I passed Level 1 in 12/09. I’ll be enrolling in Level 2 for 6/11 as soon as enrollment is open (this summer). I hope to pass Level 3 and receive my charter the following year. I believe that I have already met the four year work experience requirement. What can I can I ethically state about my future plans on my professional website? For example, can I state that I plan to continue with the CFA program and hopefully earn my charter in 2012? It’s not like I’m stating, “CFA expected: 2012” or anything like that. Thanks,
Say you plan on taking Level II of the CFA program in June of 2011. Once you have registered, you can say you are a CFA Level II candidate on your website. Anything you say about expected CFA charterholder or anything of that nature is an ethics violation.
Naturally I would never use “expect”. Rather, I wondered if perhaps the term, “hope” or something along those lines might be acceptable. Perhaps another way of presenting it would be to state, “I am committed to earning my CFA charter and hope to meet all the requirements within the next three years.”
What’s wrong with just saying you are a Level II candidate and strive to obtain the charter as soon as possible?
For one thing, I’m not a Level II candidate yet, so that’s out the window for now. However, the “strive” part, or as I might say, “committed”, sounds quite reasonable. I realize that CFA Institute wants to avoid the external appearance of candidate entitlement, because receiving a charter is never a given. However, I wonder if it’s acceptable to state it’s one’s personal goal to earn their charter within a timeframe. That goal, of course, may not be accomplished – it’s just a goal. And it has an entirely different flavor than “CFA Expected in 2012” which is obviously wrong.
The only thing you can say is that you passed Level I. You are not a candidate, and you def. cannot say that you expect to receive your charter in 2012.
Well, if you are sitting for L2 in 2011, others who know about the charter can do the math pretty easily. Saying that you’re committed to getting the charter seems neutral enough to me to pass the ethics query; however, until June of this year, enquiring minds might want to know why someone so committed isn’t taking L2 in 2010. (not intended to be a dig at you, it’s just a natural question you’d want to field).
Fair question, but I never said I was committed to getting there as quickly as possible. The longer answer is that L1 exam results came out in late January leaving only four months to prepare for June 2010. Not enough time to do a decent job, given my life. I have a wife, a young child, an investment advisory practice, and a CPA firm (with a full tax season that runs through April). Realizing how tough Level 2 is, I decided to start in the summer so that I can cut more deeply into the material and not rush through it. Now, if CFAI were to offer L2 in December, I’d be game. bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, if you are sitting for L2 in 2011, others > who know about the charter can do the math pretty > easily. > > Saying that you’re committed to getting the > charter seems neutral enough to me to pass the > ethics query; however, until June of this year, > enquiring minds might want to know why someone so > committed isn’t taking L2 in 2010. (not intended > to be a dig at you, it’s just a natural question > you’d want to field).