The CFA Program Candidate Body of KnowledgeTM: The Past Decade, 2000–2010
Thomas R. Robinson, PhD, CFA, CFP, Managing Director–Education, CFA Institute
Christopher B. Wiese, CFA, Director–Candidate Products, CFA Institute
The Candidate Body of Knowledge
The CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) represents the core knowledge, skills, and
abilities (competencies) that are generally accepted and applied by investment professionals throughout
the world. In practice, these competencies are used in a generalist context and are expected to be
demonstrated by a recently qualified CFA charterholder. The CBOK is depicted graphically in Exhibit 1.
The CBOK is determined through a practice analysis process whereby members and employers provide
information on current practice as well as anticipated future trends and the competencies that a new
CFA charterholder needs in order to practice in the investment profession. This process is described in
more detail in The CFA Program: Our Fifth Decade, available at
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/overview/pdf/IntoOur5thDecade.pdf.
The current CBOK consists of four components:
A broad topic outline that lists the major knowledge areas (see Exhibit 2)1 ;
Topic area weights that indicate the relative exam weightings of the top-level topic areas (see
Exhibit 3)2 ;
Learning outcome statements (LOS) that advise candidates as to what they should be able to do
with this knowledge (LOS are provided in candidate study sessions3 and at the beginning of each
reading) ; and
The curriculum of material that candidates receive upon exam registration and are expected to
master.
Because the CBOK changes over time, the curriculum used in the CFA Program today differs quite a bit
from the one used ten years ago. This article describes those changes and provides a resource for
charterholders to refresh their knowledge on current topics. A major feature of the current curriculum
is that more than half of it was...