Career Change out of Big 4 providing, regulatory, accounting, sat, experience

king_kong

Hello,

I just sat for L3 (fingers crossed) and I'm contemplating a) what I should do to get experience for a prospective charter and, b) how I could maximize the value of a prospective charter. I've had four years experience working in the financial services advisory practice at a big 4 firm, providing controls based advisory work and regulatory consulting services to many of the large hedge funds. I have a bachelors in finance, accounting and internal audit and I'm a CPA.

I've determined that I need to get my career better aligned with the investment management process in one form or another. I realize that my background will appeal to firms for the controls side of the house, but I want to get away from being project based and find a role aligned with the investment management process. Has anyone else made a similar lateral career change? Can it be done without getting an MBA? (I realize the MBA will improve my network and provide a recruiting pool, but I've been told that CFA/CPA is going to have covered a lot of the coursework).

Any guidance or experiences are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

lcw77

life insurance companies. not so glamorous but a way in. most large insurance companies have their own asset management companies.

cityboy

Product control is no way in, neither is financial reporting. You'll get stuck in those functions forever. Not worst thing making 100-300k.