Essential Elements of a Successful CFA^® Learning Program

This is the final article in our three-part series about the significant benefits that investing in an effective CFA learning program can offer your organization and employees.

• Part 1: Benefits to Your Organization
• Part 2: Benefits to Your Employees 
• Part 3: Critical Elements of a Successful CFA Learning Program 

This article focuses on five key factors that contribute to a successful corporate CFA program:

• Communication
  
• Internal Support
  
• Customizable Learning Solution
  
• Success Tracking
  
• Employee Recognition

Communication

Internal communication across your organization is a critical component for a successful CFA Program. It provides valuable updates to employees and their management team.

Of particular interest to potential candidates are details about the CFA Charter, including:

• the value of the charter
• program requirements, including exam details, registration dates and fees
• exam preparation options

An ideal way to present this information to employees is by holding periodic information sessions. Including a panel of CFA charterholders from within your organization to discuss their experiences, offer guidance, and answer questions can be very powerful. 

Secondly, you should communicate details about your corporate CFA learning program. Such an orientation can be shared as a part of a CFA information session, or communicated separately.  Any communication should include:

• Available discounts on CFA exam preparation materials
• Your corporate reimbursement policies and procedures
• If you offer an approved exam prep program, how to access that program

Kaplan Schweser routinely simplifies the communication process for clients by providing CFA experts and instructors, who can help deliver CFA information sessions and learning program orientations for employees.

Internal Support

Providing internal support demonstrates your organization’s commitment to a culture of learning, achievement, career growth, and positive employee experiences. Three meaningful ways to support your CFA candidates are:

1. Offer a tuition reimbursement program: For many employees the sheer cost of a review course and the exam fees themselves is a hindrance. Consider covering all exam related fees upfront or providing reimbursement upon completion or passing the exam to help support your employees. This signals that their skills and career advancement is a priority for you.

2. Allow work flexibility during exam preparation: The CFA program is a multi-year journey that requires long hours of preparation and personal sacrifice.  By offering flexibility with respect to work hours, especially as an exam draws near, you are acknowledging this challenge and demonstrating support in an empathetic way.  

3. Provide mentoring: Consider tasking senior employees, who have already earned their CFA charter, with providing guidance and emotional support to current CFA candidates. Such a program can help both mentors and mentees. The benefit to the candidate is immediate assistance, while the mentor has the opportunity to develop into a better leader.

Learn How Kaplan Schweser’s Corporate Programs Can Benefit Your Team and Organization

Customizable Learning Solution

The best corporate CFA learning programs are those that can be customized to meet the both needs of employees and your organization. The program should incorporate key features that provide clear step-by-step guidance, drive efficiencies, improve retention, and ultimately enhance exam success. 

If you are an international firm with employees around the world, a consistent global solution may be beneficial.

Figure 1: CFA Exam Prep Process

For starters, a predesigned program with a history of success will save candidates significant time before they even start studying. Candidates often spend weeks researching and seeking recommendations about the best ways to prepare. Offering a proven, predesigned program eliminates this entire process.

From the perspective of the employee, the following are key elements of an exam prep program:

• high quality and comprehensive study notes and training 
• access to instructors to ask questions
• considerable question practice and multiple mock exams
• a review workshop
• exam taking strategies
• personal progress and performance tracking
• a pass protection 

Kaplan Schweser’s offers all of these features and more in its customizable set of exam prep materials and services. 

Success Tracking

By measuring and tracking the progress and performance of CFA candidates, as well as the exam prep materials they used, your organization can begin to evaluate the effectiveness of exam prep options that your organization has made available to employees or that they self-selected. 

With this knowledge you have the opportunity to be a real resource. You can steer employees to more effective exam prep solutions. Even better, you can offer a proven program that generates higher exam success rates and ensure a positive ROI on your CFA training budget.

The resulting benefits are:

• improved exam outcomes making for happier employees
• savings on registration fees and tuition costs
• increased credibility among employees

An example of an effective success tracking tool is Kaplan Schweser's Learner Dashboard. This sophisticated analytics tool helps firms understand how their CFA candidates are progressing in their exam preparation, and it identifies the likelihood of candidates passing their CFA exam. 

Armed with these insights, your organization has the opportunity to better understand the effectiveness of Kaplan Schweser’s CFA exam prep products and to proactively address any concerns with your candidates. This tool is unique to Kaplan Schweser, and it is complimentary to all Kaplan Schweser clients. 

Employee Recognition

After countless hours of preparation and years spent pursuing the CFA charter, when employees finally achieve the CFA charter, your organization has an opportunity to demonstrate that their achievement matters. Celebrating and rewarding their success affirms that excellence and continuous improvement are valued. 

A recent Harvard Business Review article points out that ‘Recognition is fundamental to the engagement and retention of top talent and the profitability of our organizations.’

Recognition should be timely, and it should align with your organization’s culture. Here are three forms of recognition that resonate with employees. The last two in particular are primary reasons that professionals pursue the charter in the first place.

1. Recognition in a public forum, such as a team meeting, or via a personal note from management 
2. Giving a salary increase or incentive bonus to employees, who pass exam levels and/or achieve the CFA charter
3. Providing pathways to career advancement

Preparing with the Industry Leader

Kaplan Schweser is the most respected and trusted CFA exam prep provider in the industry. For more than 35 years, Kaplan Schweser has helped over 700,000 candidates prepare for the CFA exam while supporting hundreds of financial services organizations.*

Discover how Kaplan Schweser’s CFA B2B learning programs can help your organization achieve your talent development and cost-constraint goals

______________

* Helped 700,000+ Candidates Prep for Exams: Net purchases of study packages containing the printed SchweserNotes™ bookset from 2008 through winter 2024 (less 2020).