CPE credits can be expensive.
Granted, it’s not usually an issue for CPAs in public accounting. Public accounting firms want you to maintain your license, so they offer plenty of CPE options for their employees. To name a few: live CPE webinars, on-demand self-study options, and even out-of-state CPE conferences — all of which are complimentary for employees.
But it’s another story for CPAs in an industry role.
While being a CPA is often a preferred qualification, private companies don’t usually help you maintain an active CPA license once you’re hired. The expectation is that you’ll maintain it on your own. So in addition to your day-to-day responsibilities, you also need to find and earn CPE credits to make sure you’re meeting your state’s CPE requirements.
The problem: finding affordable CPE options that work for your schedule can be a challenge. But whether you’re a tax accountant, an auditor or even a finance professional, you need to earn and report CPE hours to keep your CPA license active.
The good news is a lot of public accounting firms offer webinars to the public for free. The better news is you don’t even have to look for them anymore. We’ve done the work for you.
Here’s a list of 8 public accounting firms that offer free live CPE webinars.
Free CPE Webinars from the Big Four
Perhaps the more well-known options, all of the Big Four firms offer many of their webinars to the public.
Deloitte
Deloitte calls their webinars Dbriefs, and they usually host at least one a week. They offer webinars in a wide variety of fields of study, so you’ll find webcasts related to accounting, finance and technology, as expected, but they also offer content for executives in human resources.
EY
EY is another reliable source of CPE webinars. And based on when they schedule some of their webinars, they also seem to accommodate CPAs outside of the U.S.
Keep in mind that if you’re looking for CPE credits, not all of their webinars are CPE eligible. CPE details for each webcast are listed on the registration page.
PWC
PWC doesn’t appear to host webinars as often as Deloitte or EY, but they do offer quality content. And while quarterly updates aren’t a series that’s specific to PWC, they’re well-known for these webcasts. Their Accounting and Assurance function provides CPE webinars focused on financial statement audits, accounting, governments and other business issues. And their Tax function offers CPE webinars that focus on the role of tax in a global business environment.
KPMG
KPMG rounds out the list of Big Four firms with free CPE webinars. Many of their functions have their own webinar page, including Tax, Advisory, and Financial Reporting. KPMG also often has “interactivity checks” during their webinars. Instead of answering polling questions to qualify for CPE credit, attendees must respond to pop-up notifications throughout the session that confirms whether they’ve been logged in for the entirety of the webinar.
CPE Webinars from Mid-Sized Accounting Firms
Many mid-sized public accounting firms also offer an impressive catalog of live webinars, oftentimes with even more frequency than the Big Four.
BDO
If you like to sign up for webinars in advance, BDO has you covered. They open most of their webinar registrations months ahead of schedule, giving you more than enough time to search for interesting topics or plan your CPE credits for the year. Note that using the left sidebar to filter for webinars that are CPE eligible will make it easier to sort through their list.
Moss Adams
Not only does Moss Adams have a reliable library of CPE webinars, they also have a free certificate database. If you forgot to download your CPE certificate after a webinar, you can find it easily on their certificate database at your convenience.
Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton’s subject matter experts also often host live webinars that are eligible for CPE credit. They cover topics ranging from the M&A landscape to nonprofit accounting.
Crowe
In addition to their individual webinars, Crowe sometimes hosts webinar series, during which they’ll cover related information over several sessions. Webinar series are helpful in gaining a comprehensive understanding of a specific topic.
Note that Crowe requires a phone number with registration, which most public accounting firms usually don’t require.
More Free CPE Webinars
Not only do we have a list of public accounting firms that offer free CPE webinars, we found those webinars for you. Visit the CPE calendar, where you can find a schedule of free CPE webinars offered by these and other companies.