Advice CPA/CFA software, currently, experience, department

Nishant1

Hello

First post so go easy on me. I'm about to be 34 years old and I currently work in a dead end job with no real oppourtunity for advancement. It's in the Accounting department for a software company. I recently passed the CPA exam. I was able to pass all 4 parts on the first try in about an 8 month time span so I'm pretty good at studying/remembering stuff/test taking, whatever you want to call it. I'm not licensed since I don't have the experience qualification yet since I never worked under a CPA.

I haven't even been able to get an interview at any public accoounting firms. I have been putting some serious thought into taking on the CFA hoping that it would make me qualifed for some niche job. Mergers & Acquisitions comes to mind. What are some other jobs where the CPA/CFA combo would be good to have? Is it a good idea to take on the challenge? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Monday, May 2, 2011 at 12:53PM by fortywater.

economicz

I think the big 4 have groups called Transaction Services where that's useful and probably along the lines of what you're thinking - not sure how much (progress in) the CFA would help with getting in, especially without prior experience at a B4.

OmarAdnan

CFA + CPA can be useful in a Big 4 or Regional Firm (Duff & Phelps , Grant Thornton, BKD, etc.) transaction groups. If you can get into these then exit opps like P/E firms or Boutique investment banks might open up. You'd mainly be doing FAS 141 and 142 work in a Big 4 from what I've heard.


You could also look at small litigation support firms that specialize in valuing closely held firms, divorces, partnerships, etc. But from what I've seen these small firms don't have large staffs and can consist of a few partners that do most of the work. Some of them also do valuation for M&A. Just google "[Insert City] + valuation" and you'll get an idea of the local firms in your area.

If you go that route, then adding the ASA or ABV designation might help.

I would recommend joining the local CPA society and network to learn more about the local CPA firms that also do valuation work. Ditto for the local CFA society if you decide to become a candidate.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Monday, May 2, 2011 at 06:26PM by el duque.

tango_gs

Thanks for the advice guys. It was helpful. I don't have my mind set on any particular field and would be willing to take just about anything at this point.

How much value would the CFA have if I happened to go into corporate finance and/or accounting. For example, would the CFA go over financial modeling for capial desicions or strategies for short-term and long-term financing?

noel

It might help you get some credibility in order to transfer to a "financial analyst" role. The name isn't as important as the actual job description. "Financial Analyst" in corporate finance can mean anything from a glorified accountant role to working in FP&A or P/L analysis. Here's a quick description I found from a quick google search for "financial analyst":

# Assists in performing financial analysis including budgeting, trend analysis, forecasting, and financial modeling to provide information to management.
# Assists in collecting budget, forecast and other financial information to provide monthly/quarterly/yearly profit and loss numbers.
# Assists in analyzing budget, forecast and other financial information and recommends corrections of basic problems or inconsistencies to management.
# Assists in developing and maintaining financial statements using accounting and budgeting software in order to provide standardized reports to customers and management.
# May provide some financial training to employees in order to enhance their understanding and to assist them in completion of budgets and other financial analysis.
# Monitors and resolves problems and provides user organizations with financial reports.

It's not the more prestigious M&A type work in corporate finance, but it beats working in accounting forever. Besides, staying long term in a company can lead to doing some interesting stuff that accountants would never do.

I would recommend maybe taking a professional course in basic financial modeling to put on your resume. A few people I know in corporate finance have mentioned that the accountants they hire seem to struggle with the modeling aspect. The course might teach a few things and makes you look less accountingly (<---word I made just up).

pawn

fortywater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How much value would the CFA have if I happened to
> go into corporate finance and/or accounting. For
> example, would the CFA go over financial modeling
> for capial desicions or strategies for short-term
> and long-term financing?

Isn't the CMA more relevant to corporate accounting?

The CFA curriculum touches it in level II, but the curriculum is leaning towards valuation rather than financial modeling. The Level I and II are all about the knowledge you need to evaluate broad investment categories, and the Level III is all about constructing a portfolio and managing it.

jbaldyga

I don't think it has more practical use than a CMA, but a CFA gives you more finance credibility...CMA is meh from what I've heard. Unless you're a cost/budget guy.

SpyAli

Thanks guys. The CMA seems a little bit sketchy to me. I was kind of hoping that the CFA would teach most of the stuff from the CMA and then some. Thanks for the input.