CBV vs CPA vs CFA® breaking into PE
Hello,
I am a recent graduate from McMaster University here in Hamilton, ON, Canada. I have two previous 4 month stints at a early stage PE firm in Toronto, in addition to 6 months at PwC as a tax process specialist. I am currently 25 and a little bit lost in terms of what to do next. I am looking at either getting a mfin at a decent school here in Canada such as, mcgill, york or queens. Or I am looking at either getting one of three designations CBV, CPA or CFA®. End goal is PE, and I am currently doing some free courses on data analytics as I feel it will come in handy in the future. I am really struggling with where to allocate my time and hoping someone here has been in a similar situation and can share their thoughts or own story. Appreciate any responses in advance, Cheers!
None of these will be as helpful as getting an IB gig..
My entire opinion is based on the websites I have looked up and might be biased or wrong. So, feel free to throw it away.
1. Across all the LMM, MM, and MF PE shops, I have seen CPA folks. They got transaction experience, accounting experience, valuation & tax expertise - or all of the above, IDK. But CPA seems to be a differentiator among the three.
2. CFA: If you are considering a public-markets or a portfolio management role, it will definitely help. I guess enough people have already established on WSO that CFA doesn't help or hurt in getting into IB, and hence into PE.
3. CBV: I have run a few search queries on LinkedIn, Google Jobs, and Indeed with 'CBV'. And pretty much all the jobs I saw stated CBV/CFA/CPA already done or under progress. I would say that CBV is quite niche and a ton of people taking up the designation have a CPA or are folks who want to work specifically in valuations. I saw an opening at Ontario Teachers' Private Markets team for an Associate and they were expecting candidates to have CBV/CPA/CFA or be enrolled in one of the programs.
If you want an IB gig, none of the three designations would standalone get you there, except maybe CPA with considerable transaction experience. I have seen some CFA/CBV folks working at boutiques but - that is not a trend. If I were you, I would take up a York MFIN, CFA, and CBV - simply because I love valuation and am pursuing CFA already. CPA requires a long-term commitment, given the work ex and everything else required to actually become a CPA. CFA and CBV also have work ex requirements but you will become employable very soon.
So, there you go.
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