1. Module 1 — Question Set Item 1 Defines Money Market Securities as Maturities of Less Than One Year
Curriculum location: Features of Fixed-Income Securities, Question Set item 1, p. 13.
In the description:
"maturities of less than one year"
In the solution:
"maturities of less than one year"
The description and solution repeat the same boundary. On p. 8, the curriculum correctly classifies instruments by original maturity at issuance and includes instruments with exactly one year to maturity. The strict wording on p. 13 therefore contradicts the controlling definition rather than merely abbreviating it.
Correct reading: Money market securities have an original maturity of one year or less. In both the description and solution, “less than one year” should read “one year or less.”
Without this correction, a candidate can misclassify an instrument issued with exactly one year to maturity.
2. Module 2 — Eurobonds, Domestic Bonds, and Foreign Bonds Are All Called Registered Bonds
Curriculum location: Legal, Regulatory, and Tax Considerations, Eurobond legal-form discussion, p. 45.
Immediately before the disputed sentence, the curriculum says:
"In the past, Eurobonds typically were bearer bonds, meaning that the trustee did not keep records of who owned the bonds; only the clearing system knew who the bond owners were."
It then states:
"Eurobonds, domestic bonds, and foreign bonds are now registered bonds for which ownership is recorded by either name or serial number."
The preceding sentence itself distinguishes a clearing system's ownership records from a trustee-maintained register. The next sentence then treats recordkeeping as if it made all three bond families legally registered. That categorical claim is false at least for Eurobonds: bearer-form Eurobonds can still have electronic beneficial-owner records. Clearstream also supports bearer and registered global-note structures and, for certain issues, a dematerialised structure.
Correct reading: Eurobonds are not uniformly registered. They may use bearer or registered global-note forms, and certain issues may use a dematerialised form. Electronic beneficial-owner records do not by themselves make a bearer instrument registered.
This distinction is exam-relevant: candidates should classify a Eurobond from its issuance-market and jurisdictional features, separately from bearer-versus-registered form.
3. Module 3 — Practice Problem 1 Uses Two Incorrect Instrument–Investor Pairings
Curriculum location: Fixed-Income Segments, Issuers, and Investors, Practice Problem 1 and its solution, pp. 76–77.
Status: Officially corrected by CFA Institute.
"B. II"
"C. I"
The printed item keys unsecured corporate bonds to hedge funds and secured corporate bonds to insurance companies. CFA Institute's official correction instead pairs unsecured corporate bonds with insurance companies and uses distressed debt—not secured corporate bonds—for the hedge-fund pairing. This also agrees with the module's own investor map, which places insurance companies in long-term investment grade and hedge funds in high yield and distressed debt.
Correct reading: Use the officially corrected pairing set: A–III, commercial paper–money market funds; B–I, unsecured corporate bonds–insurance companies; and C–II, distressed debt–hedge funds.
Following the printed item would cause a candidate to memorize both an incorrect investor match and an incorrect instrument for the hedge-fund segment.
4. Module 4 — The ABCP Issuer Is Said Not to Record Its Own Liability
Curriculum location: Short-Term Funding Alternatives, ABCP body discussion, p. 86.
"This financing is not recorded on the balance sheet of the issuer, and such off-balance-sheet financing benefits both the bank (as the SPE sponsor and backup credit provider) and investors."
Curriculum location: Short-Term Funding Alternatives, ABCP Question Set option A, p. 88.
"A. This financing is not recorded on the balance sheet of the issuer."
Curriculum location: Short-Term Funding Alternatives, ABCP Question Set solution, p. 88.
"A is correct. This financing is not recorded on the balance sheet of the issuer."
The curriculum identifies the special purpose entity (SPE) as the ABCP issuer, so the note is a liability of that SPE. Option A is therefore false. Option B reverses the issuer and liquidity-provider roles, and option C incorrectly calls the note illiquid, leaving the printed question with no valid answer. Sponsor-level accounting does not cure the issuer error because consolidation and asset-transfer accounting concern different reporting questions.
Correct reading: ABCP is a liability of the issuing SPE. Whether the conduit’s assets and liabilities appear in the sponsor’s consolidated statements depends on consolidation; whether transferred assets leave the originator’s balance sheet depends on transfer accounting.
Keeping those roles separate prevents candidates from accepting a false keyed answer or reversing issuer and sponsor accounting.
5. Module 4 — Revolver Question 2 Conflicts with the Module's Commitment-Fee Description
Curriculum location: Short-Term Funding Alternatives, revolver Question Set option C, p. 87.
"C. Revolvers usually involve upfront costs in the form of a commitment fee on either the full or the unused amount of the line for the commitment period."
Curriculum location: Short-Term Funding Alternatives, revolver Question Set solution, p. 87.
"C is incorrect because committed lines of credit, not revolvers, usually involve upfront costs in the form of a commitment fee on either the full or the unused amount of the line for the commitment period."
Earlier on p. 83, the curriculum says revolvers have features similar to regular lines with respect to commitment fees. B is separately supported because revolvers are multiyear commitments whose lenders typically seek covenants. The solution therefore conflicts with the module's earlier description, making the item ambiguous as written.
Correct reading: Revolvers may carry commitment fees. As written, the solution conflicts with p. 83 and does not establish a unique answer; option C or the explanation must be revised before the item can function as a single-answer question.
Candidates should not use commitment fees to distinguish regular committed lines from revolvers, and should recognize that the printed item cannot support one unique key as written.
6. Module 4 — The Variation-Margin Sentence Names the Seller as Collateral Recipient
Curriculum location: Repurchase Agreements, variation-margin discussion, p. 91.
"For example, a security price decline requires a cash borrower (security seller) to provide additional collateral to the seller."
That direction is impossible as written. A decline in collateral value leaves the security buyer, who is the cash lender, undersecured. The buyer therefore calls variation margin from the seller; when the call is satisfied with additional collateral, the seller delivers it to the buyer.
Correct reading: When collateral value declines, the security buyer (cash lender) calls variation margin from the security seller (cash borrower), and any additional collateral is delivered to the buyer.
The recipient determines which party receives protection, so the one-word counterparty error reverses the economics of the margin call.
7. Module 4 — The Bank's Residual Funding Is Equated with a Initial Margin
Curriculum location: Repurchase Agreements, repo funding-requirement sentence, p. 91.
"The repo transaction reduces the bank’s funding requirement for the security to a fraction (equal to the initial margin) of the bond’s purchase price."
The correct worked example on p. 90 defines initial margin as security value divided by repo purchase price. If , the bank’s own-funding fraction of security value is , which is the haircut. At , , not .
Correct reading: In this setup, the repo reduces the bank’s own-funding requirement to the haircut fraction of security value. A 102% initial margin corresponds to an own-funding fraction of approximately 1.96%.
Keeping the two ratios distinct prevents candidates from turning a small residual funding need into an impossible amount greater than the security’s full value.
8. Module 5 — Emerging- and Frontier-Market Sovereign External Debt Is Limited to Supranational and Foreign-Currency Claims
Curriculum location: Sovereign Debt, external-debt composition paragraph, p. 111.
"External debt of emerging and frontier market sovereign issuers comprises debt from supranational financial organizations and debt issuance denominated in a foreign currency held by foreign private investors."
The curriculum presents these two categories as the complete composition of emerging- and frontier-market sovereign external debt. That conflicts with its own preceding definition based on debt owed to foreign creditors and with the later Question Set explanation that external debt may be denominated in domestic currency. The IMF definition likewise classifies external debt by a resident debtor's liability to a nonresident, not by the currency of denomination.
Correct reading: Sovereign external debt is debt owed to nonresident creditors. It may be denominated in domestic or foreign currency and may be owed to supranational institutions or private foreign creditors.
The added currency restriction wrongly excludes domestic-currency sovereign claims held by nonresidents and can make a candidate confuse external-debt exposure with currency exposure.
9. Module 5 — Ginnie Mae Is Said to Securitize and Guarantee Mortgage Loans
Curriculum location: Non-Sovereign, Quasi-Government, and Supranational Agency Debt, Government Agencies, p. 121.
"The Government National Mortgage Association (known as Ginnie Mae, not to be confused with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) securitizes and guarantees certain mortgage loans in the United States to subsidize and promote home ownership."
This assigns Ginnie Mae both the securitizer role and a guarantee of the underlying loans. Under Ginnie Mae's program structure, Ginnie Mae-approved issuers pool eligible loans and issue the mortgage-backed securities. The relevant federal programs insure or guarantee the eligible loans, while Ginnie Mae guarantees timely principal and interest on qualifying securities. The nearby text does not supply these institutional distinctions.
Correct reading: Approved issuers pool eligible federally insured or guaranteed mortgage loans and issue the mortgage-backed securities. Ginnie Mae guarantees timely principal and interest on qualifying securities rather than directly securitizing or guaranteeing the underlying loans.
Keeping the issuer, loan insurer, and security guarantor separate is necessary to locate the relevant credit support and cash-flow obligations.
10. Module 5 — Ginnie Mae Is Said to Issue Callable Agency Debt to Finance Its Operations
Curriculum location: Non-Sovereign, Quasi-Government, and Supranational Agency Debt, Government Agencies, p. 121.
"Ginnie Mae issues callable agency debt securities to finance its operations with maturities matching the expected cash flows of its guaranteed mortgages."
The following repayment sentence says:
"The primary source of repayment for the agency’s debt are mortgage-based guaranty fees and other cash flows with its sovereign government backing as a secondary source of repayment."
The quoted label cannot reasonably describe a Ginnie Mae liability. Official program guidance states that Ginnie Mae does not issue the securities it guarantees and operates with no debt. Ginnie Mae-approved issuers or, for relevant multiclass structures, issuing trusts issue the guaranteed securities. Mortgage borrower prepayment can accelerate principal but is not an issuer call, and guaranty fees are program revenue rather than debt service on a Ginnie Mae obligation.
Correct reading: Ginnie Mae-approved issuers or, for relevant multiclass structures, issuing trusts issue the guaranteed mortgage-backed securities. Borrower prepayment is distinct from an issuer call. Ginnie Mae administers the guaranty program and operates with no debt of the kind described.
A candidate who treats Ginnie Mae as the obligor can assign the wrong repayment source, balance-sheet exposure, and call or prepayment mechanism to the security.
11. Module 5 — AAHK Is Said to Have a Sovereign Guarantor
Curriculum location: Non-Sovereign, Quasi-Government, and Supranational Agency Debt, Government Agencies, p. 121.
"The primary source of repayment is cash flows from airport operations, while its sovereign government backing is a secondary source of repayment."
Later on the same page, the curriculum says:
"each of these sovereign agencies is typically able to borrow at a yield-to-maturity near that of their sovereign guarantor"
The curriculum calls the HKSAR Government AAHK's sovereign guarantor. That is a legal credit-support claim, not harmless shorthand for government ownership. AAHK's 2021 offering memorandum states that the notes are solely AAHK's obligations and are not guaranteed by the Government. Government ownership may affect credit perception, but it does not create a contractual guaranty.
Correct reading: AAHK is the obligor, and its airport and operating cash flows support its debt. HKSAR Government ownership may influence perceived implicit support, but the Government is not a contractual guarantor of the notes.
A candidate who equates ownership with a legal guarantee can understate standalone credit risk and misidentify the obligor and repayment sources.
Complete Instruments, Markets, and Issuance Errata Index
Scope: Modules 1–5, pp. 3–126 (printed page numbers).
Reviewed modules. Module 1, pp. 3–22, excluding the Introduction self-assessment on pp. 4–5; Module 2, pp. 23–54; Module 3, pp. 55–77; Module 4, pp. 79–106; and Module 5, pp. 107–126.
What this review covers. Errors in the printed curriculum that would change a candidate's answer or understanding: wrong numbers, wrong formulas, reversed logic, and statements that contradict the volume's own data. It does not list spelling mistakes, equation-numbering slips, or wording that is loose but defensible.
The table lists every high-value, objectively confirmed curriculum error admitted for these modules. Repeated instances of the same defect are consolidated into one row. Extraction or import-fidelity problems, disputed readings, and low-value editorial issues are outside the public errata scope.
Scroll horizontally to see every column.
References
- Federal Reserve — Reform Glossary: Money Markets
- HMRC — Eurobonds
- ICMA — New Global Note Structure
- Clearstream — International Issuance
- Clearstream — Dematerialised Eurobonds
- European Central Bank — Guideline on collateral eligibility
- CFA Institute — Fixed-Income Issuance and Trading
- CFA Institute — 2027 CFA Program Level I Errata Notice
- Federal Reserve: Risk Retention report on ABCP conduits and SPE issuers
- Federal Reserve: Credit Line Use and Availability in the Financial Crisis
- ICMA: How repo parties maintain sufficient collateral
- ICMA: What is a haircut?
- IMF External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users
- Ginnie Mae, Overview of Key Program Guidelines Transcript
- Airport Authority Hong Kong 2021 Offering Memorandum
This article is an independent candidate-focused analysis of substantive errors identified in our review of the CFA Level I 2027 Curriculum, Volume 6 Fixed Income, Modules 1–5. It is not an official CFA Institute errata notice, and inclusion here must not be read as CFA Institute confirmation, endorsement, or approval.