CPE credits, or Continuing Professional Education credits, are an important part of maintaining a professional's license to practice. To keep their license active, individuals must obtain a specified amount of CPE credits over specific time periods.

Finding a good provider is the first step in obtaining your CPE. There are many providers to choose from, however. The most difficult question of all is who to select and why.

Let us assist you with some important considerations that will benefit you in making your decision.

Ask these questions while looking for the right platform for CPE:

How many credentials have their CPE courses been authorized for?

You'll need CPE credits for each of your qualifications if you have more than one. Professionals frequently shift between several platforms in search of approved courses that will offer them the CPE credits required by their particular regulatory authorities. Signing up with a provider whose courses are approved for several credentials might actually save you time. Several providers have multiple approvals, but they are restricted to a small set of credentials. Platforms with courses for CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and other tax professionals are ubiquitous, but what if you're a CPA, CMA, CFE, and CIA all at once?

What is the state of their content library?

Any CPE provider's content catalog is something you should pay close attention to. The greater the number of courses available, the better. This means the content collection is regularly updated and offers the most recent courses and learning materials due to the large number of accessible courses. A large content catalog offers you a better chance of discovering courses that align with the disciplines of study required by various boards. A typical CPE provider offers 250–500 hours of training material. This isn't a tiny quantity, but it raises the question of whether these courses are sufficient to meet your CPE needs in one location.

What is the CPE provider's presenter count?

Great learning requires excellent educators. Content can be difficult to absorb without the correct instructor. Clearly, if a CPE platform has a big number of presenters lecturing, learners will have a lot of options when it comes to the courses they wish to study.

What kind of content do they offer?

It is significantly more important to have diversity in the material than it is to simply have some stuff on the site. If a professional wants CPE from a variety of fields, as required by a regulatory body, he or she will need a platform with a wide range of courses. When someone has many professional titles, it adds up.

What accreditation do they have for delivering continuous education?

Attending several live webinars is pointless if they are not recognized for CPE. At the same time, a single webinar or self-study course may give appropriate continuing education credits for numerous titles, such as CE for tax professionals, CPE for CIA, CFE, and so on, if approved by the relevant board. This makes obtaining CPE credits easier. Only providers with the most approvals from several boards should be considered.

Do they offer firm CPE?

Employers frequently pay for their workers' CPE education, but the firm's learning manager is tasked with finding such platforms that offer acceptable courses meeting the ongoing education of every member. Group learning is less expensive, but providers must be carefully screened to ensure that they provide all of the CPE-enabled courses needed to meet the needs of the whole workforce under one roof.

What forms of delivery of learning do they have?

There might be several types of learning to earn CPE, such as live webinars, on-demand courses, e-books, virtual conferences, podcasts, and so on. The requirements for obtaining CPE credits may change between bodies. Self-study may be enough for some, while others insist on taking half or more of their CPE through live webinars exclusively.

Many CPE providers only provide self-study courses, which may appear to be a simple way to get CPE credits, but they will not be sufficient to meet all of your needs, and you will need to explore alternative platforms where live webinars or in-person CPE is available.

How's the usability and user experience?

The user experience with any CPE provider is extremely important. It makes little difference how wonderful the material is or how many are available on a platform if the user experience is poor. Even on platforms with a large number of courses, the user must be able to locate the ones they need quickly. Instead of scrolling all the way to the bottom or browsing numerous pages of the site to discover only one or two courses, they might use a self-help filter or guide to assist in finding them. The user must also be able to predict if the courses will be valuable and endorsed by previous users.

Do they meet the requirements of the state board?

Varying states have different CPE regulations, as previously stated. When you go to a CPE provider, they must provide courses in all of the major topic areas that meet the needs of various states. It would be even better if the provider bundled the courses according to the state board standards so that you could fulfill all of your needs at once.

Are there any state-approved ethics courses available?

You must also obtain CPE credits in Ethics as part of your continuing education. These courses are not available from every provider, and when they are, they can be pricey. Check to see whether these ethics courses have been authorized by state boards and would count for the Ethics CPE you require.

Check and compare prices to ensure they are reasonable

Free courses are readily available and simple to obtain. However, most of the time, the courses come at an exorbitant price. Similar courses in the same subject of study are likely to be advertised at a different price when you search for other providers. As a result, the spot with the most affordable courses should be your first pick.

After reading over all of the criteria, you'll notice that Illumeo outperforms all other providers on the majority of them.

Illumeo is a premier CPE provider for 100+ certifications recognized in the US and worldwide, with a massive library of 12000+ hours of courses certified by regulatory bodies including NASBA, IRS, state accounting boards, and others.

Illumeo's CPE courses are among the best on the market. Our service provides a great emphasis on quality because of our skilled instructors and critiques courses. We also offer a great pricing point and an excellent support team for people interested in continuing professional education.

Try our free trial to see why it's one of the best subscription-based services currently available. We assure you will not be disappointed with what you find!