CPCU® Program Requirements

To earn the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation, the following are required by the American Institute for CPCU and Insurance Institute of America:

• Pass the exams for all required and elective courses
• Meet the experience requirements: You must be engaged in acceptable insurance activities for any 24 months (minimum of 17½ hours per week) during the five-year period immediately preceding the award of the CPCU designation.
• Take and abide by the Professional Ethics Pledge.

Please visit the AICPCU Website for more details about the CPCU Experience, Code of Ethics, and Continuing Education requirements.

CPCU® Exam Information

Many CPCU exams use the short-answer essay format and typically include 30 to 35 multipoint questions that total 100 points. The exceptions are the CPCU 553 and CPCU 557 survey exams, which contain 100 objective (multiple-choice) questions, and the CPCU 520, CPCU 530, and CPCU 540 exams, which contain 85 to 100 multiple-choice questions. All CPCU exams are three hours long.

CPCU® Curriculum

Candidates must pass eight examinations through the American Institute for CPCU and Insurance Institute of America, one for each of the five required courses and three concentration courses, to earn the CPCU designation:

Required Courses

CPCU 510: Foundations of Risk Management, Insurance and Professionalism

Covers the fundamentals of risk and risk management, insurance policy features and analysis, and the legal aspects of insurance. This course also highlights the CPCU Code of Ethics and outlines the ethics standards that apply to professionals in the property and casualty insurance industry.

CPCU 520: Insurance Operations, Regulation, and Statutory Accounting

Gives an in-depth look at how the various insurance functions interact with one another, as well as with outside entities to provide insurance and related services. Topics covered in the course include insurance regulation, the underwriting process, property and liability insurance underwriting, setting insurance rates, claims adjusting, reinsurance, and insurer financial statements.

CPCU 530: The Legal Environment of Insurance

Provides a solid understanding of the legal system as it pertains to insurance domestically and internationally. Major topics covered in this course include US legal and regulatory systems, contracts, torts, agency law, and the international legal environment.

CPCU 540: Finance for Risk Management and Insurance Professionals

Provides detailed information on financial statement analysis, time value of money, insurer investment strategies, and capital needs and structures of insurers. After completing this course, students will gain an advanced understanding of basic accounting and finance principles that apply to any organization.

CPCU 560: Financial Services Institutions

Examines the players and makeup of the financial system and how financial institutions and products affect the United States and the global marketplace. By the end of this course, students will have a greater understanding of the different financial markets, their principal institutions, financial assets and transactions in the markets, the Federal Reserve, commercial banking, and risks faced by financial institutions.

Choose your concentration (Courses may not be combined from both concentrations.)

Commercial Lines

CPCU 551: Commercial Property Risk Management and Insurance

Examines property loss exposures of businesses and the insurance coverage and noninsurance techniques used to manage such exposures. Key topics covered in this course are commercial building and content coverage, personal property and building coverage options, crime insurance, flood and earthquake forms, businessowners policies, equipment breakdown coverage, inland marine coverage, ocean cargo insurance, and suretyship.

CPCU 552: Financial Decisions at Retirement

Covers commercial liability loss exposures and the insurance coverage and noninsurance techniques used to manage those exposures. Multiple types of liability insurance are reviewed, such as employers, professional, management, business automobile, umbrella, and excess liability insurance. Other topics that round out this course include workers' compensation, coverage under general liability policies, terrorism risk, and cyber risk.

CPCU 553: Survey of Personal Risk Management, Insurance and Financial

Provides students with detailed information on topics that surround personal risk management, insurance, and financial planning. Some of the main topics covered are auto insurance, homeowners insurance, liability insurance, life and health insurance, investments, retirement planning, and estate planning.

Personal Lines

CPCU 555: Personal Risk Management and Property and Liability Insurance

Covers the fundamentals of personal risk management, the development of personal insurance products, and the underwriting of these products. This course pays special attention to homeowner policies and personal auto insurance.

CPCU 556: Personal Financial Planning

Gives a detailed overview of life and health insurance, types of investment products, asset allocation, retirement plans and distributions, estate planning tools, and transfer taxes. After reviewing these topics, students will be knowledgeable in personal financial planning basics.

CPCU 557: Survey of Commercial Risk Management and Insuranc

Concentrates on commercial insurance, covering important topics, such as commercial property and liability insurance, commercial crime, business coverage, employers' liability, workers' compensation, property and liability risk control, and specialty insurance.

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