 12/31 annually

General Requirements
40 hours

• (Required to report 40 hours for the current renewal year but allowed to “look back” to include the past 3 yrs totaling 120 hours if you are deficient in current reporting year.)

Ethics Requirement

• Four (4) hours in the area of accounting professional conduct and ethics during the 36-months immediately preceding the expiration date of their current license.
• One (1) hour of ethics must be on Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy specific laws and rules.  This requirement may be satisfied by completing a free, web based course via the Board's website or attending group training taught by a board member, board staff member, or a designee of the Board, and will count towards the 4 hour ethics requirement.
• Licensees who received their initial license during the current calendar year are exempt from the ethics requirement until their first full calendar year of licensure.

Other Subject Area Requirements

• At least 40% of hours in the following subjects: Accounting/Attest, Accounting Ethics or Tax (if public accounting).
• At least 20% of hours in the following subjects: Accounting/Attest, Accounting Ethics, or Tax (if not public accounting).

Credit Limitations

• Independent study,self-study and authorship credits: Credits from these types of courses shall not exceed 80% of the total CPE hours required.
• Independent study: This type of CPE must be approved in advance by the Board.
• Nano Learning: 4 hours maximum per year of a reporting period.
• Instruction: Repetition of the same material in the same year will not be granted credit.
  • Instruction for College/University courses: Courses taught must be upper level college courses and may only be used for CPE one time in a three year period.
• Other Certification Exam courses: CPE credit is not given for academic courses or exam review courses used to qualify to take the CPA exam or acquire the CPA certification.
• Published Material: Articles, books or CPE Programs may be eligible for self-declared credit if the material contributes to the professional competency of the licensee and was formally accepted for publication in writing prior to the effective date of the renewal period.
• Fields of Study: This jurisdiction has a rule(s) placing limitations on certain subject areas or requiring a certain number of credits within a certain subject area or group of subject areas. Confirmation with the Board of the impact of the changes included in the new Fields of Study document, which went into effect September 1, 2016, is included in this analysis.

Credit Calculation

• Instruction: A lecturer or discussion leader shall be granted credit for preparation and presentation of a program for twice the number of CPE hours available to participants.
  • Instruction for College/University courses: Credit for teaching college or university courses is limited to the number of CPE hours available to participants.
• Partial Credit: Half hour credits are allowed after first hour of credit.
  • Nano Learning: 4 hours maximum per year of a reporting period.
• University/College credit: Each quarter hour equals 10 CPE hours; Each semester hour equals 15 CPE hours. A non-credit course is computed by contact hours

Other State Policies

• Program sponsors must be members of NASBA's or the Board's Registry, approved by another State Board, or fall into one of the following categories for automatic approval:
  • AICPA and other national/state CPA professional organizations/associations
  • Accredited universities or colleges
  • Firms, both accounting and industrial offering in-firm education programs
  • Governmental entities

• Programs in the following subject areas are not acceptable continuing education: spirituality, personal health and/or fitness, sports and recreations, or foreign language and cultures and other subjects which will not contribute directly to the professional competence of the licensee.

• Providers offering 16 or more credits must register with NASBA's National Registry. Providers offering fewer than 16 credits may register with NASBA's Roster program. 

Full/Partial Exemption

A full or partial exemption from continuing education requirements may be allowed for the following licensees:

• An active duty military service member outside of the State of Arkansas;
• A returning military veteran within one (1) year of his or her discharge from active duty; or
• the spouse of a person under (1) or (2) above

In order to receive a full or partial CPE exemption, a qualifying individual must submit a written request for an exemption to the Board.