So I'm a trainee auditor in London at one of the Big Four, currently in my second year of the ACA. I have a degree in finance (so am familiar with corporate finance and various financial instruments) and also have over a year of experience as a financial analyst in industry (DCF models, misc financial analysis mostly).
My real desire is to work in corporate finance (capital markets/M&A) or Asset Management. I want to be an analyst and NOT an accountant.
As such one of the things I was considering was doing Level 1 of the CFA® on my own so that I’d have that on my CV as well.
So my questions are:
1) How much would this add to my employability, taking into account my ACA, 3 years in audit and 1 year as a financial analyst in industry?
2) If you already have a background in finance, both from an employment as well as educational background, and the ACA, would you say it makes the CFA® easier to pass?
3) What is the cost of doing the Level 1 CFA® in London/UK? I was searching for it but couldn’t quite pin down an exact price for purely the exam. Also how much would you expect to pay for the materials?
4) As an alternative to a straight jump into my desired field of work from audit, what if I transfer first to my Big Four’s (or a competitor’s) corporate finance/transactions team and spend say a year there and then try to get into a bank or fund? Say if I did this without going for Level 1 CFA® .
Thanks for any and all feedback!
You could probably land a CF gig with just your ACA. CFA obviously is more relevant for AM and will definitely help.
In London we pay what it says on the CFA website, they only accept payment in USD so budget the FX fees unless you have a FX card. Most people I know self-study, You can buy the classroom packages from BPP, Kaplan etc. but not worth it imo.
You should nail FR&A as an ACA, and will probably struggle a bit with ethics and portfolio theory.
I would do option 4 if unsuccessful, no harm in networking with people on those teams though and keeping close to possible opportunities.
Thank you for your reply.
What I'm seeing on the CFA website is this: http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/register/Pages/fee_sche…
There it says $440 First Time Enrollment fee plus $1,170 Exam fee. So basically to walk into the exam room I need to fork out $1,610?
Thats a lot, ACA trainees at a Big Four get paid quite poor salaries and when taking into account the cost of living in London, I'm really not left with a lot of money. I'm thinking this might be more viable after I qualify after I've transferred into an advisory/transactions role.
Anyway, say for example I were to commit to sit the December exam now, do you think its feasible for me to be able to study enough for it in that time (assuming decent commitment on my part) to pass? At that level of an investment, I don't really want to be resitting. I'd be only doing self study, no classroom stuff.
I had a look at the curriculum and due to my part qualified ACA background, I'm guessing the accounting stuff should be a relative walk in the park for me. I've touched on most of the other stuff in university as well to a smaller or greater degree so there doesn't really seem to be much there that is completely new to me.
I was just thinking: are the low pass rates because banks/funds send big volumes of trainees to sit the exams but most are working insane hours (audit actually isn't that bad for hours) leaving little time for study and on top of that, many come from non financial educational backgrounds, meaning that much of the material is brand new to them?
Yes, it is that expensive to take the exam. Sucks, but you can't change it (unless you get a scholarship or boss pays for it).
I have an engineering background, put in about 150hrs for L1 and passed most sections with >70%. If I can do it, you can too. Starting now for the December exam would probably be overkill, but you can start whenever you want. Just be sure to take as many practice exams as you can.
When I took the exam, I'd say maybe 10-20% of the people didn't even show up. Then there was a good handful of college kids who didn't know what the hell they were doing, and finally the older folks who barely knew how to use their calculators. Level 1 essentially weeds those people out. Remove extraordinary items, I'd say the pass rates for people who actually study are much higher.
Architecto eaque dolorem sit necessitatibus eligendi porro deserunt. Autem aliquid aut et molestiae molestias eos accusamus repudiandae. Neque fuga repellat distinctio dolor nobis. Saepe accusamus eligendi qui ex perspiciatis hic rerum ut. Voluptatem quia accusantium excepturi sunt quo illum.
Quas praesentium sit veniam magnam quas. Aut ut voluptatem aut dolor sed ut eum. Ipsam laboriosam officia molestias est beatae molestiae dignissimos. Voluptates dicta perspiciatis et omnis corrupti in officiis animi. Maiores a quaerat non officia laborum. Voluptas sed commodi expedita.
Corporis distinctio excepturi tempora cum est magnam officia. Sint tempora consectetur nostrum nisi.
Debitis voluptatum omnis aut quis. Modi suscipit maiores molestiae nihil cum accusantium dolore. Tenetur eius dolores nulla.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...