Compliance
What should a BACB-compliant CEU certificate template include?
Published April 6, 2026
A "compliant" CEU certificate isn't about looking professional. It's about including the specific pieces of information the BACB expects so your learners can actually use the CEU toward their recertification. Miss one field and your learner can have their CEU rejected — which means an angry email to you. This is the full checklist of what a BACB-compliant CEU certificate template should contain.
What information must be on a BACB-compliant CEU certificate?
At minimum: the learner's full name as it appears on their BACB record, their BACB certification number (when applicable), the ACE provider's name and ACE provider number (e.g., OP-XX-XXXX), the title of the event or course, the date(s) the CEUs were earned, the number of CEU hours awarded, the type of CEU (Learning, Supervision, or Ethics), and a unique certificate identifier or signature so the certificate can be verified later.
Does the certificate have to list the type of CEU?
Yes. The BACB recognizes different CEU types — Learning, Supervision, and Ethics — and each has its own annual minimums for recertifying BCBAs and BCaBAs. A certificate that doesn't make the type explicit is essentially unusable for the parts of recertification that require Ethics or Supervision hours specifically.
Do I need to put my ACE provider number on the certificate?
Yes. Your ACE provider number (formatted like OP-XX-XXXX) is what proves the CEU was issued by an authorized provider. Without it, a learner can't demonstrate the CEU came from an approved source if they're audited.
Should certificates include the instructor's name?
The BACB doesn't strictly require an instructor name on every certificate, but it's strongly recommended — especially for live events and supervision hours. It establishes who delivered the content and helps with audit defensibility. Most modern certificate platforms let you set a default instructor and override it per course.
Does the certificate need a unique ID or verification number?
It's not strictly required, but it's the easiest way to make a certificate auditable. A unique certificate ID lets you match a learner's certificate back to your records instantly during a BACB audit. Platforms that auto-generate certificates assign these IDs for you.
What's the safest way to make sure my certificate template is compliant?
Use a platform that has a pre-built BACB-compliant template and auto-populates the required fields from your course setup. That way, the compliance work happens once — when you set up the course — instead of every time you manually generate a certificate.
CEU Lab Certs ships with pre-built BACB-compliant CEU and PDU templates. You enter your ACE provider info once, set up your course, and every certificate that goes out automatically includes every required field.
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