Ok i have read praises for CFA from North America and I have seen growing popularity of CFA in GCC countries and South-East Asia…Also, I have come across comments that in European countries it is not as popular… However, I am not clear about the prospects of CFA in Britain…as far as i have read job posts from UK, they prefer ACCA/ACA even for investment professions… can someone please shed light on that… PS - just want to know that for knowledge…
I wouldn’t know for sure but maybe you can get some useful information out of the Securities & Investment Institute? It appears their web page is http://www.sii.org.uk/.
I have been job hunting like crazy since I am transferring to London on Sep 17, and I can say that I have almost never seen CFA mentioned. Nowhere near as much as I saw it when searching for work in US/Canada
For investment management, it is becoming de rigeur. At least 80% of the PMs aged <35 have CFA after their name, and many investment firms put their staff through it as part of their training. A chartered accountant will always do well though. Edit: Oh, and the SII run a competing diploma qualification, which is very good.
I am an ACCA and have a BSc degree as well. Big banks/invesment companies these days perceive CFAs better than CAs, however they don’t mention about it in the adverts as it isn’t a UK qualification. I dont think chartered accountants have good or you can say deep knowledge and analytical skills in the investment and securities markets. They don’t have to go through an intensive study program related to investment,securties, derivatives, portfolio management etc as CFA requires. In the longer term, CFA could be a better qualification. I am planning to appear for my Level 1 exams next year. All the best Sumo
Accountants and analysts are opposite… Accountant’s role is to make up a pretty story to hide what’s really going on in the company. Analyst’s role is to get behind the pretty story concocted by the accountants to figure out wha’t really going in the company. Very different skill…Accountants can be useful in analysing companies but they’ve gotta be extensively re-trained, imho can’t help on the british market 'tho - shouldn’t you guys be practicing shot-put or synchronized diving or something for London 2012??
null&nuller Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > can’t help on the british market 'tho - shouldn’t > you guys be practicing shot-put or synchronized > diving or something for London 2012?? No way, not me… I’m not from over there. Freakshow, did you find a job?
sumo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am an ACCA and have a BSc degree as well. > > Big banks/invesment companies these days perceive > CFAs better than CAs, however they don’t mention > about it in the adverts as it isn’t a UK > qualification. > > I dont think chartered accountants have good or > you can say deep knowledge and analytical skills > in the investment and securities markets. They > don’t have to go through an intensive study > program related to investment,securties, > derivatives, portfolio management etc as CFA > requires. > > In the longer term, CFA could be a better > qualification. I am planning to appear for my > Level 1 exams next year. > > All the best > Sumo Or get both… CHE-YEA
null&nuller Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Accountants and analysts are opposite… > > Accountant’s role is to make up a pretty story to > hide what’s really going on in the company. > Analyst’s role is to get behind the pretty story > concocted by the accountants to figure out wha’t > really going in the company. Very different > skill…Accountants can be useful in analysing > companies but they’ve gotta be extensively > re-trained, imho Some of the best “forensic” analysts/PMs I know are ex-accountants. It’s the classic Poacher-turned-gamekeeper. But of course you then need to know about investment theory, how to value a company, how to construct a portfolio. But having that accountancy background can be a great help. > > can’t help on the british market 'tho - shouldn’t > you guys be practicing shot-put or synchronized > diving or something for London 2012?? Unless we can do it sitting down, then no. Still having trouble being beaten by the old country I see. I always expect balanced views from aussies - a chip on both shoulders 
chrismaths Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > having that accountancy background can be a great > help. > Agreed - but several accountants I know assumed CFA would be mostly accounting - and grossly underestimated the amount of other stuff they needed to learn > Stil having trouble being beaten by the old country I > see. I always expect balanced views from aussies - > a chip on both shoulders now, remind me again - just how many brits are there? is it 3 times the population of oz, or is it 4 times (including scotland, wales, and the remaining irish you didn’t bomb the crap out of…?). On a per capita basis, only Jamaica beats Australia in medal rankings…
You sound like the Americans who displayed the medal table by total number of medals won rather than by golds, then silver then bronze to make themselves look better. In fact Australia was 7th in this per capita table (http://www.symworld.com/medals/) BEHIND NEW ZEALAND (snicker). And british population is 58m vs 22m aus (2.6x). Australia always outperforms per capita because of swimming, in which they have a natural advantage over brits in that: 1) the climate makes people have a swimming pool in their back garden 2) 99% of the human population of australia lives close to a beach (I’m excluding Canbera as they aren’t human) 3) there are more than olympic sized swimming pools in brisbane alone than in the whole of the UK… There are approximately 8.7 million gold medals given out for swimming {50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 10km} * {men, women} * {freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke (snigger), butterfly, sidestroke, doggy paddle, etc} * {individual, relay} So if you are good at swimming (which undeniably Australia naturally is) you get a disproportionate number of medals. Although Stephanie Rice is definitely much easier on the eye the Rebecca Adlington. And she’s clearly very very dirty.
Oh Dear God! I wasn’t expecting such debates between Aus, Brits and Americans on this thread… Well, thanks for the useful responses everyone 
Now I gather situation for a CFA isnt as bad as it initially seemed in UK…
Nope, the jobs are definitely there, just not sure how heavy the competition has gotten.
chrismaths Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There are approximately 8.7 million gold medals > given out for swimming That’s a lot of gold medals…
Why do you think the gold price is >$800? think about it.
looking forward to brits introducing darts to the London games - mens singles, womens singles, doubles for both, standing darts, seated darts, seated darts on the crapper in the pike position, synchronized darts, rythmic darts, paralympics darts…probably 20 or so golds on offer…
null&nuller Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > looking forward to brits introducing darts to the > London games - mens singles, womens singles, > doubles for both, standing darts, seated darts, > seated darts on the crapper in the pike position, > synchronized darts, rythmic darts, paralympics > darts…probably 20 or so golds on offer… That would just give the Dutch more medals. I think snooker would be better with a similar number of variations.
Moving target darts, Darts down downs, Live target darts, Obstacle course darts, Darts mixed martial arts, Darts in the dark, Military grade HE tipped darts and of course Dart in bum individual competition.
It used to be that all Olympic medals were made of silver and then plated. Anyway, I want to know about this expression “pants” as in “Stalla is pants” or “FSA is pants”. What’s with this?