Objectives

The goal of the CFA Institute Research Challenge is to gather together university students, investment industry professionals, and representatives from a publicly traded company for local, regional, and global competition. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is composed of university teams of 3-5 students who are mentored by industry professionals in writing an equity research report on a publicly traded company. The teams then present their findings to a panel of experts. Past panelists included directors of research, chief strategists, and CIOs from Credit Suisse, Bank Safra Sarasin, among others.

Participants interested in becoming a financial analyst are highly encouraged to participate.

Contents

a) Analysis of a Public Company: Teams research a publicly traded Swiss company. The Swiss CFA Society, in collaboration with the university, carefully selects the company which is the same for all teams from Switzerland. Students have the opportunity to meet with company management and participate in an analyst conference call. Company management presents to the teams and participates in a Q&A session.

b) Mentoring By a Professional Research Analyst: Each team works with a Swiss investment professional, who mentors the team on research process and reviews and critiques its report. The Swiss CFA Society, in collaboration with the university, assigns an investment professional to each team.

c) Topical Presentations By Investment Professionals: A seminar series is organized around the competition in which investment professionals from different firms give in-class presentations on various topics related to the competition. Presentation topics range from structuring and writing of professional analyst reports, career opportunities in investment analysis, and effective communication and presentation skills to current policy debates. Active student participation is requested.

d) Writing a Research Report: Each team produces an initiation of coverage report on the publicly traded Swiss company. The report is reviewed and scored by a group of judges at the end of the semester.

e) Presentation of Research to a High-Profile Panel of Experts: Teams present their research to a panel of experts from top financial institutions at the end of the semester.

e) Advancement to the CFA Institute Global Challenge: The team with the highest combined report and presentation score is the winner. The winners of local competitions advance to compete against teams within their geographic region, culminating in a global finale competition.

References

For more information, please refer to the CFA institute website at:

https://www.cfainstitute.org/societies/challenge

Pre-requisites

The course is split in two parts, CFA General Research Challenge (6 ECTS) and CFA Advanced Research Challenge (3 ECTS). CFA General Research Challenge (6 ECTS) covers the competition up until the Local Finale usually held in December. CFA Advanced Research Challenge (3 ECTS) covers the competition up until the World Finale usually held in April/May. All students should sign up for CFA General Research Challenge (6 ECTS). After the Local Finale, the winning team(s) from each university should sign up to CFA Advanced Research Challenge to earn 6+3=9 ECTS.

Evaluation

First attempt

Exam:

Without exam (cf. terms)  

Evaluation:

Research report (Written) + Presentation (Oral) + Class participation

Retake

Exam:

Without exam (cf. terms)  

Evaluation:

The retake examination consists of an oral examination. In case of a retake examination, only the grade from the retake examination is retained.