Continuing Professional Education credits are required to keep a professional license in good standing. Individuals must receive a certain number of CPE credits within specific time periods in order to keep their licenses active.

Finding a good CPE service provider is the first step of many in obtaining your CPE for CPA. The most difficult thing to answer is who to choose and why. Allow us to assist you with some critical parameters that will help you make your selection.

When looking for the best CPE platform, consider the following:

If you have multiple qualifications, you'll need CPE credits for each one. Professionals routinely switch between platforms in pursuit of approved courses that would provide them with the CPE credits mandated by their respective regulatory bodies. Subscribing with a provider whose programs are accepted for multiple certificates may save you time. Several providers have various approvals, but they can only use a limited number of credentials. CPE for CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and other tax professionals are widely available, but what if you're a CPA, CMA, CFE, and CIA all at the same time?

What's in their content library?

The content catalog of any CPE provider is something you should pay special attention to. The more programs and courses that are available, the better because this can indicate that the content collection is continually updated and features the latest courses and learning materials. This means you have a better chance of discovering courses that fit the study fields required by various boards. A typical CPE provider provides between 250 and 500 hours of training content. This isn't a small number, but it poses the question of whether these courses are sufficient to complete your CPE requirements in a single location.

How many presenters does the CPE provider have?

Excellent educators are required for great learning. Without the right instructor, the material would be difficult to comprehend. Obviously, if a CPE platform has a large number of presenters presenting, learners will have many options for the courses they choose to study.

What types of content do they provide?

It is far more important to have a variety of content than it is to simply have some material on the site. If a professional needs CPE from a variety of sectors to meet regulatory requirements, he or she will need a platform with a diverse set of courses. It adds up when someone has a lot of professional credentials.

What kind of accreditation do they have for providing continuing education?

Attending many live webinars is meaningless if they do not qualify for CPE. At the same time, if acknowledged by the relevant board, a single webinar or self-study course may provide acceptable continuing education credits for a variety of titles, such as continuing education (CE) for tax professionals, CPE for CIA, CFE, and others. This simplifies the process of getting CPE credits. Only providers that have received the most approvals from multiple boards should be considered.

Do they provide Enterprise CPE?

Employers usually pay for their employees' CPE education, but the firm's learning manager is entrusted with locating such platforms that offer appropriate courses that meet every member's ongoing education. Group learning is less costly, but providers must be thoroughly screened to verify that they deliver all CPE-enabled courses required to meet the demands of the whole team under one roof.

What modes of delivery do they have?

CPE can be obtained through a variety of methods, including live webinars, on-demand courses, e-books, online conferences, podcasts, and so forth. The requirements for getting CPE credits may differ between authorized bodies. Self-study may be sufficient for some, while others insist on obtaining half or more of their CPE via live webinars.

Many CPE resources only provide self-study courses, which may seem to be an easy method to obtain CPE credits, but they will not cover all of your needs, and you will need to look for alternative platforms that offer live webinars or in-person CPE.

What do you know about their usability and user experience?

The user experience with any CPE provider is critical. It doesn't matter how great the content is or how many are offered on a platform if the user experience is terrible. Even on platforms with a huge number of courses, users must be able to easily find the ones they seek. Instead of going all the way to the bottom or navigating multiple pages of the site to find only one or two courses, users might use a self-help filter or assist in finding them.

The user must also be capable of predicting whether the courses would be useful and recommended by prior users.

Do they satisfy the state board's requirements?

As mentioned earlier, different states have varied CPE laws. When you visit a CPE provider, they must offer training in all of the important subject areas that satisfy the requirements of different states. Even better would be if the provider combined the courses in accordance with the requirements of the state board so you could complete all of your requirements at once.

Are there any ethics CPE courses that have received state approval?

As part of your CPE, you must also get CPE credits in ethics. Not all providers offer these courses, and when they do, they are expensive. Check to determine if these ethics courses have the state boards' approval and would credit toward the CPE you need in ethics. Illumeo offers over 90 ethics courses covering NASBA and state specific ethics cpe reruirements. You can vieew full listing here.

Have you verified and compared costs to make sure they are fair?

While many free courses are easily available and accessible, the fee for some courses can be considerable. When you look for providers, compare prices between courses in the same field of study and choose the provider with the most affordable course prices that meet your needs.

Reading over all of the criteria, you'll notice that Illumeo beats all other providers on the overwhelming bulk of them.

Illumeo is a leading CPE provider for 100+ certifications accepted in the United States and around the world, with a huge library of 12000+ hours of courses approved by regulatory agencies such as the NASBA, IRS, state accounting boards, and others.

The CPE courses offered by Illumeo are among the best on the market. Because of our excellent instructors, our service places a strong focus on quality. For those interested in continuing professional education, we also have a terrific cost point and a great support team.

Try our free trial to learn why we believe it is one of the greatest subscription-based services available today. We guarantee you will not be disappointed by what you discover!