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Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK)

Explore the core competencies that shape the CFA Program curriculum.
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The CBOK represents the core knowledge, skills, and abilities (competencies) generally accepted and applied by investment professionals globally. The CBOK is grounded in practice as the output of panels and surveys of thousands of investment professionals serves as input into the curriculum through our practice analysis process.

Level I and II CBOK topic areas

    I. Ethical and Professional Standards
    1. Professional Standards of Practice
    2. Ethical Practices
    3. Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct
    4. Presentation of Performance Results (GIPS)
    II. Quantitative Methods
    1. Time Value of Money
    2. Probability Distributions and Concepts
    3. Sampling and Estimation
    4. Regression Analysis
    5. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and Big Data Analysis and Applications
    6. Time-Series Analysis
    7. Back-testing, Simulation, and Scenario Analysis
    III. Economics
    1. Market Forces of Supply and Demand
    2. The Firm and Industry Organization
    3. Business Cycles
    4. Inflation and Deflation
    5. International Trade and Capital Flows
    6. Currency Exchange Rates
    7. Monetary System, Monetary and Fiscal Policy
    8. Economic Growth and Development
    9. Effects of Regulations
    10. Economic Analysis and Setting Capital Market Expectations
    11. Effects of Geopolitics on Economies and Investment Markets
    12. Applications of Economic Factors in the Investment Process
    IV. Financial Statement Analysis
    1. Analysis of Financial Statements
    2. Financial Reporting Quality
    3. Analysis of Off-Balance-Sheet Assets and Liabilities
    4. Analysis of Stock Compensation and Other Employee Benefits
    5. Analysis of Intercorporate Investments  and Business Combinations
    6. Analysis of Global Operations
    7. Building a Company Financial Model
    8. Ratio and Financial Analysis
    9. Financial Analysis of Banks and Insurance Companies
    10. ESG considerations in Financial Statement Analysis
    V. Corporate Issuers
    1. Corporate Structures and Strategies
    2. Corporate Ownership and Governance
    3. Risk Factors (including environmental and social)
    4. Corporate Financing Decisions
    5. Corporate Actions, Combinations, and Restructuring
    VI. Equity Investments
    1. Types of Equity Securities and Markets
    2. Fundamental Equity Analysis
    3. Valuation of Individual Equity Securities
    4. Equity Market Valuation
    5. ESG considerations in Equity Investments
    VII. Fixed Income
    1. Types of Fixed Income Securities and Markets
    2. Fundamental Fixed Income
    3. Term Structure Determination and Yield Spreads
    4. Valuation of Individual Fixed Income Securities
    5. Analysis of Interest Rate Risk
    6. Analysis of Credit Risk
    7. Valuing Bonds with Embedded Options
    8. Structured Products
    9. ESG considerations in Fixed Income
    VIII. Derivatives
    1. Types of Derivative Instruments and Markets
    2. Valuation of Forwards and Futures Contracts
    3. Valuation of Option Contracts
    4. Valuation of Swap Contracts
    5. Currency Management
    6. Risk Management (including Environmental Risk)
    IX. Alternative Investments
    1. Types of Alternative Investments
    2. Real Estate
    3. Real Assets (including Infrastructure, Timber and Farm Land)
    4. Private Capital (including Private Equity, Private Credit and Venture Capital)
    5. Hedge Funds
    6. Commodities
    7. ESG considerations in Alternative Investments
    X. Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning
    1. The Investment Policy Statement
    2. Modern Portfolio Management Concepts
    3. Investment Vehicles (including ETFs and Mutual Funds)
    4. Market Efficiency and Passive Investing
    5. Market Indexes
    6. Behavioral Finance
    7. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing
    8. Management of Individual/Family Investor Portfolios
    9. Tax Impact of Investment Decisions
    10. Management of Institutional Investor Portfolios
    11. Investment Manager Selection
    12. Asset Allocation
    13. Portfolio Construction and Revision
    14. Currency Management
    15. Liability – Driven Investments (including Asset Liability Management and Goal-Based Investing)
    16. Risk Management (including environmental risk)
    17. Execution of Portfolio Decisions (including Trading and Market Microstructure)
    18. Performance Attribution and Appraisal

    Level III topic areas

      I. Ethical and Professional Standards
      1. Professional Standards of Practice
      2. Ethical Practices
      3. Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct
      II. Derivatives and Risk Management
      1. Types of Derivative Instruments and Markets
      2. Valuation of Forwards and Futures Contracts
      3. Valuation of Option Contracts
      4. Valuation of Swap Contracts
      5. Currency Management
      6. Risk Management (including Environmental Risk)
      III. Portfolio Construction
      1. The Investment Policy Statement
      2. Modern Portfolio Management Concepts
      3. Investment Vehicles (including ETFs and Mutual Funds)
      4. Market Efficiency and Indexed Investing
      5. Market Indexes
      6. Behavioral Finance
      7. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing
      8. Management of Individual/Family Investor Portfolios
      9. Tax Impact of Investment Decisions
      10. Management of Institutional Investor Portfolios
      11. Portfolio Construction and Revision
      12. Equity Portfolio Management
      13. Fixed Income Portfolio Management
      14. Alternative Investments Portfolio Management
      15. Liability – Driven Investments (including Asset Liability Management and Goal-Based Investing)
      IV. Asset Allocation
      1. Economic Analysis and Setting Capital Market Expectations
      2. Asset Allocation
      3. Liability – Driven Investments (including Asset Liability Management and Goals-Based Investing)
      V. Performance Measurement
      1. Performance Attribution and Appraisal
      2. Presentation of Performance Results (GIPS)
      3. Investment Manager Selection
      4. Execution of Portfolio Decisions (including Trading and Market Microstructure)

      Pathways

        Portfolio Management Pathway
        1. Index Investing
        2. Fixed Income Portfolio Management
        3. Equity Portfolio Management
        4. Execution of Portfolio Decisions (including Trading and Market Microstructure)
        5. Management of Institutional Investor Portfolios
        6. Liability - Driven Investments (including Asset Liability Management and Goal-Based investing)
        Private Markets Pathway
        1. Deal origination, screening, analysis, and valuation
        2. Deal structuring, financing, and negotiation
        3. Management of Assets, execution of value creation strategies, and exit strategies
        4. Fund vehicles, agreements, and structures
        5. Capital flows: raising capital, distributing returns, and collecting fees/carried interest
        6. Private Asset classes: Market context, Investment strategies and Investment process
        7. Measures of fund level returns and performance at portfolio company level
        Private Wealth Pathway
        1. Private Wealth Management Industry
        2. Client Management
        3. Wealth Planning
        4. Investment Management
        5. HNW client profiling & Asset Allocation

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