Celebrating the Latest HFTP Academy Milestone Achieving NASBA sponsorship for QAS™ Self Study

The HFTP Academy has exciting news to share! As of May 2025, Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is officially approved by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) to offer official CPE credits for QAS™ Self Study programs. This expansion adds to the association's existing NASBA approved Group Internet Based and Group Live formats, providing our members with greater flexibility in meeting their professional education requirements. This designation demonstrates HFTP’s ongoing commitment to delivering high-quality continuing education.

What is a QAS™ Self Study program?

A QAS™ Self Study program is a course that you can complete on your own time, at your own pace, and without interacting synchronously with an instructor. These courses are designed following instructional design principles and best practices to allow learners to guide their own learning to achieve stated objectives asynchronously.

Not just any asynchronous learning content can be designated as a QAS Self Study program. These courses must adhere to a strict set of standards as laid out by the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. To achieve this milestone, the HFTP Learning Department carefully designed and developed courses to align with these standards. We submitted one sample course to undergo an in-depth and multi-phase application and instructional design review. Now this process is complete, and we are able to offer NASBA approved CPE credits for our courses.

We're committed to expanding our CPE-eligible selections across our online self-paced courses. Meeting both NASBA standards and our own quality benchmarks requires a thorough review of each course, so we're methodically working through our HFTP Academy catalog to certify more asynchronous offerings. This careful process ensures all CPE-eligible courses deliver the valuable credentials and high-quality instruction our members expect. For those holding HFTP certifications like the CHAE® or CHTP®, this will not have an impact as all our self-paced courses meet the HFTP CPE requirements.

Which courses offer NASBA approved CPE credits?

We are excited to share that we have four courses already offering NASBA approved credits:

  USALI 12th Edition Theory

• 12 CPE credits in Accounting

Certificate in Hospitality Applied Finance (CHAF)

• 5 CPE credits in Accounting

21st Century Skills: Communication

• 2.5 CPE credits in Personal Development

21st Century Skills: Creativity

• 2.5 CPE credits in Personal Development

Moving forward from here, all new courses are being designed and developed at this highest level of instructional quality to award NASBA CPE credits upon release. This includes the following courses that are planned to be released in the coming year:

• 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking

• 21st Century Skills: Collaboration

• 21st Century Skills: Self-Management

• USALI 12th Edition Practice

• Club Finances for Accountants

• Club Finances for Managers

In addition, we are reviewing and revising the courses already available in our catalog to make the necessary improvements to offer NASBA approved credits. These include:

• Certificate in Hospitality Applied Technology (CHAT)

• Club Finances for Bookkeepers and Junior Accountants

• Hospitality Benchmarking

• USALI 12th Edition Bridge

Look for the white banner on the catalog course cards to know which courses are offering NASBA approved CPE.

What about the certifications?

The Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive (CHAE) and Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) courses are currently undergoing full review and revision by the HFTP Learning Department and each respective advisory council. One aspect of this process is bringing these courses into NASBA compliance. When the re-designed courses are released, they will award NASBA CPE credits.

Who can use NASBA CPE credits?

The most obvious answer is Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) who need CPE credits to maintain their license; however, anyone in need of industry knowledge can benefit.

While your employer may not specifically require NASBA approved CPE credits, earning your continuing professional education credits from a NASBA approved sponsor demonstrates a commitment to rigorous professional standards and quality education.

Let’s look at a few examples of professionals who benefit from the HFTP Academy's high-quality courses:

• A new junior accountant can gain an introductory level understanding of hospitality finance with the Certificate in Hospitality Applied Finance course (available with NASBA approved CPE credit today!).

• A veteran hotel controller can escape a creative rut with the 21st Century Skills: Creativity course (available today with NASBA approved CPE credit ).

• An auditor with a CPA firm can learn about the nuances of accounting for clubs with the Club Finances for Bookkeepers and Junior Accountants course.

• A lawyer focused on hospitality law can learn about the new updates to the USALI in the USALI 12th Edition Bridge course.

It’s not just individuals that benefit. While self-study courses are ideal for independent learning, there are group applications as well:

College and university professors can incorporate HFTP Academy courses into hospitality-focused curriculum to supplement traditional learning practices. When students complete these courses, they leave classes with actual professional credits, jumpstarting their careers.

Employers can build a customized playlist of training for onboarding groups of new hires.

Departments can complete courses together as a team-building activity while simultaneously enhancing professional knowledge and skills. Completing the same training ensures consistent training across team members, and strategies such as scheduled discussions can foster knowledge sharing and build rapport.

What does this milestone mean for the future?

This is an exciting time of growth for HFTP. Behind the scenes, ideas and innovations are flowing, all to improve our member support and benefits. Since our relaunch in October 2024, the HFTP Academy has been expanding in great ways, implementing great tools like the Canvas ecosystem of learning management, credentials, and catalog, as well as exam proctoring software that allows CHAE and CHTP candidates to sit for their exams on their own schedule without a live proctor in the room.

This new NASBA sponsorship type is the next step towards building a comprehensive and rigorous catalog of learning opportunities designed to give our members, their teams, and the industry the opportunities to increase their knowledge and skills to excel.

"Achieving NASBA QAS sponsorship isn't just an accolade. It's validation of our commitment to excellence. Though we don't have traditional classrooms, we're building something more powerful: a foundation of knowledge that propels hospitality professionals forward. This milestone ensures our members receive education that meets the highest standards, creating opportunities for all industry stakeholders to transform the global hospitality landscape.” — Frank Wolfe, CAE, FIH | HFTP CEO

Are you ready to take the next step in your professional development?

Browse our courses on the HFTP Academy catalog and start earning NASBA approved CPE credits at your own pace. Whether you’re maintaining your CPA credentials, pursuing an HFTP certification, investing in your own career growth, or building your team, our expanding catalog of high-quality education awaits you.

Have additional questions?

Feel free to reach out to with any additional questions we are happy to help in designing your learning strategy!