Continuing Professional Education and Compliance with New York State Requirements

By Alan Schmelkin

NEW YORK—The Foundation for Accounting Education Board of Trustees devoted a significant portion of its April 29 meeting to a discussion of programs developed by local chapters and run throughout New York state. Representatives of several chapters participated via telephone, while virtually all chapters submitted written comments in advance of the meeting.

The trustees and chapter representatives asked that we explain to the membership the various aspects of continued professional education (CPE) compliance so that they might understand this complicated process.

Overview of CPE Compliance in Five Easy Pieces

When the Foundation plans a conference or seminar it takes an in-depth look at the program’s logistics—the fundamental areas that must be coordinated in order for a program to take place. Timely and diligent attention to these details is crucial to the success of any program. This begins by gathering information to answer some basic questions.

Step I

Once a program is proposed, FAE staff, or volunteers from a chapter or a technical committee must answer the age-old questions of who, what, where, when, how and why.

Who is offering the program? In our case the answer is FAE, the education provider for all Society programs presented throughout the state.

What kind of program is it? Is it a conference, a seminar, an evening technical session, a breakfast meeting or a half-day session? What is the program to be called, what topics will it cover, who will be the speakers, how many credits can a participant receive, and what will be its course level, field of study and areas of interest?

Where and when will the program be held?

How is the program to be presented? Is it a lecture, a panel discussion, a case studies program or something else?

And most importantly, why are we offering the program? What are the instructional objectives of the program, and who is it designed for? How are we planning to meet each participant’s needs?

Once we gather this information and answer these questions, and the developer is certain that the contents meets New York state requirements, FAE gives the program a unique course code, and a facility is secured and contracted. The program is then promoted, and the registration process can begin.

Step II

A course code is assigned to the program. The course code is a number used to indicate the program type, location, developer, and the year in which the program takes place. Once the program has been coded it can then be tracked for registration, archival, and CPE regulation requirements. Also, since a course code reflects the topic area, members can be contacted about the presentation for the specific subjects and topics they have told the Society they wish to learn about.

Step III

A facility is located. The facility is the program venue chosen, based on cost, geographic location and the expected attendance at the program.

Step IV

The program gets promotion. All programs must be publicly listed and/or publicized, typically in material produced by the Society. The program can be marketed via brochure, flyer, catalog, Web site, e-mail or all of the above. Promotion includes writing and proofreading program descriptions and important information, designing the material, and mailing. All information from steps one to three must be included in any promotional material. Once registrations begin to come in, the program is closely monitored to see if any additional promotion is needed.

During the promotion period, a myriad of things are coordinated. Speakers are contacted and speaker confirmation letters are mailed. Manuals and other course materials are prepared, compiled and shipped to the session location. Speaker travel arrangements and hotel accommodations are arranged, attendance rosters and participant name badges are produced, and all the finishing touches are added to the program.

Step V

On-site administration includes managing registration, food and beverage service, setting up tables and audio-visual equipment, distribution of CPE slips, program evaluations, and brochures, flyers and other promotional material. CPE slips and other program documentation is returned to the Foundation for processing.

Speakers, Discussion Leaders, Panelists and Lecturers

In order for any program to qualify for CPE credit, the instructor must submit a biography to be used in advertising brochures and in course materials. The Foundation requests that bios be short and concise and that the speaker limit his or her information to resume items as they relate to the accounting profession. Committees usually choose speakers for conferences they sponsor. Speakers range from CPAs to well-known politicians, but conferences may require a panel of discussion leaders to represent a range of views on a pressing issue. The conference chair follows a submission timeline for each speaker’s biography, so that the program’s brochure can be completed in time for the program to be adequately publicized. Committees or knowledgeable persons working in industry also select instructors for after-work, evening technical sessions as well.

Speakers at full-day seminars are FAE’s own authors and discussion leaders, and vendors that FAE uses, such as Surgent & Associates, the American Institute of CPAs, Nichols Education Corporation and Purtill and Company. The Foundation uses outside vendors to supplement topics that are not covered by our own authors.

All speakers must demonstrate deep knowledge and the ability to teach a class of accounting professionals and answer their questions.

Manuals and Other Course Material

A program manual contains technical information on a speaker’s topic, along with supplemental material, such as tax forms or court rulings. FAE staff members work with speakers to compile the information that ultimately becomes the course manual. Speakers, vendors and discussion leaders, however, are responsible for submitting any necessary updates to each program. Chairs of committee-originated conferences must approve the program manual’s content. Permission to reproduce or reprint secondary sources, such as a newspaper article, must be granted before FAE utilizes the information.

Course material must follow sound educational design, with clear and accurate technical information to help attendees understand a presentation. Program manuals enhance the learning experience and can even become reference material.

Accumulation of Files and Records Retention

The New York State Education Department requires FAE, as a CPE sponsor, to maintain documentation for five years for all CPE presentations it sponsors. FAE-sponsored programs generally offer one, two, three, four, eight or 16 CPE credits, and FAE creates a permanent program file for each of these number credit programs. Each program file must contain certain information in order to comply with regulations governing CPE credits. The file must include promotional materials. It must list the length of the program, its objectives, its targeted audience, prerequisites, curriculum or field of study, course sponsor and developer, recommended number of CPE credit hours, and outline of topics. It must contain program evaluation results, CPE confirmation slips, speaker and instructor biographies and qualifications, and course manuals. There must also be course reconciliation records—explained in more detail below—including attendance rosters and the amount of credit that attendees earned for a particular program.

Failure to maintain all needed CPE documentation puts the membership and others who take FAE programs at risk of losing valuable CPE credits—a mandatory prerequisite for registration every triennial period.

Continuing Professional Education Credit Slips

Prior to an event, staff members print and distribute CPE credit slips—which include information like course code, number of CPE credits and area of study–to all people registered for the program, as proof of their attendance. Registrants sign the top of the three-ply slip at the end of a program, keeping one copy for themselves, and submitting the remaining two parts to FAE. FAE uses its copies to record in our database attendance and credits earned by participants, so that the Foundation can track a member’s CPE credits and furnish a transcript on demand.

Separate on-site registration forms are used to process payments from late registrants, or "walk-ins." All paperwork for each event is stored in its program file for reporting purposes, as discussed above.

Evaluation Forms

Conference, seminar and technical program evaluation forms are an essential part of all FAE programs. Evaluation forms are used as feedback on the quality of the speaker, course material and meeting facility.

Once a course is completed, all course records are gathered and returned to the staff at FAE. Evaluations are counted and results are recorded on the evaluation transmittal form, which is a cover sheet for the attached evaluations. The evaluations are then scanned, and tabulated results are printed and filed. Conference evaluation comments are typed and sent to committee chairs for further discussion during their committee meetings.

Reconciliation of a CPE Event

In order to comply with CPE regulations set forth by the New York State Education Department, each event that is presented for CPE credit must be reconciled after its completion. This means that every event, whether it is an evening technical session, chapter event, conference or seminar, must be accounted for in the NYSSCPA database, as well as each participant’s personal attendance record for the event.

At the end of an event, the on-site administrator collects all CPE slips, course evaluations, attendance roster and any special on-site registration forms and returns them to FAE. Evaluation forms are separated from the remaining documents at this point, and put through a scanner. This scanning process tabulates each itemized score and transports all of the information, per event, into the NYSSCPA database. From this database, one can extract all information regarding a particular event, including the instructor(s), attendance, location, date, fees, course code and title. In addition, scores are tabulated on the following: materials used; the facility in which the course was presented; knowledge of instructor(s); and the overall presentation.

The remaining documents are also reconciled. The primary purpose for reconciliation is to ensure that every attendee has received the proper CPE credit hours. CPE verification slips are checked against the attendance roster, so it is imperative for attendees to submit their CPE slips at the conclusion of the event. Credit hours are entered into the database for each participant and adjusted for those who arrived late or left early. One CPE credit hour is awarded for each fifty-five minutes of instruction. Discussion leader CPE credit hours are also entered, when applicable. A post-attendance summary report is run in order to verify that the information entered into the database is complete and accurate. This ensures that each event participant will receive the proper credit hours earned.

Recording and retaining this information in a central database is essential for busy CPAs, who may need to instantly confirm the amount of credit hours they have accumulated, what events they have attended and what fields of study they have covered.

Summary

This is a first of a series of articles to acquaint readers with an overview of the many behind-the-scenes activities that must be managed in order for members to enjoy security and confidence in the validity of the CPE credits they earn by participating at Society-sponsored FAE CPE events.

We hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have questions you can contact me by e-mail at aschmelkin@nysscpa.org, by phone at (212) 719-8310 or by fax at (212) 719-3364.