CFP's Who Attend our 2009 Seminars Need to Look Elsewhere for CFP Ethics Credit. We have just been notified by the CFP Board that it no longer accredits any ethics credit request submission that does not deal exclusively with the CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Professional Standards.

2009 CFP Attendees Will Receive 8 Hours of CE Credit. Certified Financial Planners that attend either segment of the 2009 Basics & Beyond Income Tax Update Seminars will receive 8 hours of CFP continuing education credit for each seminar attended. They will not receive CFP continuing education ethics credit . Accordingly, CFPs should look elsewhere in order to meet the Board's minimum ethics continuing education hour requirements.

2008 and Prior Ethics Accreditation is Still Valid. This is a recent policy change for the Board. Accordingly, those CFPs who attended 2008 and prior Basics & Beyond Income Tax Update seminars will receive the continuing education ethics credit they expected.

Observation. So far as we are aware, the decision to accredit only those ethics segments that deal exclusively with the CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Professional Standards has been neither publicized nor otherwise communicated to CFP Board continuing education sponsors.

Section III of the most recent Sub-Agreement for CFP Programs on CFP Board's Ethical Standards (Rev. 12/07) deals with Requirements for CE Programs on CFP Board's Ethical Standards. It addresses the issue of content on line 1 where it states: “Programs must consist of a detailed review of some aspect of CFP Board's Ethical Standards.” The word “exclusively” does not exist anywhere in the agreement.

We signed this agreement with the expectation that the CFP Board would honor that requirement as written. That said, the final decision to accredit a continuing education course is that of the CFP Board.

Fairness is CFP Ethical Principal #4. All of our publicity contained a warning that the CFP Board had not yet accredited the ethics segment of our 2009 seminars. However, we also stated that we did expect accreditation of the ethics portion of our seminars.

In order to be fair to those CFPs who attended Part I of our Seminar and on their CE certificates requested CFP ethics credit, we will in early November offer them the opportunity to receive a full refund of the Part I portion of their tuition payment. They will also have the ability to receive 8 hours of CFP continuing education credit for attending Part I.

In order to be fair to those CFPs who registered for our 2009 Part II Year-end Income Tax Update seminar, in early November each will be given an option to cancel their Part II registration and receive a refund of the tuition they paid for Part II without cancellation penalty.