CFA Pass Rates Plummet, Financial Firms Worried

As the recession and the financial apparatus of the country is slowly stuttering back into life, the demand for more qualified Chartered Financial Analysts, or chartered accountants, is going up. However, in a disappointing pattern, the pass rates for CFA examinations in both first and second levels have plunged.



While 58% of applicants failed to pass the first level of the prestigious examination, only 39% of the ones who had qualified managed to break through to the third part of the examination from the second level.

As the Wall Street is in a pro-hiring mood after cutting almost 350,000 in the last 2 years, a record number of people have applied for the examination and certification - 139,900 to be precise! Apart from the US alone, there were about 16,000 from China and 12,000 from India as well. Applicants from other countries had also applied for the same – and were pretty strong in number too.

However, unlike chartered accountants in London or New Delhi, the CFA candidates have fairly disappointed the experts. With pass percentages dropping to lower figures, it could define either of two things – either the examination was becoming more difficult to crack, or there were too many eager applicants without the necessary training required to pass such tests.

While average applicants take about 4 years to complete the 3-part examination process and invest about 300 hours to do so, it is becoming increasingly evident that one needs to put in much more time and effort if he/she wants to work with the bigwigs of Wall Street.

OR perhaps it is time for a more stringent check on credentials before allowing applications to go through!