2011 CPE – Down to the Wire

As the year winds down and you wrap up your continuing education hours for the year, make sure you collect and hang on to your certificates for the classes you attend. Organization and record-keeping come pretty easily to accountants, so it shouldn't really be a chore to keep track of your hours. If you work in a larger firm, the firm probably takes care of keeping the records for you. But what should you do if you come up short when the auditor comes calling?

It turns out each state has different rules (now there's a surprise), so if it looks like you might come up short on hours, check to see how your state treats CPE slackers. We've checked with several state licensing boards and come up with a short list of options. But the best rule of thumb is to get busy this month and make sure you've got the hours you need. With a plethora of online and do-it-yourself training available, there's no excuse for not meeting your annual requirement.