SmartPros Ltd. (Nasdaq:SPRO), a leader in the field of accredited professional education and corporate training to Fortune 500 companies, recently announced several programs aimed at helping CPAs in New York meet the new state mandated Continuing Professional Education (CPE) guidelines for all N.Y. CPAs and PAs working in industry and government.

On January 26, 2009, Governor Paterson signed into law, as Chapter 651 of the Laws of 2008, a bill that significantly changes the regulation and practice of the practice of public accountancy in New York.  While the new law will take effect on July 26, 2009, changes in Continuing Professional Education (CPE) requirements retroactively take effect on January 1, 2009. A registered CPA or PA must complete either 40 hours of general studies or 24 hours of concentrated study in one recognized area of study during each calendar reporting year. In addition, The CPA or PA must complete 4 hours of professional ethics CPE during his or her triennial registration period.  The new law changes the mandatory continuing professional education (CPE) reporting year from a September 1 to August 31 reporting year to a calendar year. All registered CPAs and PAs will need to meet their annual CPE requirement by December 31, 2009. The new law includes many new or expanded provisions, including:

In addition, eEffective July 26, 2009, all licensed CPAs and PAs will need to maintain a registration with the Department unless the CPA or PA files a request for inactive status with the Department certifying that the licensee is not practicing public accountancy or using the title certified public accountant or public accountant or the designation CPA or PA.

An overview of the new law, and links for CPAs to register, are available through the New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions, at: http://www.op.nysed.gov/cpa-lawchange2009.htm

 

To help N.Y. CPAs in industry and government meet these new standards, SmartPros, based in Hawthorne, N.Y., went through its library of over 2,000 course offerings and created packaged solutions to help its clients comply with the new legislation. SmartPros New York Ethics course is one of its most popular, and meets the new requirement.

“SmartPros has been providing continuing education and corporate training solutions to Fortune 500 companies and governmental groups since 1981,” said SmartPros president and co-founder, Jack Fingerhut. “The changes being made in New York are significant in that all CPAs and PAs in industry and government are now required to meet the same continuing education standards as those in public accounting. Companies and organizations will now need to take more of an active roll in helping to keep their accounting and finance teams up-to-date on the most recent pronouncements and trends.”

SmartPros CPE and training solutions can be adapted to meet any corporate training need. SmartPros features a world class online Learning Management System that integrates with all of today’s most popular corporate training solutions. SmartPros features over 2,000 online courses and can provide clients with a mixture of online training, live group training, and in-house DVD group study solutions.

 “We find that most of our corporate clients actually use our products to train their non-licensed accounting and finance staffs as well,” added Fingerhut. “Our programs are designed to meet the needs of ALL accounting and finance team employees within an organization. We look forward to working with our N.Y. based clients in helping them establish programs that fit their training styles, while at the same time helping them to meet the new state requirements for CPE.”

For additional information about the new legislation and SmartPros CPE solutions for N.Y. CPAs, corporations and government agencies, please visit:  www.smartpros.com/nycpa