I am a CPA and CFA Charterholder with 15 years of experience in accounting for financial services industry (mixture of Big 4 / SEC reporting for top tier investment banks). I discovered the CFA program late in my career unfortunately (recently obtained my charter) but I found the topics extremely interesting and want to move my career closer to the capital markets.
I realize that this is EXTREMELY competitive. I am hoping to leverage my accounting background to obtain a controller position at a smaller hedge fund (start-up?) with an interesting investment strategy where I can work closely with the CFO/CIO. I hope to become CFO of a hedge fund in the future.
I have been working with headhunters and am having A LOT of difficulty even obtaining an interview since I have not specifically worked on hedge fund accounting. However, as I CFA Charterholder, I do have a very good understanding of NAV, financial products, valuation metholodogies and how incentive fees are calculated.
its not what you know, its gonna be who you know despite your strong background. There are a bunch of hedge funds that will be under the radar that would pick you up but its just meeting the right person to get you through the door for the interview.
You’re a CPA+CFA with 15 years of Big 4 and SEC experience, working primarily with investment banks. And you’re asking advice on an anonymous forum? From a bunch of people who can’t google “How much are CFA exam fees?”
Good luck dude, you sound like you have a great background.
Do you mind me asking if you’re still at big 4? I know some of the US and UK partners covering Hedge Funds for one of the big 4 that probably wouldn’t mind a chat? PM me if you prefer.