Assessing the CFA University Recognition Program: A Survey Based Analysis

This paper examines the results of the first major survey regarding the CFA University Recognition Program since its inception in 2012. Our findings include evidence that the breadth and depth of finance curricula relative to the CFA Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) has improved over the years and that even though coverage of the ethics component remains weak, the process of obtaining CFA University Recognition status has significantly improved coverage of ethics in those finance degree programs. The survey results show that finance faculty strongly support the CBOK and are willing to update their curricula according to those requirements. We find that there are a number of benefits that faculty anticipate from obtaining CFA Recognition status, and that those benefits tend to materialize.