MasterCPE

MasterCPE is an online provider of self-study continuing professional education for certified public accountants and enrolled agents, run by MasterCPE LLC from an office on Cypress Waters Blvd in Dallas, Texas. It is a learner product: an accountant buys a subscription or a single course, studies the material on their own schedule, takes the exam online and prints a certificate. The home page sums up the pitch as "Cut the hassle and cost from your Continuing Professional Education with MasterCPE," and backs it with three things it repeats throughout: hundreds of courses, a $179 subscription, and a 90-day money back guarantee.

The course catalog

The catalog is organized by subject, and the menu also lets a visitor browse courses for CPAs, courses for EAs, courses by CPE hours, or newest to oldest. The subject areas are Accounting and Auditing, Computer Software, Ethics, Finance, Management, Specialized Knowledge, Taxation and Other. The home page describes the range as "Hundreds of online CPE courses on the latest topics, provided by the experts."

The Accounting and Auditing listing shows how deep a single subject goes. It runs from short technical updates, such as Accounting Changes and Error Corrections, Accounting for Derivatives and Hedging, Accounting for Earnings per Share and Accounting for Foreign Currency (3.0 credits each), to long reference courses like the CFO Handbook and GAAP: Tax-Basis Q&A at 16.0 credits. In between sit courses on lease accounting under the new lease standard, pension and post-retirement benefits, income taxes, fair value accounting, business combinations, blockchain for CPAs, climate change accounting and sustainability reporting, and A Comparison of GAAP and IFRS Standards. Auditing titles cover compilations, reviews and preparations (one of them reviews recent peer review feedback on SSARS engagements), the risk assessment standard, internal controls for small businesses, and government auditing under the Yellow Book and the Green Book. Fraud gets its own cluster: Fraud: The Enron Scandal, Fraud and Small Business, Fraud Schemes using Social Engineering, Financial Statement Fraud: Prevention and Detection, and a course of fraud and corporate misconduct case studies.

Each listing shows a field of study, the CPE credits, the price and the profession it is aimed at, so an accountant can match a course to a specific requirement before buying.

Formats and how a course works

The course page explains the format plainly: "CPE courses are downloadable PDF files that you can view on your computer or print." Some courses are built from video instead. The descriptions of Classification and Accounting for Debt and Equity, Current Assets and Asset Valuation, and Equity Investments and Long-lived Assets each say the course is made up of a set of videos (six, five and three respectively). Either way the study is self-paced, and the home page promises "anytime, anywhere access."

Buying and enrolling follow a short sequence set out on the course page. Courses are grouped by subject and can be sorted by name, CPE hours or price. A subscriber sees "Included" in place of the price for covered courses and clicks a Take button to add the course to their account; anyone else clicks Buy to purchase an individual course. Everything the accountant has added or bought then appears on a My Courses page.

Assessment and certificates are immediate. "All grading is done online, and certificates are accessible as soon as you successfully complete a CPE course," the course page says, and the home page adds that certificates can be printed immediately after completing exams. A Help Center and an FAQ section sit in the menu, and the home page promises "great customer service."

Subscription and individual prices

The core product is the subscription. For $179, the home page says, a subscriber can "take any or all of the courses on MasterCPE (except ethics)" with "virtually unlimited access" to the course database for a full 12 months, which the site also puts as "365 days of CPA CPE." Subscriptions come with renewal discounts, and the home page mentions Group Discounts for everyone in a firm.

Courses can also be bought one at a time. On the Accounting and Auditing list, prices scale with credit hours: a 1.0-credit fraud case course is $14.95, a 2.0-credit course $19.95, 4.0 credits $34.95, 7.0 credits $54.95, 10.0 credits (Analysis and Uses of Financial Statements) $69.95, and the 16.0-credit handbooks $99.95. A single course is the simpler buy for an accountant who needs only a few hours or one specific topic; the subscription is aimed at those filling a full annual requirement.

There is a free way in as well. The home page invites visitors to "Earn free CPE by taking our sample course," and the menu carries a Free Demo Course and a Free Course page, so the format can be tried before paying.

The refund terms are part of the pitch. Under the heading "MasterCPE is Risk-Free," the home page says: "We provide a 90-day money back guarantee if you are not 100% satisfied with our CPE courses."

Accreditation and state acceptance

The accreditation claims are specific and come with a registry number. The home page states that "MasterCPE LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors," with Sponsor ID 112530, under a heading that reads NASBA QAS Approved CPE Provider. It also says MasterCPE is approved for CPE credits in all states, including the states that require State Board of Accountancy approval, and it links a Check Your State page with each state's licensing requirements. An Accreditation page sits in the Resources menu.

For enrolled agents

Enrolled agents are the second audience. Under the heading IRS Approved CPE Sponsor, the home page says: "If you are an Enrolled Agent, we have a wide selection of taxation courses that have been approved by the IRS." It adds that the subscription "includes the ethics course for enrolled agents, all for $179," a notable difference from the general ethics exclusion. The menu's Courses for EA view narrows the catalog to the courses meant for them. A practice that employs both CPAs and EAs can therefore run everyone's continuing education through the same provider and the same subscription model.

Who it suits

MasterCPE suits CPAs and enrolled agents who prefer to read or watch at their own pace and want the paperwork handled quickly: buy, study, pass the online exam, print the certificate. Solo practitioners and small firms filling an annual CPE requirement get the most from the $179 subscription, and the group discounts point at firms enrolling several staff. Accountants who need only a couple of hours, or a specific topic such as lease accounting or government auditing, can buy that single course instead.

The trade-off is format. MasterCPE describes everything it sells as self-study, built around PDF readings and some video courses with an online exam, so it fits accountants who are comfortable learning without a live instructor. CPAs should also note that the subscription excludes ethics courses.