Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. - CFP Board Investor Confidence Survey

CFP Board Investor Confidence Survey

The many scandals and irregularities that have hit corporations, accounting firms and mutual funds over the past five years have led many people to speculate that the financial markets run the risk of losing investor confidence. CFP Board would like to know your views on how the scandals, accusations and investigations have affected both your confidence and your clients' confidence in the markets. Additionally, we would like to know your views on the importance of various proposals to reform investment fund management in maintaining investor confidence.

We will share these results with you in the January CFP Board Report. We may also share results with parties such as regulators and the media if we believe they may be of interest. Requested information to identify you is strictly optional. We ask for it in case we find a need to follow up on certain answers or comments. Your individual answers would not be shared with any other organization without first obtaining your explicit permission.

Questions

1. How much have corporate governance scandals, accounting irregularities, or mutual fund trading accusations over the past three years affected your confidence in securities markets?


Much less confident	Somewhat less confident	No change in confidence	Somewhat more confident	Much more confident

2. How much have corporate governance, accounting irregularities, or mutual fund trading accusations over the past three years affected your clients' confidence in securities markets?


Much less confident	Somewhat less confident	No change in confidence	Somewhat more confident	Much more confident

Questions 3-10 focus on some of the many proposals that have been suggested to reform securities markets and investment fund management. Please indicate on a scale from "Not Important" and five being "Extremely Important" - how important you think implementation of the following reforms would be in maintaining investor confidence in securities markets.

3. Requiring mutual funds to have a compliance officer who reports directly to the fund's board of directors.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

4. Requiring the chairman and 75 percent of the members of mutual fund boards to be totally independent of the fund company.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

5. Requiring greater and simpler disclosure of mutual funds' brokerage commissions and expenses, including details on soft-dollar deals and financial incentives to sell a particular fund or class of shares.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

6. Creation of a new, private mutual fund oversight board.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

7. Requiring mutual funds to receive orders by 4 p.m. Eastern time if investors want to receive that day's closing price.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

8. Requiring mandatory fees on short-term mutual fund trades.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

9. Making it easier for funds to enforce rules (including market timing rules) with brokers who use omnibus mutual fund accounts, which may shield customers' names and contact information.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

10. Increasing disclosure and inspection requirements for hedge funds.


Not important	Minimally important	Somewhat important	Significantly important	Extremely important

11. Do you manage assets for clients?
Yes
No

12. Do you make investment recommendations for clients?
Yes
No

13. Additional Comments:

Optional Information

First Name:
Last Name:
CFP Board ID#:
Company Name:
Phone:
E-mail:

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