Louisiana CPE Courses for CPAs

Louisiana CPE: A Comprehensive Guide

The day, when you become a licensed CPA in the “Pelican State,” marks the beginning of your lifelong education journey in the form of continuing professional education. Regardless of the industry you work in, pursuing Louisiana Continuing Professional Education is a must for every active Louisiana CPA.

To plan your CPE in an efficient manner and make the most out of it, first, you need to have a clear comprehension of Louisiana CPA CPE requirements. Then only you’ll be able to decide on the learning formats you need to choose and which courses you should prioritize to meet your Louisiana CPE requirements on time.

Since CPE requirements differ from one state to another, we’ve created this comprehensive guide to Louisiana CPA CPE to help you understand the state’s CPE requirements thoroughly. Here, we’ve included every piece of important information that you may ever need to experience a hassle-free Louisiana CPE journey.

Basic Louisiana CPA CPE Requirements

Before we delve into the detailed CPE requirements in Louisiana, it’s important to understand the basic ones first. Just make sure that you choose and complete Louisiana CPA CPE courses according to these guidelines.

Let’s take a look.

• Louisiana has an annual license renewal period, running from 1st January to 31st December.
• The CPE reporting period is also annual in Louisiana, running from 1st January to 31st December.
• You must obtain and report at least 20 Louisiana CPE credits every year.
• You’re required to earn and report at least 80 CPE credits within a rolling two-year period. For instance, if the Louisiana CPA CPE requirements for your next rolling two-year period start from 1st January 2024, they’ll end on 31st December 2025. And the total number of credits obtained during this period has to be at least 80.
• It’s mandatory to obtain three CPE credits every year. Note that the content of your Louisiana CPE ethics course has to be pre-approved by the Louisiana state board.
• If you take part in attest engagements during a calendar year, you need to obtain at least eight CPE credits in subjects related to Accounting & Auditing. Participants in attest engagements refer to CPAs who direct, plan or report at attest engagement or carry out significant portions of the procedures.

Specific Louisiana CPA CPE Requirements Related To Ethics

We’ve already mentioned that you need to obtain three ethics credits to fulfill your Louisiana CPA board CPE requirements. There are also two specific guidelines that you must keep in mind when obtaining these credits.

• It’s your responsibility to ensure that your Louisiana CPE ethics course is pre-approved by the Louisiana state board. It’s very important to note that you can only choose from the list of professional ethics courses that are pre-approved by the board. You cannot take any other Louisiana CPA CPE ethics courses to meet Louisiana CPE ethics requirements.
• If you take other Louisiana CPE classes or programs on ethics, they’ll be considered programs related to behavioral ethics. The board may count these credits toward your total Louisiana CPE credits. But it’ll not accept these credits as the ones required to fulfill your ethics requirement.
• The Louisiana state board has some guidelines related to out-of-state ethics programs. You may not need to complete a Louisiana CPE ethics course if you meet all these requirements:
  • Your primary place of work or practice is outside of Louisiana
  • You hold an active, valid CPA license issued by the accountancy board of the state where you primarily live and work or practice.
  • The accountancy board of that state has an ethics CPE requirement in the same reporting year as defined by the Louisiana state board.

Credit Limitations to Remember When Meeting Louisiana CPE Requirements

The Louisiana state board of accountancy has some limitations related to the methods that you can choose to meet your Louisiana CPA CPE requirements. Be sure to comply with these guidelines so that you can fulfill the CPE requirements for Louisiana CPAs comfortably.

• Self-study courses

You can only take interactive self-study Louisiana CPA CPE courses to meet your Louisiana CPE requirements. These courses simulate a classroom learning environment by providing the learners with ongoing responses and evaluations.

For every 50 minutes of completion time, you’ll earn one CPE credit. If your CPE sponsor complies with the present AICPA/NASBA CPE standards or a QAS CPE sponsor, its Louisiana CPA CPE courses are considered interactive ones.

You can obtain all the credits required to fulfill your Louisiana CPE requirements by completing interactive self-study courses.

• Live webinars

You can attend live webinars to meet your Louisiana CPE requirements. However, your attendance has to be verified by the CPE sponsor in a way that’s accepted by the Louisiana board. For every complete 50 minutes of attendance, you’ll get one credit.

• Publication of articles and books

You may be able to obtain Louisiana CPA CPE credits for publishing articles and books if those are approved by the board. Use this Louisiana CPE form when submitting your request for evaluation to the board.

The number of credits that you may earn will be decided by a representative of the Louisiana board, as long as the writing helps to enhance your professional competence. However, the maximum number of Louisiana CPE credits that you can obtain using this method is 10.

• Presentation of college courses

If you want to meet your Louisiana CPA CPE requirements by offering services as a speaker or lecturer, you’ll only receive credits for your first presentation. You may also obtain credits for a program if it has been changed significantly. If you want to claim credits for repeat presentations, you’ll need to submit evidence of significant revision of the material to the board.

You can present courses at the graduate, senior, or junior level, as per the degree program curriculum of the applicable accredited university or college. You’re allowed to claim credits for presenting these programs repetitively because they go through continuous changes.

• Personal development courses

You can take Louisiana CPA CPE courses related to personal development to fulfill your Louisiana CPE requirements. This field of study covers subjects related to self-improvement and self-management.

Other Guidelines Related To Louisiana CPA CPE

Here’re the other vital guidelines that you need to remember when choosing Louisiana CPA CPE courses.

• If you obtain more credits than the annual limitations for presenting or teaching, publication of materials, and personal development, you cannot carry them over to your next reporting year.
• An earlier year’s credits, which you haven’t mentioned on that year’s Louisiana CPE form, cannot be used in the following year. For example, if you obtain 40 credits in 2023 but only report 20, you aren’t allowed to report your remaining 20 credits in 2024. You’ll need to obtain 60 CPE credits in 2024 since you’ve reported 20 credits in 2023.
• If you obtain a calendar year’s CPE credits after submitting its CPE reporting form, you may mail a revised reporting form within 31st January of the next year.
• The Louisiana state board doesn’t accept reference material and magazine readings and tests as methods to obtain CPE credits. This is because they aren’t designed as educational programs.
• If you successfully clear exams like CFP, CISA, and CMA, you may be able to earn five credits for every exam hour passed. However, this cannot be more than 20 credits in a calendar year.

Calculation of Credits When Pursuing Louisiana CPE

Similar to other state accountancy boards, the Louisiana state board has defined some guidelines pertaining to the calculation of Louisiana CPE credits. Here’re the things you need to keep in mind.

• Partial credits

Once you’ve earned the credit for the first full hour (cross-subject), you’re allowed to obtain half-credits. However, for self-study Louisiana CPA CPE courses, you can obtain half-credits before completing the first full hour.

• Instruction

For providing instruction on material, the number of your credits will be equal to preparation plus presentation. The maximum number of credits awarded for preparation is two times presentation.

• University or college courses

You can choose courses from accredited colleges or universities to meet your Louisiana CPA CPE requirements. In that case, you’ll receive one credit for every audit hour, 10 credits for every quarter hour, and 15 credits for every semester hour.

Submission of Louisiana CPA CPE Report

You must submit an original copy of the Louisiana CPA CPE reporting form to the office of the board by mail. You can visit the website of the Louisiana state board to see and download Louisiana CPE reporting forms.

Here’re some important guidelines you need to remember when reporting your Louisiana CPE.

• You don’t need to submit your original certificates of completion when submitting your CPE report.
• You aren’t allowed to submit transcripts, certificates of completion, and/or other types of self-generated reports instead of completing the Louisiana CPE form.
• When completing the form, remember to itemize all the Louisiana CPA CPE courses, which you’ve completed in the reporting year, on your report form.

If you’re selected for an audit, then you’ll need to submit valid certificates for all the courses that you’ve mentioned on your Louisiana CPA CPE reporting form. If the board disallows any credits during an audit, you can submit your additional credits at that time.

How to Find Approved Louisiana CPA CPE Courses?

The Louisiana state board doesn’t need CPE sponsors to be registered with it. Except for Louisiana CPE ethics programs, it doesn’t pre-approve or pre-screen CPE programs. It also doesn’t award CPE credits for CPE programs.

Therefore, it’s completely your responsibility to ensure that the Louisiana CPA CPE courses that you want to take comply with the guidelines of the board and have proper documentation.

What to Do If You Lost the Certificates of Completion before Submitting Them to the Board for Verification of Louisiana CPA Board CPE?

The Louisiana state board doesn’t accept fee receipts, sign-in sheets, nametags, outlines, registration forms, etc. as proof of completion of Louisiana CPA CPE courses. It also doesn’t consider self-generated lists of courses and transcripts sufficient evidence of completion.

So, if you’ve lost the original certificates of completion, you need to contact your CPE sponsor to get valid certificates of completion or other types of forms of verification that you can submit to the board.

Make sure that the document mentions these pieces of information:

• Name of your CPE sponsor
• A sponsor representative’s name and signature
• Name of the participant
• Description and/or title of the content
• Location of the program (online or formal class location)
• Start and end dates of the program
• Number of Louisiana CPE credits obtained by completing the course

Keeping Records of Your Louisiana CPE

You must retain all your Louisiana CPA CPE documentation for at least five years from completing the programs. You should also keep all materials that reflect the programs’ content and the names of their instructors. You may need to supply these pieces of information to the board if it wants the course content to be substantiated.

Exemptions from Louisiana CPA CPE Requirements

Some CPAs aren’t required to fulfill Louisiana CPE requirements as long as they don’t offer professional services to anybody. The categories include:

• Unemployed individuals
• Retired individuals
• Formally listed “inactive” individuals
• Individuals who’ve left the workforce temporarily

Note that, while inactive CPAs don’t need to report CPE to the Louisiana state board, they may need to pursue Louisiana CPE to continue their AICPA membership.

Wrapping Up

While it may be true that pursuing Louisiana CPE is quite different from pursuing CPE in many other states, you can meet your Louisiana CPA CPE requirements comfortably by planning your CPE right from the beginning of your reporting period.

When planning your CPE, be sure to consider all the guidelines we’ve mentioned above to avoid any unnecessary stress at the time of reporting your CPE.

We hope that this page has provided you with all the vital information related to Louisiana CPE requirements. If you want to learn how the expert team at CPEThink.com can help you in your CPE journey, feel free to contact us.

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