Table of Contents
Ethics IAR CE Requirements in Plain English
Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CE refers to the six annual credits of continuing education that NASAA's Model CE Rule requires IARs to earn every calendar year. In addition to the six Ethics credits, IARs must annually earn six Product/Practice (P&P) credits—for a total of 12 credits. At least three of the E&PR credits must explicitly cover ethics and not Products & Practice. Credits must come from NASAA‑approved providers and are measured in 25‑minute, half-credit increments. No carry‑forward of credits to future years is permitted, and providers report credits earned to your FinPro account. Advisors4Advisors pays the $3 per class filing fee for members. That a 106-word plain-English definition of IAR Ethics CE requirements.
Adopted in November 2020 by NASAA, the rule is only three-pages long but takes a 60-page handbook to explain.* While IAR CE requirements are somewhat complicated, this article clears up any confusion about fulfilling Ethics IAR CE requirements.
Why Are IAR CE Ethics Classes Scarce?
Based on inquiries from advisors shopping for IAR CE Ethics classes, a scarcity of Ethics CE for IARs exists. Yet Products & Practice choices are easy to find. Why? Ethics content must tie directly to fiduciary duties, regulatory obligations, and real‑world conduct risks. That narrows topic flexibility compared with P&P topics about investment vehicles, portfolios, and practice topics. Addressing fiduciary obligations in a class is more difficult to tackle than financial product or practice methods. Moreover, the big product manufacturers have a business interest in providing free IAR CE credit about a product or practice aligned with their business goals. Still, this only partially explains why Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CE credit is relatively hard to find, and why finding high-quality ethics IAR CE content is even harder. Complicating the search, few providers of ethics IAR CE publish their full course catalog.
Just Two Buckets
Before getting into details, let's get this straight: IAR don't need three hours of Ethics and three hours of Professional Responsibility as separate buckets. That’s incorrect.
NASAA’s rule creates one combined category—Ethics & Professional Responsibility —in which at least three of the six hours must be about ethics.
At least three of the Ethics and Professional Responsibility classes annually required must be about Ethics. Put different, you can't fulfill the E&PR requirement with four or more Professional Responsibility classes.
The second bucket of required IAR CE is six credits on Products & Practice (P&P) topics.
To be clear, three classes annually about Products and three more about Practice are not required. P&P is a single six‑hour category. You can fulfill the P&P with six credits of Practice classes or six Products classes.
Fulfilling these two buckets — E&PR and P&P—satisfies an IAR's 12 credit Ethics IAR CE obligation.
Details About Ethics IAR CE Are Scarce
IARs searching for Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CE will find it difficult to know exactly what they are buying. This is obvious from a search using Google AI. You'll notice that providers do not publish details about IAR CE classes, such as class titles, learning objectives, and their eligibility for IAR Ethics CE versus Products and Practice. IAR CE ethics providers keep detailed course catalogs behind paywalls.
In contrast, Advisors4Advisors publishes details of every class in course descriptions made searchable and indexed by Google and other search engines. We're also careful to prominently publish which classes qualify for IAR CE credit details to make it easy for advisors to know what they are buying before signing up for membership. We're now publishing high up in course course descriptions which classes are approved for Ethics credit for IARs. Transparency is good.
Ethics IAR CE Is Now On Our Menu
Google's AI search shows Advisors4Advisors at this writing is unique among providers for the transparency of its course catalog. Every class includes a detailed course description page. Classes are designed to meet the needs of CFP, CIMA, CPAs and other professionals as well as IARs regulated under NASAA's Model CE Rule. The course descriptions provide the details required across all credentials.
Since Advisors4Advisors began offering IAR CE in January 2025, we've improved publicly available information for IARs shopping for IAR CE. We continue to better organize course descriptions and standardize the location of information about IAR Ethics CE courses in our course catalog. Today, we're unveiling the addition of a new shortcut on the menu of our course catalog.
When you click on Ethics IAR CE, all classes qualifying for credit as ethics IAR CE are listed in cards. No guesswork about which classes qualify for IAR Ethics CE credit. This is consistent with our natural inclination to be transparent.
Cost And Delivery Methods
The cost and delivery method are important to know in searching for the best ethics IAR CE program. One well-known provider offers IAR CE in a written format as part of a $189 membership plan.
Reading CE is a very different learning experience from watching webinars. Perhaps because television has trained the brains of generations of Americans, webinar replays are generally a better learning method for most.
For just $60, Advisors4Advisors provides IAR CE webinars allowing you to watch video presentations side-by-side with a scrolling transcripts on demand. IARs can complete all 12 credits of required CE over three months to fulfill NASAA's annual requirements, limiting the cost to $60. To be clear, IARs can complete the IAR CE requirements in one quarter for $60 or two quarter for $120 because Advisors4Advisors charges a quarterly fee for access to about 30 courses annually. Classes are updated throughout the year. Advisors4Advisors classes are also eligible on demand for CFP, CIMA and CPA credit. The $60 quarterly fee is the biggest bang for your buck among IAR CE providers.
Producing New Ethics IAR CE
Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CE providers generally published six classes at the start of 2025 to satisfy NASAA requirements, and they don't give IARs a choice of classes from a library of approved classes for IAR CE ethics credit. (In contrast, Advisors4Advisors provides seven IAR CE ethics classes on demand. Four of those were also offered live and others are expected to be added in October.)
One leading provider offered a 2025 IAR Ethics CE Day as a single live event for six Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CE credits. Spending an entire day--six hours--on IAR CE Ethics credit allows IARs to check the box on completing their educational requirement, but it is far from the best learning experience.
Inarguably, on-demand delivery of Ethics IAR CE in 50-minute edited lessons is a more accurate, efficient, and impactful learning experience than live classes, especially in an era of AI post-production editing, as previously reported
Another leading IAR CE provider's public catalog shows a steady slate of ethics offerings but no classes new ethics credit are publicly announced or labeled as such.
One popular CPA CPE provider remains outside the NASAA approved‑provider list. NASAA is the toughest of the CE regulators, as previously reported .
Fresh IAR CE releases about ethics are infrequent across big brands, reinforcing why advisors often feel squeezed on choices in the second half of the calendar year.
Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CE on A4A |
A Focus On Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CE
Our 2025 lineup of Ethics & Professional Responsibility IAR CEethics classes prioritizes covering news where knowledge is changing fast—using artificial intelligence, the fiduciary era of insurance, RIA performance advertising, and low-expense investing.
With on‑demand practice content and live news‑driven updates, you can satisfy all six hours of IAR CE about ethics and get six hours of Products & Practice while actually learning something instead of just checking a box.
From publicly available data advertised by providers, it is clear that Advisors4Advisors eight choices for IAR ethics CE contain the freshest high-quality content at the best price. For $60 quarterly, you receive ethics IAR CE plus more than 20 choices of Products/Practice IAR CE on demand and two or three new live classes monthly. And all of it qualifies for not only IAR CE but also CFP, CIMA, and CPA credit.
FAQs
What is Ethics IAR CE?
Ethics IAR CE refers to the six annual credits of Ethics & Professional Responsibility that Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs) must complete under NASAA’s Model Rule. At least three of these credits must specifically focus on ethics, not just professional responsibility.
How many IAR CE Ethics credits are required each year?
IARs must earn six IAR CE Ethics & Professional Responsibility credits annually, with at least three credits covering ethics. They must also earn six Product & Practice credits, for a total of 12 credits per year.
Can IARs carry forward unused IAR CE Ethics credits to the next year?
No. NASAA rules do not allow carry-forward of credits. Each year, IARs must complete a fresh 12 credits, including the required six IAR CE Ethics credits.
Do IAR CE Ethics credits need to come from NASAA-approved providers?
Yes. Credits must come from NASAA-approved providers, and they are reported directly to your FinPro account. Advisors should verify approval before purchasing any IAR CE Ethics course.
Are Ethics and Professional Responsibility separate categories for IAR CE?
No. Ethics and Professional Responsibility are combined into one category. However, at least three of the six credits must explicitly cover ethics, meaning you cannot fulfill the requirement with Professional Responsibility courses alone.
Why are IAR CE Ethics courses harder to find than Product & Practice courses?
IAR CE Ethics courses are less common because they must tie directly to fiduciary duties, compliance obligations, and advisor conduct risks. This makes them more challenging to design compared with courses on investment products or practice management.
What is the cost of completing IAR CE Ethics requirements?
Costs vary. Some providers bundle ethics courses into memberships costing upwards of $149 annually. Advisors4Advisors offers a plan at $60, which provides access to 25 AR CE Ethics and Product & Practice credits that are also approved for CFP, CIMA, and CPA credit.
What’s the best way to complete IAR CE Ethics credits?
On-demand webinar replays are often the most convenient and effective way to earn IAR CE Ethics credits. They allow advisors to learn at their own pace while fulfilling NASAA requirements. And, since they are edited for accuracy and to reduce uhs and ums, they provide a more efficient and accurate learning experience.
Does Advisors4Advisors offer IAR CE Ethics courses?
Yes. Advisors4Advisors publishes a transparent course catalog showing exactly which courses qualify for IAR CE Ethics credit. Members can complete all six Ethics credits and six Product/Practice credits in one quarter for $60. You can also simultaneously earn CFP, CIMA and CPA credit for those same classes. So you can potentially earn about 25 credits for $60 over a three month period.
