Congratulations! You have successfully passed the Certified Financial Planner® exam.
You are now in the final stages of earning CFP certification, the only globally recognized mark of professional financial planning.
Your next steps to CFP certification
Providing confirmation to FP Canada of having completed, at minimum, a postsecondary degree, is a requirement for CFP certification. If you have not already submitted this information, go to the “Education” panel on your FP Canada account to complete this step. If you hold a degree from outside of Canada, submit your request through an approved education verification service.
FP Canada will update your account once we have received the documentation supplied by your academic institution and verified your degree.
You will also need to complete any outstanding qualifying financial planning work experience (for a total of three years). Work experience is a cornerstone of FP Canada certification, providing the opportunity to develop and hone your skills and demonstrate
your ability to serve clients in real-world settings. For more information, including which documentation is required, visit our work experience web page.
If you have already had your postsecondary education verified by FP Canada and submitted your work experience for verification, apply for CFP certification through the “Certification” panel on your dashboard.
If you have yet to meet the work experience requirement for CFP certification, you should maintain your Qualified Associate Financial Planner™ certification by continuing to renew it annually.
National Results and Ethics Cautionary Note
Refer to the following page for the national results of the CFP exam. We have also provided an ethics cautionary note for all candidates based on some candidate answers to constructed response questions on the exam.
Congratulations once again on your accomplishment.
NATIONAL EXAM RESULTS AND ETHICS CAUTIONARY NOTE
National Results
Ethics Cautionary Note
When exams from the February 2025 CFP exam administration were scored, several professional conduct/ethical issues were flagged in a significant number of candidate responses. These issues have also been identified several times on previous
exams. We are addressing the identified issues here, as guidance for all candidates. These issues, if they had occurred with an actual client, would likely have constituted breaches of the FP Canada Standards Council™ Standards of Professional Responsibility,
which is set and enforced by the FP Canada Standards Council. And, as this guidance is applicable for both QAFP® professionals and CFP professionals, references below to CFP professionals should be interpreted as referring to both groups.
1. Prudent and appropriate recommendations (Rule 23) and gathering the client’s information (Practice Standard 4 and 5)
CFP professionals must only make recommendations that are prudent and appropriate for the client (Rule 23 of the FP Canada Standards Council Rules of Conduct). As an example, when recommending any change to an investment strategy,
a CFP professional must consider all the client’s suitability factors. Prudent strategies and recommendations will take into consideration, among other factors, the client’s
current situation, goals, needs, priorities, risk tolerances and time horizons for each account.
For example, a CFP professional should not recommend that a client move from a conservative or low risk investment strategy to a moderate risk investment strategy to achieve a higher rate of return (as a proposed solution to achieving retirement income
objectives), without first determining that the change in investment strategy aligns with the client’s actual risk tolerance and time horizons. It is inappropriate to take any of the following steps:
- Assume that a client can take on additional risk, either with investments or leverage, by reviewing the client’s other investments, the number of years remaining until retirement, or their equity in fixed assets.
- Suggest, encourage, or insist that a client amend their risk tolerance to adopt a riskier asset allocation to better their chance of achieving a desired goal or level of investment income.
- Change a client’s documented risk tolerance and preferences to match changes in their investment portfolio, without first confirming with the client that their actual risk tolerance matches the proposed changes, and that the client has authorized
the change based on full and thorough assessment.
- Recommend clients purchase insurance products and incur costs without an established insurance need or objective.
When assessing the client’s current situation, a CFP professional should consider the client’s financial position; ability to manage financial emergencies; ability to meet their financial obligations; and their projected ability to meet their
goals, needs and priorities (Practice Standard 5). It is also important to note that a client’s risk tolerance, risk capacity, or time horizon can change over time. Discussions should be held with the client and these factors should be revisited
on a regular basis – particularly after major life events.
The FP Canada Standards Council Financial Planning Practice Standards within the Standards of Professional Responsibility provide guidance to CFP professionals when engaged in financial planning activities with clients.
Financial planning professionals should review each of the Practice Standards – including Practice Standard 4, which requires that CFP professionals gather sufficient qualitative and quantitative information relevant to the engagement, as well as
identify and resolve any gaps in information required before assessing the client’s current situation and making recommendations. A thorough discovery process can also help ensure the CFP professional’s implicit biases aren’t inserted
into client recommendations and provide clients with advice that meets their specific goals.
2. Managing conflicts of interest and objectivity (Rule 8 and Principle 1)
CFP professionals have an obligation to disclose conflicts of interest in writing (Rule 8) and to mitigate conflicts in their client’s favour (Principle 1), which means resolving any conflict in a manner that puts the client’s interest first
and ahead of the CFP professional’s interests. CFP professionals must be aware of client situations that may create an actual, perceived, or potential conflict of interest. A conflict of interest is any interest that may adversely affect, or
be perceived as adversely affecting, a CFP professional’s judgment or ability to put the client’s interest first. Potential and actual conflicts of interest must be disclosed to the client(s) in writing.
Where a conflict of interest arises during an ongoing relationship with a client either between the client and the CFP professional or between clients in the case of a joint engagement, a CFP professional shall, immediately upon discovery of the conflict
of interest, advise the client(s) in writing of the conflict. In such circumstances, the CFP professional shall cease providing services (acting in accordance with the provisions of Rule 14) unless and until the client makes the informed decision
to continue with the engagement for which the CFP professional shall obtain the client’s written consent to continue the engagement. However, where the clients in the joint engagement may be spouses and have a marital breakdown, ideally, the
planner should not act for both spouses. As a matter of best practice, where there is an existing conflict of interest or where a conflict of interest is likely to materialize that cannot be mitigated, the CFP professional should decline to enter
into a professional relationship.
3. Competence (Rule 25)
A CFP professional must only offer advice in those areas in which they are competent. They must recognize when their ability and/or authority to handle a client situation is limited, such as in the provision of legal advice or services and must take steps
to either confer with other professionals or, after completing appropriate due diligence, refer the client to another professional for advice or assistance in a particular area.
To ensure that the integrity of FP Canada’s certifications is upheld, CFP professionals must be knowledgeable about, and adherent to, the principles, practice standards and applicable rules. Please refer to the Standards of Professional Responsibility for more detail.
