The Board would like to thank all those members who responded to our Member Survey. Your feedback is invaluable and has helped us shape the strategy for the society over the next two years, by indicating to us which areas you feel we are best serving your needs in, as well as the areas in which we could do more.
Around 17% of our membership responded to our Member Survey, indicating that they hailed from all facets of industry and academia. However, the vast majority of our respondent members appear to work in the funds management industry and focus on equities. In terms of years of industry experience, our membership seems to be evenly distributed across those with less than 5 years of experience, those with 5 to 10 years of experience, and those with more than that.
91% of respondents claimed that CFAS has met, or indeed exceeded, their expectations. This is extremely encouraging to the Board, and we will continue to strive to exceed your expectations. Of those responses that were less positive, it was clear that this was due to the fact that the respondents are not based in Sydney, and therefore do not get the direct benefit of events and member education. The Board has taken note of this and is exploring strategic initiatives to address this.
Professional development and member education appeared to be the key benefit that members expect to get from CFAS, with 89% of respondents naming this as one of the main benefits of membership. However 58% of respondents also expect to gain from networking opportunities and 50% hope that it will assist with career development. Again, the Board has taken note of these responses. We are looking at ways to expand our professional development opportunities even further, and are considering various options to provide further assistance with career development.
With respect to member education events, the majority of respondents indicated that they are interested in hearing from academic researchers, market commentators and overseas speakers, as well as attending analyst workshops, so we will be focusing on these areas going forward.
Respondents gave us a very clear signal that we all need to increase awareness of the importance of the CFA charter both within the profession and outside the profession. On behalf of the society, the Board will continue to play an important part in this by continuing with our public awareness program (that we launched to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the charter) and by expanding our Employer Outreach Program. We hope that as members, you will spread the word as well.
More than 85% of respondents said that they read the newsletter, and provided feedback on what they find useful as well as ideas on what else we can include. We have already started to incorporate these ideas into the newsletter, in this edition, and will continue to build on these ideas going forward.
Brindha Gunasingham CFA
Vice President
