How much continuing professional education a Rhode Island CPA actually needs — sourced the same way every fact on this site is: a board page plus the codified rule itself, never a guess.
Rhode Island requires a minimum of 120 hours of formal CPE during the preceding 3-year period (cycle runs July 1 of the renewal year through June 30 three years later), with no annual minimum -- only the 3-year total matters. Not less than 6 of the 120 hours must be regulatory or behavioral ethics; these ethics hours count toward, not on top of, the 120. Trap: first-time licensees get a reduced first renewal-cycle requirement of 80 hours (including 4 ethics hours) rather than the full 120/6 -- don't apply the standard figures to a licensee's very first renewal. Confirmed independently by the codified rule (400-RICR-00-00-1.8, hosted by the RI Department of State) and the Board of Accountancy's own renewal guidance (dbr.ri.gov).
What does it cost to reinstate a lapsed Rhode Island license? →