I just saw that they are adding a “certificate” program called Claritas. It sounds more like an allergy medication than anything, but here’s the info:
http://www.cfainstitute.org/about/vision/professional/Pages/claritas_inv...
What are people’s thoughts on this? As long as people who get it don’t advertise it as “passing the CFA exam”, then it should be ok, but we all know how people like to do that kind of stuff…
there is a zero percent chance I pursue that
Interesting: there was talk about a “CFA lite” designation for people from a much wider audience. Here are some things from their fact sheet. I added the bold formatting.
HOW IT WILL WORK
People will be able to build their understanding at their own pace online before sitting for the exam.
The Claritas Investment Certificate is being designed as an easy-to-use online self-study program including reading materials and an exam. It will involve up to 100 hours of self-study. People
are free to study at their own pace – fitting their learning around their work and home lives. When they’re ready, they can sit for the multiple choice exam on demand at test centers around the world. Everyone who passes will be awarded a certificate by CFA Institute.
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I’d say that 100 hours for the Claritas certificate is way below the 750-900 hours estimated to pass all three levels of the CFA exam. They better make sure Claritas doesn’t get mixed up with CFA Charterholder.
I wonder if one has to become a member of CFAI. Now THAT’s a way to increase revenue. However, since it’s a certificate, probably not. Certificates are papers that say you did something. Charters are things that give you the right to do something (in this case, say you are are a charterholder).
You want a quote? Haven’t I written enough already???
Sounds like a program for CFA dropouts…
http://www.claritasinstitute.com/
Sounds like the Diploma in Financial Management by ACCA (UK accounting body). I’m guilty of sitting for it and obtaining it - did the whole thing in 3 days.
Shame that this is spreading to CFA Institute.
It may be good for people who want to test waters before applying to the CFA.
The possibility that people may misrepresent it is a little bit worrying, but then again professionals who want to misrepresent don’t really need that - they can just flat out lie and hope to not get caught. We’ll see what happens.
This is my only concern since I would never consider this qualification. It might almost be like saying, “Hi, I couldn’t care to put in the time to pass the CFA!”
The CFA should work on making Level II 2x a year before pumping up Claritas. It’s ludicrous how they still haven’t done this. Offering Level II twice a year would bring in much more revenue than this new charter.
I can just see the deluge of folks “creatively” referencing this certificate on their resumes to make it look more like the real thing.
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ATH, CFA, CAIA
I think this is meant for employers who want to send their support staff for some light training in capital markets. It’s unlikely that aspiring FO people will pursue this credential.
“I’m a CPA! I got money b***h!”
If I am not mistaken, in the UK they have something called the IMC..which is like a stepping stone to the CFA for the uninitiated…perhaps the point of Claritas is for CFAI to crowd out these ‘stepping stone certificates’ and keep the profit pie for itself…
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You must be the square root of two cause i feel irrational around you
http://alphahive.wordpress.com/
In the CFA Institute 2010 member survey, 75% of respondents said that people throughout their organization could benefit from the kind of understanding our certificate will deliver.
That just is a blatant lie. From a small survey done here on AF, 100% of the charterholders said no to the CFAlite certificate
I am completely against the thought of adding a December Level 2 exam. That would greatly dilute the designation, in my opinion. I could care less about how much revenue it would bring the CFAI. If it devalues my charter whatsoever, I am adamently against it….
I would fully support offering L2 in December and don’t think it would dilute the charter at all.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
This possibility concerns me a bit. Kind of like those folks who indicate that they attended Harvard because they took an executive seminar there.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
You do realize pass rates went DOWN once they started offering level I twice a year right? When did you get your charter btw?
I got it in 2007, for what it’s worth. If they did offer L2 in December, then it would be possible for someone to clear everything in June/December/June. Not counting the study time for the first exam, that’s only one calendar year. How does that not devalue the process of attaining the charter? Pass rates aside, I don’t see how this would be a good thing for the designation.
True, but you still need the 4 years of qualified work experience to get the charter, regardless of how fast you pass the exams.
The value in the charter comes from the mastery of the material, not the speed at which candidates pass the exams. If someone can pull of a June/Dec/June, more power to them.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
this is one of my pet peeves … ridiculous
ACEaceAnaltiCalteEquityACEanalticalteequityACE
http://tinyurl.com/axn8cua
aceofheartscapitalmanagement@_____________
The only people who worry about dilution of the charter are those who rely on it too much vs. being a stellar analyst.
Not a fan of Claritas, but even less of a fan of putting in an extra level 2 exam.
I would much rather see the institute put these resources towards offering the exams in a few other major world languages, which would go further to making the CFA Charter truly global (not just global to the degree that people are reasonably fluent in English). This would actully do something to improve the profession. Offering extra level 2 attempts would not IMO.
The typical charterholder seems to write between 3 to 5 exams to get there… With four years of work experience requred, the current frequency of exam offerings is just fine.
^ good suggestion, although I don’t seem them as mutually exclusive ideas. I think the biggest obstacle to offering the exams in other languages, at least L3, is fielding a pool of graders.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
The trick is that they wrote this in the CFA way - 75% of the respondents said that people could benefit from that “KIND OF UNDERSTANDING”.
So they mail you a survey asking if there are people at your organization that could benefit from very basic finance - you remember a couple of coworkers who have no idea what happens to the price of a bond when rates go up and say yes . Done! CFAI just got their statement.
Is this statement clear enough to pass the code and standards of ethics? CFAI seems to think so.
It’s natural for candidates to want the exams to be easier, and CFA charterholders to want to exams to be harder.
I’m not for L2 being given twice a year.
Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and greatest weakness.