CPE records for every partner are one of the things a peer reviewer asks for. Check whether your firm needs a peer review certificate — Phase IV applies from 31 December 2026.
From calendar year 2026 onwards, ICAI sets the CPE hours requirement calendar-year-wise — 1 January to 31 December — by the member’s age and whether a Certificate of Practice is held. A COP holder below 60 needs 40 CPE hours in the year: 20 structured, and 20 that can be structured or unstructured at the member’s choice. A COP holder aged 60 or above but below 70 needs 30 hours: 10 structured, through physical mode or Digital Learning Hub structured videos, and 20 of either kind. A COP holder aged 70 or above but below 80 needs 20 hours of either kind, and one aged 80 or above needs 10. A member below 60 who does not hold a COP needs 20 hours of either kind, as does a member below 60 residing abroad, with or without a COP. A member aged 60 or above without a COP is exempted. The requirement is stated for 2026 onwards, so the same figures apply to calendar year 2027 unless ICAI revises them.
Three rules decide which row you are in. Age is taken on a uniform cut-off: a member who completes 59 years and 364 days, 69 years and 364 days or 79 years and 364 days at any time during the calendar year is treated as having attained 60, 70 or 80 for that whole year. A change in COP status turns on 30 June: a member who obtains the COP on or before 30 June is a COP holder for the year, and one who surrenders it on or before 30 June is a non-COP holder for the year. A member who both obtains and surrenders it in the same year is a COP holder only if it was held for 183 days or more, counting the day of obtaining and leaving out the day of surrender. And the calendar year in which membership is first obtained is exempt.
Within the structured hours there are two further conditions for COP holders below 60. Only 4 of the 20 structured hours can be completed through the Digital Learning Hub; structured hours earned online beyond that are not wasted, but they count as unstructured hours. And from calendar year 2026, one structured hour each on Standards on Auditing, the Code of Ethics and Digital Technology — three hours in all — is mandatory every year, through physical mode or Digital Learning Hub structured videos. The same three hours apply to the 60-to-70 slab, which may complete its 10 structured hours entirely through the Digital Learning Hub or physical mode.
The calculator takes the hours on your CPE Portal in three buckets — structured in physical mode, structured online, and unstructured — applies the online cap, and reports two shortfalls: structured hours still needed, and further hours of either kind. The larger of the total shortfall and the structured shortfall is what you still have to do by 31 December. Unstructured hours count only when the self-declaration is submitted on the CPE Portal, on or before 31 December of the year.
A practising member born in 1984 has, by 1 October 2026, attended 8 structured hours in physical mode, completed 6 structured hours on the Digital Learning Hub and declared 10 unstructured hours. The Standards on Auditing hour is done; the Code of Ethics and Digital Technology hours are not.
