MIA CPE Requirements 2026

Professional accountants registered with MIA complete at least 120 CPE credit hours in every rolling three calendar year period, at least 60 of which must be structured and verifiable, and at least 20 structured and verifiable hours in each calendar year. Two of those 20 hours must relate to professional ethics. This article covers the credit hours, what Appendix V of the By-Laws treats as structured, the declaration due each December, and how the CPE audit works.

1. MIA CPE Requirements at a Glance

Each row above is a requirement, not a recommendation. Anywhere a point is guidance rather than an obligation, this article flags it.

2. Who Must Comply with MIA's CPE Requirements

MIA is a statutory body established under the Accountants Act 1967, and in Malaysia the word "Accountant" is protected: nobody may hold himself out or practise as an Accountant unless registered as a member of the Institute. That makes registration, and the CPE obligation attached to it, a condition of practising under the title.

MIA states that CPE requirements apply to all professionals regardless of the sector or the size of business in which they operate. Employment in industry, the public sector, academia or practice makes no difference to the base requirement.

Two groups carry extra conditions tied to renewal rather than to membership:

• Practising Certificate holders: Compliance with CPE has been a mandatory requirement for PC renewal since financial year 2018/2019, and each renewal tests the preceding year's credit hours.
• Approved company auditors: Renewal requires 10 of the 20 annual structured hours to relate to quality control standards, approved auditing standards, approved accounting standards or professional ethics. Audit licence holders demonstrate compliance for the preceding years of renewal.

New members aren't caught mid-year. Where a member is admitted between 1 July and 31 December, the CPE requirement begins in the following calendar year.

3. How Many CPE Credit Hours You Need, and How They're Counted

The measure is CPE credit hours, and three figures operate together:

The arithmetic is worth stating plainly. Twenty structured hours a year across three years is 60, so meeting the annual structured minimum every year satisfies the structured element of the rolling requirement. The remaining 60 hours of the 120 can be unstructured. The annual figure is the one that binds first, and it's a structured figure, not a general one.

Relevance is a condition, not a preference. Section B110.2 requires members to participate in CPE learning related to their scope of work and professional responsibilities, and MIA frames the obligation as participating in learning relevant to current and future work. The requirements are aligned with International Education Standard 7 issued by IFAC, which MIA implements as an IFAC member body.

4. The Calendar Year and the Rolling Three-Year Period

Both periods run on the calendar. The CPE year is 1 January to 31 December, and the rolling period covers three consecutive calendar years, moving forward by one year at a time.

The rolling design means the three-year total is recalculated every year rather than reset. A shortfall in one year stays in the calculation for three years before it drops out, and the annual structured minimum still has to be met in each of those years while it does.

Renewal cycles sit on top of this. MIA's membership and licensing renewals test past calendar years, so hours logged late can affect a Practising Certificate or an audit licence application rather than only a declaration.

5. Structured, Unstructured and Ethics Requirements

The split isn't about formality alone. Appendix V of the By-Laws divides activities into accredited structured learning and unstructured learning, and the difference for self-directed activity comes down to whether the programme requires the member to participate.

• Structured and verifiable: covers courses, conferences, formal study programmes, individual study programmes that require participation, technical writing, teaching, committee service and standards work, each with its own counting rule.
• Unstructured: covers three things and only three: reading technical, professional, financial or business literature; using audio tapes, videotapes, correspondence courses and similar material where no participation is required; and taking part in meetings, briefing sessions or discussion groups that aren't organised by the Institute or a recognised body but are relevant to the profession.
• Ethics: takes two structured and verifiable hours in every calendar year, effective 1 January 2026. Those two hours sit inside the annual 20 rather than on top of them, so the annual total didn't rise when the requirement came in. For approved company auditors, professional ethics is also one of the subject areas that satisfies the 10-hour technical requirement, so a single ethics course can serve both.

6. What Counts as Eligible CPE

Appendix V sets out the activities and the limits that come with them:

What doesn't count

• Unstructured activity, toward the 20 structured hours a year or the 60 structured hours across the rolling period. It fills the remaining 60 only.
• Audio, video and correspondence material where no participation is required, as structured learning. Same medium, different category.
• Attendance at general meetings and CARE mentoring, toward an approved company auditor's 10 technical hours. Appendix V excludes both as not technically related, though they still count as structured learning generally.
• Learning unrelated to your scope of work and professional responsibilities.
• Hours beyond each activity's cap, however much time was actually spent.

7. Online Learning, Self-Study, Webinars and On-Demand Education

MIA runs its own professional development programmes and has expanded webinars and online courses to support compliance. Its rules also recognise learning obtained elsewhere, including firm-run courses, university courses and individual study programmes by other providers.

For anything self-directed, Appendix V turns on one word. An individual study programme that requires participation by the member is accredited structured learning. The same content delivered as material to work through with no participation required is unstructured. Two entries in Appendix V describe the identical media, correspondence courses and recorded packages, and separate them on exactly that basis.

The overarching requirement is that the learning relates to your current and future work and professional responsibilities, and that the hours are structured and verifiable if they're to count toward the annual 20. Verifiability means MIA can check the activity if it asks: members log the event date, course title, organiser and duration, and the Institute reserves the right to request evidence of anything declared. In the By-Laws' own terms, an interactive online study programme requiring participation sits within accredited structured learning activities rather than unstructured learning.

EverCPE.com provides online self-study learning for accountants that may help you fulfil your CPE requirements and falls in the category of “Correspondence courses, audio or video packages, programmed texts and other individual study programmes relevant to the profession that require participation by the member”.

EverCPE.com is interactive, structured self-study rather than passive reading. Each learning session comes with:

• Content shaped around the exact accounting and auditing questions you have, instead of generic off-the-shelf courses
• Substantive material organised around clear learning objectives
• Knowledge checks with feedback as you go, so you fix any misunderstanding while you work through the learning session
• Scored multiple-choice questions that check whether you understand the material
• A certificate of completion once you complete the learning session, naming you, the session and the hours
• A full downloadable handout covering the session, its learning objectives, and its content

In short, EverCPE.com leaves you with documentation and evidence of the learning you completed.

8. Records, Reporting, Declarations and CPE Audits

Reporting runs through the member portal, and MIA separates logging hours from declaring compliance.

Not submitting certificates up front doesn't mean evidence is optional. MIA reserves the right to request evidence to verify any information a member provides, and every professional accountant is required to maintain records of compliance and to produce appropriate evidence if called upon.

The CPE audit is how that happens. MIA selects a sample of professional accountants at random from its records and may require them to produce evidence of compliance. The Institute publishes the results of each audit cycle in its CPE compliance statistics. The audit exists because IES 7 requires member bodies to monitor whether accountants meet the requirements and to provide appropriate sanctions for failure.

Sanctions follow two distinct failures. MIA states it will take disciplinary action against members who wilfully fail to comply, and against those who fail to respond to the Institute's inquiries on compliance. Members found in violation may face sanctions in accordance with the MIA Disciplinary Rules, handled through the Institute's complaints and sanctions process. Practising Certificates have been cancelled for CPE non-compliance.

9. Exemptions, Reduced Requirements and Special Circumstances

Exemption is granted at MIA's discretion under Sections B110.9 to B110.12 of the By-Laws, and the Institute retains sole discretion over whether to grant one and how far it extends. Council's power is described as granting a temporary or partial exemption, so an exemption isn't necessarily permanent or total.

A member must be a Chartered Accountant and satisfy one of four criteria:

Each of the first three has two limbs, both of which have to be met. Age alone doesn't qualify a member who continues in full-time work, and leaving full-time employment doesn't qualify a member under 60 unless one of the other bases applies.

Applications go through "Submit Applications" in My Account, and exemption is granted to members who meet the criteria and have submitted the relevant supporting documents. When the reason for the exemption lapses, the member resumes the full requirement under Section B110.

10. Official MIA Sources and Member Responsibility

This article sets out MIA's published rules as at the research date in the verification log below. It doesn't replace the MIA By-Laws (On Professional Ethics, Conduct and Practice), MIA's own guidance, or advice about your situation.

Research verified: 23 September 2026, against Section B110 and Appendix V of the MIA By-Laws (On Professional Ethics, Conduct and Practice) and MIA's published CPE guidance as at that date.

Disclaimer: CPE requirements can depend on individual membership status, professional circumstances, jurisdiction and other factors. Requirements may also change over time. Members are responsible for confirming their current CPE obligations directly with MIA and, where applicable, their local jurisdiction, employer, regulator or other relevant authority. EverCPE.com does not guarantee that completion of any particular course will satisfy a member's individual CPE requirements.