Wow, which province are you in? I think in Ontario, there is still CMA, while in Québec, it soon becomes CPA,CA; CPA, CGA, etc…
Ontario. I may be wrong however, looks like there is a vote at the end of June? I think I had clicked a link that took me to CMA BC which says the last intake to the CMA accelerated program was in January 2013. However, when I go on to the CMA Ontario site the CMA Accelerated Program link is broken, and the transcript review page talks about whether or not I will be accepted into the CPA Prep program, not the CMA Accelerated Program. Whatever happened to the accounting industry designations being simple compared to the financial industry?
edit: on a side note, what sense does it make combining the CMA and CA designations, they couldn’t be much different and it’s only going to dissuade people from the industry. The CA - CGA made much more sense yet fell through in Ontario at least.
Jesus, seems we missed the good time! I sent my transcription to them for an evaluation last week and am waiting for the result. Seems it would take 4-6 weeks, which is around the same time when CFA result will be out.
Are you also interested in getting an accounting designation?
It makes me scared somehow, if the merge of CA-CMA will make the program harder! I am just interested doing financial analysis, not Auditing…I don’t need to study for the CA stuff…Jesus, how hard the program will be? I am scared and worried now. If the accounting designation is unachievable, I dunno what else I could do !
Have to agree with OP, on assessing relative merit of CFA designation and whether it is worth in some cases 7 years to complete, e.g. 2xL1, 3xL2, 2xL3. I am an independent CPA/MBA/CFA-L2-candidate doing valuation, tax, and general accounting, taking CFA for continuing eductation. I will stop at 3xL2 because the CFA only marginally adds to my qualifications in valuation work (at that, only matters engaging VC’s.) The CFA curriculum is a good body of knowledge, but as CFAI attempts to make the Charter exclusive by issuing superfluously difficult exams, the question posed by OP becomes more material. This, together with the decline in finance opp’s will probably lead to a decline in CFA enrollment.
CFA without experience is not going to land you jobs. CFA with a little job experience and lots of networking is what is required…
I agree with OP generally, but saying that IT folks SHOULD NOT get a CFA charter is not entirely right. If the IT guy is trying to get the charter with the intention to convert his career as an analyst, then the OP is right. But people like me are NOT trying to do that. There are many programmers who have CQF, CFA charter who work in algorithmic programming or work on derivatives platform (Calypso for ex). I personally know many of them and I am soon going to be one of them as well. I am out and out an IT guy and I am not going to change as well just because I got my CFA L3 (ie if I get it in 2013 as I am not as confident as OP).
Again, market is so shallow right now, that you cant expect to get 100 calls just because you updated your CFA l3. As someone here put it correctly (think ITERA it is), if you do manage to land an interview, it defly helps.
Hope this post clarifies something about the IT guys who try their hand in CFA.
Note: If you are IT guy and just want to make a difference to your resume, there are numerous ways to do that. Get a BPM certification, go for a niche technology training and get certified. But if you want to stay close to investment banking in IT a CFA charter does help you. But its “hard hard hard hard hard” work… This is what the OP is trying to tell you…
Well that’s exactly my point.
But at least then you can decide if money is the sole motivation or perhaps you want something else! a pretty business card?
I guess what I am trying to say is, finance isn’t like accounting or legal or medicine where you are either qualified to do the job or not. You can be highly skilled and not be a chartered holder while making millions and have a very successful career (as an entrepreneur or working in corporate).
atleast CFA will give u confidence to talk and network and give crediblity to you
@vicky
For the ones 'making a decent 500% return" your comment should read as:
“atleast atmost CFA will give u confidence to talk and network and give crediblity to you”
hence not a fundamental requiement!
I really only know much about the US accounting designations. And even then, I don’t know a whole lot about some of them.
If you’re talking about the ACCA, which offers the Chartered Accountant designation, I think that’s the equivalent of a CPA in the rest of the world. If that’s true, it’s in my top four designations.
The “top four” are: CPA, CFA, JD, and MBA (from a quality school).
I totally disagree. When I see “L1 candidate”, it means you were able to register for a test online and pay money. It means nothing beyond that. Everyone and their pet goldfish can have L1 candidate status.
It depends on the job i suppose.
If they are looking for someone stable who works in the backoffice, then you are correct, they want someone who is knowledgable and have the capacity to learn new things.
But if they are looking for someone who can generate revenue, a successful track record is probably more important. You are correct though, one year of performance probably doesn’t say much about your skill, but so is being a “CFA level 1 Candidate” - everyone and their goldfish can register for it, right?
I used to think education gives me more confidence but when you walk into any social events, everyone you meet has multiple degrees and designations, suddenly i don’t feel so “special” now.
For the non-finance people, they probably don’t know the meaning of CFA or how difficult it is to appreciate your achievement. As for the industry people, they are wise enough to ask you what you ACTUALLY do for a living to determine how credible you are.
So, CFA gives me very little (additional) confidence or credibility.
Will come with time!
@Itera - let me ask this another way. One day, your boss walks into your office and hands you two resumes, and says, “Hire one of these guys immediately.” You look at the resumes and realize that they are written in Egyptian hieroglyphics–except the last sentence is in English. On one, the last sentence reads, “I am a CFA Level 1 Candidate”. On the other, the last sentence reads, “I made a 500% return on my own portfolio last year.”
You look up and realize that your boss is waiting for an answer. You don’t have time to put the information into Google Translate. You don’t have time to consult the Rosetta Stone. You have to make a decision right now, based solely on what you know.
Who do you hire?
itera doesnt want more cfa chartholders in market 
It’s an intriguing question - although very unrealistic because people don’t get hired based solely on the resume. But if you ask me, i know you have an intended answer already, i would be more interested in the latter.
Honestly a CFA L1 candidate is a dime in a dozen, if I don’t hire him/her, I can easily find another one with the same credential. However, I don’t see a lot of people who put “500% return on portfolio” on a resume, and I may actually be intrigued to hire that person knowing I can always fire him/her if it’s complete BS, before probation ends.
My point is, since your example is very extreme, I am answering on impulse.
If he claims to be GIPS compliant, get Gordon G. on board!
To continue or not to continue in the CFA program is a personal question and leaves much to be answered on a very personal level. The whole process is going to hurt but the real question that needs to be asked is, is it worth it? This brings further to what motivates us to pursue the qualification, is it for a career in finance, overcoming a challenge on our part, self-actualisation, to pick up additional knowledge and skills?
I disagree that having “L1 candidate” on your resume as not being beneficial. During my interview for my current job recently for a ‘non-finance role’ (i’m an accountant), my interviewer (now my manager, she is not a CFA charterholder and neither is she pursuing it) launched into a discussion on the CFA qualifications and queried my intention to study it. Turns out that another candidate whom i know who is also a CFA candidate also got into a discussion on the CFA qualification with my interviewer). Personally, from my experience, showing your participation in the CFA program does indicate initative, determination and value-addedness to a certain extent.
Honestly, qualifications are important as a signalling tool. We may claim 800% or 900% alpha returns on a portfolio, but we can only prove it (or otherwise) on the job (provided that the interviwer gives you a chance to try you out). Work performance and paper qualifications may seem like polar opposites, but we do need the latter to back up the said ability. Anyone can claim 800% or 900% alpha returns as a one-line sentence in their resume (similar to “L1 candidate” on the resume, but the latter shows commitment and seriousness for the role).
Why else are most high-impact, high-profile and high-paying finance roles filled with top 10 university grads and top 5 MBAs? Competition is fierce and signalling effect becomes all the more important.
Maybe my expectations of myself is not high. Many people choose to pursue it in order to switch to a pure finance career entirely. But I think pursuing the CFA qualification is still good, irregardless of the outcomes, especially so if our background is unconventional (non top 100 universities (worldwide), non blue-blood, no connections with corporate bigwigs etc - all aptly describing myself). Opens new doors for us (may or may not lead to a pure finance job), but certainly a big step in self-improvement.
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Spoken like a true Level 1 candidate. You have absolutely no idea what you’re in for over the next few years. Signing up for Level 1 indicates nothing. And telling a boss who obviouly doesn’t care about the CFA charter is a bad idea. Now she’s thinking, “This guy really doesn’t want the job I’m offering him. I should find a guy who wants to take the CPA exam instead of the CFA exam.”
I agree that designations are a good signaling tool. “CFA Charterholder” is a designation. “CFA Level 1 Candidate” is not.
Last, and certainly not least–Please tell me you’re not really comparing a Harvard MBA to a Level 1 candidate. It’s really difficult to take you seriously after that.