BY WAYNE LARSON
Second year MBA student Brett Kunshek passed Level I of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams in June 2009. “The Level I exam is a strong weed-out exam,” said KU School of Business Teaching Fellow and CFA charter holder, Kelly Welch.
The six decade-old CFA program is the highest standard within the finance and investment professions says Kunshek. To become a CFA charter holder one must pass three exams, which require approximately 250 hours of self-study per exam, and complete four years of investment experience. Two hundred and fifty self-study hours roughly equates to taking 15 academic hours of class.
The average passing rate for Kunshek’s Level I CFA exam was 46%. “The passing rate does not increase that much for exam Levels II and III, either,” said Welch.
Kunshek will not be able to continue his success until June 2010 because the exams are only given once per year. There is no doubt he will be studying hard in the meantime. He studied 225 hours for the first exam. “The exams are hard, but not unlike anything else in life. If you prepare yourself and put in the time, everything else will fall into place,” said Kunshek. The long self-study hours not only prepared him for the exam, “they expanded my fundamental knowledge base of finance, and strengthened my time-management skills,” said Kunshek.
The School of Business has provided Kunshek with scholarship money that allows him to take the CFA exams at a substantially reduced rate. “The scholarship was very helpful financially. I saved $1,000 by having it,” said Kunshek. Ten scholarships are given to students each year.
“There has been a positive trend in students applying for the CFA exams scholarships in the past couple of years,” said Welch. “The School has already awarded six of the 10 scholarships for the upcoming exams in June 2010.”
The School of Business has helped Kunshek a lot on the exams already. “The B-School’s finance classes are a great complement to studying for the exams. A lot of the same material is covered in class, which significantly reduces your overall study time,” said Kunshek.
The School of Business is one of only 35 other universities in the world to be recognized as a CFA Program Partner. The distinction certifies that undergraduate finance students have the necessary training to sit for the Level I CFA exam.
Kunshek earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from Pittsburg State University. Straight-out of college in 2006, he began work as an internal auditor and risk management consultant for Protiviti in Overland Park, Kan. When he left his first full-time professional job for graduate school at KU he said he knew he wanted to start the CFA program as well.
“Earning the CFA designation definitely sets you apart from the crowd, and it helps you get your foot in the door,” said Kunshek. After obtaining his CFA charter, Kunshek hopes to get his foot in the door working as an asset manager. However, he must pass the Level II exam in 2010 and Level III exam in 2011 before he can achieve that goal.
