About the The AAFM ® Board of Certification Standards & The Global Academy of Finance and Management ®
Overview
AAFM ® Certifying Board & The Consulting Group - The AAFM ® Global Academy
The International Board of Standards and The AAFM ® Global Academy of Finance and Management is the world’s fastest growing professional standards board with more than 300,000 members, associates and affiliates in 155+ countries. The US headquarters for the International Board of Standards exclusively awards its registered certifications & board designations to qualifying candidates who meet the highest professional standards and assessment criteria. The US Board and Headquarters accredits and approves official AAFM ® ™ certification training programs worldwide where the AAFM ® has hundreds of approved educational programs that are registered under the quality control policies. . The AAFM ® Standards Board has been at the forefront of accredited education and exam standards for over a decade and works directly with accreditation agencies and governments to enforce the highest certification standards.
The International Board of Standards owns and regulates certification, standards, accreditation, professional development policies, and assessment while the AAFM ® manages the alliances with global and offshore training programs and enforcement of certified programs and member rules..
In the last decade, The Board of Standards and the Professional Development Programs have been recognized or in consultation with the United Nations, Ministry of Finance/Education of several countries, US Government, Chinese Government, Arab League/Arab Academy, Capital Markets Authority of Saudi Arabia, Brazil Government , DFM Dubai Stock Exchange (Dubai Financial Market), EU SROs, Singapore Government, Qatar Financial Center, and others to provide standards, professional development and educational expertise to their employees. The International Board of Standards is also formally recognized or in cooperation with industry worldwide.
Our History
The AAFM and Professional Society was founded in the United States in 1996 with the work of the members of the Tax and Estate Planning Law Review and Graduate Institute of Leadership. For over a decade, the Board of Standards headquarters has remained a global quality assurance advisory council with standards or enforcement offices set up around the world. Since inception, the USA Board has held sole authority over the issuance of any certifications, exams, trademark use and quality standards. Subsequently in December of 1999, the board began to approve or accredited qualified certification training programs offshore and set up offshore liaison offices in Asia, Latin America, and Europe and other locations. In 2001-2, The Founder and Chairman, Counselor Mentz, established Training alliances & relationships with the International Institute for Research IIR in Dubai and the State Economic and Trade Commission in China as "conditionally approved" offshore approved training bodies. Then in 2003, the US Leadership further expanded the Standards Body’s presence by launching executive training programs in the Latin America, Middle-East, India, Asia, and Africa, under a new global accreditation structure. By this stage, the membership and affiliates had grown to more than 20,000 professionals.
By 2005 the Academy Membership had achieved meteoric growth to more than 150 countries, and membership now exceeded 35,000 recognized PhDs, MBAs and working professionals. Then, the legal counsel for the Academy formed trademark agreements and articulation agreements to recognize the ACBSP Accreditation Body and the AACSB Accreditation Body while also signing legal trademark coexistence agreements with CFA Institute AIMR, the CFP Board of Standards, and later the Arab League/Arab Academy. All of these special legal relationships have allowed the AAFM to maintain unmatched standards along with global brand recognition & protection.
With the Board of Standards now encompassing members in over 150 countries and with 100 % of our membership being global, the identity of the Academy had become a global brand. The founder, George Mentz, is quoted as saying, "We are the first in the world to approve the exams and courses of the top 800 accredited business schools in the world. By doing this, the AAFM ® Standards Board has transcended all other organizations by demanding the highest credentialing and "Level 2" standards in the world."
In December of 2005, at the global executive management meeting led by Dr. Mentz in the USA, the board pushed for a much greater focus and investment on membership standards, and in 2008/9 The Global Board shut down the Dubai Consulting Training Office and moved the Offshore Enforcement Headquarters to Singapore and expanded enforcement to offices in Saudi Arabia, EU Switzerland, Monterrey MX, Ghana, and Beijing. With this strategic move, the Arab League/Arab Academy, the Chinese Government, and other regulatory organizations were consulted as to enforcement regulatory power to recognize the AAFM ® certification programs. With a growing International focus and increasingly diverse markets the decision was made to expand the "Consulting Side" of the Academy with a more forward thinking identity – the AAFM ® Global Academy GAFM ™
AAFM ® ™ is focused not only on global best practices and standards implementation, but also on the distribution of knowledge capital to the key growth areas of the global economy. AAFM ® ™ also coordinates and accredits customized training for companies who wish to have their staff certified with an internationally recognized qualification, even for training conducted on an in-house basis.
What Qualifications does the AAFM ® ™ offer?
All qualifications are still issued directly from the AAFM ® International Board of Standards in the United States, but the AAFM ® has power to enforce over and accredit training providers and nominate and assess new members for certification. For working professionals there are essentially two choices for continuing to enhance their Resume & Curriculum-Vitae (CV). The first is secondary degree education through academic institutions where candidates earn University qualifications or Academic Awards and require the issuing authority to be registered with a department of education or similar. The second category are post-graduate professional credentials earned from a SRO Self Regulatory Organization or Boards of Standards where candidates meeting the requirements to earn Professional Qualifications. Charters, Board Certifications, Fellow/Diplomate Status, or Industry Awards. These professional designations are earned from a professional body and chartered entity that is legally established as a PDO professional development organization. The AAFM ® IBS Board is recognized globally as a Certifying Body and also works with and recognizes more non-profit educational institutions than any other certifying body in the world.
The AAFM ® International Board of Standards is the certification and accrediting council with a global network of over 1000 + approved non profit educational and assessment approved programs, established as the main legal body governing the standards and quality assurance of the certification board. This entity has the authority to issue qualifications, charters, designations, and awards to its members and each of the qualifications and curriculums are protected by trademarks and international copyrights disclosed and registered with governmental authorities. Our globally recognized designations, such as Chartered Wealth Manager ®, Master Financial Planner ®, Accredited Financial Analyst ®, CRA Chartered Risk Analyst, CIPM Certified International Project Manager ® and many others have are protected under international laws such as WIPO, GATT, Paris Convention Treaty, International Copyright Law,and International Trademark Law. CWM and other certifications are trademarked in international locations such as in EU Community, USA, Singapore, New York, California, USPTO, WIPO, Paris Convention Countries, China, Hong Kong, The 22 Arab League Nations, and in the United Arab Emirates.. The IP Intellectual Property and qualifications remain effectively 'owned' by the US Board of Standards itself and offered in conjunction with our over 1000+ non-profit partners. Because the Board is a taxable legal entity, it actually contributes to society and humanity by supporting the poor, regional and national governments and government employees. Since all certifications have always been issued directly under United States laws, the board has been in compliance and in cooperation with the US government since inception.
When a professional completes a recognized accredited program and exams from a government recognized institution, the board certifies this individual as having met the criteria for membership if the candidate has satisfied the other requirements of ethics, experience, and graduate education. As long as this individual stays as a member of the society in "Good Standing", he or she retains the right to use the appropriate trademark on his business card, CV or email signature to show his professional qualification attained. To learn more about the AAFM ® certification requirements and accredited standards, our credentials have been disclosed published in the NASD, FINRA, US Department of Labor, Investopedia, and Wall Street Globe for public transparency for many years.
The AAFM ® Board of Standards has had several professional designation over the last 15 years that have been listed and disclosed within international press, regulatory and governmental investor education websites. For a full list contact info@AAFM ® .eu.
A message from the Founder : Prof. Dr. George Mentz JD, MBA, CWM ®
To see a list of our certifications, click here.
