notices - See details

CFA® Program

Download brochure

CFA Program curriculum

Gain the solid foundation of knowledge that investment firms expect from finance professionals. When you complete the curriculum, you will be equipped to meet today’s challenges in investment management with critical advanced analysis and portfolio management skills.

How is the curriculum structured across the CFA exam?

The CFA Program is a series of three exams: Levels I, II, and III. Each level of the curriculum builds on the prior level and becomes increasingly complex. Find out how the CFA exam levels compare so you can prepare for success at every stage.

Level I: Learn and describe

Multiple choice questions will test your knowledge of the key terms, concepts, and formulas that are the foundation of the investment industry.

CFA Program Level I exam outline

Level II: Analyze and evaluate

Exam vignettes with multiple choice questions will test how you analyze situations and provide solutions using the knowledge you have accumulated.

CFA Program Level II exam outline

Level III: Integrate and apply

A mix of item set questions and constructed response questions will demonstrate how you integrate concepts and apply knowledge to real-world scenarios.

CFA Program Level III exam outline

What topics are covered?

We update the CFA Program curriculum regularly to reflect modern financial practices, guided by our ongoing practice analysis which ensures the material stays aligned with the latest industry trends. This means you’ll learn precisely what’s needed to thrive in today’s investment industry and confidently apply your CFA Program knowledge to real-world scenarios.

Topic	Exam weight
Ethical and Professional Standards	10-15%
Quantitative Methods	11-14%
Economics	6-9%
Financial Statement Analysis	11-14%
Corporate Finance	6-9%
Equities	11-14%
Fixed Income	11-14%
Derivatives and Risk Management	6–9%
Alternative Investments	6-9%
Portfolio Construction	8-12%

Topic	Exam weight
Ethical and Professional Standards	10–15%
Quantitative Methods	5-10%
Economics	5-10%
Financial Statement Analysis	10-15%
Corporate Finance	5-10%
Equities	10-15%
Fixed Income	10-15%
Derivatives and Risk Management	5-10%
Alternative Investments	5-10%
Portfolio Construction	10-15%

Topic	Exam weight
Asset Allocation	15–20%
Portfolio Construction	15–20%
Performance Measurement	5–10%
Derivatives and Risk Management	10–15%
Ethical and Professional Standards	10–15%
Pathways (Portfolio Management or Private Markets or Private Wealth)	30–35%

Alternative Investments

Defines and explores alternative investments, including hedge funds, private equity, real estate, commodities, and infrastructure. You’ll learn about the characteristics they have in common and about the use of alternative investments for diversification and higher returns.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
6-9%	5–10%	5–10%

Corporate Finance

Introduces corporate governance as well as investing and financing decisions. You'll gain an overview of corporate governance and stakeholder management, along with a framework for understanding and analyzing them. Learn about the growing impact of environmental and social considerations in the investment industry. Also, you’ll discover how companies make use of leverage and manage their working capital to meet short-term operational needs.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
6-9%	5–10%	0%

Derivatives and Risk Management

Learn the conceptual framework for understanding the basic derivatives and derivative markets. You’ll then be introduced to essential features and valuation concepts for forward commitments such as forwards, futures, swaps, and contingent claims. Finally, you’ll study arbitrage, a critical concept that links derivative pricing to the price of the underlying asset.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
6-9%	5-10%	5–10%

Learn about the analysis of fundamental concepts of supply and demand for individual consumers and firms. Understand the various market structures that firms operate in as well as macroeconomic concepts and principles, including aggregate output and income measurement, aggregate demand and supply analysis, and analysis of economic growth factors. This topic concludes with the business cycle and its effect on economic activity.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
6-9%	5-10%	5-10%

Equities

Explore the characteristics of equity investments, security markets, and indexes and explain how to analyze industries, companies, and equity securities. Learn about the use of basic equity valuation models and global equities, which are important for meeting longer-term growth and diversification objectives.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
11-14%	10-15%	10-15%

Ethical and Professional Standards

Focus on ethics, related challenges to ethical behavior, and the role ethics and professionalism play in the investment industry. Gain a framework to support ethical decision-making and examine CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct and Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®).

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
10-15%	10-15%	10-15%

Financial Statement Analysis

Receive a thorough explanation of financial reporting procedures and the standards that govern financial reporting disclosures, with an emphasis on basic financial statements and how alternative accounting methods affect those statements and their analysis. You’ll also examine primary financial statements and be provided with a general framework for conducting financial statement analysis.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
11-14%	10-15%	0%

Learn how to describe fixed income securities and their markets, yield measures, risk factors, and valuation measurements and drivers. We’ll also cover calculating yields, values of fixed income securities, the securitization of assets, the fundamentals of bond returns and risks, and basic principles of credit analysis.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
11-14%	10-15%	15-20%

Quantitative Methods

Explore quantitative concepts and techniques used in financial analysis and investment decision-making. We present descriptive statistics for conveying important data attributes such as central tendency, location, and dispersion, and introduce characteristics of return distributions. This topic also considers probability theory and its application in quantifying risk for investment decision-making.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
11-14%	5-10%	0%

Portfolio Construction

Learn the fundamentals of portfolio and risk management, including return and risk measurement and portfolio planning and construction. Examine the needs of individual and institutional investors along with the range of available investment solutions. The capital asset pricing model is used to identify optimal risk in portfolios.

Exam topic area weight across levels:

Level I	Level II	Level III
8-12%	10-15%	35-40%

Real-life Practical Skills Modules (PSM)

The core of the CFA Program curriculum teaches you the fundamentals of investment tools, valuing assets, portfolio management, and wealth planning.

To ensure you thrive in your current or future role, the curriculum has been expanded to include practical, relevant skills training. This allows you to apply what you are learning in the curriculum to real-world scenarios.

A Practical Skills Module (PSM) uses a combination of videos, multiple-choice questions, guided practice, and case studies to develop your practical skills. To receive your exam result, you will be required to complete at least one PSM at each level. You may begin your PSM topic at any time after registration. Each PSM takes 10-20 hours to complete.

Learn more about Practical Skills Modules

Frequently asked questions

Expand all Collapse all

How does the curriculum integrate ethical and professional standards?

The curriculum is developed with an Education Advisory Committee that includes industry practitioners, security market regulators, university faculty, and policymakers. Also, each level has a topic dedicated to ethical and professional standards, and the role they play in the investment industry.

Can I purchase a print version of the CFA Program curriculum?

Yes, the curriculum is available as a set of six volumes. Registered candidates can purchase these by signing in to candidate resources and selecting the print curriculum option.

How does CFA Institute ensure the curriculum remains relevant to the investment industry?

We continuously evolve the CFA Program curriculum through a process called practice analysis. This involves working with practicing investment management professionals, university faculty, and regulators to determine the critical knowledge, skills, and abilities that are needed in an investment role today. Each year, we summarize what we have learned and publish this in the Practice Analysis Annual Review. Learn more about practice analysis.

Need help?

Visit customer support to find an answer or talk to our team.

Customer support

CFA® Program

From USD 1,140

/exam *

*See dates & fees page for details.

Credential - 3 levels / 3 exams
Advanced level
300 hours per level
Self-paced online learning
Learning materials included
Associate membership eligibility

man working on tablet in office

Download the CFA Program brochure

Enter your details below for instant access to this brochure.

First Name

Last Name

Email

Country/Region

Employment Status

Product Content Opt In/Updates Opt In

By submitting this form, I agree and consent to receive communications and updates about CFA Institute products and services. I have reviewed and acknowledged the Privacy Notice along with the Terms and Conditions therein.

You may also be interested in