HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The American Academy of Financial Management (AAFM) was a US-based board of standards, certifying body, and accreditation council focused on the finance sector and wealth management professionals.. AAFM was superseded by the Global Academy of Finance and Management.


History

The AAFM was founded in 1996 through a merger of the American Academy of Financial Management & Analysts (AAFMA) and the Founders Advisory Committee of the Original Tax and Estate Planning Law Review. In January 2015, the AAFM sold its intellectual property to the Global Academy of Finance & Management – the logo for which is the same as that of the AAFM with different letters – and the International Board of Certification Standards, which now awards the AAFM's certifications in the United States. The AAFM offered multiple professional membership, certifications, and designations. Members had to have come through one of the AAFM-recognized university programs or through a government-recognized executive educational program, although the board waived these requirements in some cases. The AAFM board has never directly provided training, but has recognized hundreds of approved providers.


Certifications/designations

The AAFM awarded a number of its own designations, including chartered asset manager (CAM), chartered market analyst (CMA), chartered portfolio manager (CPM), chartered trust and estate planner (CTEP), chartered wealth manager (CWM), and master financial professional (MFP). See . Some of these designations were available to anyone with an accredited degree or license in finance, investments, securities, economics, or accounting upon payment of a fee. CWM certification normally involved about 80 hours of online study, although holders of certain professional designations, such as a
Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the American-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and fina ...
(CFA) or Certified Public Accountant (CPA), needed only to take a test and pay a fee; and anyone with sufficient professional experience could skip the test and get the designation by only paying fees. Those with a degree that involved at least some business coursework could also take an AAFM certification course, pay a fee, and receive an MFP. According to the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associat ...
(FINRA) eight designations were "offered and recognized by the issuing organization" (i.e., AAFM).CAMRFSMFPCWM

CTEP

CMA

CPM

FAD
/ref> FINRA does not state on these pages that they, or anyone else, recognises them. FINRA does state that it does not approve or endorse any professional credential or designation listed on its website. In October 2010, ''The Wall Street Journal'' published an article detailing the use of questionable credentials by financial advisors that discussed the AAFM extensively.. The article noted that the AAFM included among its Global Board of Academic Advisors & Professors several individuals who had never given their permission to be listed as board members. The article criticized the practice of many standards boards, AAFM included, of awarding credentials without requiring applicants to undergo any sort of assessment or examination, quoting the AAFM's founder, George Mentz, as evidence of this practice. A claim on the AAFM website that it had a special affiliation with both the CFA Institute and the CFP Board, which administer
Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the American-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and fina ...
and
Certified Financial Planner The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation is a professional certification mark for financial planners conferred by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) in the United States, and by 25 other organizations affiliate ...
certificate programs, respectively, was rebutted by representatives of both organizations in the article. The CFP Board said that the AAFM had once helped provide continuing education for CFPs, but that it hasn't done so since 2006. Some of the individuals listed in a board of advisors told the WSJ they had no idea they were listed and hadn't agreed to it. The AAFM has countered that individuals listed on its board of advisors did consent to be listed, posting emails from two individuals on its website. The organization also posted to its website part of the signature page of a document agreeing that the Association for Investment Management Research (the precursor to the CFA Institute) would not contest the AAFM's trademarks, with the signature itself blanked and replaced with the type-written statement, "Signed by Sharon Glover, who must have been Jeannie Andersons Boss at the time" 'sic'' What appears to be a version of the same faxed agreement can be found on the GAFM website, with a signature by "Sharon Glover" and the handwritten information "VP & Assoc. General Counsel 1/5/04".Copy of fax from C. Jeannie Anderson, Esq., Associate General Counsel, AIMR to Mr. George Mentz, AAFM, dated January 5, 2004
GAFM website


References

Notes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:American Academy Of Financial Management Business and finance professional associations Professional certification in finance Personal finance American Academy Financial Management 1996 establishments in the United States Financial management organizations