The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a global competition which tests the analytic, valuation, report writing, and presentation skills of university students. Last year nearly 2,500 students from over 546 universities in 45 countries participated and learned best practices in equity research from leading industry experts.
Local CFA societies host and launch local competitions involving teams of three to five business and finance students from participating universities who work directly with a local company in researching and preparing a company analysis.
Analysis of a Public Company
Teams research a publicly traded company, and company management presents to the teams and participates in a Q&A session.
Mentoring by a Professional Research Analyst
Each team works with a CFA charterholder who mentors the team during the research process and reviews and critiques its report.
Writing a Research Report
Each team produces an Initiation of Coverage report on its chosen company. The report is reviewed and scored by a group of judges.
Presentation of Research to a Panel of Experts
The teams' final presentations are locally evaluated by high-profile panels of experts from top financial institutions: Heads of research, portfolio managers, and chief investment officers from the world’s top firms. The team with the highest combined report and presentation score is the winner.
Advancement to the CFA Institute Research Challenge Global Final
The Research Challenge is composed of three main levels of competition.
- Local – CFA societies will host local Challenges with nearby universities and select one winning team based on the students’ research report and presentation.
- Regional – All local level winners advance in one of these regional competitions:
- Asia Pacific
- Europe, Middle East & Africa
- Americas
- New York (NYSSA only teams)
- Global – the regional winners advance to the global final in the hopes of being crowned the global champion.