Wisconsin Enacts Continuing Professional Education Requirement

The Wisconsin Institute of CPAs, supported by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), led an effort to enact legislation that created a continuing professional education requirement for Wisconsin CPAs. 

On November 30, 2017, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) signed the legislation into law. Wisconsin is the 55th and final U.S. jurisdiction to enact a CPE requirement for CPAs. This legislation brings the state into uniformity with the rest of the country and ensures continued learning and competence for Wisconsin CPAs. 

The legislation requires the Wisconsin Accounting Examining Board to promulgate rules on the specific CPE requirements by 2021. The bill permits a CPA to earn half the required CPE credits through informal learning activities and to credit learning activities in increments as small as five minutes.  

The bill also included important peer review requirements, such as allowing the Examining Board access to peer review documents through the AICPA’s Facilitated State Board Access program.