CFA while working in Audit
I have just been offered a position in audit with a Big 4 firm for after I finish college.
The problem is that I have very little interest in audit and would much prefer a role in finance. Preferably in equity research/analysis.
I have one year of college left and two full summers before I would start in the job.
I was thinking that I could pass two CFA levels before starting in audit (as I would have two full summers to study). Then I would take the audit job, network like crazy and leave as soon as I got offered a finance roll that I would enjoy more.
Would love to hear peoples opinions. Would it be advisable to stay in audit longer for experience? Also would my summers be better spent looking for internships than passing CFAs?
Bump
I would lean towards not taking the audit offer, finding an internship for this summer related to what you know you are interested in, and rerecruiting for full-time starting in a finance and not accounting role. Experience > CFA for sure. Why would networking like crazy later be better than networking like crazy now?
I think you are right about not taking the audit offer.
For the summer I fear it might be too late to find an internship. That’s why I was considering CFA 1 instead. In my mind passing one CFA level beats doing nothing proactive for the career I want. But I will still try my best to find any experience I can in the mean time.
If you didn’t want audit, why did you apply to audit?
I applied over a year ago, well before I knew what I actually wanted to do.
Plus it was in a different country so I saw it as a great opportunity to travel.
Maybe like a PE internship? At least where I am some smaller places are more informal and still will take on summer interns later. I think it would be worth some cold emails and I think someone would want to help you out on pivoting into finance and getting experience
You should leverage your audit internships, assuming you have one, into something more in line with your career goals while you are still in college. Audit can be a black hole for some, though some make it out
I feel like throughout college it has been marketed to me as this great place to start your career.
I’m glad I realised that it wasn’t for me before finishing college.
Welcome to the trap of big 4. It’s a scam. Everyone gets trapped like this, that’s why they start recruiting you so early. They try to get you ingratiated into their system before you explore other options. I hate big 4 with a passion and you should too.
Moving from audit to an ER job even with a CFA charter is pretty tough, let alone with the first two level.
If you don't want audit, push for other options.
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