FMVA® | Program Updates

This article contains the historical updates and changes to CFI's Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) Certification program.

Update History

Summary of Changes

Effective January 1st, the electives included in the FMVA® certification program will be:

• Comparable Valuation Analysis
• Advanced Excel Formulas & Functions
• Startup/e-Commerce Financial Model & Valuation
• Corporate & Business Strategy
• Introduction to Bank Valuation
• Normalizing an Income Statement
• Mining Financial Model & Valuation
• Presentation of Financial Information
• Real Estate Modeling

All other electives previously included in the FMVA® program will be allocated to new and existing specialization programs:

• Investment Banking Analyst Specialization (NEW)
• AI for Financial Analysts Specialization (NEW)
• Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization

Why were these changes implemented?

We strive to provide the most comprehensive, streamlined, and effective learning experience and this change supports these continuous efforts.

Impact on Learners

Effective January 1, 2025, learners will be required to choose three of the electives listed above to complete the FMVA® Certification. Incomplete electives not listed above will no longer count toward the completion of the FMVA® program after January 1, 2025.  

Summary of Changes

• Effective September 30, 2024, the Accounting Principles and Standards course has been retired from our course content catalog, and from the FMVA® final exam.

Why was this update implemented?

• To better align and focus our curriculum on job-ready skills for financial analysts and professionals. For those interested in exploring accounting topics, we've developed the Accounting for Financial Analysts Specialization.

Summary of Changes

• Effective August 20, 2024, the following elective courses will be removed from the FMVA® Certification Program:
  • FP&A for New Analysts
  • FP&A Professional Excel Forecast Model Design
  • FP&A Professional Formatting & Revenue Forecasting
  • FP&A Professional Headcount Forecasting & Analysis
  • FP&A Professional Contractor Forecasting & Analysis
  • FP&A Professional Debt and Capex Forecasting & Analysis
  • FP&A Professional Financial Statement Aggregation & Analysis
  • FP&A Professional Dashboard Visualizations & Analysis
  • FP&A Professional Model Build & Configuration
• These courses will continue to be available through the FP&A Specialization Program.

Impact on Learners

Learners who have not earned an FMVA® Certificate before August 20, 2024, must select from the currently available electives to complete the program. Learners who have earned their FMVA® Certificate before this date will not be impacted.

Summary of Changes

• Effective July 31, 2023, "Introduction to 3 Statement Modeling" is a new core course required to earn an FMVA® Certification.
• The new core course requirement of the FMVA® program has increased to 14, plus a minimum of 3 electives and a minimum score of 70% to pass the final exam.

Why was this update implemented?

To further enhance our learners' financial modeling skills.

Summary of Changes

• The FMVA® Program now requires the completion of 13 core courses compared to the previous requirement of 12 core courses.
• Updated the "Introduction to Business Valuation" course from a preparatory course to a core course within the program.

Why was this update implemented?

This vital course has been integrated into the core curriculum to align our program with industry demands based on valuable feedback from our learners and industry professionals.

Summary of Changes

• Operational Modeling will be moved from an elective to a core course. 
• Business Valuation Modeling Part I and Business Valuation Modeling Part II will be replaced with two new courses: DCF Valuation Modeling and Comparable Valuation Analysis.
• We will update the Building a 3-Statement Financial Modeling course with the revised 3-Statement Modeling course. If you are in the middle of the course, please complete it before Oct 31 to keep the progress.

Why was this update implemented?

These changes are being made to improve the structure and the quality of the FMVA® program. The revised format will give our members more financial modeling guidance and experience earlier in the program to prepare them for the revised 3-Statement Modeling course. 

With the changes, our members will begin their modeling experience with the Operational Modeling course, which teaches the best practices for building financial models' most common operational schedules. 

We will then use many of the schedules from the Operational Modeling course in DCF Valuation Modeling, allowing our members to value a company's equity using a fully discounted cash flow model. 

From there, we will extend our exploration of valuation methods with the Comparable Valuation Analysis course, which will focus on in-depth and practical techniques for comparable trading analysis and precedent transaction analysis.

Finally, the curriculum will transition into an improved version of the 3-Statement Modeling course, including revised schedules and statements. We will also discuss model design, model review, and circularity in financial models. 

All learners who complete or have completed their FMVA® Certification before October 31, 2022, will not be impacted by program updates.

Summary of Changes

• The FMVA® final exam became a requirement to earn an FMVA® Certification.

All learners who have completed their certification before January 1, 2021 will not be impacted by the new requirements.