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Gold Standard: Financial analysts training to meet Western standards
By Vasyl Shchur, Kyiv Post Staff Writer

Kyiv Business School Rector Yaroslav Golovko holds a commemorative disk marking the Ukrainian Society of Financial Analysts associate membership in the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies

So far, fewer than 10 Ukrainians have earned certification as chartered financial analysts, but Kyiv Business School Rector Yaroslav Holovko is confident that there will be dozens more.

Holovko hopes that as Ukrainian businesses adopt Western standards and foreign companies doing business here rely more heavily on well-educated and experienced Ukrainian managers, the demand for professional-level employees with globally recognized certifications like CFA will grow.

The business school is the only place in Ukraine that offers the CFA examination or test-preparation courses. The test is available in 70 countries worldwide.

The CFA designation is "more than just an standard, "Holovko said. "If you see CFA abbreviations on person's card, it speaks for the person itself."

The CFA designation has won global recognition as the premier certification in the investment profession. To earn the certification, candidates must hold at least a elor's degree, have three years of investment management experience, and pass a series of three annual six-hour examinations. The examination is devised to encompass a globally applicable body of knowledge related to investment management and administered by the Association for Investment Management and Research, a nonprofit group headquartered in the United States.

Earning an international designation presents Ukrainian students with a different experience, Holovko said. Here, the Education Ministry sets standards based on its perception of the needs of the labor market, he said.

The exam isn't easy and requires candidates to have broad practical and theoretical knowledge.

More than 50,000 people have earned the CFA designation since it was created in the early 1960s. When the Kyiv Business School began offering the CFA examination in 1997, it started with just six students. Today, Holovko said, 120 Ukrainians are involved in some stage of preparation for the exam series.

Presently, nine Ukrainians have earned the certification.

Obtaining the CFA mark will become more popular when employers begin to demand that senior investment managers have it.

"The professional market in Ukraine is not yet on the stage where CFA specialists are required by employees," Holovko said. He added that employers will need to offer salaries commensurate with the education, experience and commitment the designation represents.

Russian firms have already become widely aware of the CFA designation and employers there are beginning to specifically recruit financial analysts who have been awarded the certification.

Holovko said that many of the CFA candidates pursuing the designation through his school are Ukrainians working for Western companies. Companies sending employees through the course include GML International, Pratt and Whitney-Paton, Alfa Capital, Troika Dialog, Ladenburg Thalmann Ukraine and the Western NIS Enterprise Fund.

WNISEF Senior Associate Oksana Strashna, who earned the designation this year, is the first Ukrainian woman to do so.

Strashna said she was proud of her achievement, calling it a "significant accomplishment."

She said that people holding the CFA designation gain valuable theoretical knowledge and adhere to a strict ethical code.

Strashna said that having CFAs on staff gives a company more credibility, and raises the level of an investment firm's professionalism.

Proficiency in English is required for both the exam preparation course and the exam itself.

Although anyone meeting the requirements can register to take the exam, many students choose to take an exam-preparation course. Students in the post-graduate program offered by Kyiv Business School study a topic for three weeks, then participate in an intensive 10 day seminar.

"We can only partially prepare our students for the CFA," Holovko said. "Nobody can guarantee that they will pass it."

Later this year, the Kyiv Business School will begin offering a second investment-management designation.

The Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA) is similar to the CFA, Holovko said, but was developed by the Association of CIIAs in 2000 to offer a European designation similar to the CFA.

While the CIIA is basically similar to the CFA, Holovko said, the CIIA takes a slightly less global approach.

"The CIIA standard gives each professional the opportunity to take the exam in his native language," Holovko said. And, unlike the CFA, the third stage of the CIIA exam tests the applicant's knowledge of local investment law and accounting standards, he said.

"I hope that Ukraine will soon recognize that there are world standards for professionals in many fields," Holovko said "and many different international certifications."