Fields of Study

The CPE Fields of Study curriculum is divided into 20 subject matter areas. These fields of study represent the primary knowledge and skill areas needed by accounting licensees to perform professional services in all fields of employment as accepted by the Boards of Accountancy.

In connection with the revision to the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards) effective September 1, 2016, the Fields of Study document was revised. The changes to the Fields of Study document focus on providing categories and descriptions that are more current and relevant than the previous version. The most significant change includes the revisions to the Specialized Knowledge field of study by separating computer science applications and information technology into their own categories, and allowing Specialized Knowledge to consist of topics that are particular to specialized industries or services.

To clarify the impact of the changes included in the new Fields of Study document, we have created a comparison chart of the Fields of Study.

We also identified the Boards of Accountancy that had rules placing limitations on certain subject areas or requiring a certain number of credits within a certain subject area or group of subject areas. We made an initial determination of the impact of the new Fields of Study groupings and asked those Boards for confirmation of our analysis. Those identified Boards include: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Iowa, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

The final determination of the impact of the changes to the Fields of Study for the specific jurisdictions identified above may be found at the CPE Requirements section of our website by clicking on the specific jurisdiction in question.

The new Fields of Study are effective September 1, 2016, but sponsors have until December 31, 2017 to fully implement the revisions.