CFA Societies Canada Ethics Challenge

Real-world ethics. Career-ready skills. A head start on your CFA® Program journey.

Ethics Challenge

The CFA Societies Canada Ethics Challenge advances the profession’s highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence by preparing students to navigate real ethical dilemmas they’ll face in investment management while introducing concepts that appear in the CFA Program.

What You’ll Gain

  • Apply the CFA Institute Code of Ethics & Standards of Professional Conduct to practical scenarios
  • Strengthen judgment, integrity, communication, and teamwork
  • Augment classroom learning with case-based practice and mentoring
  • Receive hands-on mentoring
  • Network with professionals and peers to make inroads within the industry

Two Ways to Participate

  • Team Competition: Local case competition hosted by CFA Societies across Canada → National Round (virtual)
  • (NEW) Individual Competition: Online Preliminary Individual Round → National Individual Round (virtual)

Team Competition – How It Works

Local Round: Hosted by local CFA Societies in BC, Alberta, Prairies (SK & MB), Ontario, Québec, and Atlantic Canada. A faculty advisor assembles and guides a team of 3-5 students. Teams have ~3 weeks to work on the case, deliver a 10-minute presentation and a 10-minute Q&A to judges. One local winner from each region advances to the National Round.

National Round (May 1, 2026 • virtual): Teams receive a new case and have 23 hours to prepare and submit a recorded presentation; judges then conduct live Q&A before selecting the national champion.

Individual Competition – How It Works

Preliminary Individual Round (mid-December 2025 to mid-January 2026): Complete the interactive, self-study Ethical Decision-Making Program in the CFA Institute Ethics Learning Lab (includes quizzes, polls, discussion prompts, reflections, and a leaderboard).

Advancement: The top 25 scorers are invited to the National Individual Round.

National Individual Round (May 1, 2026 • virtual): Case-based and individual questions test knowledge and comprehension of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct; the winner is announced at the conclusion.

Register by November 30, 2025.

Awards & Prizes

Teams:

  • Local Finalists: certificate + award + $400 (CAD) per winning team member
  • National Champions: featured in national press release + commemorative award + $800 (CAD) per winning team member

Individuals:

  • Top 25: electronic certificate + invitation to National Individual Round
  • National Top 5: CFA Program scholarship (or equivalent value)
  • National Winner: $1,500 (CAD) + commemorative award

Key Dates

Teams:

DateDescription
October 31, 2025Universities confirm participation in the CFA Societies Canada Ethics Challenge with the local host (local CFA Society).
November 30, 2025Registration deadline for all students and faculty advisors.
December 15, 2025 to January 18, 2026Competition kick-off with an interactive ethical decision making ​online program from CFA Institute in the Ethics Learning Lab.​
January, 2026The host Society will distribute the Local Competition Ethics Case study to all registered competing universities (three weeks prior to Local Competition).
January – February 2026Local Competitions are held throughout the country at local Host Societies.
May 1, 20262026 CFA Societies Canada Ethics Challenge – National Round held virtually where finalists from across Canada compete for the national title.​

The National Round will also include an individual student competition and an informational interactive event which is open to both competing and all other interested students.

Individuals:

DateDescription
November 30, 2025Registration deadline for all individual student participants.
December 15, 2025 to January 18, 2026Preliminary Individual Round starts with an interactive ethical decision-making online program from CFA Institute in the Ethics Learning Lab.
January, 2026The top 25 scorers from the ethical decision-making online program will be invited to the National Individual Round in May.
May 1, 20262026 CFA Societies Canada Ethics Challenge – National Individual Round held virtually where invitees from the Preliminary Individual Round from across Canada compete for the national individual title.

The National Individual Round will also include a parallel team-based student competition and an informational interactive event which is open to both competing and all other interested students.

Past Winners


Interested in participating? Contact your local CFA Society

Find a CFA Society