I’ve been lurking this forum the past few days researching the best way to get into the finance industry. Anyway a little bit about myself. I am a CPA, CMA and recently got my BBA. I have around 3.5-4 years industry accounting exp from daily accounting duties to financial statement prep and light financial analysis. I live in Vancouver BC, 30 years old, unemployed at the moment.
This all started when I took an advanced managerial finance course…I had to dust of an old finance textbook to relearn everything but my god! I was intrigued! I loved digging into the numbers and coming up with solutions!
So on to my questions.
In the finance class all that was needed was the case book…it had all the" insider" info and there wasnt any need to do outside research. I want to try my hand at picking apart a company but have no idea where to go or where to start from an outside perspective. Ideas?
To go along with question 1, is there some sort of reporting format you guys follow when it comes to showing a stock? Say your boss wanted you to report on a stock, what would you put in the report?
Probably a silly question, I haven’t signed up the CFA yet, but if i sign up will i be able to go to CFA events as a level 1 candidate and start networking?
You should be able to attend the local society events without even signing up for lvl 1. I don’t think I can post a link but just google cfa society vancouver. The social events are better, but even the topical events have time before and after to chat with people. You could also try to find the society’s linkedin page and connect with people.
As far as the exams,I’d highly recommend using your background and networking to get an entry level position before you consider signing up. If it were me, with an accounting background and designations, I’d probably target the manegerial accounting/corporate finance route. It should be a lot easier to get hired, you will do meaningful analytics, probably better hours, not be confined to living in financial centers nor be stuck in a career path that depends on generating alpha. If you do get into equity research, you can then evaluation the benefit the charter would provide you. The only way I’d take level one without any experience would be if people who actually hired entry level analysts convinced me that it would make or break my application. I can’t answer that but my guess is no, especially with your accounting knowledge.
For 1), go download the 10-k from the companies website. Not sure on Canadian stocks but I’m sure they have something similar. Just go to the investors page on the website. If you need to copy paste numbers, you might have to go the SEC’s website and download from there, since the formating is more basic and you can get non PDF files.
^ Good post. The Charter has a lot more value in Canada on the corporate side, so I wouldn’t say OP should rule it out entirely. But you’re correct, get a position first and then consider the program if its a fit. CPA+CFA is a a lot of credentials and if you don’t have the experience to match, you’ll probably find yourself difficult to employ.
How do you get the CMA without first having a BBA? Did you have a bachelors in something else?
This is a pretty long and thorough process - start googling - ‘equity valuation process’ is a good way to go. Damodaran also has a lot of free stuff on his website you might find useful. Process varies but you need to learn how to use different tools before you can start plumbing. It’s a long road.
Equity Research reports have good formats. Reports can vary with your objective but those are more or less as succinct as public documents can be. Check your school business library, they should have access to some sell-side research.
So, I got my CMA when there wasn’t a degree requirement…all i had was a business diploma at the time. looked up the Damodaran fellow…bookmarked his site. Thanks mk17!
I had an interiew for an accounts payable clerk…I know its not what i want to do but im thinking i should take it if they do end up choosing me. My netowrking definitely needs major work and i already started trying to connect with some people on linkedin.
I asked about the research report format for resume purposes so i have something to show employers. I found a website valueinvestorsclub.com. I guess this could be a report format that i can follow for now. Anyone on here on that site?