(May 31 – 11:05 ET) – The Association for Investment Management and Research is expecting a record 60,000 candidates to write the Chartered Financial Analyst exam this Saturday on 170 sites in 73 countries and territories.
More than twice as many candidates have registered for the 2000 exam as there are existing CFA charterholders. Almost 32,000 investment professionals hold the CFA designation. Nearly 10,000 candidates will write the exam in Canada at 12 sites. Toronto will host one of the largest exam sittings in the world with nearly 6,000 candidates.
“Administering the annual CFA exam is a vast undertaking,” said AIMR president and CEO Thomas Bowman. “Maintaining the quality and integrity of the exam and the exam process is one of AIMR’s chief priorities and a key element in continually raising the industry’s professional standards. Our goal is to assure that all candidates – regardless of whether they take the exam in New York or New Zealand or elsewhere – have the same high-quality exam experience.”
Bowman says several factors have spurred recent demand for the CFA designation, including the globalization of capital markets, increased competition for top jobs, demand for professional training in investment decision-making, and expansion of the profession in the 1990s.
Candidates for the CFA designation must pass a series of three six-hour exams over at least a three-year period. The exams cover ethical and professional standards, securities analysis, financial accounting, quantitative analysis, economics and portfolio management. Exams are written in English.
To obtain the designation candidates also must have a minimum of three years of related professional experience and agree to adhere to stringent codes of ethical conduct and professional standards established by AIMR.
Test results should be available by September.
-IE Staff