Let’s face it: earning your CPE credits every year can be frustrating–and, as the deadline approaches, even a little stressful.
But CPE courses aren’t all bad!
After all, they’re meant not just to keep accounting professionals up-to-date on the state of affairs, but to help you succeed in your career. And, with the right CPE content, earning those credits can even be fun.
Known for having the industry’s best CPA exam review course options, it’s no surprise that Becker also dominates the CPE space. They offer a comprehensive course catalog featuring real life examples, unmatched expertise, and catered to every learning style–all led by their team of expert instructors.
But are their courses worth the investment? Let’s take a look to help you decide whether or not Becker’s CPE catalog is right for you.
Key Takeaways
- Live Webcasts: Becker offers live webcasts with Q&A sessions and partial credit options every weekday (CST) at 9 AM, 12 PM, and 2 PM. In the Prime subscription, weekends and nights are available.
- Extensive Course Catalog: Becker’s CPE subscriptions offer access to 475+ on-demand courses and 480+ live webcasts in even the lowest tier, with the Prime package boasting 700+ courses and 1,000+ live webcasts.
- Critical Update Courses: The Select and Prime subscriptions include critical updates on laws, taxes, ethics, and government regulations, keeping CPAs informed and compliant with ever-changing requirements.
- CPE Compliance Tracker: Available in the Prime package, the personalized CPE compliance tracker helps you manage certifications, track deadlines, and receive personalized course suggestions based on your needs.
- Flexible Learning Options: With Becker’s Prime subscription, you can access night and weekend webcasts, providing flexibility for busy professionals who need to earn CPE credits outside of regular working hours.
Becker CPE Course Options and Information
In this Becker CPE Review, let’s start with the basics: what are you getting? Becker offers continuing professional education resources in either an annual subscription or a course bundle.
Becker Prime CPE Subscription
As the top-tier offer, Prime can be purchased for 1 year or 2 years at a better value price-wise. According to their website, the 1-year version of Prime is the most popular Becker CPE course option. Exclusive features included in the Prime tier include a personalized CPE compliance tracker, night and weekend options for webcast courses, and current event and hot topics courses.
If you want whatever you purchase to deliver comprehensive coursework, Prime is also passionate about “new and more.” You’ll receive:
- 700+ on-demand courses (an extra 130 and 225 more than Select and Essentials)
- 1,000+ live online webcasts in a classroom setting with Q&A (520 more than the other tiers)
- 110+ newly-added course hours (60 more than the other tiers)
So, generally speaking, Prime is the choice Becker created for CPAs who work at accounting firms as opposed to being freelancers who can take classes whenever. Further, if you’re most interested in learning about trendy and timely topics, this is your package.
Becker Select CPE Subscription
Whereas Prime is the “pro package,” Select is right in the middle. The two primary features that Select subscribers get that Essentials subscribers do not is critical update courses and 50+ courses approved by the State Board of Accountancy’s accrediting council.
Critical update courses are offered yearly, quarterly, and monthly. They focus on important topics surrounding updates to laws, ethics, taxes, and general accounting must-knows as government agencies’ rules and regulations change over time.
Meanwhile, CPE requirements are often governed by the state that’s been home to your CPA journey. Further, many states require state-specific ethics courses (check your state requirements at the NASBA website).
So, generally speaking, Select is the “peace of mind” package. If you don’t need all of the extra CPE courses and flexible viewing options you get with the Prime subscription, but you want to make sure you don’t miss anything essential, Select is for you.
Becker Essentials CPE Subscription
The final Becker CPE course option is the Essentials subscription, which is designed to be exactly how it’s titled: essentials only. And, at a significant discount from the other options, the price reflects that.
You’re losing a lot of great features, but you still have 475+ on-demand courses, 480+ webcasts, and 50+ newly added CPE courses.
All of these great options are in addition to unlimited access and credit consumption, downloadable course content, and approval from a partner accountants trust, the NASBA.
Course Bundles
Finally, Becker CPE offers 13 distinctive on-demand course bundles in a wide variety of topics, from conquering current technologies to self-care for accountants to individual income tax return preparation.
These bundles range in price from $109 for the Virtual Work Fundamentals bundle up to $629 for the Institute of Internal Auditors Audit Leadership bundle.
Further, the amount of CPE credits you can earn per bundle ranges from 8.5 to 17.
And, while the bundles are a great deal, there are no courses exclusive to bundles–Becker’s CPE catalog for subscriptions includes everything. As to which tier you’d need for which bundle, it doesn’t tell you explicitly on Becker’s site, so you’d need to contact them if you have specific questions.
All of this is to say: the bundles are great, but the subscriptions are better. Save more, and learn more!
Becker CPE Discounts
Becker CPE Features
Interested in learning more about what Becker can do for your continuing education? Let’s dig into the features you’ll get in every package.
Becker CPE Standard Features
- A Massive Course Catalog: Even at the lowest tier, you’re getting a massive variety of professional education courses. Their team of expert instructors draws on their extensive experience and credentials to translate concepts from complex to comprehended with ease. The video lectures are engaging and relevant, and regardless of your learning process, there’s a course structure to help you learn. In every package, you’ll receive a minimum of:
- 475+ on-demand courses with downloadable study materials
- 480+ live webcasts with Q&A (you can earn partial credit for attending part of the class)
- 50+ newly added course hours annually
- Partners and Bonuses: Becker CPE partnered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy to get their courses approved for professional education accreditation. As a result, all of their CPE courses will get you the credit you need. Further, all packages boast unlimited credit consumption. So, if you live in a state where you need to get 120 credits within 3 years, like Arkansas, you can get all of those credits with a 1-year Prime subscription rather than spending more to do the same thing over a longer period of time.
- The Becker Difference: If you’ve taken a CPA review course from Becker, chances are, you passed your CPA exam with flying colors. After all, Becker CPA is the branch of the company that started it all. And, with a 96% satisfaction rating and millions of successful CPA candidates, it only makes sense to get your CPE credits from the best.
Becker CPE Select Features
As previously stated, there aren’t many differences between Becker’s CPE Essentials and Select subscriptions. However, the quality of those differences is far more important than the quantity:
- Critical Update Courses: From taxes, to A&A, to ethics, these monthly/quarterly/annual critical update courses are necessary for the CPA looking to stay on top of updates (and, perhaps more importantly, avoid litigation like the plague). Naturally, in a career where you’re often toe-to-toe with the government, one mistake can make or break your career–but it can feel impossible to keep up with it all.
Honestly, if you’re anything like me, it makes you miss every grueling exam day, every endless tutoring session, and makes you drool at the thought of one more set of MCQ practice questions. At least they couldn’t sue you for poor exam prep.
That’s why I truly recommend getting at least the Select subscription if you decide Becker’s CPE options are right for you. The Select subscriber gets two eight-hour-long courses annually. And, while this can be overwhelming, I personally appreciate that I can just get all of it out of the way at once. - State-Specific Ethics Courses: Ethics is more about just abiding by the law. It’s about doing the right thing for you, your firm, and most importantly, your clients. As a result, many states have state-specific ethics course requirements, which you’ll find in the Select subscription.
- Additional Course Options: Compared to the Essentials package, Select offers nearly 100 additional on-demand courses and 25 industry-specific courses, none of which are featured in the Essentials plan.
Becker CPE Prime Features
At just $300 more than the Select subscription for 1-year access, you get a treasure trove of additional courses and features:
- Hot Topic Courses: The biggest thing a lot of members of the CPA community tend to forget is that things change, constantly. And it isn’t just the law, nor is it merely rules and regulations. We live in a world where we’ve developed technology so quickly that our berry-eating cave brains haven’t even started to catch up. In fact, we’ve even developed a term for it: technostress. Becker’s CPE facilitators understand this, and that’s why they introduced special new courses for Prime subscribers called “Hot Topics” courses, which currently discuss subjects like AI, blockchain, virtual currency, and more.
- Current Events Courses: You already know that the CPA world is perpetually changing and evolving. Stay on top of things and reduce stress with Becker’s Current Events courses. According to the Becker site, you’ll learn about “the latest laws, rulings, and announcements” you need to know to stay above board.
- Night and Weekend Webcasts: Honestly, I don’t love that this isn’t included in the Select package as well, but I also understand that even in the “real world,” professionals charge more for their time outside of traditional work hours. So, if you’re a CPA who works a 9-5, you’ll need to access the webcast version of Becker’s courses outside of work hours. This is only possible with the Prime packages.
- Personalized CPE Compliance Tracker: I don’t know about you, but I love a good planner! So naturally, when I found that this was a bonus for Prime subscribers, I was all in. The tracker helps you track deadlines, manage certifications earned and import certifications from external sources, and it even gives you personalized course suggestions for wrapping up your CPE credits.
- More Resources: With 700 on-demand courses, you’re getting an extra 130 to 225 added to your catalog in comparison to Select and Essentials. Further, you’re getting an additional 500+ webcasts and 60 newly added course hours.
Pros
- Countless Courses: Even the most discerning CPA can find enough courses that interest them to complete their CPE requirements, thanks to Becker’s gargantuan catalog that includes Enrolled Agent CPE. You can sort by field of study, credit amount, and format (on-demand, webinar, or flash course). Further, in the Prime subscription, you can get personalized course suggestions based on your requirements and interests.
- Get It From the Best: Becker CPA is known for being the best there is when it comes to preparing for an exam format that leads 45-50% of takers to fail. Meanwhile, their programs sport a 96% satisfaction rate, and many Becker users pass difficult exams with ease on their first try. This is just as true of Becker CPE.
With a board of instructors, each averaging over 20 years of real-world experience relevant to their teaching niche and an overwhelming number of certifications and even doctorate degrees, it’s clear they have the best instructors. The best part? It’s made even more true when you get to take the courses, stay engaged, and learn. - State-Specific Ethics Courses: One of the best features you’ll find in both the Select and Prime subscriptions is their ethics courses approved by the NASBA. According to one CPA who suggests using Becker for your CPE,
“Becker also has all of the state-specific Ethics courses if your state requires one of those. Many CPE providers either don’t have them or charge extra.” - CPE Compliance Tracker: Full disclosure, I am in love with this tracker. It features templates for every state’s requirements via a partnership with the NASBA. You’re able to track you requirements in certain course topics, types, and formats. Further, you can upload and manage your certificates of completion, both from within the Becker site and from external organizations. Plus, my favorite part is the personalized course recommendations to help you fulfill all necessary aspects of your CPE credits.
- Must-Have Courses: If you’re just trying to get your CPE over with, Becker may not be the best choice. But if you actually want to learn how to be more successful in your career, avoid malpractice, and stay on top of news and new technology? You’re going to fall in love with Becker’s hot topics, current events, and critical update courses.
Cons
- Pricier Than Competitors: This is always the negative aspect that Becker faces in reviews. You’re going to pay more for Becker’s subscription than you are for the overwhelming majority of competitors. However, Becker is the best, and that’s how they’re able to charge more and remain on top. Further, many of their courses help you make more money, like classes on social media marketing, networking, client acquisition and retention, business writing, interviewing, and so much more.
- Pay More for Nights and Weekends: If you work a 9-to-5, you’re going to have to pay more if you want to participate in webcasts and Q&A sessions. Online classes for nights and weekends are only available for Prime subscribers. However, if you’re only interested in on-demand classes anyway, this may not be an issue.
Becker CPE vs Competitors
Becker is great. But are they better than the competition?
Becker vs Surgent CPE
Surgent’s CPE options are slightly more expensive but comparable to Becker’s. However, I don’t think this is a reflection of quality, just some differences.
For example, Surgent has some gamified courses that test the taker’s ability to perform in real-world scenarios, which just sounds fun and engaging. They also have a Weekly Expert Hour where their experts share news and updates in the CPA world.
Becker has a leg up when it comes to engagement, as many Surgent courses are self-study PDFs. Further, Becker stands out with its anti-technostress “hot topics” course selection and tools like its CPE Compliance Tracker.
Becker vs Gleim CPE
I think Gleim has excellent CPA exam prep courses and packages. However, Gleim is severely lacking compared to its competitors when it comes to CPE, and particularly with Becker.
I promise you, go to the Gleim site and the Becker site CPE pages and compare them. I’ll wait.
…shocking, right?
This isn’t to trash Gleim because they do have a lot of incredible options for exam preparation. However, with only 56 on-demand courses to choose from at a price that’s comparable to Becker and much higher than other competitors, simply put, Gleim ain’t it for CPE.
Final Verdict
We all know Becker CPA is the best you can get, and I believe the same is true for Becker CPE.
From its extensive course catalog, downloadable materials, and flexible options for different learning styles to its helpful tools and a price that closely rivals its nearest competitors, Becker is my choice for the best CPE subscription on the market.
I personally wouldn’t suggest the Essentials subscription unless your state doesn’t have ethics requirements. However, if you’re a learner like I am, I think Prime is a no-brainer.
From must-have courses to stay up-to-date and competitive in your field to learning flexibility and that delicious compliance tracker, the Prime subscription is just CPE gold.
Still not sure? Becker offers a free trial on the CPE course of your choice, so you can take it for a spin before you invest. Give it a try! I know you’ll love it as much as I do.
FAQs
The Prime package offers the most comprehensive access with 700+ on-demand courses, 1,000+ live webcasts, critical updates, and night/weekend webcasts. Select provides fewer courses and features but includes critical updates on important topics. Essentials offers fewer courses but covers the basics needed for CPE credits.
Yes, all Becker CPE courses are approved by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). This ensures that the CPE credits you earn will meet the continuing education requirements of most states.
Becker Prime offers 700+ on-demand courses, 1,000+ live webcasts, critical updates on laws and regulations, night and weekend webcast options, and a personalized CPE compliance tracker to help you stay organized and on track with your credits.
Yes, Becker’s Prime subscription includes night and weekend webcast options, making it ideal for busy professionals who need to complete CPE credits outside of standard work hours.
Yes! Becker offers a free trial on any CPE course of your choice, allowing you to test out the content and learning format before making a commitment. You can also save with CPE course discounts.
