Does having a CPA/Big4 experience help at all when breaking into ER?

its as if asking if having experience as a research analyst at goldman with a cfa help with getting a job at the big4.

with that said, going to smaller research house..boutiques have this, with valuation experience, may help out. but research requires more skill sets than what just knowing how to do a dcf or read through financials.

i suggest, big 4 -> 2-3 years work + CFA -> MBA and through the recruiting process get into research.

but not really sure what the prospects for analysts in the US will be in the next few years.

not really sure what the prospects for the majority of wall street professionals will be in the few years.

on something that you so obviously have no clue about?

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/chartered-accountant-breaking-into...

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/howdy-special-offer-limited-time-o...

but i havent.

using two other threads to invalidate my opinion gained from experience hardly makes sense.

With that said, maybe J. Mack has done this himself or has someone close to him bridge the gap. I am impressed by the amount of points he's amassed. I only have 1/3 his points so that also means I have only 1/3 the experience..

anyway, i've had friends who graduated with a technical degree (finance/accounting) went into big4 and got the CPA and never made it into IB or ER no matter the amount of networking & interviewing effort that went in.

I will admit I had one friend who got his CFA after graduation, worked for the Big 4 full time for 9-10 months and went to a BB for research. But in his defense, he worked at a mutual fund doing research for 2 years during school and 1 summer internship in research at BB.

Although, I have had friends over the last couple of years make into trading at BBs. They were auditing CMBS at the Big4 and were structuring/trading CMBS/CDO at the banks.

In addition, I doubt lateraling to any firm from accounting will be happening in this environment. ER analysts have been laid off as well and many have not been able to join other shops and competition for the buyside is just that much more competitive.

so for an accountant with a CPA lateraling into ER at BB will be difficult if not impossible. but then again "impossible is nothing."

What else is going to help then? You're using a false consensus to answer the question - "I don't know anyone that it helped so therefore it doesn't help". It helped me and I (and bearing) know lots of other people that it helped has helped too.

I also remember filling out II analyst surveys in the past that asked what post-graduation qualifications analysts had. A significant proportion of them were ACA/CPA.

Strawman but I'll bite. You were a f-ing first year analyst last year. One year on you're an expert in an area that you don't even work in?

The question is not whether it is hard to do it, it's whether Big4 experience will help.

A lot of areas of finance are/will experience big downturns. Research is no different. So if the hiring environment just got more competitive, the more you can differentiate yourself the better. Big4 comes under that.