A Year of CPE Planning: A Month-by-Month Guide for Internal Auditors

Internal auditing changes faster than most think. Risks evolve, technologies shift, and expectations from leadership continue to expand. The auditors who stay ahead are the ones who approach CPE as a steady, strategic practice rather than a year-end rush.

This guide lays out a simple, flexible framework to help you plan your CPEs across an entire year. You’ll learn how to identify your needs, choose a specialization that aligns with your goals, and build a quarterly plan that matches the rhythm of the audit calendar. Because Audit Pro gives you full access to our audit training library, you can move between any topic area at any time. The pathways included here are simply helpful groupings of skills to guide your focus.

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Step 1: Identify Your CPE Requirements and Your Career Priorities

Start the year with clarity. Before you choose topics or map out a timeline, spend some time understanding what you need to accomplish and where you want to grow.

Ask yourself:

• How many CPE hours do I need to maintain my certifications?
• Do I have specialized requirements, such as ethics or fraud credits?
• What responsibilities am I taking on in this year’s audit plan?
• Which skills will help me advance toward my next role or level?

A strong start sets the foundation for a more organized and meaningful learning year.

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Step 2: Choose the Specialization That Supports Your Goals (2026 Edition)

Once you understand your requirements and priorities, choose one or two focus areas to guide your learning. These suggested pathways reflect the most relevant and emerging skillsets shaping internal audit work in 2026. They aren’t packaged programs, just curated topic groupings to help you navigate the full library of Audit Pro training.

Below are the four areas that continue to gain importance in the profession:

Internal Audit Pathway

Build a Broad, Modern Skillset

Internal auditors today need risk awareness, IT literacy, strong communication skills, and the ability to advise the business. Internal audit functions are taking on more advisory roles, contributing insights on governance, efficiency, and technology adoption.

Key focus areas:

• Audit fundamentals
• IT general controls
• Governance and oversight
• Fieldwork efficiencies

See internal audit courses

IT Audit Pathway

Strengthen Technology and Cyber Risk Insight

Technology is at the center of nearly every risk discussion today. Organizations face escalating technology risks no matter their industry, from cloud misconfigurations to AI governance challenges.

Key focus areas:

• Information security basics
• Cloud and AI auditing
• Data protection and incident response

See IT audit courses

Fraud Pathway

Advance Your Fraud Detection and Prevention Skills

Fraud continues to evolve with increased automation and digital workflows. Remote work, rapid payments, and complex supply chains have created new opportunities for fraud schemes and make this focus more important than ever for internal auditors in 2026.

Key focus areas:

• Fraud detection techniques
• Data mining
• Designing fraud analytics programs

See fraud courses

Management & Leadership Pathway

Prepare for Future Audit Leadership Roles

Audit leaders need to guide teams, communicate with stakeholders, and help shape risk strategies. Boards and executives want internal auditors to act as strategic partners to help them create proactive action plans.

Key focus areas:

• Leading audit teams
• Engaging audit committees
• Governance and risk strategy

See leadership courses

You can check out all the courses we recommend for each pathway here:

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Step 3: Build a Quarterly CPE Plan Using Your Chosen Pathway

Once you choose your focus area, build a quarterly plan that aligns with natural workload cycles. Here’s an example using our Fraud Pathway to demonstrate how you might structure an entire year of learning. Keep in mind, your actual plan may vary based on your particular state or governing body's requirements.

Example Quarterly Plan (Fraud Specialization)

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Build a Year of Growth, Not Just Credits

Planning your CPE early helps you stay confident during busy season, grow in the areas that matter most to your career, and avoid the December rush. Whether your focus leans toward fraud, IT, leadership, or broad audit foundations, you have the freedom to explore every topic through Audit Pro’s all-access subscription.

ACI Learning knows that a strategic, well-rounded CPE plan makes all the difference. Audit Pro brings together the full audit training library so you can build skills your way, on your schedule. With the flexibility to explore a wide range of topics, you can create a CPE plan that grows with you and supports your evolving career goals and interests.

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