Behavioral Finance: Introduction and Insights (Video) (Course Id 2000)

• Who is this course for?
  This 5‑credit NASBA QAS video + text preview course is designed for CPAs, finance professionals, and advisors who want to understand how behavioral finance shapes decision-making in both personal and business contexts.

• What is this course about or what problem does it solve?
  It introduces behavioral finance, exploring how psychological biases and cognitive heuristics—such as confirmation bias, overconfidence, loss aversion, herding, anchoring, and recency—impact financial decisions and create inefficiencies in markets and planning.

• How can the knowledge from this course be used?
  Learners will identify common biases in themselves and their clients, work to reduce thinking errors, and apply strategies for better decision‑making in both personal finance and organizational financial management contexts.

• Why is this course important to a CPA, Accountant, or IRS Enrolled Agent?
  Understanding behavioral finance supports finance professionals in advising clients more effectively—especially during emotional market swings or decision paralysis—and helps reduce risk from biased financial forecasting or misreported results.

• When is this course relevant or timely?
  Released in 2022 and revised in April 2024, the content remains current as behavioral finance continues to gain recognition in advisory services, financial planning, and firm-client interactions. Modern practitioners increasingly encounter decisions driven by human bias.

• How is a course like this consumed or used?
  Delivered as a NASBA‑approved video + text self‑study preview course, the program includes review questions and a final exam. Learners must pass with 70% within one year of enrollment to earn 5 CPE credits through the provider’s platform.

Behavioral finance has shown that all people, even financial experts, are prone to making irrational and suboptimal financial decisions. It also explores how people have wants that extend far beyond traditional finances' assumption of wanting the highest return at the lowest risk. We are not perfectly rational economic robots; we are easily driven by many wants and emotions while working with limited time, knowledge, and energy.

This course explores many of the thinking errors and biases exhibited by all people, even the experts. You'll be able to identify the nonfinancial wants that drive the financial decisions of your clients. We'll then identify ways to improve financial decision-making in the contexts of personal financial planning and business financial management.

You'll learn from an author that teaches these concepts to MBA students at a university as well as to business advisors and staff. He is a CPA that's been a CFO of multiple companies. Rob also has a master's degree in personal financial planning and a graduate certificate in financial therapy. He served as program manager for a group of investment advisors.

This course will lead you from foundational finance concepts to practical applications in both personal finance and business finance.

Video - NASBA QAS - Text - NASBA Registry - 2000

Course Learning Objectives

• Recognize common behavioral finance biases and heuristics
• Identify ways to reduce thinking errors caused by biases and heuristics
• Recall differences between traditional finance and behavioral finance
• Identify negative financial impacts of finance biases and heuristics

Chapter 1 - Behavioral Finance: Introduction and Insights

Chapter 1 Review Questions

Glossary-Index