CFA Curriculum 2023 Update: A Quick Overview
CFA Curriculum 2023 Update: A Quick Overview
The CFA curriculum for 2023 has been released for all three levels. In this article, you will discover all updates about the CFA 2023 curriculum.
CFA level 1
There are no major changes in the CFA level 1 online subject weightage as compared to the previous year.
|
CFA level 1 Subjects |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Quantitative Methods |
10% |
10% |
8-12% |
8-12% |
8-12% |
|
Economics |
10% |
10% |
8-12% |
8-12% |
8-12% |
|
FRA |
15% |
15% |
13-17% |
13-17% |
13-17% |
|
Corporate Issuers |
10% |
10% |
8-12% |
8-12% |
8-12% |
|
Equity |
11% |
11% |
10-12% |
10-12% |
10-12% |
|
Fixed Income |
11% |
11% |
10-12% |
10-12% |
10-12% |
|
Derivatives |
6% |
6% |
5-8% |
5-8% |
5-8% |
|
Alternative Investments |
6% |
6% |
5-8% |
5-8% |
5-8% |
|
Portfolio Management |
6% |
6% |
5-8% |
5-8% |
5-8% |
|
Ethics |
15% |
15% |
15-20% |
15-20% |
15-20% |
If we look into the comparison table, there were major changes back in 2018-19 in Financial Reporting and Analysis and Quantitative Methods were relieved.
- CFA level 1 online classes structure has shifted from readings to learning module structure. Learning Modules are visuals, spreadsheets, and information related to a career in the finance industry.
- There is a total of 73 modules in the 2023 curriculum.
- Alternative Investments and Derivatives are the first two subjects that are introduced in the LM structure. Therefore, the readings or chapters are not comparable to last year.
- 3 additional readings are added, the focus is more on corporate issuers and Economics.
- " Fintech in Investment Management", "Defi", and " Blockchain" content has been added to Portfolio Management.
Learning Modules Update
- Readings are renamed as Learning Modules
- Addition of new learning modules in Economics and Corporate Issuers.
LM 13 - Introduction to Geopolitics
LM 28- Corporate structure and ownership
LM 30- Business Models
- Additional learning modules are added in Corporate Issuers.
CFA level 2
There are no such changes in CFA level 2 subject weightage just like CFA level 1. Here are the below-listed changes in the CFA level 2 curriculum: -
|
CFA level 2 Subjects |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Quantitative Methods |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
Economics |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
FRA |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
|
Corporate Issuers |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
Equity |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
|
Fixed Income |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
|
Derivatives |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
Alternative Investments |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
Portfolio Management |
5-15% |
5-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
|
Ethics |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
- Like CFA level 1, CFA level 2 has also shifted to learning modules.
- Two subjects- Quantitative Methods and Alternative Investment readings are broken down into small learning modules.
- "Corporate Restructuring" in Corporate Issuers has been replaced with "Mergers and Acquisitions", which is solely focused on all varieties of corporate restructuring and spreadsheet models.
- "Financial statement modeling" is replaced by "industry and company analysis" in the section on "financial statement analysis".
- Additional material on behavioral biases in forecasting is also covered along with the introduction of spreadsheet modeling.
- A new learning module is introduced - "Cost of Capital", which is focused on the estimation of the required rate of return on equities, and fixed Income, and how to estimate the average cost of capital.
There are a total of 49 learning modules in the CFA level 2 updated curriculum.
- 4 readings from 2022 have been removed and shifted to CFA level 1.
- Reading 1: Introduction to Linear Regression
- Reading 15: Capital Structure
- Reading 19: Capital Budgeting
- Reading 21: Return Concepts
Addition of New Learning Modules
- LM 20: Capital Advanced Topics
Updated learning Modules
- Multiple Regression- Quant
- Corporate Restructuring- Corporate Issuers
- Real Estate Investments- Alternative Investments
CFA level 3
Just like other levels of CFA, there are very minor changes in the CFA online training curriculum. Fixed Income readings are updated to maintain consistency in all three levels.
|
CFA level 3 Subjects |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Quantitative Methods |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Economics |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
FRA |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Corporate Issuers |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Equity |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
|
Fixed Income |
15-20% |
15-20% |
15-20% |
15-20% |
15-20% |
|
Derivatives |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
Alternative Investments |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
5-10% |
|
Portfolio Management |
35-40% |
35-40% |
35-40% |
35-40% |
35-40% |
|
Ethics |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
10-15% |
5 reading were removed from the curriculum
- Reading 4: Professionalism in Investment Management
- Reading 7: Behavioral Perspective
- Reading 29: Taxes and Private Wealth Management
- Reading 30: Estate Planning
- Reading 31: Concentrated Single-Asset positions.
2 New Readings are added
- Reading 22: New topics are included in Private Wealth Management
- Reading 30: New case studies in Risk Management.
- 7 Updated Readings
- Fixed Income
- Ethics
It looks like the CFA 2022 study material is highly transferable to 2023 with major revisions and updations in the chapters. I hope you find the above article helpful in your CFA institute online exam preparations.