Managing multiple CPE certificates feels like running on different treadmills at once - it's exhausting and hits your wallet hard. Those of us with EA, CPA, or CMA designations know this challenge firsthand.
CPAs spend more than 40 hours each year on continuing education. CMAs must complete 30 hours yearly and dedicate 2 hours to Ethics. On top of that, a 2024 AICPA survey shows that 78% of accountants don't deal very well with finding quality content at reasonable prices.
This blog highlights the best CPE providers that support multi-credential professionals. You'll find detailed comparisons of features, advantages, drawbacks, and pricing that will help you pick the right option for your professional growth.
Comparison Table
MYCPE ONE
MYCPE ONE helps professionals manage multiple credentials efficiently. This platform provides continuing education for EAs, CPAs, CMAs, and more than 100+ other professional designations. Let's get into how it meets the needs of professionals who hold multiple credentials and need CPE options.
MYCPE ONE key features
MYCPE ONE offers powerful features that make continuing education easier:
- Extensive Content Library: Access to over 15,000+ hours of NASBA-approved CPE content covering accounting, audit, tax, business laws, ethics, and more. The platform's courses span 500+ subject areas with multiple designations.
- Diverse Learning Formats: Learn through live webinars, self-study courses, podcasts, e-books, and virtual conferences.
- Ethics Coverage: The platform has 50+ state-specific ethics courses and 700+ hours of ethics content. Professionals managing multiple credentials with different ethics requirements find this feature valuable.
- Compliance Tools: A detailed compliance tracker monitors your completed and pending requirements automatically.
- Mobile Application: iOS and Android apps help you use your commute time or breaks for professional development.
- Simplified Experience: A smart dashboard tracks your progress and sends reminders about compliance deadlines.
- Advanced Programs: Get access to 100+ advanced certification programs and eligibility courses for AICPA designations like PFS, ABV, and CFF.
MYCPE ONE pros and cons
Pros:
- Economical Solution: The platform costs $199 per year for unlimited access, offering 4x more content at about 1/3 the price of regular providers. Other platforms like Surgent ($899/year), Illumeo ($399/year), Western CPE ($899/year), and Lorman ($699/year) cost significantly more.
- Multi-Credential Support: Credits for over 100 qualifications make this platform perfect for professionals with multiple designations.
- Detailed Content: Regular updates and courses in 500+ subject areas help users meet various credential requirements through one subscription.
- Easy Reporting: The platform reports instantly to the IRS, CFP Board, and other governing bodies, making compliance easier for multi-credential professionals.
- Quality Assurance: Users rate 80% of the content 4.5+ stars, showing high satisfaction with course quality.
- Quick Support: Email, phone, or live chat support helps resolve technical issues or course questions.
Cons:
- Advanced Course Limitations: Niche providers might offer more specialized courses.
- Initial Complexity: Finding relevant courses in the extensive library takes time for new users.
Surgent
Surgent has been in the continuing education space for 35 years. The company has become a veteran among CPE providers that serve professionals with EA, CPA, and CMA certifications. They take pride in delivering timely, expert-led content that goes beyond simple compliance requirements. This matters a lot to professionals who manage multiple credentials at once.
Surgent key features
The platform gives multi-credential professionals several notable features:
- Extensive Course Library: You get access to more than 10,000 CPE credit hours in all formats. This makes it one of the largest content libraries you'll find.
- Frequent Content Updates: The team updates courses throughout the year. They quickly add new legislation and regulatory changes.
- Diverse Learning Formats: You can pick from live webinars (over 2,100 yearly), on-demand webcasts, downloadable self-study PDFs, and gamified courses.
- Credential-Specific Content: You'll find specialized courses made just for CMAs and EAs, among their CPA offerings.
- EasyRenew™ System: Every subscription comes with automatic renewal at the same price.
- Flexible Scheduling: Live webinars run in all time zones, including evenings and weekends.
Surgent pros and cons
Pros:
- Detailed Coverage: The large library covers specialized topics for various credentials.
- Instructor Quality: The faculty includes recognized experts with real-world experience.
- Timely Updates: Surgent leads the market with courses on new legislation or regulatory changes
- Unlimited Access: Your subscription lets you take as many courses as you want until it expires.
- Credential Reporting: The system automatically reports to governing bodies like the IRS.
- Course Quality: Professionals give the materials high ratings.
Cons:
- Higher Price Point: Packages cost $549-$899 per year. This costs more than competitors like MYCPE ONE.
- Short Trial Period: You get 3 days to review the platform before subscribing. This might not be enough time.
- Limited Package Customization: There are three main subscriptions. You can't really customize packages for specific credential combinations.
- Extended Webinar Length: Live sessions often run 2-4 hours. This can be tough to fit into busy schedules.
Becker
Becker, a leader in exam preparation materials, now brings their expertise to continuing education. They've become a top provider of CPE for EA, CPA, and CMA professionals. Their quality content and complete coverage make them an excellent choice for professionals who need to maintain multiple credentials.
Becker key features
Becker's platform comes packed with features that make continuing education easier:
- Extensive Course Library: You get access to over 1,700 CPE courses through 700+ on-demand courses and 1,000+ live webcasts each year.
- Multiple Learning Formats: You can pick from on-demand courses, live webcast sessions, and CPE-accredited podcasts
- Complete Subject Coverage: The courses cover 19 different study fields including taxes, accounting, auditing, information technology, ethics, finance, and personal development.
- State-Specific Ethics Coverage: Ethics courses are available for all 50 states and various jurisdictions.
- Compliance Tracking: Prime subscribers get a personalized CPE Compliance Tracker that monitors progress and ensures you meet requirements across multiple designations.
- Flexible Scheduling: Prime subscribers can access evening and weekend webcasts.
Becker pros and cons
Pros:
- High Completion Rate: The 85.70% completion rate for CPE courses in 2024 shows that professionals find the content engaging enough to finish.
- Credential-Specific Support: Each credential type (EA, CPA, CMA) has specialized solutions that make requirement management easier.
- Quality Content: Their background in exam prep shows in their well-laid-out CPE courses that go beyond simple compliance.
- Mobile Accessibility: You can access the platform from any device and work on CPE requirements anywhere.
- Unlimited Credit Consumption: Subscribers can take unlimited courses with no credit cap.
- NASBA Approval: The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) has registered Becker as a continuing professional education sponsor.
Cons:
- Premium Pricing: The complete offerings cost more than other options. Self-funding professionals should think over this aspect.
- Limited Payment Options: The 2-year Prime subscription is the only plan with payment options. This might be tough for those who want to spread out costs.
- Tiered Access: You'll need higher-tier subscriptions to get valuable features like night/weekend webcasts and the compliance tracker.
- Learning Curve: New users might need time to learn the extensive course catalog and features, especially when managing multiple credentials.
WebCE
WebCE has become a trusted education provider to more than 1 million professionals across the country. This 25-year old platform delivers over 1.5 million online courses each year. Professionals looking for user-friendly, affordable CPE options can find EA, CPA, and CMA credential courses all in one place.
WebCE key features
The platform provides a resilient continuing education experience that caters to professionals with multiple credentials:
- Extensive Course Selection: A diverse catalog covers tax, accounting, auditing, ethics, and professional development topics that apply to all three designations.
- Credential-Specific Content: Each designation has its own course library. This ensures professionals get relevant education that meets specific requirements for EAs, CPAs, and CMAs.
- Enhanced Learning Experience: Audio narration, videos, and interactive elements make technical content more engaging.
- On-Demand Access: Professionals can complete courses at their own pace and fit education around their busy work schedules.
- Mobile-Friendly Platform: The intuitive system works on any device. Students can study during commutes or other downtime.
WebCE pros and cons
Pros:
- Multi-Industry Support: WebCE serves professionals of all types, making it perfect for those with diverse designations.
- IRS-Approved Provider: The IRS has registered WebCE as an approved continuing education provider for enrolled agents and tax preparers with active PTINs.
- NASBA Registration: NASBA's National Registry of CPE Sponsors has registered the platform.
- Unlimited Exam Retakes: The platform reduces test anxiety by offering unlimited retakes if you don't pass a final exam first time.
- Immediate Certification: Professionals can download their certificates right after passing course exams, which helps keep records organized.
Cons:
- Limited Access Period: Regulatory guidelines restrict course access to 12 months from purchase date without extensions.
- Self-Reporting Requirements: CMA professionals must report their CPE credits through the Institute of Management Accountants website, though WebCE handles IRS reporting.
- Non-Transferable Credits: You can't carry forward extra hours earned in one CPE cycle to the next enrollment period.
- Less Specialized Content: Some competitors like Becker or Surgent might offer more advanced niche courses.
Illumeo
Illumeo stands out as an all-in-one learning platform that helps professionals manage multiple certifications. The platform supports more than 25 different credential types and offers a simple solution for EAs, CPAs, and CMAs who want to meet their continuing education requirements through a single subscription.
Illumeo key features
Illumeo has a complete set of tools that make continuing education easier for professionals with multiple credentials:
- Extensive Course Library: Access to over 1,700 on-demand courses and more than 100 live webinars annually that cover technical and non-technical study areas.
- Multi-Credential Support: The platform qualifies as a continuing education provider for more than 25 certification types including CPA, CMA, CIA, CPP, CISA, and many others.
- Global CPE Tracker: A powerful tool that tracks credits earned through Illumeo and lets professionals import and track CPE from other providers to create a central reporting system.
- Personal Development Planning: Custom learning experiences based on self-assessments that spot knowledge gaps and suggest relevant courses.
- Instructor Interaction: Students can ask questions about course content directly to instructors.
- AI-Enabled Learning: The first CPE platform that uses artificial intelligence to enhance course recommendations and learning experiences.
Illumeo pros and cons
Pros:
- Budget-Friendly Options: Subscription plans start at $169.00 (regularly $199.00). These prices compete well with other multi-credential CPE providers.
- Certification Variety: The platform supports 28 types of certifications.
- Free Content Access: New users can try over 80 free webinars and 12 free business courses before buying a subscription.
- Complete Tracking: The CPE Tracker monitors credits from Illumeo and external CPE activities in one central system.
- Regular Content Updates: New resources appear weekly to stay current with regulatory changes and industry developments.
- Quality Assurance: More than 200,000 course reviews show an average rating of 4.6 out of 5.0 stars.
Cons:
- Tiered Content Access: Higher-tier subscriptions may be needed for some group-exclusive content.
- Rigid Webinar Schedule: Live webinars happen at specific times that might not work for everyone.
- Learning Platform Limitations: Some users say Illumeo's interface works well but isn't as accessible as competitors like Becker.
Conclusion
Choosing the right CPE provider can make managing multiple credentials much easier. The best platforms streamline compliance, offer diverse learning formats, and keep content fresh so you stay ahead of industry changes. Look for providers that cover all your designations, offer state-specific ethics, and have flexible options like mobile learning. Sampling free trials or demo courses is a smart way to find the best fit. The right platform doesn’t just check the compliance box, it saves you time, keeps you organised, and supports your professional growth year after year. Invest in one that matches your goals and learning style.
For a deeper dive, check out our guide on Comparing the Best Online CPE Providers for CPA & Accounting Firms to see how top platforms stack up and which one aligns best with your goals.
FAQs
Q1. Which CPE providers are best for professionals with multiple credentials?
Top choices include MYCPE ONE, Surgent, Becker, WebCE, and Illumeo, each offering multi-credential coverage and flexible learning options.
Q2. How can I manage CPE requirements efficiently?
Choose platforms with comprehensive libraries and tracking tools. MYCPE ONE and Illumeo let you manage all credentials in one place.
Q3. Are there affordable CPE options?
Yes. Providers like MYCPE ONE offer large course libraries and multi-credential support at competitive rates.
Q4. What features matter most?
Look for diverse content, compliance tracking, flexible formats, and regular updates.
Q5. How is content quality maintained?
Leading providers use expert instructors and update courses frequently to reflect the latest standards and regulations.