2. corporatefinanceinstitute.com
This document is designed to explain CFI’s (1) mission, vision and
values, (2) working environment, and (3) goal setting and feedback
process.
Our aim is to create an open and rewarding work environment for
everyone on CFI’s team.
Culture deck and handbook
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Our durable competitive advantage comes from having a
clear strategy and culture that support our mission of
“helping anyone become a world-class financial analyst
and have a meaningful career”.
Mission, vision and values
4. corporatefinanceinstitute.com
CFI’s mission, vision and strategy map
Vision
Everyone in the world has affordable access to the best
financial analyst training via CFI’s multi-dimensional education
platform
Mission
To help anyone become a world-class financial analyst and have a meaningful career
Certification
• A body of knowledge that
covers the most important
topics for analysts
• Appropriate testing,
assessment and projects
Courses
• 25-30 courses
• 2-6 hours per course
• 1-4 minutes per lesson
• Multi-modality learning
Resources
• Helpful articles and guides
on a wide range of topics
• Free templates, tutorials,
and resources
• Careers, skills, knowledge
Community
• World-class customer
service and support
• Social engagement,
conferences, community
events
• Hands-on
• Real-world analysis
• Practical applications
• Engaging & exciting
• High quality video and
audio
• Clear instruction
• Attention to detail
• Clear body of knowledge
and learning path
• 100% online
• Built in testing
• Fair pricing (affordable)
• Practical
• Fair testing
• Reputation
• High quality content
• Downloadable and
shareable
• Free
• Useful on the job or in
school
• Great examples to build on
• Respectful
• Helpful
• Positive
• Supportive
• Collaborative
• Inspirational
Attributes
Pillars
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Our six core values
These are the personal virtues we
uphold and give our team the
ability to achieve great things
Effective
Humble
Open
minded
Creative
Passionate
Reliable
7. • Immerse yourself
• Maintain a positive
mindset
• Discover your
personal strengths &
virtues
• Build a community
• Divergent thinking
• Wondering how
things can be better
• Being different from
the competition
• Generating original
ideas
• Big dreamers
• Manage
commitments
• Set and achieve goals
• Respect everyone’s
time
• Be punctual
• Be honest
• Do what you say
you’re going to do
• Get a lot done in a short
amount of time
• Require few resources
• Don’t get “stuck”
• Ask for help or
clarification
• Good communication
• Help others succeed
• Learn from your team
• Ask for feedback
• Admit your mistakes
• Accept setbacks
• No ego
• Get out of your
comfort zone
• Reframe negative
thoughts
• Let go of control
• Listen more
• Realize that there
may be a better way
corporatefinanceinstitute.com
Values explained
Effective Humble
Open
minded
Creative PassionateReliable
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Work environment
We want employees to feel EMPOWERED and MOTIVATED
To achieve this we offer:
1. Access to all company information for full context
2. A high degree of personal freedom and autonomy
3. Regular collaboration and opportunities for input
4. Ample vacation time (4 weeks per year)
5. Extended travel-working possibilities (up 1 month long)
6. Generous compensation with regular performance bonuses
and salary reviews
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Access to company information (context)
In order to make smart decisions people need to know the
full context
Most companies hide information from their employees
and we think this leads to bad decisions
All employees can access:
• Strategic planning sessions
• Team offsites
• Monthly operational and financial updates
• Budget model
• Annual financial statements
Note: Everyone with access signs a confidentially pledge
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Personal freedom and autonomy
People perform their best work when they have autonomy
over what they do
Companies often micromanage their employees which
leads to them being disconnected and dispassionate
How we manage work:
• Team members set their own goals for performance
measurement
• Trying new things is encouraged
• Learning from mistakes leads to growth
• Disagreements are settled by a consensus
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Collaboration and input
The most valuable asset we have is our employees, and
their ideas drive our business forward
Excluding employees form strategic planning processes is
a mistake
Collaboration and input happen via:
• Weekly full-team meetings
• A safe environment for sharing ideas and feedback
• Employee-wide strategic planning sessions
• Sharing experiences across job
functions/departments
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Ample vacation time
We would rather have a defined policy that leads to equal and
fair time off, rather than an unlimited policy that is unequally
or unfairly used
Time away is critical for delivering long term sustainable
results
CFI’s policy:
• 4 weeks off per year for all employees (analyst to
CEO)
• Using all vacation time is encouraged
• A plan must be submitted to outline how the team will
manage while the person is away
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Extended travel-working possibilities
We are a modern internet business and should take
advantage of that fact
CFI’s policy:
• After 1 year of service team members can apply to
work remotely in any country for up to 1 month at a
time
• A detailed plan must be submitted outlining how work
will continue at a normal pace and quality while
working remotely
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Generous compensation
Our business moves quickly and we believe compensation
should too
We offer regular bonuses and reviews
CFI’s policy:
• Bonuses are paid twice per year (August and
February)
• Salaries are reviewed at each goal setting and
feedback meeting (twice per year)
• CFI pays generous compensation, but believes money
(i.e. paying very top of the market) should not be the
primary motivation for working with this team
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Goal setting and feedback
We have a regular schedule for goal setting and feedback
This includes:
• Semi-annual goal setting by employees
• Semi-annual performance evaluations (including bonus and
salary adjustments)
• 3-month (mid-point) check-ins
• Monthly informal conversations
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Goal template
Our goal is continuous improvement and rewarding
career paths
Our feedback process:
• Self assessments are completed individually
• Team members meet with their manager to receive
feedback for the past 6 months
• New goals are established for the next 6 months
• Base salary and bonuses are reviewed
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A lasting virtuous cycle
By connecting our mission, vision, values and culture with our working
environment and feedback process we believe CFI will have an enduring
competitive advantage and create lasting value for our students and
employees.