Any one ever heard of Wall Street Prep? They offer certification in Financial Statement & Valuation Modelling and is accredited by the CFA Institute. I am interested in it in addition to CFA so I can enhance my skills and give me an added edge in the job market. Can anyone give me their opinion?
lets bring it back
This looks like an ad to me. WSP is not accredited by CFAI - only approved provider of PD credits - which unlike for CPAs is completely voluntary for CFA charterholders.
I can assure this is no ad. for Wall Street Prep. I am actually a level 2 candidate but I have been unable to break into the investment mngt job market with a level 1 pass. I was thinking of doing their certficate after level 2 exam to enhace my skills and knowledge especially in financial Statement valuations & modelling. I may not know their exact interaction with CFA Institute but I saw in their email they have some affiliation/recognition/realationship to the institute.
I was thinking of doing this also and for me the two questions that need answering are: - Is it actually a good course for development? - Is it something that is valued by potential employers?
I can’t speak to WSP’s certification but I did take a four-day course with them that was put on by my local CFA chapter. I also can’t speak to their industry recognition. I enjoyed the course, over all it was very well done. The instructor was very knowledgeable and had practical experience from the time he spent on Wall Street. The course was very thorough and featured a historic M&A example which we plugged into an excel spreadsheet model that had been built for different applications which included: · Financial and Valuation Modeling · Merger and Acquisition Accounting · Comparables Modeling · Taxation My overall conclusion on the course was that the models were pretty standard. At the end of the day it’s the assumptions that you feed into the model that dictate how good your end result analysis is. My two cents for what it’s worth, this certification is nothing different than the CFA designation. It can be used as a signalling tool and might peak some interest in your resume, but at the end of the day it is the opportunities you create for yourself by hard work and networking that will get you the job you want. Best of luck in whatever you decide.
If you took financial modeling class or valuation class in b-school dont bother, if you are a u grad or excel monkey working as a fin analyst doing only data dumps and updating spreadsheets… this will help.
bpsny01 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you took financial modeling class or valuation > class in b-school dont bother, if you are a u grad > or excel monkey working as a fin analyst doing > only data dumps and updating spreadsheets… this > will help. So if I have no finance background, do not work in the industry & my interaction with ecxel is fairly simple does doing WSP compliment or subsitute my knowledge and skills attained from CFA?