New and Need Advice - Fund Accountant Career Paths?
Any feedback as to career progression and exit opportunities in Fund Accounting would be immensely appreciated? Also, I am open to any other opportunities if anyone knows of any other entry-level positions in Boston or even NYC?
Fund Accountant Career Path
Generally the career progression of a fund accountant will look something like this. As a fund accountant you will generally be responsible for the day to day accounting of institutional funds. Additionally, you may be explaining how investments are accounted for, standard report processing, reconciling trades etc.
- Associate 1
- Associate 2
- Senior Associate
- Officer
- AVP
- Vice president
Fund Accountant Salary
This is an approximation fund accountant compensation at each level. This list does not include bonuses which usually do not go above 5k. Salary figures are as reported Big 4 Audit to Big 4 Corporate Finance - Advice
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I would suggest skipping the part time MSF/MBA and focus on networking (BU Alum) and sending out resumes to every boutique investment management firm in town. The MSF/MBA with no work experience will not be very valuable, studying for CFA Level 1 will be more useful(IMO). Unfortunately, being a fund accountant at STT is as back office as it gets, and the position won't impress anyone. You need to polish up your resume and focus on getting out of there ASAP. I am not sure what your grades are, however with limited financial internships you will have a difficult time getting interviews for FO positions. I would think your best bet (if you can't secure a FO gig) would be to find an operational type role, study for CFA L1 during free time, and continue to network.
Finding a trading role in Boston/NYC with your current experience will be next to impossible, I would focus on finding an analyst position at a boutique investment management firm. Wellington/Fidelty/Putnam etc will most likely be out of reach, however with some experience and CFA L1 you may be able to get an interview down the road. I know Wellington places a significant emphasis on CFA candidates.
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/ops-to-front-office
Congrats on getting your offer. I also went to BU SMG, Finance+Marketing May 2010 grad.
My advice is similar to BSTN05 - try to get into a more front office role. I was lucky to have far worse grades than you but land a front office position at a bank. I think you might be selling yourself short to take up a back office role with a decent background. I'm shocked that with good grades like yours, you weren't able to land a FO position. If we applied to the same position, my only advantage over you on paper is stronger industry focus via internships at big banks + having concentrations rather than general management 'concentration'.
Take this for what its worth, you need to leave that role in STT ASAP. Yes, continue to work there but be actively looking and networking on all of your down time. A year experience as a fund accountant will not do anything for your resume. Additionally, I ran into a kid from HS who graduated from a decent school and took the same position and is still working in it. The pay is garbage, and STT even cut his salary 4% without notice this year, so now he makes ~$45k. He has been there for 2yrs and told me the biggest bonus he got was $500. This role will not promote you to anything remotely relevant to trading/Asset management (FO). You need to realize it may take a year of networking, applying to jobs to actually land one, the worst mistake you could make is wait a year and then start looking. Currently, you have an excuse for taking this position because of the economy, however you do not want to be labeled as a "fund accountant."
Search here for Boston IM firms and check their websites, check indeed for job postings, sign up for doostang, network, and get in contact with headhunters (beaconhill staffing, PSG, robert half etc).
You sound like you have the drive and determination, however you really need to understand this position will not open any doors. Having heard first hand about this similar situation, I figured I would atleast try and steer you in the right direction. Others may have better advice, take it with a grain of salt.
I completely agree with you which is why I have been seeking as many point of views as I can. I even spoke to the VP of Global Strategy at State Street on the brokerage side (alumni network), and he said that it's what you make of it. If you go in without an end-goal in mind, you will get stuck, but if you go in and you're proactive then there will be opportunity to transfer into FO work or within another company. Yes, the pay is terrible - I am taking a 50% pay cut from my previous position just to get my foot in the door in Finance... I look at it as a stipend - if not, I'll cry for hours! However, I am certainly going to be active in finding other opportunities and making myself more polished. I think the best bet would be complete my CFA L1 from what I gather so far. I think I'll do fine as I outwork everyone in every role I have ever done and I will certainly be looking for that exit opp. at all times, but I wish this economy was not so bad in terms of job prospects!?!
A job within industry is far, far more attractive to FO positions than fund accounting. If you can, I suggest going back to the other job before you start at SS. Fund accounting is also looked down upon by MBA programs, since they have experience with the type of people typically employed there. Outworking everyone else might get you an extra $500 bonus at SS, but that's about it. The only tangible exit opp is moving to the back office of an IM after doing well at SS for 2-3 years, and then praying to get out of that back office. There are many more direct paths to where you want to go.
PM me if you want to discuss further - I am also from Boston area and have a lot of experience with SS fund accounting and know how tough it is for anyone to find their way out of there. It really sounds like you are making a pretty bad decision here.
Get the hell out of STT fund accounting ASAP. I interned at State Street as a VBA developer, and worked closely with fund accountants. It is a miserable world. I remember in an AM interview the guy interviewing told me he refuses to interview anyone who worked in fund accounting for over a year. While making the mistake of starting there can be forgivable, if you are still there a year later... no interview. Just something to keep in mind.
Suggestion - study for CFA. Incredibly enough, I know people who were able to use fund accounting to fulfill CFA work experience requirement. You can still sign up for L1 in June - do it.
The bank where I'm at is hiring some positions in other departments. If you have skills in building predictive models and are very data-savvy send me a message. There a middle-office ish position that would be tons better than fund accounting.
I forgot to mention that I finished my degree in December and I have yet to start at State Street. My Start date is towards the end of Feb.
Thank you for all the comments thus yet, they have been extremely helpful/insightful. Keep 'em coming!
Bump
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/fund-accounting
Very good post Dr Joe, you have contributed a great deal on this topic alone.
Hedge Fund Accountant- Exit opps/Future... (Originally Posted: 04/19/2012)
Greetings all- I wanted to hopefully receieve some feedback from who ever is willing to help regarding my current role and future. Thanks in advance, it is much appreiciated!!
I graduated from a non-target business school in 2010 with a Finance degree, but well respected as one of the top B-programs in the area/region. My senior year I interned during the day at a top Pharma company in their Finance division, while managing to take 4 classes at night. I graduated with a 3.48 overall GPA with a 3.6 as my major GPA. Graduating during the financial crisis was difficult, but I still managed to network and interview a half dozen times, before landing a position at a top custodial bank as a Hedge Fund accountant in one of the premier groups in the company because of the demand of our high-profile client. Furthermore, I was just happy to have a job even if it was really BO to the extreme lol. I have been in this position for about 15 months. It is very monotonous than anything and they basically put all these fancy titles and words to what you do when bascially since your on a T+1 basis, in reality its just data processing. With that being said, I have learned a lot in regards to back office hedge fund ops.
I wanted to reach out and gain some knowledge on what should be my next move. I want to go to B-School, but I've done my homework and read it is very tough to get into a top program with fund accounting as my career. I don't want to get pigeon-holed into this career, because I KNOW this is not where I want to be a year from now. I'm determined to rotate out of this position and stay in the hedge fund arena. Should I proceed down the B-School path or try to head to a smaller fund (Have been interviewing with smaller as we speak) with more client and fund exposure. AM has always been something that has intrigued me. Please help if you can!!!! Thank you all!!
NFL tight end, apparently...
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[quote=thunderfan118]NFL tight end, apparently...
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Huntsman Gay hahaha
Study for and take the CFA exams and move to FO.
Thanks sk8247365 for the feedback.
Fund Accountant or Operations analyst (Originally Posted: 04/20/2012)
Hi guys, need some career advice. I'm an Acctg major w/ MIS minor. I have experience in Financial reporting - hedge funds. Currently I have 2 different offer:
Fund Accountant Pros: Better pay, a lot cheaper commuting cost, big bank - name recognition, more inline with my major and experience. I would say it will be a safe choice for me.
Operations Analyst Pros: More MIS role, small hedge fund (40-60 employees) with several international offices, jobs duties are more help desk and trading support kind of thing, seems good opportunity to learn more about the industry, small office - more opportunity to be recognized. They also have the fund accountant division so I guess I can ask for transfer there if it doesn't work. Cons: Far commute, lower salary.
So The operation Analyst position with my background, will I be foolish if I think I can jump to their investment or trader position? What's the exit opportunity for operations analyst position?
For #2 - AUM? I don't know too much about BO, but I'll try to help.
What's AUM? I'm sorry I'm not really familiar with acronym here.
assets under management
Asset Under Management is 3-4 billion, 4 offices worldwide.
any input guys?
$3-4B and 40-60 people is actually considered a medium-size fund. What are you goals, do you want to be an accountant or have a shot at finance? If I was you, it would be a no-brainer, as Big 4 and industry will always take you. Your right out of school, young, I'd take a shot at the HF and not lose a minute of sleep.
Fund Accountant:
Somewhat hit or miss depending on what firm you're at. If you end up at a State Street or an administrator like Citco/HedgeServ and the like, you probably won't be happy. Fund accounting roles at administrators basically boil down to bookkeeping and pressing the "compute NAV" button once a day and do not pay well at all.
You mentioned that the job is at a big bank - I'm assuming bulge bracket. All the name recognition in the world won't help you if you're stuck in a separate building in Jersey City and never interface with people outside of your group.
However, the fund I am at has a small group of on-staff fund accountants who use information from the administrators to compile reports and financial statements, work with the auditors, etc. It may not sound great, but these guys work right on the trading floor and make the standard hedge fund bonus at the end of the year. Not ironically, it seems like a great mix of "funds" and "accounting" (Fund accounting!).
Also, PE accounting can be a lot more challenging and intellectually satisfying than you might think.
Operations analyst:
The title and description sound sort of vague, but buy-side operations can give you the right experience to move into an investment role IF you take the right initiative. Instead of moving cash around and lamenting life because you're not "FO" enough (sigh), operations people work directly with the investment team at my firm and play a daily role in deal fundings and valuation work.
For both:
"Networking" to move to an investment or trader role is a whole lot easier said than done, but both of those roles can give you the opportunity to advance if you play your cards right. The best thing you can do is take initiative on your own part to learn about the markets and not look like some weenie who heard about models and bottles from "his buddy" and wants in on it. Fake it til you make it.
Tl;dr: #2 for better networking opportunities.
Another fund accountant question... (Originally Posted: 12/15/2013)
I currently work at a healthcare software company (I am part of the implementation team, so really don't think it will get me anywhere. I basically go to hospitals and help implement the general ledger software), but I believe I will get an offer to be a fund accounting at State Street.
I have a degree in finance (3.1 gpa from small private business school in Mass) and and I really want to get into the industry, and felt that this was the best way to get my foot in, but nearly every topic says that it's quite hard to move out of the back office, especially with fund accounting at SS...
I feel like the risk is worth it and am leaning towards SS, as I don't think my current role is helping nor is it interesting, even though it's safe and pay is higher than what I'd get at SS. Just would like your opinions and advice, and tell me if I am making a huge mistake. Thanks ahead for your responses.
This is my personal opinion only. Please wait to hear from others; My first internship in the industry was at a small AM firm, at that point I didn't know what fund accounting was. One of my responsibilities was to check end of day marks for valuations to see if they were reasonable - so I occasionally emailed our fund accountants if I thought something was off. I thought these were reasonably paid guys, working in nice offices for some of the big names in the business (remember I was new to finance at this point). Then one day I went on-site, what an eye opener, first off the job is extremely one dimensional, and everything is scheduled out (like every 15 minutes is listed on their check list) - it seemed it was very hard to stand out. There is a very strict hierarchy, only the team lead was allowed to reply to my valuation emails or take my calls and he had been working there five years (five years to talk to an intern!) - if anything came from my boss even he couldn't respond to it, it would go to his boss. It was very apparent from an over heard conversation about their decision on where to go to lunch, the way they dressed and the way they acted, that they were not paid very well. The worst is the guy I talked on the phone seemed very competent and pretty personable, I felt horrible for him. But, we did end up hiring one of the guys to come in and handle our ops later on (so I guess exit is possible if your clients like you). But man - I was pretty shell shocked when I left there - I did not know that there was a part of the finance industry that looked like that and I just thanked god that my naivety about the industry didn't lead me there.
Damn, does not sound good :/
It could be a start - success is about wanting something bad enough and working hard to get there. If finance is what you want and you are doing something totally unrelated maybe the fund accounting is the way to go. I'm sure you can work hard to stand out, start the CFA, build a good relationship with your boss so that he trusts you with clients. And network, network, network. A lot of fund accountants I've met don't seem overly ambitious, should be possible to outwork them.
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