AICPA beefs up effort to build PFS mark

Investment News
By Rick Miller
July 11, 2005
CHICAGO – At the midpoint of a two-year effort to save the personal financial specialist credential, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has improved services for credential holders and is turning to them to help bolster membership.

In a campaign launched last month, the New York-based professional association has asked 50 CPA/PFS “champions” to get in touch with about 500 prospects about earning the designation. Additionally, the AICPA is asking each credential holder to bring another CPA financial planner into the fold.

– Advertisement -“So far, I’ve called two of the eight people I needed to call, and both said they were going to sign up,” said Joel Framson, president of Silver Oak Wealth Advisors LLC in Los Angeles and chairman of the AICPA’s personal-financial-planning executive committee. “I’m pretty happy so far.”

A reachable goal?

But some CPAs question whether the association will reach its goal of 3,600 PFS holders, up from the current 3,240, by July 31, 2006 – the deadline set by the institute’s governing council.

“They need another 360 members next year, and that is over a 10% increase. That’s going to be difficult,” said Alan Schapire, a CPA/PFS and certified financial planner who is a principal of Libra Financial Planning in Media, Pa.

“They are really fighting an uphill battle, because the CFP designation, at least in my eyes right now, is clearly the designation of choice both from the adviser community and from the consumer looking to advisers,” he added.

For a CPA who holds a CFP, much of getting the PFS has to do with filling out an application and paying the $350 in annual dues. Even so, some are adamant that they don’t need the added designation to stand apart.

“If the AICPA truly wanted to make CPAs financial planners of choice, they should get rid of the credential,” said Bernard Kiely, a CPA and CFP who is president of Kiely Capital Management Inc. in Morristown, N.J.

“The CFP battle has been won, but the AICPA doesn’t realize that yet,” he added.

Indeed, the fate of the PFS designation hinges on the progress made over the next year. A few years ago, the AICPA’s 270-member council considered dropping the mark but instead approved a resolution in October 2003 laying out a two-year plan to bolster it. The plan included infusing $4.6 million into its personal-financial-planning area, which oversees the PFS.

The council set specific metrics the designation had to meet by the end of next July, such as the number of credential holders, as well as achieving a financial break-even point for the PFS. The credential will be evaluated at that time, and a decision will be made whether to continue it, according to the institute.

Since August 2004, when the additional money started flowing, the AICPA made significant enhancements. The association in January launched its Personal Financial Planning Center website, pfp.aicpa.org, which gives its most complete access to PFS holders.

The personal-financial-planning section has upped its staff to 10 people, from five, increased its outreach to the media and beefed up communications to members through monthly e-mails and newsletters.

“We have very good sense that things are moving positively, and we are making good progress,” said Michael M. Eisenberg, a Los Angeles-based CPA/PFS who is chairman of the AICPA’s PFS credential committee.

With the enhanced services in place, the AICPA is turning its attention more aggressively to increasing the ranks of PFS holders. Since the council’s resolution, the mark’s growth has been slow. A net 52 PFS holders have been added since the fall of 2003.

But the AICPA insists that slow growth was expected and that it is on track to meet its goal.

“Now that we have presented the value and the deliverables to our members, they see that there is value in this credential,” said Andrea Carella, director of specialized communities and credentialing for the association. “They see that the institute is behind this credential, so we are anticipating ? a lower attrition rate, a higher retention rate and a higher growth rate.”

One obvious area in which to mine PFS prospects is among the 6,500 CPAs who are members of the AICPA’s personal-financial-planning section.

Why about half of them don’t hold the PFS is a mystery to some. “I think it is partly just laziness,” said Sherman Doll, a CPA/PFS who is president of Capital Performance Advisors Inc. in Walnut Creek, Calif., which manages $400 million in assets. “I have partner here who is qualified and just hasn’t gone through the paperwork to do it.”

“Maybe the Financial Planning Association [of Denver] seems more sexy,” he added. “Maybe they make their organization seem more like a financial planning organization than what the AICPA has done. Frankly, some of the tools the AICPA has given us are just not that exciting.”

Rebecca Pace, a CPA/PFS and CFP, couldn’t disagree more. “I think they are doing an excellent job of promoting the mark – the resources they are providing. I’ve just been really delighted with the material,” said Ms. Pace, who runs Pace Advisors LLC of Cincinnati, which does not manage assets.

However, it does concern her that the PFS has gotten a “lukewarm” response from CPA planners.

“Since there is not a lot of name recognition to the PFS, a lot of people are just going the CFP direction, which is very disappointing, because I think that the CPAs could really capitalize on their history and their training ? and [being] an objective adviser,” Ms. Pace said.

“They can set themselves apart from other people in the financial services industry that way, and it’s not catching on.”

Need is questioned

Of the 48,041 CFPs as of June 30, 7,241, or 15.07%, were CPAs; and 1,549, or 3.2%, held the PFS, according to the website of the Denver-based Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc.

“I have never felt the need to consider the CFP designation, since I believe I already hold the best designation,” said Larry Kuhl, a CPA/ PFS who owns Kuhl Financial Services in Lake Bluff, Ill., which has under $25 million in assets under management.

“For many years, the AICPA did not give the PFS designation the proper support level, which caused many CPAs to opt for the CFP designation. However, the AICPA is now giving a lot more support to the designation, and the public is becoming more aware of the designation.”