Hi All,
I just passed my CFA level 2 exam in June 2018 - I have no considerable previous experience in investments or credit - I have been applying for jobs but haven’t had a great response, especially of analyst/associate positions - the only response I’ve had is for fund accountant positions. If I am targettting Asset Management/Portfolio mgmnt/ Equity research positions- Is fund accounting a good place to start? Else what other positions should I target which can give me the right start?
It’s a good skill set for transitioning into IB. My old roommate had a big 4 accounting background and got an IB analyst role at a well respected MM no problem. Depends on the fund/AM/Shop tbh. Accounting is just one piece of the puzzle for Research and accountants are concerned with only the past and the present, therefore you will be missing several areas of expertise needed to go into research.
For example, if you are a fund accountant for 2-3 years, highly doubt you will be able to land any research roles other than entry level ones, but if you are OK with starting from scratch then yeah it’ll be somewhat valuable.
Moving from fund accountant to IB or research is basically impossible. If you wanted to move into those fields you should look for roles with similar skills maybe valuation advisory, even auditor roles at the Big 4 (for accounting expertise although a long shot) or even some sort of credit analyst role. Regardless, taking a role not directly tied to IB or research likely means you will need a higher tier MBA at some point to complete the transition, however even that can be difficult as your career experience will not be good in say a fund accountant position and will potentially hurt your grad school applications. It’s a very competitive field out there. The move is possible, but low likelihood or everyone would be doing it.
I see tons of IB analyst roles that want CPA plus big 4 background, not just a few here and there. Maybe it’s different by location? I am in FL though. But yeah, research seems like it wouldn’t do you any good.
I think it’s your area. I’ve never seen any IB analyst role that wanted a CPA plus a big 4 background.
I don’t know what it means by “it this a good background”. If you want to do IB or research or something like that, any other background than those fields is not a good background. These jobs recruit at entry level. So, if you want to do that, you should apply for those analyst programs.
fund accountant to IB eh? no MBA? That is norm in your neck of woods?
My old roommate did undergrad at Boston College, KPMG Internal Audit for a few years, had CPA license and got hired at Raymond James in Aerospace Defense IB division as Analyst in like 3 weeks from start to finish.
Hmm, yeah I guess so then
okay…I mean theoretically it does make sense. I have said it in this forum that “research process” in equity research (IB is no different) is 70% accounting.
True, but he may also be the exceptional CPA in this case. His dad is an MD at a boutique IB so his interview was probably a cakewalk.
Huh, so you know one guy who went from accounting to IB at some backwater place, and he is 3 years behind in his career compared to most IB analysts. Exceptions and flukes obviously exist, but it’s unrealistic to say that most audit/accountants have a “good” shot at moving to such a role eventually.
his dad is MD at the firm? that nullifies everything else you have said…
I have seen a few FP&As to go work for mutual funds…If you think about it, say FP&A at MSFT knows more about MSFT’s internal projects and upcoming investments than some equity research analyst focusing on that sector…Hence, that FP&A guy has real value in the eyes of the mutual fund and sometimes even to the eyes of some sector focused hedge funds… After all the FP&A guy is super good with proforma, DCF, and accounting knowledge but most importantly company and industry knowledge and know-hows
Uh, RJ is def NOT backwater for MM IBs. They’ve won numerous awards actually. Plus he is now a Director at a Public REIT, so IB was just something to pass the time.
Clearly it isn’t unrealistic in FL as I stated I see tons of IB analysts roles asking for it, so I’m going to provide my own observations from where I am geographically…If OP is somewhere else then I guess he will figure it out.
No no not at Raymond James, but I am saying he had the advantage of growing up his whole life with his Dad being in the industry. But yes, I have seen that too. FP&A to funds, and sometimes, oddly enough, vice versa.
This discussion is just going to confuse the OP. These types of auditing and accounting roles are very different from fund accounting–they are shitty but not as shitty as fund accounting. Within fund accounting you don’t even learn accounting, you literally just count beans all day without respect to any sort of principals taught in accounting.
Try not to do fund accounting, OP.
Hello all,
Thank you for all the input. Much appreciated. I understand why every us weary of Fund accounting but then what option do I have. I have customer service bg. How do I break in as an analyst?
take the best option you have which is fund accounting.
Maybe I can contradict that with my own experience 
Started in Fund Accounting (Luxembourg) when I entered the CFA programme. From there, I moved into IB middle office and after 2 years had the chance to enter EQR. However, I moved to asset management as PM Assistant. Starting as Fund Accountant will not land you a FO job probably, but you can transition into middle office and then front office. Just work hard 
CFA will help showing your willingness to move up the chain.