The Certified Financial Board of Standards, Inc. also known as the CFP Board, is a certification organization that sets standards for Financial Planners. It is non-profit and is responsible for the administration of the Certified Financial Planner, or the CFP certification in the USA.
It is the mission of the CFP Board of Standards to grant the Certified Financial Planner certification for the advantage of the public by upholding the standards of excellence for personal financial planning. To support this mission, the Certified Financial Planner Board has six established core objectives. They are as follows: Advocacy, Communication, Credentialing, Education, Enforcement, and Sustainability.
Advocacy – To provide support for adequate, efficient and ethical financial planning, by influencing policy and the public.
Communication – To promote the CFP certification board as the standard for excellence for financial planning as recognized by the public and stakeholders.
Credentialing – To implement the most exacting credentialing process available to financial planning, a process that is definite, trustworthy and justifiable by law.
Education – To constitute and uphold standards for the reinforcement of learning, skill, and financial abilities of present and prospect CFP certifiers.
Enforcement – Administration of the CFP Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct in order to protect the public’s interest.
Sustainability – To create and establish viable objectives that has the goal of serving the public and its stakeholders in a professional and efficient manner.
After the World War II, new financial services and products arose to meet the new needs of the Americans, such as Financial Planning; the idea that professional assistance of someone who integrated skill, knowledge and practice from an otherwise complex, multi-faceted industry began to develop and get the attention of the public. This movement also became known as the financial planning profession. The Certified Financial Planners Board was founded and formed early into 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 for Financial Planners or the IAFP, a membership organization and the College for Financial Planning, an educational institution were created.
The heart of this organization and of this educational institution was concertized when its first group of students was enrolled by the IAFP for the CFP (Certified Financial Planners) course as offered by their recently-established college. 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 college was evident, it was even more evident that an educational institution was not the appropriate body to be implementing ethical standards. So the college came into an agreement that founded a non-profit, independent, certifying and standardizing organization. The College transferred its ownership of the CFP marks and its rights and responsibilities to this organization that came to be known as the International Board of Standards and Practices, Inc. or the IBCFP. In 1994, it was renamed Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. or CFP.
In 1995, the CFP Board’s certification program received the first ever accreditation from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies of the National Organization Competency Assurance granted to a non-health-related certification in the United Sates.
After 20 years of operation in Denver, Colorado, the CFP Board standing true to one of their core objectives which is advocacy, moved operations to Washington, DC in December 2007 to be closer to policymakers. In 2010, the draft Financial Planners Act of 2010 was supported by the CFP Board.
Up to this day, the CFP remains to be one of the most respected organizations in personal financial planning.
