Free CFA Institute CFA-Level-II Exam Questions

Bill Henry, CFA, is the CIO of IS University Endowment Fund located in the United States. The Fund's total assets are valued at $3.5 billion. The investment policy uses a total return approach to meet the return objective that includes a spending rate of 5%. In addition, the policy constraints established make tax-exempt instruments an inappropriate investment vehicle. The Fund's current asset mix includes an 18% allocation to private equity. The private equity allocation is shown in Exhibit 1.The private equity allocation is a mixture of funds with different vintages. For example, within the venture capital category, investments have been made in five different funds. Exhibit 2 provides detail about the Alpha Fund with a vintage year of 2006 and committed capital of SI95 million.The Alpha Fund is considering a new investment in Targus Company. Targus is a start-up biotech company seeking $9 million of venture capital financing. Targus's founders believe that, based on the company's new drug pipeline, a company value of $300 million is reasonable in five years. Management at Alpha Fund views Targus Company as a risky investment and is using a discount rate of 40%. After a thorough analysis of Targus's future prospects, Alpha Fund's management believes that there is a possible 15% risk of failure for the company.Using Exhibit 2 and assuming a 20?rried interest, the Alpha Fund's 2008 dollar amount of carried interest is closest to:

Charles Connor, CFA, is a portfolio manager at Apple Investments, LLC . Apple is a U .S .-based firm offering a wide spectrum of investment products and services. Connor manages the Biogene Fund, a domestic equity fund specializing in small capitalization growth stocks. The Biogene Fund generally takes significant positions in stocks, commonly owning 4.5-5% of the outstanding shares. The fund's prospectus limits positions to a maximum of 5% of the shares outstanding. The performance of the Biogene Fund has been superior over the last few years, but for the last two quarters the fund has underperformed its benchmark by a wide margin. Connor is determined to improve his performance numbers going forward.The Biogene prospectus allows Connor to use derivative instruments in his investment strategy. Connor frequently uses options to hedge his fund's exposure as he builds or liquidates positions in his portfolio since Biogene's large positions often take several weeks to acquire. For example, when he identifies a stock to buy, he often buys call options to gain exposure to the stock. As he buys the stock, he sells off the options or allows them to expire. Connor has noticed that the increased volume in the call options often drives the stock price higher for a few days. He has seen a similar negative effect on stock prices when he buys large amounts of put options.The end of the quarter is just a few days away, and Connor is considering three transactions:Transaction A: Buying Put Options on Stock AThe Biogene Fund owns 4,9% of the outstanding stock of Company A, but Connor believes the stock is fully valued and plans to sell the entire position. He anticipates that it will take approximately 45 trading days to liquidate the entire Biogene position in Stock AThe Biogene Fund owns 5% of the outstanding stock of Company B . Connor believes there is significant appreciation potential for Stock B, but the stock price has dropped in recent weeks. Connor is hoping that by taking an option position, there will be a carryover effect on ihe stock price before quarter end.Transaction C: Selling the Biogene Fund's Entire Position in .Stock CConnor believes that Stock C is still attractive, but he is selling the stock with the idea that he will repurchase the position next month. The motivation for the transaction is to capture a capital loss that will reduce the Biogene Fund's tax expense for the year.Apple has an investment banking department that is active in initial public offerings (IPOs). George Arnold, CFA, is the senior manager of the IPO department. Arnold approached Connor about Stock D, a new IPO being offered by Apple. Stock D will open trading in two days. Apple had offered the IPO to all of its clients, but approximately 20% of the deal remained unsold. Having read the prospectus, Connor thinks Stock D would be a good fit for his fund, and he expects Stock D to improve his performance in both the short and long term. Connor is not aware of any information related to Stock D beyond that provided in the prospectus. Connor asked to purchase 5% of the IPO, but Arnold limited Biogene's share to 2%, explaining:'With Biogene's reputation, any participation will make the unsold shares highly marketable. Further, we may need Biogene to acquire more Stock D shares at a later date if the price does not hold up.'Connor is disappointed in being limited to 2% of the offering and suggests to Arnold in an e-mail that, given the 2% limitation, Biogene will not participate in the IPO . Arnold responded a few hours later with the following message:'I have just spoken with Ms. D, the CFO of Stock D . Although it is too late to alter the prospectus, management believes they will receive a large contract from a foreign government that will boost next year's sales by 20% or more. I urge you to accept the 2%---you won't be sorry!'After reviewing Arnold's e-mail, Connor agrees to the 2% offer.Based upon Connor's acceptance of the 2% limitation after receiving the e-mail from Arnold:

Mary Carr is 62 years old, in good health, and will retire in four years from her position as the CEO and chairman of the board of a large professional services firm, Appleton Professional Services, which is located in the midwestern United States. Carr has approached Tim Houlis, her financial planner, for help in preparing an investment policy statement and accompanying asset allocation. Jack Timmons is Houlis' assistant.In a lunch meeting with Houlis and Timmons, Carr reveals that she is thinking of moving this year to be closer to Appleton's largest client. She is concerned about developing an investment plan now given that she will no longer have contact with Houlis if she does move. Houlis reassures her that this is not a problem. He states that a properly constructed investment policy statement can be readily implemented by her new financial advisor. Timmons states that the investment policy statement is a long-term document that should be changed only if the outlook for equities versus bonds and other assets changes.Carr's parents were successful business people who owned a series of small firms. Their success, however, did not come without challenges. Twice they had to liquidate businesses in which they were the primary shareholders. As a child, Carr became accustomed to the uncertainties of the entrepreneurial world. When she graduated from college, her parents provided her with the funds to purchase Appleton Professional Services. Appleton was a small firm at that point, but Can-has grown it into one of the larger firms in its industry, even though the professional services industry is cyclical and is susceptible to economic recessions. Appleton went public eight years ago and Carr retained a majority shareholder position when it did. Over time she has sold some of the stock but still has a controlling position in the firm.Despite the business difficulties Carr's parents experienced, they were able to amass a sizeable fortune in their later years. Including her inheritance and holdings in Appleton stock, Carr has a portfolio with a current value of $6,000,000, most of which is invested in Appleton and other domestic and international equities. Carr has instructed Houlis and Timmons to grow her portfolio over time, focusing on capital appreciation and achieving long-term return goals. She would like to leave her children a sizeable inheritance.Carr is single with two children. Her oldest child, Mark, is 25 years old and financially independent. Her youngest son, John, is a junior in college at a prestigious liberal arts college in New England. The tuition payment for his last year of college of approximately $40,000 is due at the end of this year. She has no mortgage on her house. Carr is an avid bird watcher and gifts $50,000 a year to a local environmental group. She is concerned with the destruction of bird habitat, so she does not want to invest in highly-polluting industries or firms that are involved in real estate development.When she retires, Carr will receive a lump-sum, after-tax distribution of approximately $500,000 from her firm. She will also begin collecting an annual pension payment equal to her current salary. The pension payment is indexed to inflation. She will be covered under Appleton's health insurance plan in retirement. Carr spends $ 170,000 a year on vacations and living expenses, which is about equal to her current salary at Appleton.Houlis estimates that Carr is taxed at an effective marginal rate of 30% on capital gains and income. Houlis estimates an inflation rate of 3% for the rest of Carr's life expectancy, which he projects at 20 years or more, given her good health.With regard to generating adequate liquidity for Carr's portfolio, Timmons states that she need not invest entirely in income-generating assets. Instead, Carr can generate income from stock dividends, bond coupons, and the sale of assets. By being willing to generate income through the sale of assets, Carr would be able to broaden the types of securities available to her for investment. Timmons states that the problem with most assets that produce income (e.g., dividend paying stocks) is that their expected return is usually lower. He states that the advantage of his approach is that Carr could pursue higher return assets, such as small company stocks.Are Houlis and Timmons' statements concerning the investment policy statement made at the lunch meeting correct?

Millennium Investments (MI), an investment advisory firm, relies on mean-variance analysis to advise its clients. Mi's advisors make asset allocation recommendations by selecting the mix of assets along the capital allocation line that is most appropriate for each client.One of MPs clients, Edward Alverson, 60 years of age, requests an analysis of four risky mutual funds (Fund W, Fund X, Fund Y, and Fund Z). After examining the four funds, MI finds that all four mutual funds are equally weighted portfolios, and that all of the funds, except Fund Z, are mean-variance efficient. MI also finds that the correlations between all pairs of the mutual funds are less than one.MI calculates the average variance of returns across all assets within each mutual fund, the average covariance of returns across all pairs of assets within each mutual fund, and each mutual fund's total variance of returns. The results of Mi's calculations are reported in Exhibit 1.During his meeting with the MT advisors, Alverson explains that he will retire soon, and, consequently, is highly risk-averse. Alverson agrees with Mi's reliance on mean-variance analysis and makes the following statements:Statement 1: All portfolios lying on the minimum variance frontier are desirable portfolios.Statement 2: Because I am highly risk-averse, I expect that my investment portfolio on the capital allocation line will have risk and return equal to that of the global minimum variance portfolio.MI operates under the assumption that all investors agree on the forecasts of asset expected returns, variances, and correlations. Based on these assumptions, MI created the Millennium Investments 5000 Fund (MI-5000), which is a market value-weighted portfolio of all assets in the market. MI derives the forecasts for the MI-5000 Fund and for a fund comprising short-term government securities shown in Exhibit 2.Given the data in Exhibit 2 and Mi's determination that Alverson's investment portfolio should have a standard deviation equal to 12%, what is the highest possible expected return for Alverson, and what percentage should Alverson invest in the MI-5000 fund?Highest expected Percentage investedReturn in MI-5000

Lena Pilchard, research associate for Eiffel Investments, is attempting to measure the value added to the Eiffel Investments portfolio from the use of 1-year earnings growth forecasts developed by professional analysts.Pilchard's supervisor, Edna Wilms, recommends a portfolio allocation strategy that overweights neglected firms. Wilms cites studies of the 'neglected firm effect,' in which companies followed by a small number of professional analysts are associated with higher returns than firms followed by a larger number of analysts. Wilms considers a company covered by three or fewer analysts to be 'neglected.'Pilchard also is aware of research indicating that, on average, stock returns for small firms have been higher than those earned by large firms. Pilchard develops a model to predict stock returns based on analyst coverage, firm size, and analyst growth forecasts. She runs the following cross-sectional regression using data for the 30 stocks included in the Eiffel Investments portfolio:Ri = b0 + b,COVERAGEi + b2 LN(SIZEi) + b3(FORECASTi) + eiwhere:Ri = the rate of return on stock iCOVERAGEi = one if there are three or fewer analysts covering stocki, and equals zero otherwiseLN(SIZEi) = the natural logarithm of the market capitalization(stock price times shares outstanding) for stock i,units in millionsFORECASTi = the 1-year consensus earnings growth rate forecast for stock iPilchard derives the following results from her cross-sectional regression:The standard error of estimate in Pilchard's regression equals 1.96 and the regression sum of squares equals 400.Wilrus provides Pilchard with the following values for analyst coverage, firm size, and earnings growth forecast for Eggmann Enterprises, a company that Eiffel Investments is evaluating.Pilchard derives the ANOVA table for her regression. In her ANOVA table, the degrees of freedom for the regression sum of squares and total sum of squares should equal: