Domains

The CTFA advisory board has determined that a competent trust advisor professional's expertise includes the following domains: 

• Fiduciary Principles and Applications
• Integrated Planning and Advice (Financial and Tax)
• Asset Management - Interaction of All Asset Types
• Administration of Trust Accounts
• Risk/Compliance Management
• Ethics
• Relationship Management

Please review the CTFA Examination Outline for additional details, as well as the FAQ Document and Webinar on test Changes.

Study Resources 

While ABA recommends these resources as appropriate examination preparation, ABA does not ensure that you will pass the test by completing these educational programs or studying these materials alone. The CTFA test assesses not only your knowledge of the courses on the test outline, but also your application of that knowledge. You should refer frequently to the CTFA test Outline when preparing for the exam.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The only legitimate resource for ABA’s certifications, including reference materials, are available on www.aba.com. Any other resources or guides related to ABA’s certification programs offered for sale on third party platforms such as Amazon and eBay is not authorized by the ABA and such purchases are at the buyer’s risk. While it is not illegal for publishers to write separate resources to potential customers, it can be difficult to determine the legitimacy of offers from these organizations, especially if they contain unauthorized uses of ABA’s federally protected logo. If you do not make your purchase with ABA directly, we will not be able to assist you in any capacity. Please contact ABA Customer Service at 1-800-BANKERS to be directed to a legitimate resource.

Exam Format, Scoring and Reporting

• 200 multiple-choice questions (see Sample Questions)
• Maximum 4 hour timeframe allowed
• The February test will only cover laws and regulations in effect through 12/31 of the prior year. All other exams will cover current laws and regulations.
• Calculators will be provided
• Instant "Pass/Fail" outcome provided for most computer based exams at test sites. Occasionally, instant outcomes are not provided while statistical analysis is conducted.
• Official score reports delivered via email within 6 weeks after the close of the test window 
• For full details, read the Certification test FAQs 

Ready to Apply?

Apply for the CTFA Exam

Have a Certifications account or retaking an exam? Log In
Need Help? View Application Video

The following questions are representative of the types of questions you will find on the CRCM (Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager) exam.

1.  A borrower has a right to rescind a loan agreement in all of the following situations except:

a. A line of credit used for the borrower's business, secured by the borrower's primary  dwelling
b. A revolving line of credit secured by the borrower's primary dwelling used to Strengthen the borrower's home
c. An increase of a line of credit from $5,000 to $10,000 secured by the borrower's primary dwelling
d. A loan to pay off a contract for a deed secured by the borrower's primary dwelling

2.  When opening a deposit account online, Regulation E disclosures MUST be provided at the time of account opening or: 

a. Before the first EFT occurs 
b. Along with the first periodic statement 
c. Within three business days of account opening 
d. Within three business days of a customer's request for the EFT service

3.  The primary responsibility for overseeing a bank’s inherent compliance risk should lie with which of the following?

a. Internal audit
b. Consumers
c. Board of Directors
d. Compliance officer

4.   A branch manager finds an unexplained $7,000 cash shortage in Teller #1's cash drawer. Which of the following actions must the bank take?

a. File a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) with the IRS
b. Discharge Teller #1 immediately
c. Send a notice of adverse action to the bank's federal regulator
d. File a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)

5.  A compliance professional recently discovered the bank did not file and disclose an accurate covered agreement, as required by the CRA Sunshine Act. In order to ensure correct reporting in the future, what must be provided? 

a. All individual mortgage loans 
b. Grants or loans to fulfill CRA activity 
c. Non-public or confidential information that will be provided in the public file 
d. A copy of the agreement to the regulatory agency 24 months after the end of the term

Answer Key

1. a
2. a
3. c
4. d
5. b

Purpose

To determine authenticity and authorship.

Method

The specifics of an investigation will depend on the nature of the document being studied (e.g., historical or personal) and the goals of the inquiry. Generally speaking, a document will be examined from three different aspects: historical, scientific, and stylistic.

Historical Analysis

It is virtually impossible to pinpoint the age of an undated document, but there may be clues to the era. If it is a printed piece - say a greeting card - the method of printing, address, and even the stamp may be important.

At the very least, materials and techniques must be consistent with place and time. Many forgeries are identified by the presence of materials that didn’t exist at the time alleged.

Scientific Analysis

A detailed paper analysis will detect every shred of physical evidence concealed in a document.

Stylistic Analysis

Comparisons of style are essential for authentication. Penmanship, cultural phrasing, and form of address can help to identify both the era and author. Handwriting comparisons can authenticate a signature or manuscript.

In some cases, all of it taken together can’t solve a historical puzzle. For example, there are five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address. Testing has proved that all are authentic Lincoln documents. But it will never prove, definitively, which of the five Lincoln actually read from at Gettysburg.

• Database technology is crucial in multiple applications and computing tasks, and certifications help demonstrate job readiness and core competencies. 
• Before pursuing a database platform certification, you should have a solid background in relational database management systems and the SQL language. 
• Valuable certifications are typically tied to specific technology companies and their platforms, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.
• This article is for IT professionals considering database certifications to further their careers. 

While database platforms have come and gone through the decades, database technology is still critical for multiple applications and computing tasks. IT professionals often seek database certifications to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise as they navigate their career paths and pursue professional growth. 

While database certifications may not be as bleeding edge as Google cloud certifications, cybersecurity certifications, storage certifications or digital forensics certifications, database professionals at all levels possess in-demand career skills — and a plethora of database-related jobs are waiting to be filled.

We’ll look at some of the most in-demand certifications for database administrators, database developers and anyone else who works with databases.

What to know about database roles and certifications

To get a better grasp of available database certifications, it’s helpful to group these certs around job responsibilities. This reflects the maturity of database technology and its integration into most aspects of commercial, scientific and academic computing. As you read about the various database certification programs, keep these job roles in mind: 

• Database administrator (DBA). A DBA is responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining a database management system (DBMS). The job is often tied to a specific platform, such as Oracle, MySQL, DB2 or SQL Server.
• Database developer. A database developer works with generic and proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs) to build applications that interact with a DBMS. Like DBA roles, database developer positions are also often platform-specific.
• Database designer or database architect. A database designer or architect researches data requirements for specific applications or users and designs database structures and application capabilities to match.
• Data analyst or data scientist. A data analyst or scientist is responsible for analyzing data from multiple disparate sources to discover previously hidden insights, determine the meaning behind data, and make business-specific recommendations.
• Data mining or business intelligence (BI) specialist. A data mining or BI specialist focuses on dissecting, analyzing and reporting important data streams, such as customer, supply chain and transaction data and histories.
• Data warehousing specialist. A data warehousing specialist assembles and analyzes data from multiple operational systems (such as orders, transactions, supply chain information and customer data) to establish data history, analyze trends, generate reports and forecasts, and support general ad hoc queries. 

These database job roles highlight two critical issues to consider if you want to be a database professional:

1. You need a solid general background. First, a background in relational database management systems, including an understanding of Structured Query Language (SQL), is a fundamental prerequisite for database professionals of all stripes. 
2. There’s a focus on proprietary technologies. Second, although various efforts to standardize database technology exist, much of the whiz-bang capability that databases and database applications deliver comes from proprietary, vendor-specific technologies. Serious, heavy-duty database skills and knowledge are tied to specific platforms, including various Oracle products (such as the open-source MySQL environment and Oracle itself,) Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2. Most of these certifications relate directly to those enormously popular platforms. 

Best database certifications

Here are details on our five best database certification picks for 2023.

1. IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 12

IBM is one of the leaders in the worldwide database market by any objective measure. The company’s database portfolio includes industry-standard DB2, as well as the following:

• IBM Compose
• Information Management System (IMS)
• Informix
• Cloudant
• IBM Open Platform with Apache Hadoop

IBM also has a long-standing and well-populated IT certification program that has been around for more than 30 years and encompasses hundreds of individual credentials. 

After redesigning its certification programs and categories, IBM now has a primary data-centric certification category called IBM Data and AI. It includes a range of database credentials: 

• Database Associate
• Database Administrator
• System Administrator
• Application Developer 

IBM’s is a big and complex certification space, but one where particular platform allegiances are likely to guide readers toward the handful of items most relevant to their interests and needs. 

Database professionals who support DB2 (or aspire to) on IBM’s z/OS should check out the IBM Associate Certified DBA — Db2 12 certification. It’s an entry-level test that addresses routine planning, working with SQL and XML, security, operations, data concurrency, application design, and concepts around database objects.

This certification requires candidates to pass one exam. Pre-exam training and familiarity with concepts, or hands-on experience, are recommended but not required. 

IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 facts and figures

A typical examination question in Mathematics will have several parts to it. Some parts (most usually at the beginning of the question) test your knowledge, by asking you to reproduce "bookwork", i.e. material presented in the lectures. Really, these parts test how well you've revised. Occasionally, especially in certain more advanced courses, there are entire questions that are bookwork. In some courses, some pieces of bookwork come up in the test almost every year. In other courses, hardly any bookwork is set explicitly.

Tip: Figure out which pieces of bookwork come up most frequently, and make sure you can answer those questions easily and quickly.

You would be surprised how many poor attempts at routine bookwork questions we see every year. These are the parts of the questions that we expect students to be able to do.

Other parts of examination questions involve a "problem". In a "Methods" course, this will typically involve you applying a known technique from the course, and again this is something we expect you to be able to do. In a Pure Mathematics course, you might be asked to prove a result, or to apply a result in a particular setting.

Tip: Sometimes (but certainly not always!), the first part of the question is intended as a big hint as to how you should approach the second part.

Many test questions, especially those that are otherwise very routine, have a last part (a "rider") which is more challenging than the rest of the question. This is quite deliberate, and the intention is to test whether you've really understood the material.

Tip: Do try all the riders (they're not always so hard after all!) but don't waste too much time on them in an test if there are other things you can tackle instead.

Students sometimes seem to be annoyed that they have to do something clever to get 100% on a question. Don't forget, in many other subjects it's practically impossible to score 100% on a question!

Tip: Make sure you've answered all the parts of the question. Sometimes you're asked to do seven or eight things, and it's easy to overlook one.