Digital certificates are like SSL (secure socket layer) certificates on websites. Financial advisor professional accreditation organizations, such as the AICPA, CFA Institute and CFP Board are already issuing digital certificates to authenticate professionals. The digital certificate image is encrypted and validated by the Financial Counseling Institute (FCI).
CFP Board, AICPA, and CFA Institute, all mint digital badges to validate their respective credential holders. The use of digital badges transforms branding for practitioners and clears up consumer confusion.
According to FINRA’s database, the number of financial professional designations has swelled to more than 200! For financial consumers, it's confusing and nightmarish. Designation proliferation raises a fundamental question for consumers: How do you know whether to trust an advisor?
A digitally validated badge on your website, social profiles, and emails clears up confusion for consumers. Powered by A4A, the digtital badge that comes with maintaining a Certified Financial Counselor™ (CFC™) certificate puts professionals at the forefront of the trend toward digital specilization certificates for CFP®, CPA®, CFA®, CIMA®, and other financial professionals.
Pay-to-play five-star advisor badges are not based on rigorous research or objective data. In contrast, a digital badge earned by attending the 12-class program and two classes annually, demonstrates that you have done the hard work to maintain a CFC™ designation.
Of the four comprehensive designations earned by financial advisors, the CPA and CFA® designations have been around longest. AICPA was founded in 1887 and CFAs® were first chartered in 1962. These two senior certifying bodies are integrated into the U.S. regulatory system.
Founded in the mid-1980s, Investment Wealth Institute and CFP Board are relative newcomers as accreditation bodies. CFP Board certifies more than 92,000 practitioners, compared to about 10,000 IWI accredited professionals. CFP Board has also outflanked the AICPA. CFP® is the predominant financial planner designation known to financial consumers. CFP Board extended its consumer brand recognition over other acceditation bodies by investing in a years-long advertising campaign on national TV.
Attending the 12-credit Financial Counseling course, which is available on-demand, earns a CPA, CFA®, CFP® and CIMA® professional license to display the Certified Financial Counselor™ badge on a website home page, social network profile and email signature.