Technical Difficulties at the CFP Board

Broken!Another update as of 8/14/08, see below and also read comments from Carol Lee Roberts, CFP®, Managing Director of Examinations and Education for the CFP Board.

Initially I wasn’t going to say anything about my recent experience with the CFP Board and some of the technical issues I have encountered over the last few months. But today the third issue came up, and I’m beginning to get concerned that operations inside the CFP Board aren’t going as smoothly as possible.

Back in June (after the exam registration deadline), I received an email message from the CFP Board that indicated either my payment or my registration was incomplete. Calls flooded the Board from concerned exam applicants. It turned out the email was sent in error to most (all?) applicants and we were told not to worry; our registration for the exam was not in jeopardy. Nevertheless, be still my beating heart!

Then on the exam itself, I believe there was an error on a test question. I feel that one question did not reflect changes to tax law in 2008 as compared to 2007. Keep in mind that long term capital gain tax rates changed for taxpayers in low income tax brackets. I suspect the question was updated in 2007 and rotated through the bank of questions. It likely was not on the March 2008 exam and when it appeared in the July exam, reviewers missed it. That’s all I can say about this issue without violating the disclosure policy established by the Board, but you get the idea. Besides, I could be totally wrong on the question!

Then late Tuesday I received an email message about a Determinant Survey the CFP Board uses to perform data-mining of exam takers. The deadline for survey responses is August 25, according to this email:

Survey

So I clicked the link to the survey and received the following error message!

Expired!

Alright CFP Board; what is going on inside that is causing these technical problems? Do I need to be concerned that my exam might not be scored properly? If I allegedly fail, do I need to request a hand scoring review?

It’s unfortunate that other turmoil occurred earlier in the year within the CFP Board’s umbrella, and then this array of technical problems starts to pile on top. For the money paid by certificants, I would hope that these issues are not a harbinger of more serious internal management problems.

I apologize to anyone from the CFP Board reading this, but I must be honest, these issues are affecting my confidence in the Board of Standards.


8/14/08 Update: It turns out the link to the survey was sent out prematurely. Oops. See the CFP Board’s most recent communication:

On Tuesday, August 12, 2008, you were sent an e-mail from CFP Board asking you to complete an Exam Candidate Questionnaire. This e-mail was sent in error, and the questionnaire is not currently available. If you tried to access this link provided in the e-mail, you found a message stating that the deadline to respond to the survey had ended.

We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this e-mail may have created during your busy day, and we wish you the best as you await your results from the July 2007 CFP(R) Certification Examination.

Sincerely,

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.

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