Maine CPA CPE Requirements: How Many Hours, By When
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- 4 ethics hours, required once every 3 years (counts toward the total above, not an add-on).
Unlike most states, Maine's basic CPE cycle is ANNUAL, not biennial: all licensees must obtain 40 hours of CPE every year (the 12-month licensure period prior to the Sept 30/renewal reporting deadline), due at time of renewal; up to 20 excess hours may carry forward one year. Separately, all licensees must obtain at least 4 hours of CPE in professional ethics every THREE years (not annually, not per-2-year-cycle). These figures come from 02-280 C.M.R. Chapter 5, Section 8 -- the rule the Board's own CE webpage points to as its authority. Interpretation trap: Maine's rule also has an unrelated 'reinstatement' provision requiring 80 hours of CPE (incl. 4 ethics hours) within the prior 24 months for lapsed-license reinstatement -- some vendor summaries wrongly present this 80-hour/24-month figure as if it were the standard annual renewal requirement; it is not. Communication arts/computer software/economics/business-law/etc. courses capped at 50% of hours.
What does it cost to reinstate a lapsed Maine license? →