Just saw that my 3 year experience as a Corporate Financial Analyst was rejected, which is weird seeing that Financial Analyst is in the charter designation! I wrote: General job function was gathering, compiling, and analyzing data from the general ledger, accounts payable, and financial reporting systems to reconcile and report on finances. Analyze financial statements to interpret activity, liquidity, solvency, profitability, and valuation ratios and make go-no go recommendations on projects. Specific job duties: Calculate net present value and payback period of financial projects. Perform budget and cost analysis to analyze and forecast returns and constraints. Account for assets using principles of revenue recognition an accrual accounting. Perform audits of financial assets to determine compliance with GAAP standards and other regulations. Researching accounting variances and making adjustments where possible and formulating recommendations based on financial trends to present to management. As a Reporting Analyst, my recommendations on return measures and financial liquidity were used in formulating and maintaining cash management positions and using other investable assets for profitability. Anyway, status says more detail needed. Anyone have their experience as a financial analyst approved? Mind sharing what you wrote or which LOS you tied it to? Thanks.
sounds way too much like an accountant, its gonna get dinged. Emphasize the ratios and analysis of the financials, leave off the word general ledger
This statement seems more a “gathering” function rather than an analysis function “General job function was gathering, compiling, and analyzing data from the general ledger, accounts payable, and financial reporting systems to reconcile and report on finances.” Leave that off. The next one does seem ok.
Well…financial analysts are accountants (just with a fancier name!). I do the same thing, and they accepted my experience on the 3rd try (accepted by CFAI yesterday!). Be sure to tie in the relevant LOS’s to each job description blurb. While they accepted my audit experience right off the bat, they didn’t like those audit type responsibilities in the financial reporting role. They absolutely hated my use of the word “review” in my descriptions (although the role is very similar to what they would accept for an auditor). You have to tie everything out to the investment process so instead of saying that you perform audits of assets…you should say something along the lines of “Performed discounted cash flow modeling (or whatever CFA type term is applicable to your job) of investments as a part of preparing financial statements for investors…” The CFAI doesn’t seem to care about terms such as GAAP or STAT. You probably want to get rid of the blurbs about variance analysis and revenue recognition (such terms just serve to confuse the reviewer and distract them from the investment process work you do). Just tie it all up in you “preparing financial statements for investors.” Beef up the part where you analyze projects. Make sure you mention stuff like DCF (or other applicable CFA terms) and use terms such as “potential investments” or just “investments” instead of referring to them as “financial projects.” I assume the guys doing this receive a lot of these applications each day and probably aren’t CFA charterholders or anybody with any type of financial experience. They are probably just using a checklist that somebody else has provided to them. As such, don’t get discouraged and just keep submitting until they approve it. You don’t have to put your actual resume (one you would send to recruiters/companies) in the application. Make sure that you give them a CFA specific resume…so you might cut out and/or add some things you wouldn’t normally have on your resume. It may also be good to put down how much time (%) you spend on each job description item (though you can do that after they keep rejecting you…make them do the work).
FINforLIL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well…financial analysts are accountants (just > with a fancier name!). > False
how does this work experience get accepted is beyond me, just dilutes the charter more and more.
DTM86 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > FINforLIL Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Well…financial analysts are accountants > (just > > with a fancier name!). > > > > > False You mad!?
You may want to take out the terms gathering, compiling, reconcile and systems. Also avoid using the keyword process, those words make it sound like back office operations work rather than work that directly influences the investment process.
NYCGorilla Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > how does this work experience get accepted is > beyond me, just dilutes the charter more and more. I could not agree more…The CFAI designation is based on investments not corp finance. What a joke.
Membership Status: Regular Responsibilities or Specific Duties: Applicant handles all facets of investment planning, client risk assessment, establishing asset allocation strategies, implementation through an independent custodian, portfolio rebalancing, performance review, client meetings, investment research. Applicant is currently an approved advisor of XYZ. Applicant is also a CPA. In his capacity as such, applicant prepares, analyzes and issues financial statements for corporate and other business entities, assists clients with financial planning decisions, prepares cash flow projections, engages in personal and corporate tax planning, and reviews and recommends qualified retirement plans. Services provided as both an investment advisor and as a CPA provide a coordinated, cohesive wealth management strategy for the firm’s clients.
my corporate financial analyst experience was approved, but i do very little accounting work - just capital investment analysis and strategy stuff this is all i submitted: *Forecast the future cash flows of proposed capital expenditures and analyze potential profitability using calculations such as NPV and IRR *Make recommendations on beneficial uses of capital after exploring strategic projects and issues
Robert A Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Membership Status: Regular > > Responsibilities or Specific Duties: > > Applicant handles all facets of investment > planning, client risk assessment, establishing > asset allocation strategies, implementation > through an independent custodian, portfolio > rebalancing, performance review, client meetings, > investment research. Applicant is currently an > approved advisor of XYZ. > > Applicant is also a CPA. In his capacity as such, > applicant prepares, analyzes and issues financial > statements for corporate and other business > entities, assists clients with financial planning > decisions, prepares cash flow projections, engages > in personal and corporate tax planning, and > reviews and recommends qualified retirement > plans. > > Services provided as both an investment advisor > and as a CPA provide a coordinated, cohesive > wealth management strategy for the firm’s clients. thanks for this. definitely going to reference back to this as your description is pretty much exactly what i do on a daily basis.
Looks like perfect work experience for a CPA
There is a massive difference between a ‘corporate financial analyst’ or ‘financial analyst’ and a ‘corporate finance analyst’. The former is an accounting role and the latter is an investment banking role. My understanding is that corporate financial analysts are essentially management accountants producing information that is used ‘intra’ business, whereas a corporate finance analyst advises on deals (M&A etc).