Advisors4Advisors (A4A) has been approved by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a Quality Assurance Service (QAS) Self-Study Provider. CPA financial planners now earn CPE credit on-demand via webinars on A4A, as well as on live webinars.
CPAs are regulated by states and NASBA, is a 116-year-old association of CPA state-regulators in 55 jurisdictions across the U.S. NASBA is responsible for CPA exams, licensing, education, consumer protection, and enforcing a 37-page set of CPA CPE standards.
CPAs are required to earn 40 credits of CPE annually, more than twice the 30-credits required of CFPs every two years. Meeting NASBA’s standards for CPE providers is no trivial matter.
Fifteen years ago, NASBA approved A4A as a CPE provider, and A4A began curating experts to stream tax and financial planning news to advisors online, pioneering online delivery of CPA CPE.
As a QAS Self-Study program provider, A4A now delivers CPE webinars on-demand via webinar replays. If you miss a live class or want to earn 10 CPE webinars while you’re on a beach, you can earn credits on-demand anytime.
A4A’s CPA CPE webinars meet NASBA standards by inserting engagement activities, such as polls and review questions in every class. Polls are not scored but responses are required. Passing a 10-question assessment with a grade of 70% or more is required to earn 1 credit of CPE on a webinar replay.
As a NASBA-approved QAS self-study provider, A4A assures CPAs that every class:
- Is comprised of measurable learning objectives
- content is current, accurate, effectively designed, and fits a field of study
- includes review questions offering feedback
- achieves no less than 75% of its learning objectives, as measured by a scored assessment
- calculates credits according to prescribed methodology
A4A membership ($60/qtr.) provides on-demand CPE credit for CPAs and CPA/PFS professionals, as well as CE for CFPs, and free IAR CE.
CPA PFS and other CPA financial planning practitioners require CPE different from about 80% of the 670,00 CPAs in the U.S. Offering securities or investment advice has long been a neglected specialty at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The Institute never invested in branding CPA financial planning practitioners the way the CFP Board has done for Certified Financial Planning professionals.
Since 2011, CFP Board has spent more than $160 million on a massive ad campaign promoting the value and benefits of working with a CFP® professional. In a March 18, 2024 announcement, CFP Board says it spent $16.9 million on its 2024 ad blitz.
"This year’s campaign continues to target individuals aged 35 to 64 who are the primary decision-makers in managing their personal finances," CFP Board says. "Creation of the campaign included validation through national focus group testing. The campaign’s effectiveness in driving awareness and preference for CFP® certification is measured annually through a national brand tracking survey conducted by a third-party research organization."
AICPA has done nothing of the sort to promote CPA/PFS or CPA financial planning practitioners since the specialization emerged in the 1970s. With the vast majority of CPAs not providing personal tax, investment, or financial planning services, AICPA never mustered enough support to spend tens of millions to compete for brand awareness with CFP practitioners. Consequently, the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) designation from it inception in the early 1980s, along with AICPA's Personal Financial Planning Section, have always been neglected, as has the need for specialized CPE.
Which is why delivering high-quality CPA CPE to financial, tax, and investment advisors at a low cost is our mission. Knowing the history of the CPA financial advisor community equips and motivates A4A to provide CPA CPE via webinar replays including required engagement exercises and a scored assessment with a 70% passing grade.
For independent financial planner CPAs, high-quality CPA CPE geared to fiduciaries is hard to find, especially when classes must also meet the webinar-replay delivery method requirements imposed by NASBA's QAS Self Study Provider program.
A CPA CPE suggestion: Fritz Meyer's financial economic updates monthly enable CPA/PFS and other CPA financial advisors to learn the latest fundamentals driving stock and bond markets and how it fits in with a long-term strategic plan. Fritz Meyer's analysis of economic fundamentals, such as employment, Fed funds rate, M2, ISM Services Purchasing Managers Index, and IBES earnings estimates, helps advisors design their own outlook.
In addition, Craig Israelsen's lessons on portfolio design amid a roaring bull market are a timely reminder for advisors managing low-expense portfolios. Craig Israelsen, Ph.D., has taught on A4A for 15 years, and his classes are targeted to CPA/PFS and CPA financial planners.
And there's more: Included in your A4A membership are four classes in 2025 from the founder of the Financial Counseling Institute, Frank Murtha. Dr. Murtha's classes make plain how CPAs must go beyond the numbers as a financial counselor, and his best ideas are included with A4A membership.
"Financial counselors help people acquire the resources necessary to live lives without anxiety and depression, and get the best out of this world," says Dr. Murtha. "What you do is extremely important. There is a mountain of data, the size of Everest, that shows people left to their own devices are going to fail to reach their goals, which is why counseling skills are essential learning for CPA financial advisors. In the end, it means better service," adds Dr. Murtha.
Despite the missed opportunity to invest in CPA financial planning practitioners, CPA/PFS and CPA financial advisors have a valuable brand to consumers. While CPA PFS and CPA financial planners undoubtedly could have benefited from an investment by AICPA, The Institute serves a much broader membership.
CPA CPE via A4A's new QAS self study technology is easy to use. When you replay a class, you'll be asked three poll questions with four possible answers. Your answers are not graded. NASBA also requires CPAs to also engage in a review of the class. Your answers to the review questions are not graded but you must complete the review to receive CPA CPE credit. Finally, receiving CPA CPE credit requires a score of 70% or more on a 10-question assessment after replaying a webinar for 50 minutes or more.
