Following months of feedback on proposed changes to the Certified Financial Planner certification program, the Financial Planners Standards Council is officially implementing changes that will come into effect July 1, 2010.

FPSC released an outline of the proposed changes to the certification program in June and invited all stakeholders to provide feedback during a three-month commentary period.

“The comments were constructive and largely supportive of the direction we proposed,” said Cary List, FPSC president and CEO, in a statement.

The changes relate to four main areas: examination, education, work experience and ethics requirements.

“Professional financial planning involves a breadth of skills, knowledge and competencies and is continuously evolving. CFP certification must keep pace with this evolution,” said John Wickett, FPSC senior vp of standards and certification.

First, a two-staged examination process will replace the single six-hour CFP Examination. FPSC has also incorporated a policy that restricts the maximum number of attempts to four for each examination.

On the education front, all candidates will be required to successfully complete an FPSC-approved Capstone Course in order to be eligible to write the second exam.

The Capstone Course is required in addition to successful completion of FPSC-approved core curriculum education. The course requires the completion of a financial plan as further demonstration of the candidate’s understanding and application of financial planning fundamentals.

Furthermore, candidates’ work experience requirement is being boosted from two years of qualifying financial planning to three years.

The changes also include a new requirement that all candidates adhere to a code of ethics established by FPSC and maintain continuous registration with FPSC throughout the path to CFP certification.

Currently, only those who have completed the CFP certification process must commit to abide by the code of ethics and FPSC Practice Standards.

“The changes to the CFP certification program help ensure future candidates have access to the most meaningful educational opportunities, sufficient practical and relevant work experience and an incremental path for demonstrating competence in applying and integrating the vast array of skills, knowledge and abilities required for professional financial planning,” said Wickett.

Other changes to the program, including revised time frames for completing the exams, are outlined on FPSC’s website.

IE