In October 2019, the CFP Board’s new Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct formally became effective, replacing the previous Standards of Professional Conduct, which had been in place for about 12 years. The CFP Board will begin enforcing compliance with the new Code and Standards as of June 30, 2020: all CFP® professionals will be held to these new standards and could face potential disciplinary action for any violation.
Among other changes, the new Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct has revised the CFP Practice Standards by altering the steps in the financial planning process. There are now seven steps in the process and existing steps have been modified. For example, the first step in the previous Standards—“Defining the Scope of the Engagement”—has been replaced by the “Duty to Provide Information to a Client” in the new Code and Standards. The CFP Board says it made these changes so the new Practice Standards would solely address the delivery of financial planning.
Other steps in the previous version of the Practice Standards have been divided and/or reordered in the new Code and Standards. Some of these changes reflect how the new Practice Standards require CFP® certificants to work with their clients to obtain information and analyze the client’s personal and financial circumstances before defining the client’s financial planning goals and not after, as the steps in the previous version of the Practice Standards indicated.
If you need to review or you want to be updated on the new CFP® certification requirements and practice standards, all of it is explained in our course Ethics CE: CFP Board’s Revised Code and Standards. With our course, you’ll get a full explanation of the new rules and practices for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificants, all while completing your required ethics CE for your certification renewal. With WebCE’s convenient, easy-to-use online platform, learning the new CFP® certification standards and completing your CE will be easy and stress-free.
To order courses, visit our course catalog or call 877-488-9308 to speak to a member of our support services team.
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