The Candidate Body of Knowledge™
The CFA® Exams measure your understanding of the Candidate Body of Knowledge™ (CBOK™), which serves as the basis for the CFA Program curriculum and reflects the current theory and practices of the investment profession.
The CBOK covers four major areas:
- Ethical and professional standards
- Tools and inputs for investment valuation and management
- Asset valuation
- Portfolio management and performance presentation
Ethical and professional standards is covered at all exam levels, while the degree of emphasis placed on other topic areas varies by level. For example:
- Level I focuses on the tools and inputs relating to investment valuation and portfolio management and introduces basic concepts regarding securities laws, regulations, and ethical and professional conduct.
- Level II emphasizes asset valuation while testing your ability to apply concepts at Level I relating to investment analysis and valuation and ethical and professional conduct.
- Level III covers in depth the entire portfolio management process. You must also be able to apply concepts learned in Levels I and II to this process. As with Levels I and II, you must have a firm grasp of how to apply the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct in Organizations.
