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CFA Level I
25 sections available · 106 chapters available
Free CFA Level I study notes for CFA students. Each chapter below covers a key topic with worked examples and practice prompts you can take into the thinka app.
Ethical and Professional Standards
Introduction to the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS)
Ethics: Code, Standards I-III
Ethics and Trust in the Investment Profession
Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct
Guidance for Standard I: Professionalism
Guidance for Standard II: Integrity of Capital Markets
Guidance for Standard III: Duties to Clients
Quantitative Methods
Hypothesis Testing
Parametric and Non-Parametric Tests of Independence
Ethics: Standards IV-VII and Application
Guidance for Standard IV: Duties to Employers
Guidance for Standard V: Investment Analysis, Recommendations, and Actions
Guidance for Standard VI: Conflicts of Interest
Guidance for Standard VII: Responsibilities as a CFA Institute Member or CFA Candidate
Application of the Code and Standards: Level I
Quantitative Methods: Returns and Time Value
Returns of Financial Assets and Instruments
Types of Financial Returns
Benchmarking Returns
The Time Value of Money in Finance
Statistical Characteristics of Asset Returns
Financial Statement Analysis
Quantitative Methods: Distributions, Inference and Data Science
Statistical Distributions for Financial Asset Prices and Returns
Estimation and Hypothesis Testing
The Return and Risk of a Financial Portfolio
Simulation of Financial Asset Prices and Returns
Applications of Simple Linear Regression in Finance
Introduction to Financial Data Science
Economics
The Firm and Market Structures
Understanding Business Cycles
Fiscal Policy
Monetary Policy
Introduction to Geopolitics
International Trade
Capital Flows and the FX Market
Exchange Rate Calculations
Corporate Issuers
Equity Investments
Market Efficiency
Financial Statement Analysis: Statements
Introduction to Financial Statement Analysis
Analyzing Income Statements
Analyzing Balance Sheets
Analyzing Statements of Cash Flows I
Analyzing Statements of Cash Flows II
Financial Analysis Techniques
Fixed Income
Financial Statement Analysis: Assets, Liabilities and Quality
Analysis of Inventories
Analysis of Long-Term Assets
Topics in Long-Term Liabilities and Equity
Analysis of Income Taxes
Financial Reporting Quality
Introduction to Financial Statement Modeling
Derivatives
Corporate Finance
Organizational Forms, Corporate Issuer Features, and Ownership
Investors and Other Stakeholders
Corporate Governance: Conflicts, Mechanisms, Risks, and Benefits
Working Capital and Liquidity
Capital Investments and Capital Allocation
Capital Structure
Business Models
Equities: Instruments and Markets
Equity Instrument Features
Equity Jurisdictions, Classes, and the Voting Process
Equity Issuance and Trading
Sources of Equity Returns
Equities: Valuation and Company Analysis
Introduction to Equity Valuation
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Growth Models
Relative Value Equity Valuation Approaches
Financial Statement Forecasting in Equity Valuation
Industry and Competitive Analysis
Company Analysis: Past, Present, and Future
Equity Analyst Research Reports
The Capital Asset Pricing Model, Market Model, and Other Factor-Based Equity Models
Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning
Fixed Income: Instruments and Markets
Fixed-Income Instrument Features
Fixed-Income Cash Flows and Types
Fixed-Income Issuance and Trading
Fixed-Income Markets for Corporate Issuers
Fixed-Income Markets for Government Issuers
Fixed Income: Valuation, Yields and Interest Rate Risk
Fixed-Income Bond Valuation: Prices and Yields
Yield and Yield Spread Measures for Fixed-Rate Bonds
Yield and Yield Spread Measures for Floating-Rate Instruments
The Term Structure of Interest Rates: Spot, Par, and Forward Curves
Interest Rate Risk and Return
Yield-Based Bond Duration Measures and Properties
Yield-Based Bond Convexity and Portfolio Properties
Curve-Based and Empirical Fixed-Income Risk Measures
Fixed Income: Credit and Securitization
Credit Risk
Credit Analysis for Government Issuers
Credit Analysis for Corporate Issuers
Fixed-Income Securitization
Asset-Backed Security (ABS) Instrument and Market Features
Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS) Instrument and Market Features
Derivatives: Instruments and Markets
Derivative Instrument and Derivative Market Features
Forward Commitment and Contingent Claim Features and Instruments
Derivative Benefits, Risks, and Issuer and Investor Uses
Arbitrage, Replication, and the Cost of Carry in Pricing Derivatives
Derivatives: Pricing and Valuation
Pricing and Valuation of Forward Contracts and for an Underlying with Varying Maturities
Pricing and Valuation of Futures Contracts
Pricing and Valuation of Interest Rate and Other Swaps
Pricing and Valuation of Options
Option Replication Using Put–Call Parity
Valuing a Derivative Using a One-Period Binomial Model
Alternative Investments
Alternative Investment Features, Methods, and Structures
Alternative Investment Performance and Returns
Investments in Private Capital: Equity and Debt
Real Estate and Infrastructure
Natural Resources
Hedge Funds
Introduction to Digital Assets
Portfolio Construction
Portfolio Risk and Return: Part I
Portfolio Risk and Return: Part II
Portfolio Management: An Overview
Basics of Portfolio Planning and Construction
The Behavioral Biases of Individuals
Introduction to Risk Management
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