CFP designation set for a worldwide boom

The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation will become as well recognised as the Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) within ten years, according to a visiting CFP authority.

Chair-elect of the International CFP, Patti Houlihan, says recognition of the CFP designation is growing rapidly in the US and other parts of the world as signifiying the highest quality financial planner.

In Australia for the International CFP conference, Houlihan said the number of planners gaining CFP accreditation had boomed internationally.

She says there are now 40,000 CFPs worldwide, including 34,000 in the US.

According to FPA chairman Wes McMaster, two thirds of FPA's practicing members will hold the CFP designation by the end of this year and all practicing members must hold the designation by 2003.

Houlihan says the CFP designation is also rapidly expanding into new countries. In the past year, 40 new trademark applications from 14 countries have been received. On top of these, it is present in France, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand, the US and the UK.

Houlihan says the defining characteristic of a CFP is the ability to look at the total client.

"A CFP will have a broad understanding of all components of a person's financial well-being, insurance to estate planning and from investments to tax planning. A CFP will manage the person, not the portfolio," she says.

"I often consider the CFP as the quarterback of the team. You may not want to specialise in each of the components but you must understand how they all work together."

In the US, CFP must cover 106 topics in the education program; must pass a 10 hour two day exam; and must have three years work experience as a financial planner. A CFP must re-apply for certification every two years.

"We take protection of the mark very seriously," Houlihan says.