CPE Monitor Newsletters

During the 2011 review and revision process that lead to the implementation of the revised Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards), the NASBA CPE Task Force discussed ways to provide CPE sponsors supplemental information to assist in the development of CPE programs. From these discussions, a Best Practices section of the Learning Market website was created.

Effective March 1, 2006, the Registry reorganized the fields of study to the current 23 fields of study.  The purpose of reorganizing the fields of study was to promote the classification of a program based on subject area or content. The intent of the current 23 fields of study is to help alleviate guesswork during board examination of CPE certificates of completion and assist CPAs in reporting CPE more accurately for higher CPE compliance rates.

The 2013 National Registry Summit will be held September 9th – 10th at the Hotel Sorella in Houston, TX. Registration will begin Monday afternoon, September 9th, and the meeting will kick off Tuesday morning, September 10th. Look for more information in the coming months.

CPE sponsors may purchase courses from other vendors or course developers. However, the organization whose Registry ID is included on the certificate of completion is ultimately responsible for compliance with the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards) and NASBA requirements.

The Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards) provide a framework for the development, presentation, measurement and reporting of CPE programs. CPE sponsors have flexibility in how to achieve compliance with the Standards; however, the organization whose Registry ID is included on the certificate of completion is ultimately responsible for compliance with the Standards and NASBA requirements.

The Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards), revised January 2012, raised the standards for all self study providers and eliminated the differences that previously existed between the QAS and Registry self study requirements. Accordingly, NASBA initiated changes to the administration of these programs to offer one designation for self study programs – QAS Self Study.

A Registry sponsor may sell services to other CPE providers (including Registry and non-Registry sponsors). These services could include providing platforms for delivering group Internet-based or self study programs or a learning management system. However, the organization whose Registry ID is included on the certificate of completion is ultimately responsible for compliance with the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards) and NASBA requirements.

Elliott Masie, CEO and Founder of The MASIE Center, has his hands in many different projects, from 3D printers to Broadway shows. But he is most known for his understanding of effective learning methods, and he brought this expertise to the National Registry Summit in Nashville, TN, on September 24, where he spoke about these methods and how to adapt to the future of learning.

In addition to the informative and entertaining keynote addresses from Elliott Masie and Tim Moore, the agenda for the National Registry Summit consisted of several presentations delivered by experts in the field of learning and course design.

The first annual National Registry Summit kicked-off as only a conference in Nashville could: at the honky-tonks. Sunday evening, many participants joined members of the NASBA Registry team in downtown Nashville at Honky Tonk Central to experience country music, cowboy boots and camaraderie.

During the 2011 review and revision process that lead to the implementation of the revised Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (2012) (Standards), the NASBA CPE Task Force discussed ways to provide CPE sponsors supplemental information to assist in the development of CPE programs.  As a result, a Best Practices section of our website has been developed.

Today’s workplace is filled with men and women from several different age groups. In fact, it is highly likely that there are four different generations of workers within an organization. What is the best way to interact, relate to and motivate workers from these different generations? To answer this question, and many more, Tim Moore addressed the audience at the National Registry Summit, September 24 in Nashville, TN, where he shared a wealth of knowledge about this topic.

 IRS has approved NASBA and the National Registry of CPE Sponsors as a “qualified accrediting organization,” which means that all Registry members are qualified as continuing education providers for the IRS Registered Tax Return Preparer Program.

Earlier this month, NASBA released an online tool designed with state boards of accountancy and CPAs in mind. With the “Confirm a Registry Sponsor” tool, users can now search NASBA’s database of National Registry Sponsors to quickly confirm the status of a Sponsor as of a particular date.

The merger of the QAS program with the self study component of the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, or Registry, and the resulting creation of the QAS Self Study designation, took another major step forward on May 1, when the QAS Transition Initiation Form was made available online to QAS and Registry self study providers.

NASBA has also been hard-at-work writing and creating videos to assist in training sponsors and board staff. Using Brainshark, a platform for preparing online presentations, NASBA developed and released a new training video about the impact of the revised Standards.

Mark your calendars: NASBA’s CPE Conference is now the National Registry Summit, and it’s an annual event to be held each fall.

As the timing of the transition process is at the discretion of the sponsor, the maintenance of an active Registry and/or QAS membership is critical.  Registry membership renewals will continue as scheduled by the first of the month of initial approval date.

Since 1998, the Quality Assurance Service (QAS) Program has been approving self-study courses from CPE providers. Concurrent with the implementation of the revised Standards, the QAS Program will be merged into the National Registry of CPE Sponsors Program’s self-study component.

Until recently, NASBA has had strict guidelines regarding use of the Registry logo in outside materials, primarily that it had to be accompanied by the Registry statement. But with the continued rise in Internet marketing, that requirement has become unwieldy.