Hello, I’m a college student, majoring Accounting and gonna graduate after two semesters (Bachelor). The reason I chose Accounting because it gives the best basis for any business man (atleast what I think), and I really love Finance subjects specially Financial Derivatives. Now my questions are: 1: Is there any problem of self-studying CFA from Studynotes with not that much of experience in Finance? 2: Is it a good thing to have Accounting background with a CFA certificate? 3: I have no work experience in Finance nor Accounting, is CFA certificate early for me? 4: I know this question is stupid or probably all of them, but is it hard to get it? I can commit myself to it. Thank you guys for reading, and I hope haven’t made any bad decisions in my academic life.
1: Is there any problem of self-studying CFA from Studynotes with not that much of experience in Finance?
No problem, however if you have not had much exposure to the material previously, it can be helpful to use a study provider (maybe that’s what you mean by “Studynotes”).
2: Is it a good thing to have Accounting background with a CFA certificate?
Accounting is very useful and a helpful combination with the CFA charter (note that a certificate is a statement that you’ve done something; a charter is the right to do something, in this case, put "CFA’ after your name).
3: I have no work experience in Finance nor Accounting, is CFA certificate early for me?
Not necessarily, and particularly if you are not ready for an MBA and are not going to do finance as an undergrad, the exams can be a substitute for what you missed out on (and more).
That said, you should realize that CFA progress is unlikely to be enough on its own to break into the industry. You’ll need to network and show examples of financial understanding that goes beyond booklearning. The CFA can help you, but don’t expect it to be the center of your pitch.
4: I know this question is stupid or probably all of them, but is it hard to get it?
The CFA exams are tough and have substantial failure rate (60%+ on level 1, around 50% on levels 2 and 3). You can retake the exam as many times as you like, however, so a single failure doesn’t doom you to anything mroe than extra time. You need some basic intelligence and to put in the work to learn the material. How much of each varies, but the more you have of one, the less you need of the other.
Finally, you should know that to put the CFA letters after your name on your business card and resume, you need to have 4 years of relevant work experience approved by the CFA Institute. You don’t need these to sign up and take the exams, but you do need them (and to pay dues to the institute) in order to obtain the charter itself. For many employers, it’s enough to say that you have passed the exams, particularly if you are early in your career, but be aware of the experience requirement before you start, so you don’t find yourself frustrated at the end.
1: If you have taken finance classes in college, then there will not be a problem. By Studynotes, I assume you mean the CFAI curriculum.
2: Yes
3: Probably yes
4: Yes, look at the pass rates.
Thank you very much Bchad, just the thing I was looking for, and I noticed that from your thrid answer is getting MBA is a good thing before CFA? And can you give me any advice? Regarding my academic life? Thanks
Thank you 
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No, it’s easy to self-study
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Yes accounting is good. Perhaps better than CFA
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Probably a bit early, but if you have time then why not?
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No, it’s not hard to get. Put the work in and you will pass.
My .02 (agreed with BChad and JBT)
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If you have a finance/accounting bachelor’s, then you should be able to grasp the material, especially at L1.
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Maybe/depends. If you go into trading, then accounting is probably useless. If you go into valuation, accounting is crucial.
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Personally, the entirety of the CFA exam is really daunting. I wouldn’t do it until you know for sure that you’ll realize some benefit out of it. To take the exam just “hoping that it will pay off someday” is probably a bad idea. (I know this from experience.)
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Give or take, only about ten percent of those who begin the CFA journey will ever finish it. That should tell you most of what you need to know.
Accounting is a plus in finance.
You can check these videos to boost your knowledge in finance: - http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/financial-literacy-finding-your-way-in-the-financial-markets.html?cid=5831 - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-401-finance-theory-i-fall-2008/
MBA and CFA can be done in any order. Since the CFA material is more like book learning and the MBA program generally wants you to have some working experience before you start, it can make sense to do the CFA just after undergrad, when you are used to studying and don’t have to force yourself too much to get back into the grind of reading books and taking tests. It’s also designed to be something you can do while holding down a job, which full-time MBA programs are not.
I separated the MBA out in my response because a good MBA program is often a more reliable path into something like a financial career, because there is dedicated recruiting sources designed to insert you into the system. However, those programs also come with high price tags.
Originally, the CFA was considered a mid-career program of professionalization for people doing asset management. Over time, test takers have gotten younger and younger, to the point where we occasionally have high school students coming here asking how soon they can start and how to prepare for this stuff.
If you have the time to do it early and you know for sure you want to put the effort into the program, there’s no real point in waiting, as it gets harder to find the time to do it later in life because your responsibilities increase, but be aware that there is also the chance that you may not end up in a financial career and you might decide that you would have preferred to spend all that time doing something else.