I am 24 years old, graduated from USC in Dec 2013. I passed the CPA Exam and CFA Exam Level I & II. I have worked as Revenue Accountant in private industry for a year. About to get certified as General CPA. Going to take CFA level III in June 2016. My career goal is to get into the finance industry. Now i am close to three job opportunities:
Audit position at a regional CPA firm in LA
Fund accountant at a fund management company for PEs & Venture Capital called Standish Management
Staff accountant at an asset management company called ARES management
which one do you think i should go for? do you have any advice on how i can leverage my CPA & CFA background? You advice will be much appreciated!
However remember that moving from the back office to the fron office in the same firm is not a very easy move.This is why IT guys are never analysts at IB firms and so on
what type of finance are you trying to break into?
IB/PE…you will prob need a premier FT MBA.
asset mgmt…your CPA background is attractive for credit or equity research. you are young enough to potentially get into an entry-level job directly. i was an accountant out of school (EY audit) and had to go through investment operations (performance measurement/valuation/risk support) to get into an entry-level credit role. fortunately the CFA, CPA was enough…didn’t need to invest in an MBA. i really like the work - signficant financial statement analysis
Thanks for yoru advice! Getting a premier FT MBA and going to IB/PE will be my ultimate goal.
I’m still exploring what type of finance job i want now. Equity research or portfolio management seems interesting to me. What kind of entry level positions do you think i am qualify to apply now? I know i need to network very hard to break in the industry… I look at a lot of jobs but they all require experience in the industry.
^Get the audit job,stay there for two years,apply for big 4,do audit there.In big 4 choose an industry you think you want to work in finance,network your ass to get into their transactional advisory roles.At this moment you can fit into applying for IB M&A Position.The cfa doesnt help you in those roles.Use your time and money to buy drinks for people and work on your soft skills
This isn’t the worst route, but it probably wouldn’t be the quickest. Unfortunately, as a revenue accountant, you’re not really doing anything applicable to finance. I’d advise switching roles within your current company, if possible. Shooting for an FP&A role would be realistic because it blends finance and accounting. Then, after some time in FP&A, maybe you could try for something more finance-intensive or BD. Finish the CFA. Afterwards, study for the GMAT and apply to bschool, provided that you can get into a relatively good school. If you work hard enough, one of the two aforementioned options (internal transfer or MBA) will work out.
I am an ex-accountant, so I know how you feel. I went from audit->consulting->PE without having to get my MBA, although I did take the GMAT, so I always had that in my back pocket if I needed it. Luckily, I didn’t.
Whatever you do, dont take the staff accountant role. This will entail things like reviewing expense reports, which has nothing to do with where you’re trying to go. Fund accountant will be reconciling fund cash flows, initiating wires for deals, accepting wires, etc. Audit job might be your best bet of those three but still an MBA is a better route.
Definitely don’t take the fund accountant job. The staff accountant job isn’t great either but you could perhaps network your way into an AM job several years down teh line.
what does the regional CPA firm do? Personal taxes?