CFA Syllabus Level 1

Introduction To CFA

The following article provides an outline for CFA Syllabus Level 1. CFA (Charted Financial Analyst) is a postgraduate degree program offered by the American-based CFA Institute which is valued globally. This program focuses mainly on finance and investment-related topics. To secure the degree, candidates need to clear 3 levels of the exam, which usually takes 2 years minimum to clear. Since it is valued internationally, a person having this degree will have lots of opportunities across the world. The difficulty level for the CFA exam is medium to high, thus aspirants willing to clear the exam need to exert a good amount of effort and discipline for clearing the exam. The program can be studied full-time or part-time based on the candidate’s convenience but he/she needs to qualify the eligibility criteria for appearing for the exam.

There are lots of CFA institutes in India, some of them are:

• Fintree
• SSEI (Sanjay Saraf Educational Institute)
• Wallstreet School
• International College Of Financial Planning
• Narayana Business School

Upon clearing the exam candidates will have many opportunities to work in big giants like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, etc. The profiles in which CFA holders will work will be financial advisor, portfolio manager, analyst, investment banker, etc. CFA holders can even replace CA in many cases.

CFA Level 1

• It consists of foundation courses on finance, investments, economics, portfolio management, etc. The main aim of the level 1 exam is to test the basis of all subjects. The pass percentage of the exam is usually 41%.
• The 1^st level strengthens the candidate’s basic understanding of the course thus it is recommended that students need to take a full-time course and study.
• The subjects consist of both theory and numerical, thus periodic revision of courses is the key to crack the exam. It is estimated that on average around 300 hours of study are required to clear the CFA level 1.
• The level 1 exam is purely multiple-choice questions that are conducted in 2 sessions.

Syllabus Of CFA Level 1

The syllabus can be classified broadly into 10 subjects:

• Ethical and professional standards: This subject focuses on ethics, behavior, and professionalism in the investment industry.
• Quantitative methods: It is used as a tool for making decisions in financial analysis. It consists mainly of statistics, probability, and distributions.
• Financial statement analysis: Focuses mainly on financial reporting procedures and standards with importance on basic financial statements.
• Equity investments: It focuses on equity investments, security markets, and indexes.
• Fixed income: It focuses on fixed income securities, risks, valuation measurements. It also covers fundamentals of bond risks and returns, credit analysis, the secularization of assets.
• Portfolio management and wealth planning: It focuses on risk management, portfolio management, and construction.
• Derivatives: It focuses on a framework for derivative markets. It also covers concepts of forward commitments like swaps, futures, contingent claims, etc.
• Alternative investments: It focuses on real estate, infrastructure, private equity, hedge funds. It emphasizes how to use alternative investments for generating higher returns.
• Corporate issuers: It focuses on corporate governance in financial investments. It highlights the environmental impact and social considerations in investing.
• Economics: It provides the framework for supply and demand concepts for individuals and firms.

The official website for the CFA exam: https://www.cfainstitute.org/

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