CFA PCP Investigation
a
Trending Content - Asset Management Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
June 30, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
You're right, you're fucked. Seriously though... 55-65 hours a week is your excuse? Weak... there are people working 80+ that still do the exam. And you don't sound particularly sorry for what you did either... I'm not sure whether to be more appalled by your crappy ethics, or your weaksauce ninja skills... not stealthy at all...
Anyway, considering they have multiple proctors document you cheating... denying it probably won't do you any good. It's your word vs. at least 8 proctor reports.
In a worse case scenario, you can be barred from the CFA for good. If you admit guilt, offer sincere apologies - well, if it allows you to get away with just voiding the exam, that's a better option. I don't know what happens in such a case though, I would assume they would suspend your candidacy for a period of time for something so severe... but denying and being found guilty will probably bring a full on ban. They take cheating very seriously.
You should check out analystforum.com - a much more active CFA related forum there. They might be able to give you more clarity.
a
Tell them to fuck off. You are busted, only thing worse is trying to grovel. I would throw anything from them in the trash.
Go study for the FRM or PRM. Dont try and cheat on those.
Check the CFA website, I'm almost sure that they list previous offenses, the names of the offenders and actions taken against them . They will probably issue you a sanction, you can appeal that sanction but in your case it looks pretty bad.
I just looked it up and here it is straight from the CFAI website: http://www.cfainstitute.org/ethics/conduct/Pages/candidate_sanctions.as…
Assistance during Exam
Each candidate in the CFA Program attests through the Candidate Pledge that during the exam they will neither give nor receive assistance in taking the exam. Looking or glancing at another candidate’s answer sheet or giving the appearance of looking or glancing at another candidate’s answer sheet violates the CFA Program Exam Rules, the Code of Ethics, and the CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct.
Despite these requirements, fifteen Level I candidates, three Level II candidates, and one Level III candidate were either observed looking and/or giving the appearance of looking at other candidates’ exams/answer sheets during the exam. The Professional Conduct Program investigated these matters and found that the candidates engaged in the conduct, thereby violating the CFA Program Exam Rules, Code of Ethics, and the Standards of Professional Conduct.
Twelve candidates accepted the sanction of Five-Year Suspension from Participation in the CFA Program and Voiding of Exam Results. Two candidates accepted the sanction of Permanent Suspension from Participation in the CFA Program and Voiding of Exam Results.
Three Level I candidates, one Level II candidate, and one Level III candidate requested a Hearing Panel. After consideration of the evidence in each respective case, the Hearing Panels determined the candidates looked and/or gave the appearance of looking at another candidate’s exam. The Hearing Panels imposed the sanction of Five-Year Suspension from Participation in the CFA Program and Voiding of Exam Results on a Level I candidate; Three-Year Suspension from Participation in the CFA Program and Voiding of Exam Results on a Level I candidate; and Two-Year Suspension from Participation in the CFA Program and Voiding of Exam Results on a Level I candidate. A Hearing Panel imposed the sanction of Five-Year Suspension from Participation in the CFA Program and Voiding of Exam Results on Airat Khalikov, a Level II candidate. A Hearing Panel also imposed the sanction of Two-Year Suspension from Participation in the CFA Program and Voiding of Exam Results on the Level III candidate.
I think nothing honest or good has come out of Chicago since Jordan left to sell underwear and Viagra. I say we just burn that place down. Let the street gangs fight over the ashes.
But anyway; You should admit you were wrong and learn from the mistake. The consequences will probably be the same either way except if you continue to lie, you need to do in front of a panel and if you don't given them reason to doubt your guilt, there's a chance for a life time ban. There's no upside to lying and destroying what little integrity you might have left.
I mean it doesn't look good. Did they not tell you anything during the exam or after? That's so weird, I figured if they saw you cheating they wouldn't have let you come back for the second half, or would have talked to you after. I know the CFA is harsh but seems kinda odd to not tell you while you did it.
a
a
I have been accused of looking at another candidates answer sheet too. Received the Violation report in the mail today.
I, however, am innocent and aroused suspicion only because I was fidgety and looked at the ceiling a lot. Have alreay sumbitted my statement of innocence & mortification.
Only 1 proctor has directly accused me of looking at another candidates paper. 2 proctors have reported me.
Suggestions?
Obviously you want to fight it. I will warn you that not a lot of people have success in appealing their apparent "cheating". Did a proctor pull you aside and tell you that you were being reported to the CFAI? Did you rub one of the proctors the wrong way?
Everyone was fidgety during the exam, I am a very restless test taker.
In everyday society you are innocent until proven guilty but, in the CFAI's world it's the other way around. You are assumed guilty until you prove your innocence. It's just the way they operate.
Would you mind telling me where you wrote the exam and when your letter was dated?
I also got a written-up at the exam for failing to maintain my eyes on my own exam paper. What happened is that although I did not cheat, I often looked around the room and stretched my arms/body throught the exam and it attracted proctors' attention.
Fortunately, I received nothing from CFAI as of yet, no mail/email contacts whatsover, but I continue to be nervous as I believe investigation might be opened up very soon.
How did they write you up at the exam? I've sat for L I II and III and never seen anyone written up. Do they pull you aside during break?
If you looked at the ceiling, they wouldn't have reported you. Not accusing you of anything, you could happen to crank your head to the direction of whoever's sitting next to you. But they do take 'giving the appearance of cheating/looking' seriously too.
If you really didn't cheat, I'd fight it.
I dont know if discussing this on a public forum is very smart.
a
I have recived the letter from CFA institute that 'i wrote after procter warning him twie he continued to write about for 20 seconds' . The procter never came and warned me personally. Please let me know what should i do. Please respond asap as this letter states that i have to respond within 30 days of when this letter was writtern and let me know the possible consequences.
^ Just out of curiosity, even though no proctor came to warn you, did you write after they told you pencils down?
Because when they say 'proctor', they may simply mean the person that said pencils down - you know, the person that's usually on the mic dictating the rules and such, not the volunteers walking up and down the aisles.
Hey. I received a letter from CFA Institute today saying that I have similar answers with those of another candidate at a local test center and an investigation has been initiated. Can anyone guide me what to reply to this in response as I want to be sure that I don't make any errors. I have not done any misconduct but I went to a local tuition center. There is a chance the reason for similarity is studying at one place. Also I have provided working on my question paper, wherever possible and required. Please guide me as I am really worried.
Thanks but I guess it's not that easy. Can anyone help me in writing a proper reply. I am new to this shit and I am really worried. =(
I got the exact same letter... this is ridiculous... cuz I didn't cheat... I was looking at the disciplinary actions page on the cfa website and it looks like everyone in the end is guilty and the longer you prolong it, ie. go to hearing court, the bigger the punishment.
I don't want to be wrongfully accused of this. This is my future.
does anyone know if the exams are video recorded at the local centres to prove that i'm innocent?
and also, I don't know how to write this response letter too except to blurt out all the reasons why I wouldn't / and couldn't have cheated.
if you guys have help us out.. it will be very much appreciated. thanks
So what did you reply for the mail?
hey even i got the same mail today.. cau u please guide me what to do next? and what happened with you?
I'm so pissed off about this I had to post something somewhere.
Obviously I'm leaving the details sketchy, but I'm being investigated as well. Proctors reports were filed (filled with broken English and typos) that basically said one guy concluded I was sitting close enough to the other guy's answer sheet to cheat if I wanted, although nobody actually saw me look at the other guy's answer sheet despite watching me closely for most of the session. (That would be because I didn't..).
I figured after a fair hearing thye'd see they absurdity of this and I'd be fine. Then I got the email saying my results were being held back. Then I read the part where "giving the appearance of cheating" is a violation?!? I looked at the stats and saw that investigations almost always result in at least private reprimands with exam results being voided and that there are 593 investigations pending for the June exams. Meanwhile about 25% of the investigations from Decmber are still pending seven months later.
Basically the investigation process looks like a little bit of Spanish Inquisition (These are the charges, this is your opportunity to confess), Japanese argicultural inspections (We'll get around to inspecting those cucumbers in about six weeks) and Star Chamber (Rest assured that your guilt is being secretly determined by a fair and impartial panel...).
Then you look at the sanctions for misconduct by current CFAs and see that in most cases they only act after a CFA pleads guilty to a felony.
The irony of the whole thing is that I've been this business for a looong time and most folks thought I was nuts to even bother getting a CFA in the first place.
If anyone gets more info on their investigation, I'd appreciate information about the timing just so I know when to assume the position.
CFA Sudden Death: A PCP Investigation (Originally Posted: 08/09/2012)
This article is originally from 300Hours.com. You can read the full article here.
PCP is not a common phenomenon in the CFA exams - most candidates would probably pass through the exams without ever knowing what it is.
The punishment for a disciplinary process if the candidate is found guilty is usually invalidation of exam results. An additional ban for a variable time period (1-5 years) from taking the exams may also be applicable. Hence 'sudden death' - all your hard work can be gone, just like that.Pray that you never have to find out the hard way - PCP (no, not angel dust...) is short for Professional Conduct Program, and the term when used by candidates tends to refer to a disciplinary process that candidates can be singled out for if they've displayed suspicious behavior before or after the exam.
Avoiding a disciplinary process isn't difficult. But what most candidates tend to underestimate is:
I've listed the main no-nos here - you'll be familiar with some of them, but some might seem excessive:
I'd be fked. Fidgeting and looking around is how I dominate tests. Helps me think.
I was actually quite lucky looking at all these cases. I used to look around all the time, stretch, and chatted to the person next to me.
It seems that proctors can be much stricter in the US.
To the last few posters that all have the same problem. Unfortunately, like Happy said, you can't really do much to prove you're innocent, except to write 'I didn't cheat', I followed all the rules accordingly and would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these serious accusations' or something along those lines.
It is pretty stupid because some of the tables they seat 2 candidates on are quite small, so how can you be accused of 'sitting too close'? Or inadvertently glancing over to the other candidate (when you're really looking at your calendar or whatever). I always wondered why they don't offer to put up some screens b/w candidates on the tables.
Generally though, I think unless they have those proctors that walk around write you down as suspicious, something like 'similar answers' is kind of weak (unless the patterns are blatantly obvious) esp. since there's only 3 choices...
CFA PCP Investigation (Paper Scratching) (Originally Posted: 11/28/2011)
Hi All,
I am writing in regards to a CFA PCP investigation query. I thought I can get some help here.
I had enrolled and appeared for CFA level 3 exam (June 2011). In first week of July I had received a mail from CFA advising that they have started a PCP investigation on me because they have found something written on admission ticket (I don't have any clue what was written on it) and they asked me for my response with regards to the issue.
I had immediately responded via an email advising that I have no clue about this issue and as far as my knowledge goes I didn't write anything on ticket, deliberately. I mentioned about a probable situation of anxiety during the exam, where I could have made a mistake of scratching on my ticket in the process of recollecting something out of memory.
I had also advised them that it's not possible to write anything before exam session because every time we enter exam hall, everything including passport and admission tickets are checked thoroughly by invigilators. So, the question of writing something before the last session doesn't even arise and it could have possibly been written during second session sometime.
Investigation officer advised that this investigation may take 4 to 8 months and I was waiting for the result after that.
Last week on 17th Nov I wrote an email to my investigation officer and asked if I could get an idea about the investigation process. Today, on 28th Nov 2011 I received a parcel from CFA institute which includes a letter dated 23rd Nov 2011, it states that the investigation has been concluded and 5 years suspension has been imposed on me. I can accept and reject the decision and can apply for further hearing, If I reject the decision.
I hope this story gives you a fair bit of idea about my situation.
I have few questions regarding further appeal and legal matter, which I am not sure of and if you could help me with these it would be a great help - I will be really thankful to you.
I have checked history of students who were involved in paper scratching cases (same as me) and looking at the statistics provided by CFA institute and considering the seriousness of the cases as compare to other cases (cheating, possession of material and some other major issues) this issue falls between last 15% to 20% (in terms of severeness) and maximum penalty for last 15% to 20% students are cautionary letter or 1-2 years suspension. I was not hoping to get 5 year suspension at all and I was ready to accept 1 year suspension even though I knew that I was not trying to cheat at all. But now looking at the harshness CFA has showed and the penalty proportion (which doesn't look justified to me) I was looking for my further options including legal help but I am not quite sure about few things, which you can help me with.
This is my last level and accepting suspension of 5 years may not be a wise decision and could have fatal effect on my career.
I am positive that I didn't do anything wrong but just that I don't have any idea how to approach it and don't know any lawyer in US (considering I am in Australia). I would like some advise on this issue.
Once again thank for spending time on this.
Regards
I have no advice to offer because I have never been in a situation like that, but my heart goes out to you, that just absolutely sucks bro. I'm sorry.
Jeez, you're describing every CFA candidate's worst nightmare. If you're getting a 5 year suspension, odds are you did something real bad, they don't just hand those out lightly. Hell copying someone else's paper only gets you like 2 years. I feel like you're not giving the full story here. Did you write formulas on you admission ticket? Something really isn't adding up here.
I agree with the above, something seems off
http://www.cfainstitute.org/ethics/conduct/Pages/candidate_sanctions.as…
I think the maximum ban the CFAI will impose is 5 years. They've banned candidates and voided exam results for worse violations than what you have posted.
I've sat for three CFA exams and each one has made me more paranoid about the proctors than the test before. You have to put the blinders on and stare at your exam paper. I'm almost convinced that the proctors are paid to turn people in for violations.
Well I am not hiding anything - that's exactly how the situation is and I don't knw why they have suspended me for 5 years.
As I mentioned above:
"I mentioned about a probable situation of anxiety during the exam, where I could have made a mistake of scratching on my ticket in the process of recollecting something out of memory."
It could be anything including a formula or small bullet points but I am quit sure - It was a mistake (unintentional) and I don't deserve to get maximum penalty. I have spent 3 years of my life, 1000s of hours, money and what not to get this at the end. I could see my CFA charter in front of me - now I can see it disappearing and I can't do anything. That is absolutly bizzare.
CFA PCP Use of Scratch Paper (Originally Posted: 12/06/2015)
Hey guys,
So long story short: I had my CFA Level 1 Exam yesterday (first-timer). Because of all the exam stress, I did something really stupid. After the paper had been collected at 5pm, I was frustrated, wrote: "done, terrible" and drew random marks (completely not related to the exam, and not rude pics either) on my admission ticket. The proctor neglected my notes and took my ticket.
Three minutes later, I started to realize that paper scratching was not allowed. I raised my hand and talked about this issue to a proctor. She replied saying that writing on admission ticket would not be considered as cheating AFTER the PM session, since they checked mine before each session and found nothing.
I am scared that I might face a PCP investigation. I checked some previous stories online. It appears that some candidate got 1-year to 5-year ban from copying phrases from the exam while others got off with a warning after writing dumb and innocent stuffs. I personally feel that my situation is more similar to the latter. However, this whole thing is making me panic.
So I'm here to ask for your help, specifically: 1. Have you either heard of or come across any cases like this? If so, what were CFAI's decisions? 2. What should I do now?
Thank you!
I can't wait for this to be an ethics problem on a CFA mock exam in a couple years
Hi,
Could you please tell me how did your issue ended? Did you get away with it? Thanks a lot!
You should have a beer and stop worrying about it. If they contact you, which is highly unlikely by the way, then tell them you didn't know the rule and beg for their forgiveness or whatever. They're not going to do anything over something so minor.
Error in animi ut quia eos. Et animi rerum et quibusdam pariatur. Aperiam saepe qui rerum reprehenderit quidem natus. Et et et et consequatur quia.
Est eligendi qui reiciendis neque est. Omnis quo earum porro ea veniam consectetur.
Dolores beatae nihil vero recusandae aut voluptatem quas. Voluptatem similique ipsum atque facilis magnam. Voluptas molestiae alias eum voluptatibus necessitatibus. Sapiente ea laborum eum ex non.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Qui ex molestias debitis velit et. Eaque voluptates voluptatem non fuga alias ea et. Eligendi explicabo laudantium nulla iste quo sunt libero.
Reprehenderit repellat saepe hic id soluta. Recusandae nesciunt harum modi ea dolore quis. Aut harum sunt eum.
Ullam iste est esse hic sequi inventore. Voluptas commodi qui qui velit velit. Laboriosam debitis aperiam aut similique pariatur. Et nobis soluta est vel.
Distinctio adipisci mollitia repellendus provident. Ipsa et veritatis aut occaecati nostrum nulla. Rem veritatis dolorem rerum quis fugiat aliquam similique.
Facere quam consequuntur deserunt numquam fuga est fugiat. Qui quia quia eaque. Mollitia deleniti nesciunt voluptatem esse accusantium est dolorum. Et enim velit corrupti neque iusto iste. Ut tempora odit quas rerum et quas aut.
Tempora voluptas occaecati accusantium iusto qui dolorum eaque. Neque ut facilis et vitae mollitia. Iure illum consequuntur non facere et exercitationem sed harum. Doloribus odio qui architecto architecto vel at consequuntur. Animi quia fugiat harum dolorem fugiat commodi.
Optio nam eligendi repudiandae quos est dolore. Laudantium quod enim quisquam praesentium. Non maxime quibusdam accusantium est possimus rerum. Nulla unde odit soluta aut voluptas ex.