About AFP

The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) in Bethesda, Maryland, serves more than 16,000 individual members in corporate treasury and financial management. AFP provides professional certification, continuing education, public policy research, development of industry standards, financial tools and publications, training and career development, and representation to legislators and regulators. The Committee on the Investment of Employee Benefit Assets (CIEBA), an AFP affiliate, represents more than 110 plan sponsors who collectively manage approximately $1 trillion in total plan assets.

AFP members are drawn from a wide range of industries, comprising corporate practitioners (two thirds) and banks and other financial services providers (one third). The typical corporate practitioner member has 16 years of experience in the profession and works for a company with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. These members hold positions as CFO, vice president of finance, treasurer, assistant treasurer, director, financial analyst, or cash manager.

AFP sponsors the Certified Treasury Professional™. The CTP and its predecessor certification, the Certified Cash Manager™ (CCM), are often cited as required or preferred credentials in employment listings of the nation’s most respected companies. More than 15,000 individuals have earned either the CTP or CCM, and nearly 2,000 individuals choose to sit for the CTP examination each year. Under a global licensing program, it is now possible to sit for the CTP exam in a growing number of countries outside the United States. The exam tests mastery of a core body of knowledge defined and updated by industry experts.

The AFP Annual Conference is the largest annual meeting of corporate treasury and finance professionals in the United States. The four-day conference attracts more than 6,000 attendees, who attend more than 150 concurrent sessions on current topics in treasury and finance and visit an exhibition hall featuring more than 200 leading providers of products and services to the treasury and finance profession. In addition, AFP sponsors the prestigious annual Retail Industry Forum and numerous other meetings and continuing education programs throughout the year.

The mission of AFP’s public policy program is to ensure that the profession’s point of view on critical finance issues is factored into public discussion. Recently, AFP has been instrumental in bringing concern about compliance with the anti-tying provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act to the attention of policymakers, has identified concerns with certifications required by the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, and has worked with the U.S. Congress to reform the discount rate used to measure pension plan liabilities and calculate required minimum funding.

As a bridge between corporate practitioners and service providers, AFP plays an important role in the promulgation of industry standards. The AFP Service Codes©, published since 1986, are the recognized industry standard for reporting and analyzing bank compensation. Hundreds of U.S. companies rely on the codes each day to monitor the type and volume of services provided by their commercial banking partners, and to ensure accuracy of assessed fees. AFP Service Codes are sold directly to end-users and licensed for inclusion in account analysis software applications. Banks may apply for accredited provider status under a Service Codes accreditation program managed by AFP.

AFP publishes numerous print and electronic workflow tools and information services for the benefit of the treasury and finance profession, including AFP Exchange, its award-winning magazine.

AFP is one of the co-publishers of www.chinaforum.com, an online community for financial professionals transacting business in China.