I wanted to ask about the value of some of the less well known financial qualifications in the UK such as the IMC (Investment Management Certificate) or some of the CISI exams. I’m currently an audit trainee at a Big Four (trying to get into Corp Fin/Equity research later on), completing my ACA as well as have done CFA Level 1. As these exams don’t seem too demanding (compared to the CFA at least) then I’m wondering whether there’s any value in getting one or more of them onto my CV or would that be a waste of time and money?
I don’t know about the UK, but in the US, I wouldn’t just collect useless letters just for the sake of useless letters. One or two “good” designations is better than a dozen worthless ones.
If you have ACA (assuming it’s the same as the CPA) + CFA, then you ought to be set for a while–at least until you get a definite career path and the next designation has an immediate tangible benefit.
Thank you for your reply. Yes indeed the ACA is the UK version of the US CPA. Now that you mention it, I have seen some Linkedin profiles of people with tons of letters after their name, most of which I’ve never heard of.
Remember too that there’s a difference between “adding education” and “adding letters”.
CPA + CFA + JD = adding education.
CFA + CIMA (the investment management one) + AAMS = adding letters.
And if you’re CPA + CFA + JD, then no one will really care if you add “CSFA - Certified Senior Financial Advisor” to your business card.
just look at some job spec on linkedin for where you want to be in 10yrs… for example
- Graduate Degree in Business Administration (MBA from a Top-10 school strongly preferred) paired with law degree
- International relevant insurance industry experience
- Financial Management knowledge is a must (certificate or diploma)
- Strong analytical skills
- Strong communication and presentation skills
- Open minded as well as a strong intercultural mindset
- Fluency in written & spoken Chinese (Mandarin and/or Cantonese) and English