Level I Schwesers Secret Sauce
Foreword
...................................................iii
Ethical and Professional Standards: SS 1
...................1
Quantitative Methods: SS 23
...............................8
Economics: SS 4,5, 6 .....................................43
Financial Reporting and Analysis: SS 7, 8,
9, 10 .........90
Corporate Finance: SS 11
..................................161
Portfolio Management: SS 12
...............................175
Securities Markets and Equity Investments:
SS 1314 .......196
Fixed Income: SS 1516
....................................227
Derivatives: SS 17
........................................258
Alternative Investments: SS
18.............................278
Essential Exam Strategies .................................286
Index
.................................................... 301
內容試閱:
Ethical and Professional Standards
Study Session 1
Weight on Exam 15%
SchweserNotes Reference Book 1, Pages 152
Ethics is 15% of the Level I examination
and is extremely important to your overall success remember, you can fail a
topic area and still pass the exam, but we wouldnt recommend failing Ethics.
Ethics can be tricky, and small details can be important on some ethics
questions. Be prepared.
In addition to starting early, study the
ethics material more than once. Ethics is one of the keys to passing the exam.
Standards of Practice Handbook
Cross-Reference to CFA Institute Assigned
Readings #1 2
We recommend you read the original
Standards of Practice Handbook. Although we are very proud of our reviews of
the ethics material, there are two reasons we recommend you read the original
Standards of Practice Handbook 11th Ed., 2014. 1 You are a CFA candidate.
As such, you have pledged to abide by the CFA Institute Standards. 2 Most of
the ethics questions will likely come directly from the text and examples in
the Standards of Practice Handbook. You will be much better off if you read
both our summaries of the Standards and the original Handbook and all the
examples presented in it.
The CFA Institute Professional Conduct
Program is covered by the CFA Institute Bylaws and the Rules of Procedure for
Proceedings Related to Professional Conduct. The Disciplinary Review Committee
of the CFA Institute Board of Governors has overall responsibility for the
Professional Conduct Program and enforcement of the Code and Standards.
CFA Institute, through the Professional
Conduct staff, conducts inquiries related to professional conduct. Several
circumstances can prompt such an inquiry:
Self-disclosure by members or candidates on
their annual Professional Conduct Statements of involvement in civil litigation
or a criminal investigation, or that the member or candidate is the subject of
a written complaint.
Written complaints about a member or
candidates professional conduct that are received by the Professional Conduct
staff.
Evidence of misconduct by a member or
candidate that the Professional Conduct staff received through public sources,
such as a media article or broadcast.
A
report by a CFA exam proctor of a possible violation during the examination.
Analysis of exam scores and materials and
monitoring of websites and social media by CFA Institute.
Once an inquiry is begun, the Professional
Conduct staff may request in writing an explanation from the subject member
or candidate, and may:
Interview the subject member or candidate.
Interview the complainant or other third
parties.
Collect documents and records relevant to the
investigation.
The Professional Conduct staff may decide:
That
no disciplinary sanctions are appropriate.
To
issue a cautionary letter.
To
discipline the member or candidate.
In a case where the Professional Conduct
staff finds a violation has occurred and proposes a disciplinary sanction, the
member or candidate may accept or reject the sanction. If the member or
candidate chooses to reject the sanction, the matter will be referred to a
panel of CFA Institute members for a hearing. Sanctions imposed may include
condemnation by the members peers or suspension of the candidates continued
participation in the CFA Program.
Code and Standards
Questions about the Code and Standards will
most likely be application questions. You will be given a situation and be
asked to identify whether or not a violation occurs, what the violation is, or
what the appropriate course of action should be. You are not required to know
the Standards by number, just by name.
One of the first Learning Outcome
Statements LOS in the Level I curriculum is to state the six components of
the Code of Ethics. Candidates should memorize the Code of Ethics.
Members of the CFA Institute [including
Chartered Financial Analyst CFA charterholders] and candidates for the CFA
designation Members and Candidates must:
Act
with integrity, competence, diligence, and respect and in an ethical manner
with the public, clients, prospective clients, employers, employees, colleagues
in the investment profession, and other participants in the global capital
markets.
Place the integrity of the investment
profession and the interests of clients above their own personal interests.
Use
reasonable care and exercise independent, professional judgment when conducting
investment analysis, making investment recommendations, taking investment
actions, and engaging in other professional activities.
Practice and encourage others to practice in a
professional and ethical manner that will reflect credit on themselves and the
profession.
Promote the integrity and viability of the
global capital markets for the ultimate benefit of society.
Maintain and improve their professional
competence and strive to maintain and improve the competence of other
investment professionals.
Standards of Professional Conduct
The following is a list of the Standards of
Professional Conduct. Candidates should focus on the purpose of the Standard,
applications of the Standard, and proper procedures of compliance for each
Standard.
The following is intended to offer a useful
summary of the current Standards of Practice, but certainly does not take the
place of careful reading of the Standards themselves, the guidance for
implementing the Standards, and the examples in the Handbook.
Know
the law relevant to your position. Comply with the most strict law or Standard
that applies to you.
Dont solicit gifts.
Dont compromise your objectivity or
independence.
Use
reasonable care.
Dont lie, cheat, or steal.
Dont continue association with others who are
breaking laws, rules, or regulations.
Dont use others work or ideas without
attribution.
Dont guarantee investment results or say that
past results will be certainly repeated.
Dont do things outside of work that reflect
poorly on your integrity or professional competence.
Economics
Study Sessions 4, 5, 6
Weight on Exam 10%
SchweserNotes Reference Book 2, Pages
1246
Study Session 4: EconomicsMicroeconomic
Analysis
Demand and Supply Analysis: Introduction
Cross-Reference to CFA Institute Assigned
Reading #13
Types of Markets
Factor markets refers to markets for
factors of production, and goods markets refers to markets for consumer goods
and services.
Capital markets refers to the markets where
firms raise money for investment by selling debt borrowing or selling
equities claims to ownership, as well as the markets where these debt and
equity claims are subsequently traded.
The Demand Function and the Demand Curve
A general form of the demand function for
Good X over some period of time is:
QDx = f Px, I, Py...
where:
QDx = quantity demanded of Good X
Px = price of Good X
I = some measure of individual or average
income
Py = prices of related goods
As an example, consider the weekly demand
function for gasoline:
QD gas = 9 1.5Pgas 0.02I 0.11PBT
0.008Pauto
where income and car price are measured in
thousands, and the price of bus travel BT is measured in average dollars per
100 miles traveled. The fact that thequantity demanded typically is negatively
related to price is referred to as the law of demand. Note that an increase in
the price of automobiles will decrease demand for gasoline they are said to be
complements, and an increase in the price of bus travel will increase the
demand for gasoline they are substitutes. The positive coefficient on income
indicates that gasoline for this consumer is a normal good. A negative exponent
on income would indicate that gasoline is an inferior good.
To get quantity demanded as a function of
only the price of gas, insert values for all the other independent variables.
Assuming that the average car price is $26,000, income is $40,000, and the
price of bus travel is $25, our demand function above becomes QD gas = 9
1.5Pgas 0.0240 0.1125 0.00826 = 12.342 1.5Pgas, and at a price
of $4 per gallon, the quantity of gas demanded per week is 6.34 gallons.
In order to find the demand curve that
shows the price of gasoline as a function of the quantity demanded, invert the
demand function to show price as a function of the quantity demanded. For our
function, QD gas = 12.342 1.5Pgas, we get Pgas =8.228 0.667QD gas.