The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards announced Tuesday that its board plans to increase continuing education requirements for CFPs and has added the Certified Investment Management Analyst, or CIMA, certification as an approved academic degree and professional credential. The board will also clarify that competency is not measured by the CFP exam alone.
The changes are part of updates to the organization's Competency Standards.
The CFP Board will amend its examination standard to clarify that competency to practice independently is built not just on passing the CFP exam but on the "four E's" that prepare CFP professionals to serve clients holistically and ethically, the group said.
Effective in the second quarter of 2026, the board's new certification language will read: "By completing all four certification requirements — education, examination, experience and ethics — professionals demonstrate to the public that they have attained the competency level necessary to practice independently as a financial planner."
Starting in the first quarter of 2027, CFP Board plans to increase the minimum CE requirement to 40 hours every two years (38 hours of general CE and two hours of CFP Board Ethics CE), and allow CFP certificants to carry over up to 10 hours of CE credit earned beyond the 40-hour requirement into their next two-year certification cycle.
As it stands now, CFPs must complete 30 hours of CE every two years, including two hours of Ethics CE.
The CE changes are designed to keep pace with rapid changes to financial planning, "including shifts in technology, behavioral finance and the regulatory environment," CFP Board said.
"This change applies uniformly to all certificants — both new and existing — and represents a pure hour increase while maintaining the current CE structure, including the 2-hour Ethics requirement," the organization said.
In Q1 2027, CFP Board also plans to allow qualified pro bono financial planning to count toward qualifying activities or responsibilities under CFP Board's Standard Pathway requirement.
"Candidates may count up to 500 hours of qualified pro bono financial planning toward the 6,000-hour requirement" as part of the Standard Pathway experience requirement, the Board said.
The change also "expands access to financial planning for underserved communities while reinforcing hands-on, competency-based experience for candidates," the group said. Qualified pro bono experience must be completed through an approved organization.
As of Q1 2027, CFP Board will also be allow to designate mandatory CE topics in response to significant changes in laws, tax codes or regulations affecting the financial planning profession as determined by the board of directors, the group said.
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