Are there any CPA’s on here who have used any of the study materials or the fact of passing a level of the CFA exam for CPE credit? It would be idiotic if they don’t since i have learned more studying for the CFA then I ever learned sitting through some dumb CPE course.
i got studying for the cfa exam to count for cpe credit. i typed us this nice letter to my state board of accountancy to explain my case. there were several criteria in the board’s rules that provided guidance as to whether education actually counts as cpe. since i’m in business valuation it was easy to show that it helped my career. since i passed the cfa exam, i could show the letter or whatever from cfa institute. since i needed accounting, i showed the estimates from the cfa institute of how much financial statement analysis was in level 2 and then multiply that by their estimated hours to pass to show how many hours i spent doing accounting. hope this helps.
That would be something really constructive that CFAI could do (since their own CE initiative went down the drain) - work it out with all the state boards so that accountants can fulfill lots of CPE requirements by taking (or passing) CFA exams.
That’s interesting, maybe I’ll try the CFAI. I had been calling the accounting national board and pretty much had gotten nowhere. It is honestly so much more valuable of a learning experience than any CPE class I attended and infinitely better than the online CPE credits which are basically a joke.
the cfai won’t have anything for you. each state pretty much follows their own rules from what i understand, though a lot of them might have the same rules. your best bet is to go to your state board of accountancy and look up what the rules for cpe are. for example, i’m in georgia and the rules say things like need a certain amount of accounting hours (16 over a two year period in ga) defined as being something the develops your udnerstanding of gaap it needs to cover acceptable subject matter (of which economics and finance count in ga, but the list also includes marketing, computer sciences, management services, math and stats, or industry specific courses like ag, construction, banks, etc). the overriding criteria is that it needs to be a formal program that “contributes directly to the professional competence of an individual licensed to practice”. if you can clear that, you’re good. it generally requires attendance at a class (easy if you’re taking one to pass the cfa, which i didn’t). however, “Formal correspondence or other individual study programs may qualify provided that they are developed and conducted by qualified persons, require registration, and provide evidence of satisfactory completion. Programs should be pre-tested to determine average completion time, and credit shall be calculated on the basis of the average completion time.” this is the cfa program. its obvious its by qualified people. you definitely have to register, and when you pass they give you proof of satisfactory completion. i used the cfai’s estimates of the number of hours to pass and approx how much of the curriculum was accounting, econ, valuation, etc. those became my estimates of the number of hours i asked for. of course, the number of hours to pass the cfa exam is considerably more than you need for cpe, so it creates a strong argument that you have enough. i hope this helps a little. again, i’d go to the state where you’re licensed and read the board’s rules for cpe. good luck.
Will do. Thanks for the help everybody.