How to maintain GRC Certifications

All of our certifications use the same Unified Certification Maintenance program to make the process streamlined and straightforward.

Unified Certification Maintenance Program

Maintaining ALL of your certifications is simple and straightforward. We use a single CPE program for all of our certifications.

All individuals who apply for and take an OCEG / GRC Certify exam (e.g., GRCP, GRCA, IPMP, IDPP, IAAP, ICEP) review and consent to this policy.

More details follow, but the short version is that you must BOTH:

  1. Maintain an Pro All Access Pass, and
  2. Complete 8 hours of continuing professional education every year for each certification.

Benefit of Double Credit: Our continuing education offerings are designed to be efficient. Many of our webinars and courses are applicable to more than one certification. This means you can earn credits for multiple certifications through a single learning experience. In other words, one webinar or course can fulfill the CPE requirements for several of your certifications simultaneously. One experience. Multiple credits.

Rules for OCEG Certifications (accredited by GRC Certify)

OCEG offers a number of certifications accredited by GRC Certify. All of our certifications follow the same unified program rules:

  1. Initial Certificate Validity: After successfully passing an exam, your certificate is valid for one full year, starting from the date you passed the exam. You may use the designated "letters" after you name to indicate the certification you passed and your status as a professional. For example, after you pass the GRC Professional exam, you are able to use GRCP after your name so long as you stay in compliance with this Unified Certification Maintenance program.
  2. First Year CPE Exemption: In your first year after passing the exam and earning the certification, you are not required to complete any Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits. This exemption is due to the minimum of 8 hours you dedicated to preparing for and taking the exam.
  3. CPE Requirements from Second Year: Starting from the beginning of your second year of certification, you are required to earn a minimum of 8 CPE credits each year. These credits must be in subjects relevant to the certification you hold.
  4. Certificate Renewal Conditions: Your certificate will automatically renew for another full year on its expiration date if BOTH of the following two conditions are met:
    1. You have an active Pro All Access Pass (also known as a Pro Membership), and
    2. You have fulfilled the required CPE credits for that year.
  5. Non-Renewal and Grace Period: If your certificate's expiration date arrives and you have not met both the conditions (active Pro All Access Pass and required CPE credits), your certification is marked as expired. You will no longer be able to display or claim the certification.

    You will also enter a 90-day grace period. During this time, if you fulfill BOTH conditions to maintain your certification, then your certification will automatically reactivate.
  6. Certification Termination Post-Grace Period: If you fail to meet BOTH conditions (active Pro All Access Pass and required CPE credits) by the end of the 90-day grace period, your certification will be removed from our records.
  7. Re-Certification: If your certificate is terminated, you must re-take the exam to gain your status.

Live Webinars & Online Events

Included with All Access Pass

Attend weekly or monthly OCEG webinars covering GRC Capabilities and specific topical areas like business continuity management, anti-money laundering, ethics, operational risk, etc.

When you hold an All Access Pass, you receive continuing professional education (CPE) credits that qualify for our GRC certifications and many other professional certifications.

View upcoming online events

On-Demand Webinar Recordings

Included in the All Access Pass

Choose from over 150 videos of previously recorded webinars.

All accumulated minutes count toward your continuing professional education (CPE) requirements. You don't have to do anything! Just watch these videos, and the time is automatically tracked on your CPE Dashboard.

View Webinar Recordings

On-Demand Videos

Included in the All Access Pass

We have several on-demand video series, such as the OCEG Tech Talk Series and the OCEG Coffee Talk Series, where OCEG executives interview experts in GRC.

All accumulated minutes count toward your continuing professional education (CPE) requirements. You don't have to do anything! Just watch these videos, and the time is automatically tracked on your CPE Dashboard.

See Video Series


Live In-Person Events & Training

In-Person training is available in various locations on six (6) continents. We also provide in-person training at your location (some organizations use this approach to maintain certifications for their entire team).

Frequently Asked Questions

Do my CPEs track to both OCEG and non-OCEG Certifications?

OCEG is able to guarantee tracking to all OCEG / GRC Certify certifications because our certifications follow the most modern standards for continuing education. We call these INTERNAL-CPEs.

We are also accredited by NASBA to administer CPEs for traditional certifications such as CPA, CA, CIA and other legal, audit and finance-related certifications. We call these EXTERNAL-CPEs.

However, NASBA has legacy requirements that prevent us from counting all continuing education experiences. What this means is that we are only able to provide EXTERNAL-CPEs for live webinars.

For how long is my certification valid?
  • When a certificate is awarded, it is awarded for a full year starting on the day you passed the exam.
  • Your first full year has no CPE requirement (because you spent at least 8 hours preparing for and taking the exam).
  • Starting your second year, you must earn at least eight (8) credits of continuing education related to the certification topic.
  • When a certificate renews, it renews for a full year. Automatic renewal on the day of certificate expiration happens if both of these conditions are true: a) Member has an active AAP and b) CPE requirement has been met (if applicable)
  • If the expiration date passes and you do not meet both conditions, you have a grace period of 90 days to fulfill the requirements (renewing your AAP and/or getting enough credits). After the grace period is over, your certification gets deleted from our records, and certificates are no longer available for display.
Can I count CPEs to multiple certifications?

Yes! Many of our continuing education experiences count toward multiple certifications. This means that a single webinar or course can count toward one or more of your certifications. One experience. Multiple credits.

For example, a session on "risk assessment" would apply to GRCP, GRCA and virtually all of our other certifications because "risk assessment" applies to all of those roles.