Accredited Financial Analyst (AFA) Review
Written by Andrea Coombes
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Dayana Yochim
Our take: The Accredited Financial Analyst (AFA) certification seems less like an actual designation, more like a cash machine for the for-profit company that offers it.
There are almost no requirements to receive the designation, other than to fork over some money for it. The sponsoring organization, the Global Academy of Finance and Management, offers more than 14 designations. There seems to be no requirement for unique education specific to the AFA designation, or even an exam.
If your financial advisor touts this designation, you might want to ask, “Dude. Why?”
Accredited Financial Analyst (AFA)
Offered by: Global Academy of Finance and Management
Website: https://www.gafm.com/page/AFA
Overall summary
Here’s a summary of how the AFA designation stacks up on our criteria.
| Feature |
 Accredited Financial Analyst (AFA)
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| Overall |
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| Nonprofit |
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| Independent accreditation |
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| Continuing Education requirement |
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| Background check |
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| Ethics requirement |
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| Fiduciary requirement |
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| Consumer complaint forum |
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| Check credential status |
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Compare financial advisor certifications
Check out how advisor certifications stack up against each other.
| Feature |
Accredited Financial Analyst (AFA)
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 Accredited Wealth Management Advisor (AWMA)
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 Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
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 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
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 Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)
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 Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP)
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Which certification is best for a financial analyst?
The best certification for a financial analyst is the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. The CFA requires advisors to have 4,000 hours, or about 2 years, of work experience in a related field, plus pass three exams totaling more than 300 questions. The average pass rate on those exams? Less than 50%. It’s such a challenging credential that earning it signifies a financial advisor who’s smart, experienced and willing to work hard. The CFA is considered probably the best certification for financial analysts.
Methodology
To generate star ratings for financial advisor certifications, investor.com ranks the certification on each of 10 criteria. Below are the questions we sought to answer for each certification. We then applied a weighted score for each response, leading to an overall star rating for each certification.
- Is the organization that offers the certification nonprofit or for-profit?
- Is the certification accredited by an independent, third-party organization?
- Is an exam required to earn the certification?
- How many questions are on the exam?
- Is a background check required of certificants?
- Is continuing education required to maintain the certification?
- Is there any type of ethics requirement, e.g. certificants must sign a code of ethics?
- Is the certificant required to agree to an explicit fiduciary duty in interactions with clients?
- Can consumers easily submit a complaint against a certificant?
- Can consumers easily check advisors’ certification status online?
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About the Editorial Team
Andrea Coombes has 20+ years of experience helping people reach their financial goals. Her personal finance articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, and other publications, and she's shared her expertise on CBS, NPR, "Marketplace," and more. She's been a financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, and is working on becoming a Certified Financial Planner. She knows that owning pets isn't necessarily the best financial decision; her dog and two cats would argue this point.
Carolyn Kimball is a former managing editor for Reink Media Group and investor.com. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.
Dayana Yochim has been writing (articles, books, podcasts, stirring speeches) about personal finance and investing for more than two decades, focusing on bringing clarity and the occasional comedic aside to what is often a murky, humorless topic. She’s written for NerdWallet, The Motley Fool, HerMoney.com, Woman’s Day, Forbes, Newsweek and others, and been a guest expert on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and wherever they’ll hand her a mic.