Florida CPA CPE Requirements: Hours, Ethics, and Deadlines

To keep an active Florida CPA license, you must complete 80 hours of continuing professional education every two years, including at least 8 hours in accounting and auditing and at least 4 hours in Board-approved ethics, and report those hours through the DBPR Online Services Portal before the December 31 renewal deadline. The Florida Board of Accountancy sets these Florida CPA CPE requirements under Chapter 61H1-33 of the Florida Administrative Code.¹

The Two-Year Cycle

Each reporting window, called a reestablishment period, runs from July 1 of one year through June 30 two years later.² All 80 hours must fall inside that window.³ The Board does not require any minimum per year, so you can front-load, back-load, or spread the coursework however you like.

Excess hours do not carry forward. If you finish 100 hours in one cycle, the extra 20 disappear on July 1 when the next period begins. This trips up CPAs who worked ahead and assumed they had a head start on the next two years.

Subject-Area Minimums

Within the 80-hour total, three rules govern what counts and how much:

At least 8 hours in Accounting and Auditing (A&A), covering financial reporting, standards from authoritative bodies, and auditing topics such as internal controls and financial statement examinations.³
At least 4 hours in ethics from a Board-approved provider, with a majority of that time devoted to Chapters 455 and 473 of the Florida Statutes and the related administrative rules.⁴
No more than 20 hours in behavioral subjects, a category that includes communication skills, practice management, and the social environment of business.⁵

The remaining hours can come from technical business subjects such as taxation, management advisory services, or information technology. Elementary accounting, basic math, foreign language, and keyboarding courses earn no credit at all.⁵

Ethics Course Rules

The ethics requirement is stricter than any other subject. The provider must be DBPR-approved, and the instructor must be a CPA who has practiced in a public accounting firm for at least five of the last ten years. You can complete the four hours in one session or in two two-hour modules, but the entire four hours must come from a single provider so you receive one completion certificate.⁶

Ethics taken by correspondence or self-study ends in a written exam. You need at least 80 percent to pass, and you can retake it if you fall short.⁶

Government Auditors: An Extra Layer

If you conduct audits under Government Auditing Standards or the Florida Auditor General’s rules, you have an additional obligation of 24 hours of governmental CPE and must also meet the CPE standards built into Government Auditing Standards themselves. Those 24 governmental hours can count toward your 8-hour A&A minimum when the coursework meets the A&A definitions.⁷

Formats That Count

Florida recognizes both group study (live instruction, conferences, in-firm training) and self-study. Credit runs on a 50-minute hour and can be awarded in half-hour increments.² There is no cap on self-study, so all 80 hours can come from that format if you prefer.

One catch for self-study: any course claiming A&A or technical business credit must come from a sponsor approved under NASBA’s Quality Assurance Service (QAS) program.² Behavioral self-study does not need QAS approval. Check the sponsor’s QAS status through NASBA before you buy.

Florida does not accept nano-learning (10-minute micro-courses) or blended learning formats. Hours advertised under those labels will not count.

Several activities people often assume qualify do not: writing articles or books, serving on professional committees, attending business meetings or social functions, and coffee breaks or meals at seminars.⁵

If You Miss the June 30 Deadline

Two automatic extensions exist, but each adds penalty hours that must be in A&A specifically:

You do not apply for these extensions; they apply automatically. But the extra hours must be A&A, not whatever course is easiest to find, and they only count toward the current cycle.

Reporting and Recordkeeping

Beginning with the reestablishment period that ended June 30, 2024, Florida CPAs must enter each completed course and upload proof of completion to the DBPR Online Services Portal. Miss that submission before the December 31 renewal deadline and you cannot renew.⁸

Keep all supporting documents — completion certificates, transcripts, attendance records — for two years after the reestablishment period ends.⁹ The DBPR runs random audits every year, and if you’re selected, you have to produce those records.¹⁰ For a period ending June 30, 2026, that means holding records through June 30, 2028.

Penalties for Coming Up Short

Consequences scale with the size of the shortfall. For a first offense missing 1 to 16 hours, the Board’s disciplinary guidelines set a fine of $1,000 to $2,000, mandatory CPE audit participation for the next two reestablishment periods, and a requirement to make up the missing hours plus 20 additional penalty hours in the same subject category where you fell short.¹¹ If the shortfall is in ethics, those penalty hours shift to accounting and auditing.

A shortfall of 17 to 80 hours brings fines up to $5,000, license suspension until every required hour is complete, penalty hours equal to the number missed, and ongoing audit participation.¹¹ Second offenses start at $2,000 and carry suspension even for small shortfalls.

Failing to renew at all sends your license through progressively worse statuses. A license that goes delinquent on January 1 for unreported CPE requires a reactivation application by March 15. Reactivating an inactive or delinquent license can require up to 120 hours of CPE, including at least 30 hours in A&A, no more than 30 hours in behavioral subjects, and at least 8 hours in Board-approved ethics. If your license goes null and void, reinstatement is at the Board’s discretion and generally reserved for CPAs who can show illness or unusual hardship.¹²

Practicing in Other States

A Florida CPA with an active license in good standing generally practices in other states without a separate license, thanks to CPA mobility under the Uniform Accountancy Act. All 55 U.S. accountancy board jurisdictions are currently treated as substantially equivalent for CPAs meeting the standard requirements of 150 credit hours, the Uniform CPA Examination, and at least one year of experience. Two-tier states such as Alabama, Illinois, and Nebraska may issue initial certificates without full practice privileges, and only CPAs holding an active license or permit in those states qualify for mobility. CPAs licensed through legacy pathways in New York or Ohio after 2012 may not automatically qualify.¹³ Contact the other state’s board before you begin work there.

1
Florida Administrative Rules. Florida Administrative Code 61H1-33.003 – Continuing Professional Education
2
MyFloridaLicense.com. Florida Board of Accountancy – General CPE Information
3
MyFloridaLicense.com. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation – Continuing Professional Education
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 473.312 – Continuing Education
5
MyFloridaLicense.com. Florida Board of Accountancy CPE Guidelines
6
Cornell Law Institute. Florida Administrative Code 61H1-33.0033 – Obligations of CPA Ethics Course Continuing Education Providers
7
Cornell Law Institute. Florida Administrative Code 61H1-33.0035
8
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Florida CPA CPE Reporting
9
Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Certified Public Accounting – Renewing and Maintaining Your License
10
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. CPA Continuing Professional Education Documentation Retention
11
Florida Administrative Code. Florida Administrative Code 61H1-36.004 – Disciplinary Guidelines and Range of Penalties
12
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 473.313 – Status of Licensee
13
National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. Substantial Equivalency