CFP Board to Conduct First-Ever Review of Competency Standards

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards said Tuesday that it plans to form a Competency Standards Commission next year to review and evaluate the CFP Board’s competency requirements for education, examination, experience and continuing education.

The Competency Standards Commission will validate current requirements for CFP professionals and/or recommend changes for improvement to the standard for the profession.

“As the professional organization that sets, administers, upholds and enforces competency and ethical standards for CFP certification, CFP Board has the obligation to ensure that its certification requirements remain valid, reliable and legally defensible for the benefit of the public,” said CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller in a statement. “As we enter the 50th year of CFP certification, it’s timely that we review the competency standards for the profession to make sure that they remain relevant.”

Popular planner and blogger Michael Kitces tweeted in response to the announcement Tuesday: “The requirements to become a CFP professional are known as ‘the four E’s’- Education (upfront education requirement & ongoing CE), Examination (the CFP exam), Experience, and Ethics (standards of conduct). The Competency Standards Commission will focus on first 3.”

In practice, Kitces tweeted, “the real ‘debate’ on CFP Board competency standards will likely focus on two in particular: Education, and Experience. Notable that CFP Board is forming a Commission to evaluate, b/c in the past they just changed the requirements more… unilaterally.”

Overall, Kitces said, “CFP Board ‘re-evaluating’ its competency standards is good. It should be done periodically, & ties well to CFP 50-yr anniversary in 2023. And this Commission-with-stakeholder-feedback approach is much better than CFP Board’s past.”

Kitces continued: “We’ll see what we finish with, but again I’d expect an increase in annual CE hours, the potential for an increase in the upfront educational requirement, and a potential increase in years-of-experience requirement but coupled w/ better flexibility for part-timers.”