The PEQC is currently offering these two professional qualifications:

1. The Certified Personal Financial Planning Program (CPFP)
   Also, you can get forms, materials, and other files related to the CPFP by clicking here.
   
   
2. The Wealth Management Program (WMT)
   Also, you can get forms, materials, and other files related to the WMT by clicking here.
   
   

 

What do we mean by professionalism?

The notion of professionalism is associated with the nature and quality of behavioral outcomes in a given area
of human activity. It carries a connotation of high standards of both practice and conduct.
The following is a schematic presentation of the definition of professionalism

The preparation for professional practice always involves the acquisition of a specific and specialized body of knowledge relevant to achieving a quality of outcome prescribed by the profession and often sanctioned by
law. Therefore, in developing its professional education programs the IOB start with the defined outcomes
that characterize the field of practice. For example, preparing complete and accurate financial statements for the client is a defined outcome that requires knowledge of accounting techniques and practices. Professional practitioners are expected to execute their work at consistently high standards of performance. They are expected to have the knowledge and the skills to do so. Because the knowledge and skills base is constantly evolving, professionals are expected to keep up-to-date through continuous self-development.

Those considerations led the IOB to search for a systematic approach to professional program design. Development process start with a solid understanding of the functions to be performed (defined outcomes).
The defined outcome is used to identify the relevant domain(s) of knowledge for the profession. It provides
the conceptual underpinning allowing the professional to understand why and how the outcome can be
attained. For example, the preparation of financial statements calls for the relevant knowledge in financial accounting as opposed to cost accounting.

The difficulty of execution assists in specifying the depth of comprehension required in a particular domain of knowledge. Using the previous example, the preparation of financial statements is more difficult than being familiar with the information content of such statements. Thus, where preparation is the defined outcome, the professional accountant will be required to master the application of the concepts and techniques of financial accounting.

The Nature of Outcomes

The finality of all professional practices is a result that can be replicated at consistently high standard of performance over time. This statement applies equally well to scientific research as it does to accounting. Not surprisingly, each profession has evolved a process to ensure consistency of outcome.

The IOB follows a process that consists of a series of steps carried out in a prescribed sequence. Each step of the process is designed to produce a specific outcome. To design a professional education program the IOB starts with an identification of all the outcomes associated with a field of practice. First the general purpose of the professional practice must be identified. Then, outcomes for each step of the process must be identified and specified. However, each step usually contains an imbedded process that is also composed of a specified sequence of activities (micro steps). For each of these, there are outcomes that must be defined. There may be situations where micro steps themselves involve an imbedded process (nano-process). If so, each of those steps would lead to an outcome that would need to be defined. Thus, through careful analysis an arborescent structure emerges that provides for mapping of key outcomes that the practitioner is expected to attain.

The benefit of this methodology is to help the development team to define the logical linkages between each outcome and among groupings of outcome. Since the attainment of an outcome involves one or several competencies, they are also linked logically to form a competency grid upon which a teaching/learning program is structured.

Pedagogical efficiency and effectiveness require that knowledge components associated with specific competencies be regrouped according to their disciplinary origins. At that stage of program development, the process reverts to the academic paradigm of knowledge structuring for learning purposes. However, what differentiates this approach from the traditional academic paradigm is that only those knowledge components associated with competencies are included. This is what is called a competency-based program design paradigm. It guarantees efficiency and relevance of the program content.