Shouldn’t you wait until you complete the 3 CFA exams before comparing the two?
You’re right, I cannot argue that the CFA exam in its entirety is more or less difficult than the CPA in its entirety, but that’s not what I’m trying to do. The argument I’m disputing is each level of the CFA being about as difficult as the CPA exam combined. I have experience in both, having passed a level of the CFA and passing the CPA exam, and based on my experience I disagree. Regardless, it’s all hypothetical as the CPA structure isn’t designed to take the exam in one day.
L1 is a piece of cake if you have an undergrad in finance. L2 and L3 are graduate level.
Coming from a major office of one of the Big 4 after 3 years, I agree that it is a better initial choice out of a non-Ivy league school; if only to use accounting as a foundation and/or back up career. Working audit at the Big 4 DOES suck. I didn’t even work that many weekends and I still despised it; there’ s just no drive to push yourself. Just a motivation to finish the audit and get shit signed off. But if you’re smart, the exit opportunities out of the Big 4 are so mind boogling you’d be an idiot not to start there vs. a typical entry level finacial analyst job. Your base salary isn’t that great but you should average 8% increase every year if you’re just pretty decent- aka just do your freaking work and don’t blow anything up. The entire game in accounting is to build your base salary- you’re paid a lot for your responsibility after you’ve been in the field for a few years (salary) but your bonuses (performance) will be pitiful until you’re a manager or above. Overall, accountants are WAY more realistic than people in finance. I’ve met so many people who love to say they’re in finance and an analyst like it actually means something. 80% of these people are full of shit and are in a position of limited growth. Accounting places you in a position of virtually UNlimited growth in terms of advancement in the field you’re assigned to in audit and (mostly) if you chose to branch off into something else. A little more than a year out of college I had an MSA (FYI- this degree means basically nothing if you did acct undergrad) and my CPA. My salary increased by just over 40% in 3 years FLAT and I made a move to a small consulting firm that is probably 70% what you would call “accounting” (which is a wildly broad term) and 30% biz processes, modeling, etc.
Cliff Notes: Public Acct does blow; but if you went to an Ivy league school you don’t have that problem. If you didn’t, get a dose of reality and suck it up. You are not special so prove you can do some good, professional work, get a certification and get on with your life. If your undergrad doesn’t scream “I’m awesome” and / or you’re not connected up the wazz- start busting your chops. And seriously, there are worse things than waiting until you’re 26 or 27 to make six figures. Just don’t get caught on the public accounting carousel- tuck 'n roll off of that merry-go-round after a few years.
I forgot to mention- I still want to move on b/c I really hate technical accounting- viewpoints, FASB releases, SEC guidelines, AICPA guidance- and I’ve always liked the market a lot. Conversely, if you’re good at technical accounting, or if you’re someone who it just comes easy to, you can make serious money w/out putting yourself through the hell of the CFA exam.
Do you wanna cookie?
People used to ask me about CPA vs CFA. Although I haven’t taken the CPA exams, I often pointed out that accountants have good job security and decent pay; many seem to find it boring work, but they’re ok with that. Finance has less job security and is usually quite interesting, and there’s a small chance of really hitting it big. In good times, people are more attracted to finance and the potential big win, in bad times, many people like the job security of accounting.
There’s also an observation I made about financial statements - which accountans might object to - I am happy to be better informed if any accountants want to correct me. My impression is that accounting is about ensuring that financial statements correctly record what has happened with a company (and perhaps record in a way that - hopefully legally - reduces things like tax burdens). It’s backward looking in the sense that it’s focused on what happened and how to record it. Financial analysis looks at accounting statments in order to determine what is happening with the company and where it’s going, so it’s more forward looking. If you are into imagining the future, I would think that finance is more appealing than accounting on a purely intellectual level.
This is especially true for public and corporate accounting. There are other avenues that one can choose that are a bit more forward looking, namely management accounting. Even in management accounting though, its still up to the end user to intepret the accountant’s work.
Accountants serve a very specific function, albeit an important function, in any organization. It’s important for anybody looking to get into accounting to understand what it is they’ll be doing and be OK with it, because once you’re an accountant, it’s difficult to transition out.
Here are my two cents.
I come from an accounting back ground and I find it a boring colour by numbers job, same thing day in day out. Finance may be a bit fickle but its actually enjoyable compared to the dull life of debits and credits an accountant experiences.
I am currently employed as a Corporate Analyst for the Australian Federal Goverment and get paid a smidge under 6 figures but have incredible working conditions. Work life balance, 9 day weeks, no weekend work, no un-paid over time, amazing leave entitlements, bonus leave days around the xmas holidays, when I leave work I leave work, one day a fortnight paid study leave just to name a few.
From my experience the level one CFA exam alone is mucher harder than any accounting qualification, I started the Chartered Accounting program (pass a couple of modules) but found it extremely dry and boring.
Each to thier own but IMHO accounting sucks the big one. On a positive my experience as an accountant has made me a gun at employing tax efficient investment strategies and maximising annual tax returns.
nice
Hah not quite. Research analyst covering upstream oil and gas.
Yep it’s nearly all backward looking. Perfect example is this past month our managers and partners spent hours upon hours debating where to classify $4M in costs related to a facility our client sold. The company wanted to treat it as a cost incurred as a necessary selling cost and net it against the gain, where as our managers and partners thought it would be better left up in operating expenses. I think we wound up agreeing with the client because they made a better case for their treatment and the partners only argument was “its an expense you would normally incur, so it should be with your other expenses”
That is exciting stuff Kanuck. I don’t know why you are leaving that 
Thought I would give my take on this. I recently graduated with a finance degree and I am pursuing the CFA so my passion is for finance, however I am currently in an accouting role. Luckily I am in a rotational program so I won’t be stuck here. Accouting is dry, extremely dry. My entire purpose is finding out why this number does not match this other number (bit more complicated than that, but you get the point). I am an excel jockey that only uses simple mathmatical funtions, but I will admit accouting is just as important as finance and a very intrical part of any organization. I feel that spending some time in accounting will only give me more in depth knowledge of the financial statements that I can use down the road in finance. To sum up IMO, accouting is dry while finance has a bit more of a sexy side.
I have a friend that’s an accountant. He works at an insurance company where all the analysts work in an area that is closed off by glass from the rest of the floor. They call it the bubble and all the accountants there dream of being in the bubble.
It’s so hard to get a front office job now without blueblood. Accounting is probably a much safer bet. My old director who has been in finance for 30 years (accomplished bond fund manager) can’t seem to help her son break in. Even though she has a lot of connections, her son got his MBA at a state school. There’s too much competition these days for people without experience.
Like most people said, an accounting career guarantees some level of job security but one does not need to take the CPA to gauge its level of difficulty as compared to the CFA. How does an accounting major generally compare to a finance major in terms of rigor and complexity? Somehow I stumbled (no proper career plan earlier) into an accounting major during my undergrad because I thought like most people it’s a faster route to a secure job only to realize I was in the wrong profession. Needless to say that accounting is very routine and monotonous and most accountants will never stop thinking debit and credit, but the world of finance is a very fascinating one, dynamic, challenging, intellectually stimulating, ‘sexy’ and highly rewarding (if one can get a foothold in a global brand), maybe for these reasons most scientists from the physical sciences (especially mathematicians and physicists) are easily drawn to finance. Eventually, I left school and turned my back towards accounting; refused to go into public practice but rather settled for a career in commercial banking which I eventually jilted as I realized it was also a bit boring. Finally, I decided to pursue my passion (have a flair for the quantitatives) and enrolled in an M.Sc in Financial Engineering. Though, the world of finance is extremely competitive as becoming of most things of high value, and I am yet to arrive at my dream job, I dare to say for once in my career life, I’ve got something kicking on the inside waiting for expression which is what we all need to be happy and successful. On a second note, not many accountants are really happy at what they do (most complain of the routine nature of accounting), maybe I need to proved wrong.
Chartered accountant here. Now I’m in banking and doing the CFA.
My 2c
Accounting pros :
- Job security
- Good hours (most of the time)
- Much better employment prospects
Accounting cons:
- Dull as shiite
- Not very sociable environment
- Slow pace
- Little personal growth (IMHO)
Finance pros
- Far more exciting
- Much more potential to make mad mullah & retire at 30
- Personal growth
Finance cons
- Near-impossible to get in without M7 + 3.8 GPA + networking + 9" schlong etc
- Ultra-comptitive to rise up
- Punishing hours
- Almost always stressful regardless of pay/position
I won’t lie… I’m here for the money. But there’s no way I’ll be doing this nonsense in my 30s. Burn-out is a real threat in this industry. The only guys who stay in high finance are the sociopaths. Looking at the organogram in my firm, by the time you get to VP, you’re looking at people on their third marriage with kids that don’t want to talk to them. No thanks.
I still stick to my guns.
If you’re in the top 5% of all “financiers”, then you will probably have an exciting, sexy life, where wealth and riches await you. Part of your compensation package will include your own brothel, a car with a driver to pick you up and take you places, lots of booze and cocaine, and your own personal concierge at every posh hotel in NYC and Vegas. You will regularly meet with Senators and Congressmen who will ask for your wise opinion, and will certainly get more than three invitations from the White House.
If you’re in the top 5%, you know who you are, and you know that you will be in the top 5% (probably because your daddy is in the top 5%, or can at least buy your way into the top 5%). You know whether to pick finance or accounting, and you know whether to get an MBA or the CFA (because your admission to Harvard was guaranteed the day you were conceived).
If you’re in the other 95%, accounting will pay more and have more job security.
In other words, if you’re on AnalystForum asking, “Should I pick accounting or finance?”, then you should probably pick accounting, because it will let you lead a good life. Not a great life–at least not like the one described above–but you will certainly make good money and get a lot of notoriety. (How many “Cash Credit Collateral Analysts” do you know who like to flaunt their title at cocktail parties?)
Im with Greenman.
I’m assuming you mean on average which I fully agree with.
However, I think there are plenty of us out there that have a degree from a no-name school with unimpressive grades and have front office jobs. Of course, this is the exception but still doable. The thing that I’ve noticed about this breed of non blueblood financiers is that they’re willing to work hard and get their feet wet. Start at the bottom, treat it like the most important job in the world, get noticed, network, network, network. I’ll admit that this route takes some luck but I bet a lot of people have trouble with the “treat it like the most important job in the world” and “networking” parts.
I will disagree with Greenman72 to some extent. Success is not all about the physical things we acquire and the job security that goes with any job; it is not all about driving the latest Lamborghini or Ferrari in town, neither is it all about romancing with the high and mighty of the society. It is about achieving our dreams, our innermost yearnings, giving total expression of our natural talents and having peace with ourselves both within and without, I mean having a sense of mission and fulfillment. It is about waking up in the morning fully energized to go about what we have thrown ourselves and time to. Any job, no matter how highly paying or secure, that we do albeit grudgingly or just to keep body and soul together is short of success. So I will say that true success and greatness can only be achieved when we follow our passions and the innermost yearnings in the deepest part of our soul waiting for expression. For me, accounting is far from the kick I need daily to be successful.