Thursday, April 7, 2011

CFA: A Much Desired Finance Course for Professionals

When it comes to courses in finance being offered in India, no other course invokes so much controversy as the CFA, or the Chartered Financial Analyst. The original CFA course is a program of study of the US and is recognized world over. The course is a self study graduation level program meant for the investment professionals. There has been an India based institute which claimed to provide this degree to the candidates but the same was not recognized or allowed by the US based institute. So much for controversy, let us now pay attention to what makes the CFA a preferred course by candidates seeking to do courses in Finance. 

The CFA course is favored by the aspirants who want to make it big in the finance stream. This exam is recognized the world over for seeking employment in different countries. Therefore, most of the Indian candidates desirous of seeking the employment opportunities abroad might decide to take up this course. This is the primary motivation for the Indian students to take up high paid jobs with some good MNC investment bankers, PE firms and other similar avenues which are well paid. This gives the candidates a global advantage to compete with the best in the field at the world scale. Further, there is a lot of development of the practical skills and ethics.


The institutes which can provide this course in different countries, including India, are required to take approvals from the Board which administers its conduct all over the world. So, there are some institutes which offer the CFA India program to Indian investment professionals. They are required to clear the three levels of tests and also required to meet certain professional criteria for successful completion of this course and being awarded a charter. Considerable importance is laid on the ethical conduct and before declaring any person as passed in this CFA course a complete check on the ethical conduct of the person is done.
Earlier, the institutes provided this course in India but these were not allowed to conduct the exam for the same in India which saw very less number of candidates taking up this course from the actual US based body. So, while they studied in India, they had to go to out of India for giving the exams which was very inconvenient. The court ruling has now allowed this exam to be conducted in India which is likely to see the increase in the enrollment rate of the candidates.


The popularity of the course is in line with the demand of the finance professionals from a number of different multinational finance companies. Candidates completing this CFA course can either take up the jobs or they can also work as independent professionals providing help to the clients. They can be investment consultants or working with other company. They find coveted organizational places, in the middle or higher level managerial positions.

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