Cruising through Level 2 but can’t help but think doing accounting before CFA would have been a much better order of academic pursuit. Does anyone have any experience in moving from CFA to chartered accounting?
Why do you want Chartered Accounting when you already have CFA?
timfindlay Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Cruising through Level 2 but can’t help but think > doing accounting before CFA would have been a much > better order of academic pursuit. Does anyone have > any experience in moving from CFA to chartered > accounting? I think you have it all wrong, the accounting is totally different. CFA is more focus on pension accounting and investment related accounting topics. And plus. the accounting stuff isn’t even that hard and they definitely cut enough accounting stuff. Also note that accounting stops after level 2.
I went CA, then CFA. CA background was an enormous help for L1 and L2. I really admire folks who power through those exams with no accounting background. CFA then CA seems an odd order to me. Most CAs do CFA afterwards because they find audit / accounting incredibly boring and want to jump over to finance or asset mgt. I don’t know many asset mgrs keen on getting into accounting.
CFA to CA is like switching from Porsche Carrera to Toyata Corrolla… or from Ermenagildo Zegna to Old Navy… or from Rolex to Timex… or from Mont Blanc to Bic… etc… You get the picture. Yes, I am a charter holder.
AlphaSeeker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > CFA to CA is like switching from Porsche Carrera > to Toyata Corrolla… or from Ermenagildo Zegna to > Old Navy… or from Rolex to Timex… or from > Mont Blanc to Bic… etc… You get the > picture. > > Yes, I am a charter holder. That doesn’t seem to be the case based on average salaries. http://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Certification=Chartered_Financial_Analyst_(CFA)/Salary/by_City http://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Chartered_Accountant/Salary/by_city
Yeah, those are pretty poor analogies Alpha. The CA was just as difficult to obtain as CFA 1 and 2 have been (if not more difficult). The CA easily enabled me to work around the world and find a sell-side M&A job before even enrolling in CFA. The two are incomparable for content, etc. as they’re geared towards completely different career areas. However, in terms of reputation, perceived value and prestige, etc. they are very comparable. I would even argue that people outside of finance would view a CA more favourably as they may not know what a CFA designation is. Anyway, yes I am a biased CA (and L3 candidate) but in my opinion your analogies were way off base.
bhill020 - yeah right. The fact that you have an CA and still want a CFA shows the difference in value perception… People dream about Carreras when can only drive Corollas. Not the other way around. Attacks aside, CFAs adn CAs focus on different fields and it’s not fair to compare them to begin with.
AlphaSeeker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > People dream about Carreras when can only drive > Corollas. Not the other way around. Just like CFAs who dream of being accepted at Harvard or Wharton.
delero - I just happen to graduate from latter one. So thanks and I can’t argue with you one this.
I would only do a CA if I could not find a job in Finance. They’re are completely different but complement each other.
bhill020 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The two are incomparable for content, etc. as > they’re geared towards completely different career > areas. However, in terms of reputation, perceived > value and prestige, etc. they are very comparable. > I would even argue that people outside of finance > would view a CA more favourably as they may not > know what a CFA designation is. Interesting comments all round. Not really struggling with the accounting per se, but not coming from accounting background I was curious to know if it was complementary/doubling up etc. bhill brought something else up - that CA is better known to people outside of finance. I have certainly experienced a few blank looks when I speak to people about my study.
There’s a reason 60% of the ROB 1000 CFOs are CAs - most driving very nice cars I should add, since that appears to be the measure of success by one individual here. And there’s a reason 95% of analysts and PMs hold CFAs. People aspire to each for different reasons. Some attain both because they are very highly complementary designations.
The advantage is that the demand for accountants is likely to be substantially higher than for analysts/pms and is likely to be less cyclical. The downside is that accountancy can be excruciatingly boring.
wow…all I can say is that when I saw the title of this thread I thought “Have the markets really gotten that bad”. I am completly with Alpha Seeker on this one, swicthing froma CFA career to CA one is crazy!!!
delero Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > AlphaSeeker Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > CFA to CA is like switching from Porsche > Carrera > > to Toyata Corrolla… or from Ermenagildo Zegna > to > > Old Navy… or from Rolex to Timex… or from > > Mont Blanc to Bic… etc… You get the > > picture. > > > > Yes, I am a charter holder. > > > That doesn’t seem to be the case based on average > salaries. > > http://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Certification= > Chartered_Financial_Analyst_(CFA)/Salary/by_City > > http://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Chartered_ > Accountant/Salary/by_city These numbers are way out to lunch on both sides. I know a CA in Halifax who makes damn close to the median in Calgary on this site, the highest paying city. He has had his des for like 2 yrs maybe…Halifax is also one of the lowest paid cities in the nation, lower than any that are on this survey.
Interesting compensation survey, but skewed towards those with several years experience. http://www.ica.bc.ca/kb.php3?catid=992
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The advantage is that the demand for accountants > is likely to be substantially higher than for > analysts/pms and is likely to be less cyclical. > The downside is that accountancy can be > excruciatingly boring. Amen to this! CFA_Halifax, it’s not quite as crazy as you might think. The number of hedge funds in financial hubs like London have been halved already, banks are being nationalised or disappearing the world over and governments are under pressure to clamp down on financial innovations like derivatives, dodgy securitization etc. So one could assume that demand for CFA qualified people may wane in future. At the same time, as bchadwick mentioned, there is evidence of a massive shortage of accountants - or people with accounting qualifications - in developed countries with still-growing economies or even developing areas. Anyway, the aim of my original question was to see if anyone had any experience with further developing their knowledge accounting by pursuing that professional qualification. Coming from a non-accounting background it seems like CFA really only dips the toe in. It’s no secret that CFA charter holders will be competing with CAs for many of the same jobs, so it’s a worthy examination. But I’m not giving up my CFA studies. I see it as a great challenge and actually (weirdly) enjoy the work.