FRM – The Professional Risk Managers’ Handbook by PRIMA

The Global Association of Risk Professionals and the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association—a bunch created by former GARP volunteer officers—are two commerce associations to supply certification exams.

The assessments, dubbed the Financial Risk Manager examination and the Professional Risk Manager certification, require about 500 to 600 hours of examine, and are handed by roughly half or fewer of those that take them, the teams say. Fees for the two-part GARP examination complete $1,250, whereas the Professional Risk Managers’ four-part check prices $500.

An skilled danger supervisor can typically earn the designations with a couple of months of examine, whereas it will probably take greater than a 12 months for many who are new to the sector. Both programs of examine require a proficiency in understanding monetary markets, the mathematical foundation for danger administration, present danger administration strategies and behavioral ethics, consultants say.

Two different teams, the Risk and Insurance Management Society and the Society of Actuaries, additionally provide certifications geared towards danger managers that are much less targeted on monetary danger than the FRM and PRM.

More than 23,000 individuals registered for the Financial Risk Manager examination in 2009, a 69% leap over 2008, in accordance with the group. The different teams say they’ve additionally seen an uptick in curiosity.

Risk supervisor Dave Ingram, who has FRM and PRM certifications, in addition to one other from the Society of Actuaries, says his certifications have helped him persuade doable purchasers of his experience, win new enterprise and carry out his job at the next stage.

Mr. Ingram, a vp at Willis Re, a division of worldwide insurance coverage firm Willis Group, says there are nonetheless instances when he talks to a shopper who hasn’t labored with him earlier than who wants assurance. “The certifications go a long way there,” he says.

A certification can be a strong résumé builder. Richard Meyers, chief government of Richard Meyers & Associates Inc., a N.J.-based risk-management expertise search agency, says that certifications such because the FRM or PRM may be the distinction between getting a job and never.

“It reflects the extent of their professional commitment,” says Mr. Meyers. “As a recruiter, I’m very attracted to people that have the credentials on their résumé,” he provides.

When it involves deciding which certification to get, elements like price, comfort and employer issues may be extra necessary than course-work. That’s largely as a result of the 2 major designations are practically similar, says Mr. Meyers. “When you really get down to it, [they are] hybrids of each other.”

Other danger administration designations which might be extra suited to enterprise danger managers—who work extra broadly with danger points throughout corporations, reasonably than simply in finance—embody the RIMS Fellow, the Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst, the Certified Risk Manager and the Associate in Risk Management.

“The RIMS Fellow designation combines general risk management knowledge with business courses. It’s a very broad certification,” says Mary Roth, government director of RIMS, which stands for Risk and Insurance Management Society.

In some instances, corporations provide wealthy incentives and rewards to attain certifications. BDO International Ltd., a world tax and accounting agency with greater than 2,700 staff, has a program that helps to pay for certification charges and lessons—which may price as a lot as $2,530 when examine programs are included.

The firm additionally has a “flex” program that permits staff to regulate their work hours when finding out for the exams, says Jennifer Salzman, a managing director with BDO’s danger advisory companies group. “We do take [designations] into account when we hire and do performance evaluations,” says Ms. Salzman.

New York Life requires that every one professionals in its danger administration division obtain the FRM or PRM inside 18 months of their begin date and covers the complete price of the exams in addition to any examine supplies.

We present “the tangible help in terms of passing the exam,” says Mr. Pell. He additionally takes certifications into consideration when figuring out beginning salaries, raises and promotions.

New York Life pays for the price of supplies, lessons and exams, and with 70% of the division already holding certifications, mentors can be found to these pursuing the designations, Mr. Pell says.

Corrections & Amplifications

Jennifer Salzman is a managing director with the chance advisory companies group of BDO Seidman LLP, an accounting agency that’s the U.S. member of BDO International Ltd., a world community of unbiased accounting corporations. In an earlier model of this text, Ms. Salzman was incorrectly recognized as an worker of BDO International, which was misidentified as a world tax and accounting agency

—–Jeremy Greenfield is an editor for FINS.com

DEFINITION of ‘Professional Risk Manager – PRM ‘

Knowledgeable designation awarded by the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association to monetary danger managers who cross 4 exams of 1 to 2 hours every. The 4 exams cowl monetary concept, monetary devices and markets, mathematical foundations of danger measurement, danger administration practices and case research, greatest practices, conduct, ethics and bylaws. Successful candidates earn the best to make use of the PRM designation with their names, which may enhance job alternatives, skilled status and pay.