Hawaii CPA CPE Requirements: How Many Hours, By When
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Verified 2026-11-11
CPE Hour Requirement
80 hours every 2 years
- 20-hour minimum in each 1-year period (you can't front-load the whole requirement into a single year).
- 4 ethics hours, within that same total.
Source of record
Haw. Code R. §§ 16-71-2, 16-71-33 (Hawaii Administrative Rules, Board of Public Accountancy)
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Hawaii CPAs/permit holders must complete at least 80 hours of CPE within the 24-month period preceding a biennial permit renewal (renewal due Dec 31 of odd-numbered years), with a minimum of 20 hours earned within each calendar year, and at least 4 of the 80 hours must be in ethics or professional conduct (these 4 hours also simultaneously satisfy the separate license-renewal ethics attestation under §16-71-2). These figures are stated in HAR §§16-71-2 and 16-71-33. Maximum carryover of excess hours to the next biennium is 40 hours; new CPAs get 80 hours of automatic CPE credit for passing the AICPA exam (or 40 hours if claimed in year 3).
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