soma80 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pittfin, > > I have the CPA/CFA combo and the market reception > has been nothing but positive. It won’t be an > advantage whatsoever in quant fund or something > like that, but could be to your advantage if > interviewing for an IB or PE role or with a fund > that has a heavy focus on fundamental analysis > (think long/short equity neutral). > > The key selling point is that your CPA background > gives you some sort of “leg up” in understanding > financial statements and will give you the tools > to dig one level deeper (think due diligence in > PE, fundamental analysis in ER). I’m not sure > where you are in your career but if you are an > off-cycle candidate for an IB analyst/new > associate role, you can sell your CPA background > from the standpoint that most IB type modeling is > very close to FSA and your knowledge of financial > statements will help you get up the curve quickly. I did thorough diligence before I decided to pursue both and I came to this conclusion as well.
I would like to pursue IB positions in the future, so these are all good points to consider. Thank you all for your input.
soma80 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pittfin, > > I have the CPA/CFA combo and the market reception > has been nothing but positive. It won’t be an > advantage whatsoever in quant fund or something > like that, but could be to your advantage if > interviewing for an IB or PE role or with a fund > that has a heavy focus on fundamental analysis > (think long/short equity neutral). > > The key selling point is that your CPA background > gives you some sort of “leg up” in understanding > financial statements and will give you the tools > to dig one level deeper (think due diligence in > PE, fundamental analysis in ER). I’m not sure > where you are in your career but if you are an > off-cycle candidate for an IB analyst/new > associate role, you can sell your CPA background > from the standpoint that most IB type modeling is > very close to FSA and your knowledge of financial > statements will help you get up the curve quickly. >I did thorough diligence before I decided to pursue both and I came to this conclusion as >well. >I would like to pursue IB positions in the future, so these are all good points to consider. >Thank you all for your input. I have considered completing CPA. However, I question whether the time and effort is worth the “leg up” referred to in this post with respect to gaining entry into high finance careers. Moreover, I question whether this “leg up” even exists. I suspect any advantage would depend heavily on how the person interviewing views CPA skill set in general. Your selling ability is not going to change that much. In my experience the high finance crowd is split about 50/50 viewing accountants as either rearview centric bean counting douchbags or value adding resources. If post grad and post CFA exam level 3 completion, I cannot successfully make the lateral move form Corporate Finance into Security Analysis or Banking/Consulting, I would settle for a position as a FP&A or Treasury analyst, complete CPA and subsequently compete for Treasurer/VP Finance positions.
Well I’m getting both: Passed 3 of 4 of the CPA and am taking level 2 of the CFA in June. Should have both licenses in 2 years. I live in NYC and work as an accounting manager.
Im doing a CGA/CPA and i hate it, hate it, hate it! for all the reasons mentioned above. Im only doing it as a fallback so I can have a decent career until the market picks up again. honestly since financial accounting is backwards looking and doesn’t involve any critical thinking/decision making its so painfully boring sometimes I just want to put a bullet in my head.
highparkcfa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > One more thing about the difference between the > two exams. The CPA questions tend to be more > memorization driven (know the rules) while the CFA > ones are more concept (know the how things work) > driven. this is exactly why i hate it. though im in canada and as others have mentioned its a good combo for corporate finance
I just posted a thread on this but i guess i should just put it in here as well Hey Guys- Im a Lvl 2 candidate who works as an accountant at a hedge fund. I plan on sitting for a part or two of the CPA exam after the June LVl 2 exam and I wanted to check with any CPA’s on here before I did. I do not have any public experience. I do daily, monthly and annual P/L including preparing FS in acccordance with GAAP and working with the auditors (PWC) on a regular basis. While I dont actually audit, I believe that a lot of my experience is similar to what would be done in public. Does anyone here know anyone who was able to become certified without public accounting experience? If so what was the process like? I appreciate any help on this.
Your best option is to check with the state board of accountancy in the state you want to be license. This is a really tricky issue and you need to understand it completly before you spend too much time studying for the CPA. Unless, you would like to work in public accounting for whatever period is required.
Yeah I definately dont want to go back and work public. I just figured it would be a good addition to the CFA and would highlight the accounting experience that I had. Contrary to what some ppl here believe, I have seen many ER and anallyst positions that are looking for an accounting background in addition to MBA or CFA. This helps a great deal in FS analysis and gives you a one up on others with strictly finance backgrounds. I guess I am going to have to do some more research on this before I sit for the exam though.
I did a few years of auditing and never got my lisence. It still comes up on interviews but hasn’t had much affect on where I wanted to go though. Perhaps the process would have moved along quicker had I gotten it. I’ve actually stopped doing the CFA this year as well. Too much time. If I ever went back to research perhaps I would restart. People respect these things, but they won’t overcome experience.
My view of having both a CPA license and CFA charter is like a surgeon training to also be a surgical tech? CPA’s prep and account for business transactions under GAAP. CFAs analyze after financial statements are filed and conduct their due diligence. What profession needs a person to both do accounting & then analyze what they accounted for? Sorry, Man but with a CFA and CPA, you might attract unknowing recruiters, however you will confuse a potential employer on what your core competencies are.
I used to be one of the guys that ripped on CPAs. It really depends on what you want to do. M&A guys seem to like CPAs over CFAs and I see quite a few top analysts with the CPA CFA combo, so I could see it being useful there as well.