About CFA Institute 

CFA Institute is the global, not-for-profit association of investment professionals that awards the CFA and CIPM designations. CFA Institute promote the highest ethical standards and offer a range of educational opportunities online and around the world. CFA Institute has more than 90,000 voting members and 135 societies worldwide. All agree to abide by their Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct. With their member societies, CFA Institute offers a range of educational programs and services for their members, program candidates, investors, employers, institutions, and the press.  

The  mission of CFA Institute is: To lead the investment profession globally by setting the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence.  

There are four steps to become a candidate in the CFA Program    
Find out about the program  Make sure you know what you’re getting into as a candidate in the program and what opportunities you’ll get out of it as a CFA charterholder once you’ve completed the program.
    
Is this the program for you?  Not everyone is ready to enter the CFA Program. But if you’re an investment professional planning to advance your career, this could be the right step.    

What’s the first step?  You’ve decided to enter the CFA Program.

Now what? Review the fees: Confirm that you’re ready to pay the one-time program enrollment fee and the registration fee for your first exam Learn more about scheduling: Find out how long it will take and when you should sign up Prepare for your exam: Remember to plan on at least 250 hours of study time (CFA Institute have plenty of tools to help you prepare) (details on http://cfainstitute.org ) 

Sign up  Enroll in the program and register for exams online:http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/register/ 
Useful literature  you can find on http://www.cfapubs.org/page/books 

Course of Study As a CFA Program candidate, your course of study is determined by the Candidate Body of Knowledge™  (CBOK). The CBOK is grounded in practice. This means that panels and surveys of current investment professionals have determined the knowledge, skills, and abilities you’ll need to succeed in the workplace. This practice analysis involves thousands of charterholders across the world and helps determine the CBOK, which is the framework for the curriculum and exams.  

We believe that candidates need to commit to a minimum of 250 hours reading and reviewing the curriculum and taking online sample exams to master the material. This recommendation, however, may substantially underestimate the hours needed for appropriate exam preparation depending on individual circumstances and academic background.      

To get more insight into the level of rigor that’s required on the CFA Program exams, read more information on  http://cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/courseofstudy/