Italy: Revisori Legali Owe 20 Credits a Year, and They Stack

Italy runs two entirely separate continuing-education regimes for what is often the same person. The professional body’s regime is triennial and administered by the Ordini. The statutory auditor regime is annual, administered by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and renewed by a fresh ministerial programme every single year. A practitioner on both registers owes both, in full. They do not offset.

The instrument and the authority

The governing statute is D.Lgs. 27 gennaio 2010, n. 39, which transposes the EU Statutory Audit Directive into Italian law — confirmed on the Gazzetta Ufficiale’s own register pages. Continuing education sits at article 5, “Formazione continua”, as amended by D.Lgs. 17 luglio 2016, n. 135 and then by D.Lgs. 6 settembre 2024, n. 125, the Italian CSRD transposition.

The competent authority is the Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, acting through the Dipartimento della Ragioneria Generale dello Stato (RGS), Ispettorato Generale di Finanza, and formally through the Ragioniere Generale dello Stato. The register is the Registro dei revisori legali.

One correction worth making, because it appears in English-language summaries: Consob is not the authority for revisori legali continuing education. We found no primary source establishing any Consob role here. The authority is the MEF.

The numbers

Article 5, comma 5 requires each registered auditor to acquire « almeno venti crediti formativi » — at least twenty training credits — each year, with a minimum of 60 over the three-year period. Those figures are quoted in the MEF’s own determina adopting the annual programme.

What makes this regime distinctive is comma 2: the obligation consists of participation in programmes defined annually by the MEF. The content is not fixed in the decree. Each year the Ragioniere Generale dello Stato issues a determina adopting that year’s programme, and the 2026 programme runs from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026.

The 2026 determina was registered as MEF – RGS – RR 18, 20/02/2026. A small but useful point for anyone trying to cite it: the determina carries no separate determina number in its own text, only the registration reference. Its stated legal basis runs through articles 2, 5 and 21 of D.Lgs. 39/2010, with D.Lgs. 125/2024 in the recitals and article 14-bis of the EU directive as amended by the CSRD.

The programme is built on a series of RGS circolari — n. 26/2017, n. 6/2018, n. 3/2020, n. 12/2024, and n. 37 of 12 November 2024, the last specifically on sustainability-attestation training.

Subject composition: attributed, not verified

The CNDCEC’s own vademecum states that at least 10 of the 20 annual credits must be in subjects characterising statutory audit. We are attributing that figure to the vademecum rather than asserting it, and the reason is specific: the MEF determina we read does not state it and never uses the subject-group terminology the vademecum relies on, and the text of article 5 itself could not be retrieved. The figure is very likely right. It is not verified at source, and we are not going to present it as though it were.

For the same reason we are not reproducing the subject-group definitions. The ministerial annex defining them was unreachable.

No exemptions. None at all.

This is the sharpest contrast with the professional-body regime. The CNDCEC vademecum records the position flatly: non sono previste deroghe, esenzioni o esoneri — no derogations, exemptions or waivers are provided for.

Set that against the commercialisti regulation, which from 1 January 2026 fully exempts members who are or turn 65 during the triennium, and provides maternity and parenthood reductions of 45 credits. A 66-year-old commercialista who is also a revisore legale is exempt from one regime and owes the full 20 credits a year under the other. The new professional regulation says so expressly: its exemption covers its own training, not training needed to join or stay on external registers.

That is the stacking point, and it is the single most practically important thing on this page. Our guide to the commercialisti regime and its 90 CFP triennium covers the other half.

Sustainability attestation: Italy legislated early and set figures

Italy transposed the CSRD in D.Lgs. 6 settembre 2024, n. 125 and attached real numbers to it, which puts it well ahead of several larger Member States.

Auditors certified for sustainability attestation — revisori abilitati all’attestazione della sostenibilità — need 25 credits per calendar year, of which at least 10 in statutory-audit subjects and at least 10 in sustainability subjects. That figure appears both in the MEF determina for the 2026 programme and independently in the CNDCEC vademecum, which is the kind of corroboration the 10-of-20 figure above lacks.

There is also a transitional route. Under article 18, comma 4 of D.Lgs. 125/2024, persons on the register by 1 January 2026 are treated as qualified provided they had acquired at least five credits a year in sustainability reporting and attestation subjects, and file an application for certification. The mechanics sit in RGS circolare n. 37 of 12 November 2024.

The comparison is instructive. Italy had 25 credits a year in force; France set 20 hours a year for its new sustainability auditor category; Germany had not enacted its transposition law at all as at March 2026, with two conflicting draft figures circulating. The directive behind all of them sets no number, which is precisely how a spread this wide becomes possible.

What we could not establish

Two gaps, stated plainly rather than filled with plausible answers:

• The declaration deadline for revisori legali. Not established. The MEF’s dedicated pages are closed to automated retrieval and its departmental site returned errors.
• The record-retention period. Also not established, for the same reason.

What is verified is that the programme year runs 1 January to 31 December. If you need the filing mechanics, go to the MEF register portal directly — we would rather point you there than guess.

We are also aware of an RGS circolare dated September 2026 that appears to concern revisori training for 2026 to 2028. We could not retrieve it, and several Italian commentary sites describe “new rules” on that basis. We are not writing about it, because we have not read it. If you are planning a 2027 cycle, check whether that circolare has changed anything before relying on this page.

Frequently asked questions

How many credits does an Italian revisore legale need? At least 20 a year, and at least 60 across three years, under article 5, comma 5 of D.Lgs. 39/2010.

Who sets the syllabus? The Ministry of Economy and Finance, through an annual programme adopted by determina. The 2026 programme runs the calendar year.

Are there any exemptions? No. The regime provides no derogations, exemptions or waivers.

I am a commercialista and a revisore legale — do the obligations overlap? No. They stack. You owe both in full, and an exemption under one does not relieve the other.

What about sustainability attestation? 25 credits a year for certified auditors, at least 10 in audit subjects and 10 in sustainability subjects, with a transitional five-credits-a-year route for those registered by 1 January 2026.

Carry two obligations without doing the work twice with Learnsignal

An annual ministerial programme alongside a triennial professional obligation is a scheduling problem as much as a learning one, and the subjects that count toward both are where the efficiency is. Our CPD courses cover audit, reporting and sustainability subjects for practitioners holding more than one registration. Compare the French approach in our guide to commissaires aux comptes CPD. Italy’s annual programmes are published by the Gazzetta Ufficiale register pages.