Whether you gained it one year ago or 10 years ago, all CFA charterholders share a common pride in having attained a professional designation that’s considered to be the “gold standard” in investment knowledge and practice. As time has passed, however, your continuing education efforts have likely focused more tightly on topics related to your current role and responsibilities, and it’s easy for that gold standard to dull a little.

Earlier this year, CFA Institute released a package of refresher materials providing CFA members with a summary of key curriculum updates from the past decade. The Analyst spoke with Barbara Petitt—head of curriculum and learning experience at CFA Institute—about the process of updating information, the topics that have recently been included and revised, and what CFA Society Toronto members can do to both maintain their body of knowledge and contribute ideas for new curriculum content.

Updates and Refreshers

Every year, CFA Institute develops new readings for the CFA Program curriculum that are then shared with members as part of the Continuing Education (CE) offering. The 2018 curriculum updates include 10 readings across four main topics: alternative investments, asset allocation, economics, and fixed income. The expanded content on alternatives reflects the growing allocation to this asset class in investment portfolios and—by extension—the need to ensure CFA candidates and charterholders are as familiar as possible with investing in alternatives. The new asset allocation readings provide even greater coverage of liability-driven investment approaches than before, as asset allocations have long been applied by insurance companies and have been gaining traction in the pension industry. The new economics readings cover content on currency exchange rates—a topic of increasing importance, given long-term investors’ increased interest in global opportunities. Finally, the new readings in fixed income cover actively managed mandates that aren’t focused on beating a benchmark index, as well as content on applying environmental, social, and governance considerations to credit portfolios.

CFA Institute also undertook a pilot initiative this year aimed at providing veteran CFA charterholders with refresher readings that reflect changes to the practice of investment management over the decade from 2008 to 2017. As with the annual curriculum updates, the goal of this initiative is to offer more seasoned investment professionals the opportunity to update their knowledge base and enhance their skills, and was developed to address an engagement gap among mid-to-late-stage career professionals. The 10-year guide, “A Member’s Primer—Five Key Curriculum Updates since 2008” identifies significant changes that have had an impact on global markets and investor behaviours since the 2008 global financial crisis, and includes 15 selected readings covering five topics: alternative investments, economics, financial reporting and analysis, fixed income, and risk management.

CFA Institute is monitoring the uptake of this new guide to gain insight into how its members want to consume the curriculum updates to guide future delivery of this type of content. The refresher readings are currently available in written format, although CFA Institute is currently exploring opportunities to extend this content into podcasts, webinars, and other potential formats, and is assessing which options are most appealing to different member profiles.

Refreshers and Updates

These guides provide a rundown of the changes and why they’re important, as well as learning outcomes and summaries.

Adding and Removing Content

The CFA Program curriculum is updated annually to ensure candidates and members receive the most current information deemed necessary for them to become competent and successful investment professionals. Responsibility for developing the global body of investment knowledge and the candidate body of knowledge (CBOK) falls to the Education Advisory Committee (EAC).

The EAC is a diverse group of 14 members who reside in 11 different countries. The EAC follows a “continuous practice analysis” process to select topics for review and to identify priorities for developing the CBOK, which represents the core knowledge, skills, and abilities generally accepted and applied by investment professionals globally.

The practice analysis process includes interviews and surveys with institutional and private wealth market practitioners, regulators, university faculty, and policymakers. This direct connection with professionals across the industry is what allows the CFA Program curriculum to remain relevant; it also ensures that candidates and new CFA charterholders acquire the core competencies needed for success.

The practice analysis process includes the following:

As one can imagine, it can be difficult to find consensus when deciding on what content to add, given the potential for differences in practices across regions. To address this problem, the EAC purposefully seeks equal representation across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific regions in its membership, and encourages free-form feedback through surveys and emails. The EAC and CFA Institute staff also reach out to practitioners working in different markets in order to understand regional variances and identify potential biases. In one recent case, the EAC explored competencies in advising private clients. Practitioners in one European market mentioned foreign language skills and a knowledge of foreign exchange markets as important considerations, but the EAC found this not to be the case in other markets. The CE curriculum is designed to serve content that will be widely useful in candidates’ careers wherever they work, which is why some topics proposed by the CE end up not being added.

The EAC and CFA Institute staff are constantly on the lookout for emerging trends so as to respond quickly to changes moving into mainstream investment practice. The time required to incorporate new content into the curriculum, however, varies. Ultimately, that schedule is driven by the need to ensure that the CBOK continues to reflect required competencies for newly minted charterholders, so that the CFA Program maintains its gold-standard level of credibility.

The EAC will also remove topics on occasion, a fact that is just as relevant for veteran charterholders to know as added material. There are three main reasons for removing topics:

1. The CBOK and other governance mechanisms no longer ask for coverage. One recent example was the removal of content on benchmarks beyond what was needed for performance evaluation.
2. The EAC will receive feedback—often through the practice analysis process—that coverage of a topic should be reduced or eliminated. The recent example of this was the result of repeated suggestions that coverage on defined benefit pension plans should be reduced to reflect marketplace trends. Another suggestion, based on focus group feedback, was that content on rebalancing to a strategic asset allocation should be reduced and that the Perold–Sharpe analysis—which dated back to a 1988 article in the Financial Analysts Journal—should be removed.
3. Content from a reading is not sufficiently additive, given other readings on the same topic. Recently, some self-standing readings on monitoring clients’ investments were removed for this reason.

While CFA Institute would not typically discuss topics externally before they appeared in the curriculum, there have been recent exceptions. Last year, for example, CFA Institute announced that fintech coverage would be included in the 2019 curriculum, which will be published in the summer of 2018 when registration for the 2019 June exams opens.

Keeping Your Gold Standard Shiny

As a charterholder, you should take steps to maintain your knowledge, keep your skills up to date, and uphold the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence. Reviewing the annual curriculum updates and the 10-year refresher material is a perfect opportunity for you to maintain the gold standard you established for yourself. In addition, you may want to take an active role in influencing the content that’s updated or added in the future. If so, you can get involved with the EAC and its working body and/or the practice analysis process. (While there is representation for the Americas region on the EAC, there is currently no one from Canada.)

If you’re looking for a local perspective and application of this content, consider attending any of the myriad events CFA Society Toronto hosts. The Analyst is also a useful resource for local content. You’re welcome to contribute ideas or content for publication.

Here are five ways to let your gold standard shine:

1. Access refresher readings here.
2. If you’re interested in participating in the practice analysis process, contact Carey Hare (carey.hare@cfainstitute.org) or go to www.cfainstitute.org/en/programs/cfa/curriculum/practice-analysis.
3. If you want to get involved with the EAC, keep an eye on the Volunteer Opportunities page on CFA Institute’s website, or indicate your interest in volunteering by updating your Professional and Volunteer Interest Profiles.
4. Access CFA Society Toronto event calendar here.
5. If you’re interested in supporting other members with continuing education by contributing content for The Analyst, contact CFA Society Toronto’s marketing and communications specialist, Jonathan Mai, (jmai@cfatoronto.ca) for editorial guidelines.

Given the range of materials and formats available to brush up your knowledge, there’s no reason to let the gold standard you established for yourself take on “antique” status.