The Road Not Taken Charted Financial Analyst (CFA)

Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) is primarily one of the toughest exams to crack.
The success rate is a mere 35-44% max in all the three levels which it comprises.
Though CFA is popular and many candidates from prestigious management B
schools take it up as a part of their course curriculum and pursue it with interest
and passion, it is still a distant dream for many who could not achieve it.
What is CFA?
The Charted financial Analyst is a professional credential offered by CFA institute
(formerly AIMR).It is primarily for professionals in the Investment and Financial
Sectors. It comprises of three levels and the difficulty is high across them. A
candidate who successfully clears all the 3 levels and meets certain professional
requirements is awarded a CFA charter and becomes a CFA Charter holder.
Why CFA?
While most graduate school programs cover a broad range of topics, the CFA
Program focuses specifically on investment knowledge, and the self-study format
allows you to continue working full time as you progress towards earning the CFA
charter. Candidates for the CFA Program include students entering the
investment field, professionals increasing their expertise and marketability, and
people making a career change into the investment profession from other
disciplines. With a six-decade history of maintaining a rigorous focus on globally
relevant investment knowledge, the CFA program is one of the most widely
known and respected investment credential around the world. The CFA Program
curriculum focuses on the practical knowledge and current real-world skills
necessary

in

the

global

investment

management

profession.

Employers

recognize the CFA charter as the definitive standard by which to measure the
competence, integrity and dedication of serious investment professionals which
is a career advantage.
Eligibility Criteria?
A bachelors degree or equivalent with a 4 year work experience. People without
work experience can also give a shot provided they get their charter only after 4

years of work experience. Apart from this the CFA asks to sign a professional
conduct statement and they are strict in those aspects. The exam happens in the
month of June every year and the fee varies depending upon the time you
register.
MBA or CFA?
Obtaining the qualification of CFA is no easy feat, the self-study program takes
several years to complete and participants must pass three six-hour exams, as
well as agree to abide by a strict code of ethics and standards of conduct. About
180,000 people signed up for the CFA exams last year, and the average age of
test takers was 30, according to the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, a nonprofit organization that awards the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
A certain period ago I came across the interview of CFA institute Managing
Director Thomas Robinson who oversees the education division in Bloomberg
BusinessWeek. He said Whether you need to do both really depends on what
you want to do. A lot of people looking at what to do with their life think is it one
versus the other. I view the CFA and the MBA as being very complementary. The
CFA is a very specialized credential that focuses really very deeply on 10
investment-related topics. If you want to analyze securities, or if someone wants
to specifically work in the investment management area as an analyst or
portfolio manager, then the CFA makes a lot of sense and that will get you
through the majority of your career. The MBA is more of a generalist designation.
You are not able to get as in-depth in the finance topics in an MBA program as in
the CFA curriculum. But certainly for those who are in the running for a
management position later in their careers, the MBA can be quite useful. I would
generally recommend if you want to work in the investment field and ultimately
want to end up in management that you start with your CFA, work for a few
years, and then do the MBA.
Challenges involved in getting a CFA?
It's a pretty daunting program and it takes a considerable amount of time to get
through. The curriculum is designed to be self-study. To become a CFA, one needs
to pass three exams (three levels). When you sign up for the exam, they send
you the curriculum to study and a box of six books that are about 3,500 pages,
with 18 study sessions. That intimidates a lot of folks and some people don't

show up on exam day or fail the first exam and don't continue. About one out of
five who sign up for the program actually complete it. You are not allowed to put
the CFA designation after your name until you've completed all three exams and
agree to abide by the code and standards.
The motive of CFA is very clear and to clear it we need to be even clearer. People
have cleared in the past but still there is a myth that CFA is tough to crack. Mind
that CFA does not have negative marking in their exams and a candidate is free
to give a shot at every question he or she is willing to. It only requires getting our
Basics right and certain amount of logical decision making. As the Proverb goes
Practice makes a man Perfect with rigorous practice one can be sure to clear
and become a certified Charter.

For further details regarding CFA course, curriculum, job opportunities after CFA
and examination structure visit their website (http://www.cfainstitute.org/)