Board Certified Financial Planning As Explained By The Experts
The Certified Financial Standards Board, Inc., also known as the CFP Board, is a certifying organization that sets standards for financial planners. It is non-profit and is in charge of the administration of the Certified Financial Planner, or the CFP certification in the USA.
The mission of the CFP Standards Board is to award Certified Financial Planner certification for the benefit of the public by maintaining standards of excellence for personal financial planning. To support this mission, the Certified Financial Planning Board has established six basic objectives. They are as follows: Advocacy, Communication, Accreditation, Education, Compliance and Sustainability.
Advocacy – Provide support for proper, efficient and ethical financial planning, influencing policy and the public.
Communication – Promote the CFP certification board as the standard of excellence for financial planning recognized by the public and stakeholders.
Credentialing: Implement the most stringent credentialing process available for financial planning, a process that is final, trustworthy, and justifiable by law.
Education – Establish and maintain standards to reinforce the learning, skills, and financial abilities of current and future CFP certifiers.
Compliance – Administration of the PIC Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct to protect the public interest.
Sustainability – Create and establish viable objectives that aim to serve the public and its stakeholders in a professional and efficient manner.
After World War II, new financial services and products emerged to meet the new needs of Americans, such as Financial Planning; the idea of ​​professional assistance from someone who integrated the skill, knowledge and practice of a complex and multifaceted industry began to develop and gain public attention. This movement also became known as the financial planning profession. The Board of Certified Financial Planners was founded and formed early in the development of this movement.
Financial planning, a new profession that integrated these practices, was first established in 1969. It was then that the International Association of Financial Planners or IAFP, a membership organization, and the College of Financial Planning, an educational institution, were created.
The heart of this organization and this educational institution came together when the IAFP enrolled its first batch of students for the CFP (Certified Financial Planners) course offered by its newly established university. The first 35 graduates of the class formed the Institute of (ICFP) in 1973.
The college became an integral part of the development of knowledge and financial planning professionals. Although the great contribution of the school was evident, it was even more evident that an educational institution was not the appropriate body to be implementing ethical standards. The university then reached an agreement that founded an independent, non-profit, certifying and standardizing organization. The College transferred its ownership of the CFP marks and its rights and responsibilities to this organization which became known as the International Board of Standards and Practices, Inc. or IBCFP. In 1994, it was renamed the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. or CFP.
In 1995, the PIC Board’s certification program received the first accreditation from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies of National Organization Competency Assurance given to non-health related certification in the United States.
After 20 years of operating in Denver, Colorado, the CFP Board, true to one of its main objectives, which is advocacy, moved its operations to Washington, DC in December 2007 to be closer to legislators. In 2010, the draft Financial Planners Act 2010 was endorsed by the CFP Board.
To this day, the CFP remains one of the most respected organizations in personal financial planning.