Just about gotten over the trauma of the level II exam and finally had some time to think about what to do next. Was wondering if anyone could offer advice on my situation:
I currently work for one of the big 4 accounting firms and hope to bag two years of audit experience by the end of the year.
The CFA has always been (and still remains) my primary professional goal and so it was never my intention to pursue a long term career in audit. So for now, I have absolutely no “investment related work experience” which would count towards the CFA charter. Alongside the CFA, I also want to obtain ACCA membership, not because I want a career in audit, but because a chartered accountant qualification is simply useful to have in the business world. I haven’t done any exams for the ACCA but am prepared to start with some papers this December.
I am asking for advice on how to efficiently achieve the work experience requirements of both the CFA and ACCA. Based on what I understood, ACCA membership status can be obtained from accounting and finance-related work experience. If the experience is not directly related to accounting, it may be prorated (i.e. if 25% of the time is relevant it would take 4 years to achieve 1 year of relevant work experience).
I am considering applying for a job that involves “investment decision-making” to get started on the work experience requirements for the CFA charter which I undertsand will take approximately 4 years to fulfill. Would any ACCA members know if it would be likely that the four years spent in such a job would also help towards the work experience requirements for the ACCA.
Essentially I would be hoping to kill two birds with one stone by gaining 4 years investment experience for the CFA while simultaneously gaining (hopefully) 1 year of experience that would be considered relevant for the ACCA - I would add this 1 year to my 2 years of directly relevant audit experience (ACCA requires 3 years relevant work experience) … and if it all works out (and that is a big IF) I’d come out at the end of 4 years with both a CFA Charter and ACCA Membership.
From what I know, the CFA is much more flexible in work experience than ACCA. If you’re aiming for investment you probably don’t want to hear this, but it might be better to stay in audit for 4 years if your goal is to qualify for CFA and ACCA work experience simultaneously.
Good news is that your 2 years audit experience probably works for your CFA already, so you just need 2 more years.
You’ll just have to decide if qualifying for full ACCA membership (as opposed to just passing all exams) is more valuable than 2+ years’ work experience in investment-type roles. I personally would be happy with just ACCA exams passed as work experience is easier to accumulate and you can still apply and get roles that say ‘ACCA preferred’.
I enjoy following these threads, posts and questions as I am usually ignorant to the acronym and application. In a quick Google search… ACCA = Air Conditioning Contractors of America.
Thanks for the input. As you can probably guess, I am not very keen on audit yet I want the qualification. If I can obtain this while doing something more in line with an investing-type job (that involves some financial statement analysis) then that would be my preferred path.
Are there any ACCA’s who obtained their experiene outside of auditing? Maybe corporate finance professionals?
Once upon a time was also Big4 audit grad. Switched from audit to Corp. Fin ASAP (after about 1-year) and spent a few years there while I worked on CA and then afterwards startedon CFA. Left the Big4 to start in Banking. Had enough work experience to qualify as a CFA member but after one year out of the Big4 firm my CA membership lapsed as I never complete the required professional development.
Good luck with it - quite frankly unless you want to work in accounting long-term (which you stated you do not) then the CA studies are pretty much a wasted effort. Shift over to Corp. Fin and finish the CFA instead of doing any more accounting study.
I had 2 years experience in Valuation of Revenue and Capital Projects of a large Construction Company some time back. The work involved managing valuations per Indian GAAP AS 7 and US GAAP / IFRS Revenue Recognition - Construction Contracts.
I was involved creating detailed Valuation Sheets, Passing necessary entries and monitoring the job positions and projecting future revenues client wise. It was for Managaement (In House) and compliance with GAAP.
Also i was on the other side of the Audit.
Can i expect to get this experience recognised for CFA, once i clear all three levels ??