CFE Exam Information and Guideline
Certified Financial Examiner (CFE)
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1. CFE designation requirement
To qualify for the CFE designation, you must have obtained the AFE designation or be applying for the AFE designation concurrently with the application for the CFE designation. A CFE designation will not be granted until the AFE designation is obtained. This may occur on the same day, but the AFE designation requirements must be met before the CFE can be obtained.
2. Education requirements
To qualify for the CFE designation, you must have:
Successfully completed three semester hours of a Management course from an accredited college or university or its demonstrable equivalent, and you must provide evidence of the successful completion of this course by either a certificate of completion or a college transcript.
Note that the Management courses offered by CPCU, LOMA, and CLU will satisfy this requirement. For more information about their courses in Management, visit their websites at www.aicpcu.org, www.loma.org, and www.theamericancollege.edu.
To qualify for the CFE designation, you must successfully complete the three CFE examinations administered by the Society of Financial Examiners. The three CFE exams are:
CFE1 - Examination Methods and Management
CFE2 - Enterprise Risk Management
CFE3 - Reinsurance
The information about registering for these examinations is provided at http://www.sofe.org/testing/. To assist in studying for these examinations, the Society provides study guides and textbook materials. A description of these study items is also provided at http://www.sofe.org/testing/. You are welcome to take CFE exams prior to receiving the AFE designation but must receive the AFE designation prior to receiving the CFE designation.
Conditional Credit Policy - Effective January 1, 2012, a candidate for the CFE designation will be subject to the conditional credit policy as stated below:
The passing grade for each of the tests of the CFE is 66 prior to July 1, 2014; thereafter it is 74. A candidate who passes any test of the CFE will earn conditional credit for that test. This conditional credit expires 36 months after the testing date. If a candidate does not successfully pass the remaining tests within the 36 months, the test associated with the conditional credit must be retaken.
An application reflecting fulfillment of all requirements for a designation must be submitted within thirty-eight months following the month in which the applicant passed his/her first exam for that designation track.
4. Work-related experience requirements
To qualify for the CFE designation, you must be an insurance department employee, or self-employed with a contract for services directly with an insurance department, or be employed with a company that has a contract with a state insurance department and have three (3) years of continuous, responsible insurance department examination experience as a financial examiner. Note that the two years required for the AFE designation, qualify as the first two years of the requirement for the CFE, therefore, you only need to obtain one additional year.
5. Membership requirements
To qualify for the CFE designation, you must be an Accredited Member in good standing of the Society of Financial Examiners.
6. Application approval requirements
To receive the CFE designation, you must submit an application to SOFE headquarters and it must be approved first by the Membership Committee, who will then recommend it for approval by the Executive Committee of the Society. Upon approval by the Executive Committee, the designation will become effective.
Deadlines — The approval process of a properly completed designation application is typically between six to eight weeks, as follows: The completed application, with all required information and documentation must be submitted to SOFE by email, fax or mail, for arrival by the 3rd week of the month for inclusion in the next months Membership Committee review. Applicants recommended for approval by the Membership Committee are then submitted for vote by the Executive Committee, generally within 30 days of Membership Committee approval. Applications may be found on the Society's website at www.sofe.org under the link for SOFE Forms or under the Resource tab.