PhD program paralleling CFA curriculum?

Hi,
are there any PhD programs (online / distance learning) that are paralleling, or have a high correlation to, the CFA curriculum?
Thanks in advance for your help.
P.S. I did a search (due diligence) but could not find any useful information!

 

I'm guessing that one would normally prepare for the professional licensure examinations for one's Chartered Financial Analyst designation at the master's or graduate certificate levels. That said, it does not mean that one cannot do so at the doctoral level; it simply means that one would have to look up various MBA or MS programs in Financial Planning or Finance that do prepare one for the CFA exam, note their course requirements, and then find yourself a DL PhD or DBA in Finance that offers said coursework, even if it does not bill itself as CFA prep.

 

A doctoral program that presented itself as perparation for the CFA would be highly suspect on its face. The CFA, while difficult, is not doctoral level material.

 

Thanks for the info, foobar; I was aware of that.

 

I agree with the comments thus far. The CFA material is masters level stuff. The relevant programs would be MS Finance or MBA's with a concentration in finance. Off hand, I know the College for Financial Planning has a DL masters that is geared towards the CFA. Here in the Bay Area, USF has a similar program, though not DL.

Myriad masters in fiancial engineering or financial analysis are sprouting up all over the place. These at least skirt the CFA landscape. Those that say "analysis" are likely to be geared towards CFA level work. Those that say "engineering" are likely to delve into the stochastic calculus side of finance. Beware of this path lest you have great confidence in your ability to learn a twisted calculus.

But the CFA material has nothing to do with research, and therefore nothing (strictly speaking) to do with PhD programs (unless you want to do a PhD in finance, and absorb the CFA stuff by osmosis along the way). It's sort of like saying, "are there MD programs that prepare you to be an EMT?", or "JD programs that prepare you to be a paralegal." The answer is, yes, in a way, and no, not really.

 

These two are not DL nor PhD but are MBA programs which incorporate the CFA in their curriculum:

Concord University's program seems to be the most integrated

http://johnmolson.concordia.ca/giim/

University of Tampa

http://www.utampa.edu/mba/curriculum.html

I know this is not what you wanted but I thought I'd put it out there just in case.

You could ask the folks at http://www.analystforum.com/ but prepared to be flamed. Some of the folks there are kind of tough but you'll get the info you need.

 

Masters Degree & CFA

I may be studying for CFA Level 1 in the coming year, so I may be able to provide some insights. I agree with the previous posts that the CFA program is considered a masters level program rather than PhD material. In any case, here are the programs recognized by CFA Institute:

http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/university/partners.html

However, I do not believe that any of these programs are available by DL. A RA DL option previously mentioned is the Master of Science in Financial Analysis offered by the College for Financial Planning:

http://www.cffp.edu/portal/alias__Rainbow/lang__en-US/tabID__3362/DesktopDefault.aspx

Other options that may suit your needs are as follows:

University of Reading
MSc International Securities, Investment and Banking by DL

http://www.icmacentre.rdg.ac.uk/nav2/default.asp?link=DISTLEARN&linkid=452&menutitle=tblProgrammesMenu&Level=2&data=Programmes&crumb=MSc%20ISIB%20(Distance)&type=Menu

University of Leicester Masters Degree in Finance by DL

http://www.le.ac.uk/ulmc/dl_about.html

However, the UK degrees mentioned above are not specifically geared to the CFA curriculum. At this point, you have two options:

1. Find a university program that is closely mapped to the CFA curriculum.

or

2. Go through the CFA Learning Outcome Statements (LOS) on the CFA web site and ensure the university program covers these areas.

http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/resources/

I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

Michael Weedon, CA