What’s going on with the CFA designation?

BVWireIssue #104-3
May 18, 2011

BVR analysis indicates that 3% of certified business appraisers also hold the CFA designation (the leading certifications in the profession, as reported in the new 2011/2012 BV Firm Economics & Best Practices Guide, appear in the table below).  

BVWire attended the annual CFA Institute in Edinburgh last week, and offers this update: The CFA is a price of entry to the world of portfolio analysis and investment management.   And it’s growing everywhere.  There were 20,000 CFA’s in the world, primarily in the US, in 1990.  Now there are just more than 100,000.  And, the focus has become more global; 16,000 of these are in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa, for instance.

The CFA Institute is reengineering some of its emphases while “trying to maintain the integrity of the certificate.”  One of the key initiatives is to tune the exam subject matter to “increase the focus on quality of earnings.”

Over 100,000 candidates sat for exams around the world in 2010.  For the last five years, pass rates are a little lower than they were previously; 39% pass Level 1, and 55% pass the final level 3.   The average age of a CFA is 29; this youthful number is trending down as more university-level programs come on-line.   The largest number of candidates now comes from Asia Pacific; 42% of candidates came from the far east last year, compared to 35% from North America.

What are the most common certifications in the business
valuation profession?

Certification

Certifying organization

% of total certifications 2010

% of total
certifications 2008

CPA

AICPA

29.4%

28.3%

ABV

AICPA

17.8%

14.8%

CVA/AVA

NACVA

13.2%

13.4%

ASA/FASA/AM

ASA

13.1%

12.9%

MBA

Multiple

10.1%

13.8%

CFE (Cert Fraud Examiner)

ACFE

4.8%

5.2%

CFA (Cert Financial Analyst)

ICFA

3.2%

4.1%

JD

Multiple

2.9%

2.7%

CBA/MCBA

IBA

2.3%

2.2%

PhD

Multiple

1.1%

0.8%

CFP (Cert Financial Planner)

ICFP

0.7%

0.7%

CBV

CICBV

0.7%

0.5%

CM&AA

AM&AA

0.4%

0.5%

CFF

AICPA

0.3%

0.2%

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