North Carolina CPA Ethics CPE Requirement

Fifty minutes — one CPE hour — every year, on regulatory or behavioural professional ethics and conduct, under rule 21 NCAC 08G .0401(e). Some third-party summaries state two hours; the Board rule and the NCACPA both specify 50 minutes.

It must come from a CPE sponsor listed on the NASBA National Registry of CPE Sponsors. An ethics activity from a sponsor not on the Registry will not satisfy the annual ethics requirement, though it will still count toward your general CPE. The activity may be group or self-study format.

Yes. The requirement is 50 minutes on regulatory or behavioural professional ethics and conduct, so either qualifies. The constraint is the provider: it must be a sponsor on the NASBA National Registry.

Up to 1,000 minutes may be carried forward and treated as earned in the following year, but ethics minutes may not be included in any carry-forward to meet the annual ethics requirement.

If you complete the requirement by 30 June the Board may issue a letter of warning for a first failure within any five-calendar-year period. For a second failure within five years the Board may deny renewal for at least 30 days and until you meet the reissuance requirements.

A non-resident may satisfy the annual requirement by meeting the rules of the jurisdiction where they are licensed and live or work, indicating that state on the renewal. If that jurisdiction has no CPE or ethics requirement, North Carolina's rules apply. A non-resident whose primary office is in North Carolina must still complete the 50-minute ethics activity.