We are pleased to announce the opening of our spring 2021 CEPI Exam Prep Course and the NCEO's participation in the upcoming 17th Annual CEPI and Silicon Valley NASPP Symposium.

About the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI)

The NCEO has had a long and fruitful association with the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI). Founded in 1989, the CEPI is part of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University in California's Silicon Valley area. The CEPI is the only source of professional certification in equity compensation. It offers a self-study curriculum and set of exams testing knowledge and skills in four main equity compensation areas: tax; corporate and securities law; accounting; and equity plan design, analysis, and administration. For many years, the NCEO's executive director (first Corey Rosen and then Loren Rodgers) has served on the CEPI's advisory board.

There are three progressively harder exam levels, offered every spring and fall. Those who pass level 1 receive the Equity Compensation Associate (ECA) certification. Those who pass levels 1, 2, and 3 receive the Certified Equity Professional (CEP) certification.

Additionally, the CEPI recently introduced the Advanced Equity Compensation Accounting Certificate (AECA) exam and certification for financial reporting professionals in any organization offering equity compensation, as well as accounting professionals who are required to verify proper expensing under ASC 718 and other standards.

For many years, NCEO has supplied almost all the texts used in the CEPI's programs. Starting in 2020, the CEPI has digitally licensed the books from NCEO, but students can and do still buy print copies from us at a discount.

Spring 2021 CEPI Exam Prep Course Now Open

Seeing the need for a course to bridge the gap between reading books and taking exams, in 2003 the NCEO introduced the first iteration of our CEPI Exam Prep Course. It was for level 1 only, and had no webinars. Over the years, we progressively added more features and more students, who in turn suggested features to add. The Prep Course has hosted up to almost 500 students per season, and a comparison of our student roster against lists of newly minted CEPs has shown that the vast majority have taken our Prep Course. The course is currently led by Joanne Burns, an equity compensation professional with many years in the field.

The Prep Course offers hundreds of sample test questions for each level, a timed mock final exam, a downloadable quick reference guide, many supplemental documents, and four prerecorded question review webinars for each level. A working demo is available. If you or someone you know is taking the CEPI exams, check out our Prep Course.

NCEO to Speak at CEPI Symposium

The 17th Annual CEPI and Silicon Valley NASPP Symposium is a two-day virtual event held on March 23 and 24 that CEPI holds annually in conjunction with the Silicon Valley chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP), an equity compensation-centric membership association whose executive director, Barbara Baksa, is a longtime friend of the NCEO, former NCEO board member, and NCEO book author. At 9 am PDT, Prep Course Manager Joanne Burns will speak about the Prep Course, and NCEO Executive Director Loren Rodgers will speak as well.