Indian CFA

The Indian CFA is a Charter awarded to candidates completing the ICFAI University Master in Investment and Financial Analysis; the program is focused on financial analysis as applicable to investment management. The Charter is a certification from ICFAI - the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India - apprising the public at large of the CFA's competence for Financial and Investment analysis.[1]

There was a long pending trademark dispute between the CFA Institute, USA & ICFAI over the use of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Designation. On 25 May 2012, both parties agreed that Candidates who have already been awarded the ICFAI Charter are to use "CFA (ICFAI)" postnominally, to distinguish themselves from CFA Institute Charterholders.[2]

Master in Investment and Financial Analysis

Indian CFA Code of Conduct
  1. Integrity: A CFA shall conduct him/herself with integrity and dignity in his dealings with the public, clients, customers, employers, employees, professionals and fellow analysts.
  2. Ethical Behavior: A CFA shall conduct himself and shall encourage others to practice the financial analysis profession in a professional and ethical manner that will reflect credit on himself and his profession and his organization/employer where or for whom he is working.
  3. Professional Competence: A CFA shall act with competence and shall strive to maintain and improve his competence and that of others in the profession.
  4. Objectivity: A CFA shall be fair in his dealings and must not be biased or prejudiced. He shall try to maintain objectivity and impartiality towards one and all.
  5. Professional Independence: A CFA shall use proper care and exercise independent professional judgment in all his professional activities.
  6. Public Trust: A CFA shall assume the basic responsibility to place the interest of clients, prospective clients and employers ahead of his own. He shall seek to enhance public confidence in his profession.

The CFA Council has put in place a suitable mechanism to enforce the Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.

The Master in Investment and Financial Analysis (MIFA) Program is offered by the Directorate of Distance Education, the ICFAI university, Tripura. The program covers the area of financial markets, financial analysis, valuation of assets, portfolio management, mutual and other funds and professional ethics. It has been developed in the context of the present and future needs of the investment and financial analysis industry. The Core body of knowledge of the program includes current and evolving concepts, techniques and applications, and also providing the flavor of the frontiers of knowledge.

Access to the program is on the basis of a Bachelor's Degree (any discipline) or four year's experience.

Program structure

The MIFA Program is divided into six groups. Each group consists of two subjects. The students are required to study and complete all the groups in a sequential manner.[3] The University provides a detailed study plan and prescribed books (as per the curriculum of the University) specially designed and meant for self study. However, students may attend contact classes on optional basis. Students with prior qualifications, are eligible to get waivers from certain subjects of the MIFA program. The examinations are generally conducted on Sundays in January, April, July and October.

Curriculum

The Indian MIFA (CFA INDIA) Program focuses on financial analysis as applicable to investment management; it is consistently reviewed in the context of the present and future needs of the Indian corporate sector, investment industry and financial services sector. The Examinations are as below. These comprise six groups, each of two Papers of 2 hours each, totaling 1200 marks; the paper for each subject is of 2 hours duration.

Year 1

Group A

  • Financial Accounting - 100 marks
  • Economics - 100 marks

Group B

  • Quantitative Methods - 100 marks
  • Financial Management - 100 marks

Group C

  • Financial Markets - 100 marks
  • Financial Statement Analysis - 100 marks

Year 2

Group D

  • Equity: Analysis & Valuation - 100 marks
  • Fixed Income Securities: Analysis & Valuation - 100 marks

Group E

  • Derivatives: Analysis & Valuation - 100 marks
  • Portfolio Management - 100 marks

Group F

  • Mutual and other Funds - 100 marks
  • Professional Ethics and Case Studies - 100 marks

Trademark Disputes CFAI vs ICFAI

The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India

The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) was established in 1984 as a non-profit society, with the objective of providing training in finance and management. The ICFAI University, in turn, refers to the Universities sponsored by ICFAI in Uttarakhand, Tripura, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Jharkhand under respective Indian law. The Governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Punjab issued letters of intent to the Institute for the establishment of Universities. Each University is a separate and independent legal entity. Consequently, the University confers degrees at Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral levels on eligible students subject to the University Regulations.[4]

History of the Dispute

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program was first delivered through AIMR (today's CFA Institute) in the USA, and later in India with the partnership of the then Institute of Certified Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI). Note that ICFAI is not affiliated with the CFA Institute and both the institutes have broken their partnership and are running their courses separately.

There was a long pending trademark dispute between CFA Institute, USA & ICFAI over the use of the CFA Designation. On 25 May 2012, both the parties decided to resolve this long pending dispute and have entered into an agreement under which ICFAI will stop providing the CFA Charter.

This will allow both the parties to mutually co-exist and pursue their business objectives. ICFAI would continue to operate under the ICFAI brand but will begin phasing out the CFA designation over the next few years. The Candidates who have already been awarded the CFA Charter have been requested by ICFAI to use "CFA (ICFAI)" to help distinguish themselves from the CFA Institute Charter holders.[5]

ICFAI vs ICAI

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) imposed restrictions on its members on the use of the designation of `CFA' awarded by the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI). The ICAI notification issued on August 3, 1989 says that "if any member of ICAI, i.e. any Chartered Accountant, who obtained the qualification of Chartered Financial Analyst [awarded by ICFAI] on or after January 1, 1990, or has obtained the said qualification earlier did not surrender the same before the said date, [he/she] would be held guilty of professional misconduct under the provisions of the Chartered Accountants (CA) Act." The ICFAI and others filed petitions in the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the notification. A single judge and a Division Bench dismissed them. The present appeal is directed against this judgment. ICFAI assailed the notification contending that it was violative of a person's fundamental right to practise any profession guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution. On May 16, 2007 the above notification was quashed by The Honourable Supreme Court of India.[6]

Supreme Court allows CAs to pursue CFA Charter in the name MIFA degree from ICFAI & become CFA's

There was a bar by the ICAI - the apex Indian body for Chartered Accountancy from pursuing or joining INDIAN CFA of Icfai university, After nearly two decades, the ICFAI (Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India) has won the 'chartered' row against the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India). In a decision dated May 16, 2007, the court ruled in favour of ICFAI, by setting aside an earlier verdict of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which had allowed the ICAI to prohibit its members from using the description 'Chartered Financial Analyst' or its abbreviation CFA.

Future of ICFAI and CFA

ICFAI, having been embroiled in a long legal battle with the CFA Institute,focused its energy on developing private universities, some of which have AICTE recognition along with UGC recognition. ICFAI has focussed all its energies away from developing its CFA charter like giving it statutory recognition increasing its status as a high status profession like that of CA from ICAI, which was announced by the governing member NJ Yeshasway who vowed to take up the CFA Charter a notch above the legendary CA exam considered to be the toughest in the realm of finance, but instead has opened a host of non-CFA programs like MBA, ICFAI Business Schools (IBS), PG Programs which have scaled up into national top 10 place in India. It has also opened schools for under graduate programs and offering degrees. Indian CFAs pass with a stringent eligibility to qualify as CFAs but have only a niche finance sector as the job market unlike CA which has traditional roles of Auditing and taxation along with statutory roles. CFAs work in investment related and finance fields where MBAs (some from ICFAI itself), CAs, Master's degree holders of Statistics, Economics, Doctorates etc. hold top posts. ICFAI though has safeguarded its CFA charter in India with valid state legislature under IUT Tripura Act, but CFA charterholders are not mandatorily employable and currently don't perform any statutory duty unlike CAs, CSs, CWAs, though CCFA tried to accomplish this in investment related areas in India by submitting a draft bill to the ministry of finance for consideration which was rejected due to various legal disputes that ICFAI faces. Also here is a fact to note that ICFAI University Tripura has never been permitted to conduct any distance learning/correspondence course by UGC.[7] CFAs are employed only because of their course contents and rigor of the CFA program,[8] which is the only reason they have got market acceptance with very few qualifying as CFAs every year. ICFAI has very few CFA charter holders, compared to other professionals and hence they don't have a large and established presence in the Indian job market. Indian companies have tied up with other Indian bodies like AMFI or NSE in offering investment designations and courses.As per information on ICFAI Tripura website this has DEC Approval and Recognition of Directorate of Distance Education, The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Tripura, by the Distance Education Council "Distance Education Council (DEC) Vide their letter No.DEC/Recog/2010/277 dated August 04,2010 has accorded recognition to the Directorate of Distance Education, The Icfai University, Tripura and its programs after inspection by an expert joint committee consisting of UGC, AICTE and DEC nominees. " Frequent changes to eligibility requirements changes in fee structure, exorbitant council membership charges etc., have caused confusion among the student community. Many founding members have left ICFAI as they were not happy with the way ICFAI treated its flagship course. The course, which was once a stepping stone for Indians into analytic finance has become just one more obscure degree due to continuous changes in the curriculum. As a result, there is negativity about this course in the Indian corporate world. Keeping in view the demands from the corporate world and impending competition, ICFAI is thinking of bringing wholesale changes in the curriculum and the training method from the current academic year. The new course can only be completed in 24 months and will include a training program for the passing students of final exam. ICFAI is also creating a window for students of CFA program to undergo 2 months internship with its in-house concerns to impart rigorous analytical skills. Exemption for MBAs will be stopped from the current academic year. Also, ICFAI is drafting a continuing professional development module which will be compulsory for all the current CFAs. This program will enable the current CFAs to enhance their knowledge in their respective areas and will include relevant statutes changes, paradigm shift in capital markets and allied subject matter. ICFAI hopes to regain the old status of its CFA program through continuously evolving methods, the most recent is focussing on the core aspects of investment management and financial analysis in its MFA degree(current CFA syllabus) and increasing CFA charter membership by giving official charters to students who have cleared the core subjects of investment management and financial analysis of the previous(CFA curriculum) MS Finance program.

References

  1. ↑ Note that the CFAC (Indian Council of Chartered Financial Analysts) is a registered society with the Indian government seeking to regulate the profession of financial analysts in India but, unlike ICAI or ICSI or ICWAI, is not a statutory body.
  2. ↑ http://www.icfai.org/Settlement_Agreement_with_CFA_Institute_USA.html
  3. ↑ "CA Exam Tips title". Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  4. ↑ The University Grants Commission has included all the Universities mentioned above in the list of Universities maintained under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956. (access date=2010-09-01). However in the list of Universities/Institutions approved by Distance Education Council (As of 01/02/2010), only ICFAI University, Dehradun has been included. Archived February 8, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ http://www.icfai.org/Settlement_Agreement_with_CFA_Institute_USA.html
  6. ↑ The Hindu: National: Court quashes ICAI notification (Map).
  7. ↑ Archived September 10, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Welcome to the Financial Analysts Group". Thefinancialanalyst.org. Retrieved 2010-09-01.

External links

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