California CPA CPE Requirements: How Many Hours, By When

How much continuing professional education a California CPA actually needs — sourced the same way every fact on this site is: a board page plus the codified rule itself, never a guess.

Verified
CPE Hour Requirement
80 hours every 2 years
Source of record Cal. Code Regs. tit. 16, § 87 read the rule →

80 hours in the 2-year period immediately preceding license expiration, minimum 20 hours each year (12 of which must be technical subject matter), including 4 hours of ethics education. A separate Regulatory Review course requirement (§87.8) also applies on a longer cycle -- not counted as 'ethics' here since it's a distinct named requirement, noted separately if this cluster expands.

Your renewal cycle is set by your birth month and whether your birth year is odd or even.