01 Jun
CFA CURRICULUM FOR LEVEL 1 2023 – UPDATES AND CHANGES
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CFA Institute benchmarks the CFA Program to the leading and contemporary themes driving the investment management industry. Accordingly, the CFAI announces an annual to the curriculum across the three levels of the CFA Program. This document consolidates the changes announced by the CFA Institute to the CFA Level 1 2023 curriculum.
There are no major changes in the CFA Level 1 curriculum compared to 2022. Primarily there are some necessary updates and inclusion of certain fresh readings.
The main topic that has changed is “Corporate Issuers”, previously known as “Corporate Finance”. Critical changes to the topic are summarized in the table below:
| Reading | Change | Summary of Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Structures and Ownership | Added | New learning module introducing business structures important for investment management. |
| Introduction to Corporate Governance and Other ESG Considerations | Revision | Revision to ESG terms to align with evolving practice
New EORQs
|
| Business Models | Added | New learning module examining key aspects of a business and ways an analyst can evaluate business models to support financial modelling. |
| Capital Investments (Previously Uses of Capital) | Update
|
Revised content to increase relevance for external analysts valuing a company. |
| Working Capital (Previously Sources of Capital) | Update | Revised content to increase relevance for external analysts valuing a company. |
| Cost of Capital – Foundational Topics | No changes | |
| Capital Structure | Major Revision | Revised content to reduce existing theoretical content and develop a more practical focus to support valuation exercises. |
| Measures of Leverage | No changes |
A fresh chapter “Introduction to Geopolitics” has been added to “Economics”. This has brought forward a new learning module introducing geopolitics and explaining its importance for investment management.
Topics areas in “Derivatives” and “Alternative Investments” have been further subdivided into a number of readings for better understanding of the candidates
Some updates have been made to the topic ‘Portfolio Management’. The readings “Portfolio Risk and Return: Parts 1 and 2 and “Introduction to Risk Management” have been updated.
Accordingly, new content has been added on risk management for international investments which entail currency risk. The chapter on “Fintech in Investment Management” has also been updated to reflect recent evolution in decentralised finance and blockchain.
No changes have been made to “Ethical and Professional Standards”; “Quantitative Methods”; “Financial Statement Analysis”, “Fixed Income” and “Equity Investments”.
CFA Level 1 is the foundation on which the entire journey of CFA and beyond stands. Accordingly it is an imperative that adequate prep time is invested and thorough coverage is ensured for success in CFA Level 1 and also to build a stellar base in finance.
Detailed change mapping for CFA Level 1 2023 curriculum can be viewed from the following link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lIgF11iKEsbGqKK8W3T5EC5-y-Yul5Kh/view?usp=sharing
YouTube Link:
