Compliance Officer Certification

The Compliance Officer Certification Examination covers the Regulations governing the businesses of brokerage firms issued by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, and Stock Exchanges as SROs.

Objective of the Examination

The certification examination is intended to enable the individuals designated to undertake or manage the regulatory compliance requirements for their respective firms have the necessary knowledge and skill levels to carry out their responsibilities of their job in a responsible manner.

These certifications are to lay down the minimum standards of knowledge and skills that are required to perform the identified functions those are essential to the job/position of the Compliance Officer.

Target Audience

This examination will be mandated for the individuals undertaking regulatory Compliance functions at a brokerage firm or supervising the people engaged in compliance activities.

Syllabus Structure

The unit is divided into elements. These are broken down into a series of learning objectives. Each learning objective begins with one of the following prefixes: know, understand, be able to calculate and also be able to apply. These words indicate the different levels of skill to be tested. Learning objectives prefixed:

• know require the candidate to recall information such as facts, rules and principles
• Understand require the candidate to demonstrate comprehension of an issue, fact, rule or principle.
• Be able to calculate require the candidate to be able to use formulae to perform calculations.
• Be able to apply require the candidate to be able to apply their knowledge to a given set of circumstances in order to present a clear and detailed explanation of a situation, rule or principle.

Examination Specification

Each examination paper is constructed from a specification that determines the weightings that will be given to each element. The specification is given below. 

It is important to note that the numbers quoted may vary slightly from examination to examination as there is some flexibility to ensure that each examination has a consistent level of difficulty. However, the number of questions tested in each element will not change by more than plus or minus 2. This comprises of 100 multiple choice questions.

Element No.	Elements	Questions
1	Fundamentals of Compliance	10
2	Compliance Roles and Responsibilities	10
3	Establishing and Monitoring Compliance	10
4	Risk Management and Compliance	10
5	Costs and Benefits of Compliance
6	Guidelines for Compliance	40
7	Internal Controls	10
8	The Internal Audit RoleGuidelines for Compliance
9	Professionalism	10
10	Corporate Governance Perspectives
	Total	100

Assessment Structure

• This will be a two-hour examination of 100 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).
• All questions will carry equal marks.
• There will be no negative marking.

Summary Syllabus

To download the summary syllabus of Compliance Officers’ Certification Exam, please click here.