Road to CFA

Thơ CFA

2010-08-04T12:10:00.006-04:00

Đức là ai, Hà là ai ?

Sao các người pass Level 2 ?

Minh ở đâu, Hòa ở đâu ?

Bí quyết gì thì hãy khai mau !

Thu Thủy kia, ngươi chẳng thấy khao ?

Cứ đủng đỉnh mà pass

là cớ làm sao ?

Hỡi ông Giời cao …

Economics and Sales Productivity during World Cup 2010

2010-07-03T21:53:00.001-04:00

It is interesting to see how a global event like World Cup affect aspect of daily routine, work productivity and hence the economy

Crisis of credit explained

2010-06-23T05:15:00.006-04:00

This is a brilliant explanation and visualization of the crisis of credit

Part I:

Part II:

Financial Market Integrity Index

2010-06-16T05:40:00.009-04:00

The Financial Market Integrity IndexTM gauges CFA charterholders’ perceptions of the state of ethics and integrity in six different markets around the world and how these perceptions change over time. The Financial Market Integrity Index measures the level of integrity — the ethics of market participants and the effectiveness of market systems in ensuring market integrity — that CFA charterholders experience in their respective markets.

This input from investment professionals helps raise awareness of leading issues and informs our work in conducting regulatory outreach and developing professional standards.

Explore this Topic:
2010 Financial Market Integrity Index Methodology (PDF)

2010 Financial Market Integrity Index Reports and Highlights
Canada
Greatest concern: Effectiveness of the Canadian regulatory model.
Germany
Greatest concern: Supervisory board system.
Hong Kong
Key concern: Better policing of insider trading in Hong Kong market.
Japan
Top concern remains: Corporate governance and shareowner rights among investors both inside and outside Japan.
United Kingdom
Greatest concern: Integrity of financial advisers.
United States
Greatest concern: US Regulatory System.

BROKER'S WORLD CANADA: Advisers Ranked Low on Ethics

2010-06-15T04:33:00.000-04:00

TORONTO (Dow Jones)--Financial advisers in Canada are not very well-regarded when it comes to ethical reputation, according to a recent survey.

In the Canada 2010 Financial Market Integrity Index released by the CFA Institute, financial advisers received a 3.1 score for ethical behavior, which is seventh among nine groups of financial professionals. This year's score was a slight improvement from the 3.0 score in 2009 and 2008.

Canadian financial advisers received the same ethics score as their U.S. counterparts, except that the advisers on the other side of the border placed third from the top on ethical behavior of financial professionals.

Among the other professions surveyed in Canada, pension-fund managers got the highest score, at 3.9; buy-side analysts scored 3.6; corporate boards of public companies, 3.4; mutual-fund managers, 3.4; executive management of public companies, 3.3; private equity managers, 3.2; sell-side analysts, 3.0; and hedge-fund managers, 2.8, which was the lowest.

The survey in Canada was answered by 576 Canadian market players in the financial sector, 5% of whom are financial advisers.

Survey respondents most often cited the ethical behavior of financial advisers as cause for concern. The comments on retail brokers' ethics ranged from a lack of training or knowledge to inherent conflicts of interest, particuarly the inability of advisers to balance profit motives with clients' interests.

"We've heard similar comments in other markets," said Matthew Orsagh, director of capital markets for the CFA Institute. In the U.S. for instance, causes of concern focused on conflicts of interest, adviser incentive/compensation structures, and the suitability of investment advice given by advisers. "The complaints are similar -- advisers need to be more transparent about fees," Orsagh said.

What's unique to Canada is the respondents' concerns about the absence of a single fiduciary standard, which mainly stems from not having a single securities regulator.

Canada currently has 13 securities commmissions, one for each Canadian province and territory. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty last month unveiled proposed legislation for the creation of the Canadian Securities Regulatory Authority. The Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether such a move is constitutional. Alberta, Quebec, and Manitoba don't support the proposed creation of a national regulator.

"The 'one regulator' issue is taking a lot of people's energy," Orsagh said.

On the rosier side, respondents both in and out of Canada agreed that the overall integrity level of financial professionals here was above average and deserved a rating of 3.5.

For the outsiders, the improvement was most significant in the perceived effectiveness of Canada's corporate-governance standards, moving to 3.4 in 2010 from last year's 3.1.

Canadian financial professionals, on the other hand, are far more willing to invest in domestic securities now than at any time in the past three years.

(Evelyn Juan writes about financial advisers and their jobs, with a particular focus on the challenges and regulatory issues facing the brokerage business as it moves from a transaction-oriented model to wealth-management financial advising. She can be reached at 416-306-2025 or by email: evelyn.juan@dowjones.com.)

TALK BACK: We invite readers to send us comments on this or other financial news topics. Please email us at TalkbackAmericas@dowjones.com. Readers should include their full names, work or home addresses and telephone numbers for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit and publish your comments along with your name; we reserve the right not to publish reader comments

(source: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100611-708043.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesAmericas)

CFA Exam Draws Record 139,900 as Asia Applicants Increase 12%

2010-06-10T01:12:00.003-04:00

By Michael J. Moore

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- A record 139,900 candidates enrolled for the Chartered Financial Analyst exam in June, an increase of 9 percent from last year as applicants seek a hiring edge in the recovering financial-services industry.

The number of registrations rose 12 percent in Asia, 9 percent in Europe and 5 percent in the Americas, the Charlottesville, Virginia-based CFA Institute said today in a statement. The first level of the exam is in December and June; the final two levels are administered only in June. Fewer than half the applicants at each level passed last June.

Candidates take the test hoping the certification can lead to better jobs, higher salaries and a deeper understanding of finance. Financial firms worldwide have cut more than 346,000 workers since the credit crisis began in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. U.S. banks posted their highest profits in two years in the first quarter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said last month.

“At this time of global economic instability, we believe it is especially important for the investment industry to be led by professionals who put investors’ interests first,” John Rogers, chief executive officer of the CFA Institute, said in the statement. “Finance markets cannot function effectively without ethical behavior, and transparency, and CFA charterholders are integral to this.”

Candidates from 160 countries are scheduled for the three levels of the exam. Forty percent of registrations for the test in June come from Asia, according to the CFA Institute statement. Applications from China climbed 19 percent to 15,700. India had the largest increase, 39 percent to 11,800. The U.S. had the most registrations with 38,200, up 3 percent from a year earlier.

The Topics

There are about 88,700 CFA charter holders globally, according to the organization’s website. The not-for-profit CFA Institute said candidates spend an average of 300 hours studying for each phase of the test. Topics range from ethical standards and securities valuation to financial statement analysis and portfolio management. Completing all three levels costs about $2,500 and takes an average of four years.

The CFA program started in 1963 and stems in part from Benjamin Graham, a pioneer of value investing who mentored Warren Buffett and advocated a rating system for financial analysts.

--Editors: William Ahearn, David Scheer

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Moore in New York at mmoore55@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alec McCabe at amccabe@bloomberg.net
(source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-02/cfa-exam-draws-record-139-900-as-asia-applicants-increase-12-.html)

The Cornerstone of Every CFA Exam "Pass" Grade - study timetable

2010-04-15T22:33:00.002-04:00

I bet you’ve heard many stories about what it takes to pass the three sequential CFA exams:

A “friend of a friend” didn’t leave their house for 3 months before exam day…
“I didn’t exercise for 6 weeks”…
“Coffee became my most important food group”…

And the list goes on. Everyone has their own techniques to pass the grueling level I, II and II CFA exams. And regardless of prior work or academic experience, everyone has to dig deep to get over the line when it comes to earning the CFA charter.

We here at the The CFA Loophole believe the key to passing each CFA exam is a little hard work mixed with a realistic study timetable and a month of exam revision before exam day.
But the cornerstone of every CFA Exam “Pass Grade” is your study timetable. If you plan your study timetable well at the outset and stick to it, you’re placing yourself in the best position to hit a home run come exam day.

Our Top Tips for a Successful CFA Exam Study Timetable:

“Be realistic” – If you can’t stick to a 40 hour week study regime, don’t set this as a study goal! You will only end up disappointing yourself while adding non-existent pressure to other parts of your life. Perhaps set aside 3 weeknights and one day on the weekend, or study during the day on weekends with the nights free. Whatever study timetable you choose, make it realistic, achievable and most of all, stick to it. Otherwise you will end up feeling guilty for not living up to your unrealistic standards.

“Understand the Beast” – The “Beast” here is the exam. You need to understand that you are preparing for a 6 hour closed book exam, comprising challenging material with many tricks and traps designed to trip-up unsuspecting candidates. Remember that the CFA Institute recommends approximately 300 hours of preparation time. Make sure that your study timetable starts early enough to allow a month of revision before the exam and that you have enough time to compile the required hours to enable you to “understand” as opposed to “rote learn” the learning outcomes.

“Revise as you Go” – A number of the staff here at the CFA Loophole have found that by not periodically going over the early material, by the time they got to practice exams and final revision, they didn’t even recognize some of the early material!! As you can gather, its not the ideal situation to be re-learning concepts when you should be taking practice exams during your final few weeks before the CFA Exam. To remedy this problem, building revision into your study timetable is crucial. We recommend at least a fortnightly revision session to keep those early study sessions fresh in your mind.

“Take Time Off” – not time off from study, but work and other commitments. The team here at the CFA Loophole believe that if possible, a few days off work close to exam day can make a big difference in helping one focus and prepare. We recommend raising this with your boss as soon as possible. Hopefully your boss will agree that a few days off before the exam will benefit you and ultimately the firm should you pass. Some of us here at the CFA Loophole even took annual leave to prepare which you may need to consider.

So now you have it, our top tips for constructing your CFA Exam Study Timetable, the cornerstone behind every “pass” grade on the CFA Exam.

(source: http://analystloophole.com/level-1/the-cornerstone-of-every-cfa-exam-pass-grade/)

Least true == FALSE

2010-02-05T04:26:00.003-05:00

As I continue to grind through the CFA Level 2 material, I'm struck by the number of questions that use a "Which of the following statements is the least true ..." format.

Here's a tip to minimize the chance that you'll misread these types of questions: cross out the "least true " and write in ""Which of the following statements is "FALSE"".

(http://financialrounds.blogspot.com)

Exam tips

2010-02-05T04:24:00.002-05:00

I will start collecting and writing my own experiences on tips and tricks when taking CFA exams.

If you are interested, please find them in label CFA exam tips

CFA Sr. Managing Director discusses Level 1 pass rate declining trend

2010-02-02T00:20:00.002-05:00

An interview from Bloomberg with Robert Johnson, senior managing director at CFA Institute, regarding the lowering pass rate in CFA level 1 exam.

There are interesting information such as the largest part of candidates comes from Asia - Globalization of CFA exams, how minimum score is set etc.

Pass rate - December 2009

2010-01-27T20:37:00.005-05:00

The latest pass rate for December exam, 2009 (Level I only) is just published by CFA Institute:

December 2009

Level I: 34%

This is lowest pass rate in the last 10 years results.

By region, the December pass rates for the Level I exam are:

The Americas: 34 percent of the 14,717 total exam candidates
Europe, Middle East, and Africa: 34 percent of the 9,457 total exam candidates
Asia and Pacific Asia: 34 percent of the 20,035 total exam candidates

CFA in recruitment in Vietnam

2010-01-26T20:42:00.013-05:00

CFA attracts attention in Vietnam since just several years ago, but now it has become more and more important in the investment field. Let's look at some recruitment ads:

http://www.vietnamworks.com/jobseekers/jobdetail.php?jobid=211117

Chuyên viên phân tích đầu tư cổ phiếu

Số năm kinh nghiệm:	3 năm
Cấp bậc tối thiểu:	Nhân viên
Bằng cấp tối thiểu:	Cử nhân

* Bắt buộc:
- Tốt nghiệp đại học chuyên ngành Kinh tế, Tài chính, Ngoại thương
- Tiếng Anh: thông thạo (bao gồm tiếng Anh chuyên ngành và tiếng Anh giao tiếp)
- Có kiến thức sâu rộng về môi trường vi mô, vĩ mô, về đầu tư tài chính, thị trường tài chính, các sản phẩm đầu tư (đặc biệt là các sản phẩm đầu tư Lãi suất cố định, Cổ phiếu, Bất động sản, private equity…), kỹ năng xử lý các thông số đầu vào.
- Có hiểu biết về hoạt động của các tổ chức kinh tế, tổ chức đầu tư chuyên nghiệp tại Việt Nam.
- Có khả năng và kinh nghiệm trong việc phân tích đầu tư, phát triển sản phẩm đầu tư
- Có kỹ năng làm việc nhóm tốt, năng động, sáng tạo.
- Kỹ năng tổng hợp và phân tích tốt, tư duy logic, mạch lạc và rõ ràng.
- Có khả năng chịu sức ép cao trong công việc
- Có khả năng thuyết trình và viết báo cáo tốt.
- CFA các cấp độ (ưu tiên cấp độ II trở lên)

http://www.vietnamworks.com/jobseekers/jobdetail.php?jobid=210458

Chuyên viên Phân tích

Số năm kinh nghiệm:	0 năm
Cấp bậc tối thiểu:	Nhân viên
Bằng cấp tối thiểu:	Cử nhân

* Yêu cầu chuyên mồn:
- Tốt nghiệp đại học chuyên ngành Kinh tế/Tài chính/Ngân hàng/Chứng khoán/Đầu tư hoặc các chuyên ngành liên quan
- Có hiểu biết chuyên sâu và có lòng đam mê đối với trường phái phân tích kỹ thuật
- Am hiểu về thị trường chứng khoán và có khả năng phân tích, nhận định thị trường tốt
- Kỹ năng giao tiếp tốt
- Ưu tiên ứng viên kinh nghiệm làm việc ở vị trí tương đương trong Công ty Chứng khoán/Quỹ đầu tư chứng khoán…
- Ưu tiên ứng viên được đào tạo ở nước ngoài, có bằng ACCA/CFA/CPA…
- Ưu tiên ứng viên có Chứng chỉ hành nghề kinh doanh chứng khoán phù hợp/kết quả thi sát hạch phù hợp.

* Yêu cầu chung:
- Khả năng nói và viết tiếng Anh thành thạo
- Sử dụng thành thạo Internet và các chương trình phần mềm văn phòng
- Nhanh nhẹn, hình thức ưa nhìn và kỹ năng giao tiếp tốt
- Có khả năng làm việc độc lập với áp lực cao
- Tôn trọng đạo đức nghề nghiệp và nguyên tắc bảo mật

http://www.vietnamworks.com/jobseekers/jobdetail.php?jobid=209303

Investment Officer(s) Số năm kinh nghiệm:	3 năm
Cấp bậc tối thiểu:	Nhân viên
Bằng cấp tối thiểu:	Cử nhân

- Education level: BA/ (priority for MBA and CFA) of banking and finance, Auditing, securities, Broker.
- Minimum of 3 years work experience in company analysis, model building and/or financing and structuring
- Completely comfortable working in English.
- Basic knowledge of quantitative method with mathematical background
- Must have SSC valid certification

What an exam day is like

2010-01-22T01:33:00.019-05:00

CFA exam is a full day exam, there will be morning and afternoon session with a short lunch break. Here is what a standard exam day looks like (from CFA Institute):

8:00 a.m. Candidates arrive for morning session and begin the check-in process

8:45 a.m. Approximate time that doors to testing rooms will close to begin announcements

(Once doors close, candidates will not be allowed to enter the testing room until the timed portion of the examinations has started.)

9:00 a.m. Morning session begins

12:00 p.m. Morning session ends

Lunch break for candidates

1:00 p.m. Candidates arrive for afternoon session and begin the check-in process

1:45 p.m. Approximate time that doors to testing rooms will close to begin announcements

(Once doors close, candidates will not be allowed to enter the testing room until the timed portion of the exams has started.)

2:00 p.m. Afternoon session begins

5:00 p.m. Afternoon session ends

At the conclusion of each session, candidates must remain seated until all exam materials are collected and reconciled. Because of enhanced exam security, this process may require candidates to remain seated for additional time after the 12:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. end times.

Candidates must attend both the morning and afternoon sessions to have their exams graded.

Some scene on exam day:

Exam topic weight

2010-01-13T01:55:00.002-05:00

Below is the topics breakdown and their weights in CFA exam for all 3 levels:

Level 1 exam

2010-01-13T01:47:00.001-05:00

CFA level 1 topic and weight breakdown:

Example of CFA level 1 exam result:

CFA pass rate - 2009

2010-01-11T22:48:00.000-05:00

December 2009: available soon

Earlier:

Year	Level I	Level II	Level III
2009	46%	41%	49%
2008	35%	46%	53%
2007	39%	40%	50%
2006	40%	48%	76%
2005	35%	56%	55%
2004	35%	32%	64%
2003	41%	47%	68%
2002	44%	47%	58%
2001	49%	46%	82%
2000	52%	54%	65%

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartered_Financial_Analyst)

Exams

2010-01-11T01:35:00.001-05:00

There are 3 levels in CFA, and hence 3 corresponding exams. The exam for level 1 takes place two times a year in June and December, while there is only one exam for level 2 and 3 in June. And exams are given only at selected worldwide locations. (In Vietnam, June exams are offered in Hanoi and HCM city, but December exams are only available in HCM city.)
The exams are consecutive, meaning you must pass level 1 to become eligible for level 2 exam entrance, and pass level 2 before go in level 3 exam.
To acquire CFA designation, you will not only need to pass the 3 level exams, but also need to meet professional requirement (working experience in investment field)

What is CFA?

2010-01-09T21:30:00.006-05:00

What is a CFA: The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation is a valuable credential certifying you as having in-depth knowledge of security types and investment vehicles. It also indicates that you are expert in quantitative methodologies for analyzing securities, such as assessing their value and identifying their underlying risks.

Earning a CFA: You must pass three levels of exams, while also meeting certain professional and ethical requirements. The self-study curriculum changes yearly, in keeping with new developments in the securities markets and in the investment profession. The time needed for study and exam preparation will vary based on your educational background, experience and prior knowledge, but the absolute minimum required of most candidates is estimated at 250 hours.

Difficulty of CFA Exams: As of June 2009, the CFA Institute indicates that about 35% of those who take the Level One exam pass, and about 50% of those who take Level 2 and Level 3. The higher pass rates on the later exams probably results from the stronger pool of candidates that remains after Level One.

Why Get a CFA: The CFA is demanded by major employers for senior positions in Securities Research and Investment Management. It also can be required for certain Financial Advisor roles. Even where it is not necessary, it is a prestige credential that enhances your worth and credibility as a financial professional.

Source: About.com