Welcome to the 10th anniversary edition!
Yes, your society is now 10 years old. We hope you can join us to celebrate at the customary annual dinner in November, if not beforehand—there are certainly plenty of varied, interesting events, both professional development and social coming up in the months ahead.
In the last newsletter I profiled how the society had increased exponentially over the last decade—in both member and candidate numbers, and the increases in products and services we have been offering to each.
So what of the period ahead? We are expecting the growth spurt to continue and are therefore boosting resources. At the time of writing the Board is recruiting additional committee members and investing more in paid support. Do get in touch if you would like to contribute to the future success of your society!
In addition to the expanded range of services and benefits now being offered to members and candidates, we are now looking to do more directly for employers. As flagged in the last newsletter, a top strategic priority is now to strengthen relationships with key employers in the investment community—the “Employer Outreach Program”. Specifically we are:
- Setting up an Employer Advisory Board to discuss key issues facing our industry and the society, thus allowing employers an opportunity to shape the direction of the CFAS and CFA brand.
- Offering employers a package of tailored services and benefits.
Services and benefits available to employers include the following:
- Sponsorship opportunities.
- Corporate tables at flagship and sell-out events—for example, annual dinner and formal luncheons.
- So you want to be a CFA Charterholder? presentation to large groups of staff.
- Jobline—to advertise roles suitable for CFA charterholders.
Should your organisation be potentially interested in any of these opportunities do contact us directly.
Events
The professional development and social calendar was again very full with a wide variety of events. A total of 18 events have been conducted (up to 31 August) including: *
4 seminars by offshore presenters (through CFA Speaker retainer program),
3 additional offshore presenters
3 seminars by domestic presenters
1 CFA Institute seminar
1 webcast with Australian panel
2 analyst workshops
4 social events
2 complementary events
2 educational events with extended networking.
Highlights included the sell out Cliff Asness event and socially, our first trivia night with 95 attendees. Read more about these later in the newsletter.
Employer Outreach Program
As flagged earlier we have been visiting key employers. At the timing of writing meetings have been held with seven organisations and another two are in the pipeline.
University Outreach Program
Imagine if there was a university program where you could study for a degree and the CFA qualification at the same time?
Bob McLean, Director University Relations CFA Institute has commenced such a program. Macquarie University Applied Finance Centre is the first university in Australia to join the initiative and Bob visited Sydney in July to sign the agreement. We also took the opportunity to present a joint CFA Institute/CFAS/Applied Finance Centre seminar to candidates on the CFA program and this new offering. Discussions are also being held with other Australian universities to join the initiative.
