Hello! We are reaching out to give you advanced notice regarding important changes to ISACA’s continuing professional education (CPE) policy.
- Beginning 1 January 2027, ISACA will evolve its approach to CPE alignment and activities to provide broader flexibility for professional development while maintaining certification integrity.
- Certification holders and candidates will be informed of this change early next month.
What’s happening? In 2027, certification holders will:
- See new flexibility allowing some CPE hours to focus on broader professional development, such as leadership, business skills, volunteering, and mentoring.
- Need to align their CPE activities more closely with their certification’s exam content outline or the domain. This new approach clarifies how CPE hours contribute to staying current with advances in the field.
Quick facts:
- Unchanged: Certification holders will still need 20 CPE hours per year and 120 CPE hours per three-year cycle per certification.
- What’s changing:
- A minimum of 90 of the 120 CPE hours must align with the exam content outline or the domain for the certification being renewed.
- Up to 30 CPE hours may be earned through other professional development including leadership, business acumen, soft skills, mentoring, or volunteering.
- Alternatively, certification holders can still align all 120 hours with the exam content outline or the domain if desired.
How you can support these changes:
- Communicate to members: Share this news with chapter members, certification holders, and candidates.
- Tailor chapter events: When planning events, ensure learning objectives and session descriptions map to the relevant exam content outline or domain so attendees can confidently claim aligned CPE hours.
- Consider the 90-hour requirement: Offer more technical/domain-specific sessions to help members meet the 90-hour alignment rule.
Resources to help you understand and communicate these changes can be found in the Certifications chapter toolkit, in the “CPE Policy Changes 2027 Resources” folder.
- There, you will find the policy, a slide deck, video, FAQ, suggested messaging for your chapter communications, and a CPE categories chart.
Thank you for your attention and support to understand and communicate these changes to members, certification holders, and certification candidates.
Sincerely,
Kirsten Lora, ISACA Vice President, Product Management
And ISACA’s Chapter Experience Team