Which one is harder to pass CA or CFA?

CFA General
#41

I believe the best thing is not to compare, but to have both. These two designations complement each other very well.

#42

I have CPA and while it’s a formidable challenge, it’s not necessarily easier material, just covers less scope than CFA. Neither CFA nor CPA are rocket science, and pale in comparison to the difficulty of Engineering. Try a course in stochastic signal processing sometime!

#43

All i can say is that the course material necessarily doesnt make the exam difficult. You have solve 4 integrals in 3 hours. That doesnt make you a genius, unless you are going to proving something fundamental like Sin-> 0 = 0.

Instead try doing something like calculating the working capital over inflation for 5 years and then solve for nominal taxes and deflate it to calculate the real value. After this try the interest rate swap calculation and black scholes model calculation for just forwards and then do a time series analysis with lag differential, test for heteroskedasticity, serial correlation and ARCH residuals and other assorted caselets within 3 hours.

Now this is a more real deal I would say than writing 4-5 piece of Algorithms and 8085 stack programs. The FIFO LIFO accounting beats this. Try programming your HP 12 C for Baloon Mortgage payments and you dont need to do a computer engineering.

More than 600K + engineers pass out in India every year. Its not even as analytical or exclusive as a CA and I wont even comment about CFA for obvious reasons. You learn more about theory in engineering. Its " As common a 10 Rs. note or 10$ billl" in India. Besides I dont understand the Quasi Quant mentality that sometimes they might be preferred for some quant analyst role . I would say the analytical ability is much better tested in some aptitude tests like banking examinations in india and you dont need to know much about calculus and stuff unless you are the next Black scholes or Treynor Black kinda guy.

#44

The PE (Professional Engineer) designation could be just as “exclusive” as the CFA if the PE Society set the pass rate at 40% and only gave the exam 1x/year, which creates artificial exclusivity. CFA level problems involve simple math and ratios, Engineering problems require 2 years of Calculus and Physics.

#45

In India

CA final or we can level 3 for ca passing %= 13%

For CFA level 3 passing= 50%

So we can see how tuff is indian CA

#46

That is just elusive given that anyone passes CA inter and CA foundation is Not applicable for graduates . While in CFA the passing rate for all 3 levels in total is .35*(L1).40(L2)*.50(L3)= 7% and each level is not just sitter like the first 2 levels in CA. Only level 2 is more analytical and tuff than the whole CA …

Besides they can pass the exam in group of 4 subjects every 6 months whereas, this is no game in CFA where you have it all or nothing. Its an AON trade mate . And I dont feel the need to comment about the pool of candidates appearing for both exams.

#47

Or you can just keep a term and advance for an academic year. Oh so its so tough Calculus and physics and you need to know score just about 50% of it to pass. And I thought those engineering prob. of calculus and physics are just a shade above your 10+2 grade calculus and physics.

#48

Hairymarkowitz have u given CA exams ?

#49

I already have an MBA in finance and work ex of more than 4 years in budgets, corporate finance , pricing and Banking involving a telco, a mult. engg. major and currently working a a manager in a public sec. bank. I have never appeared for a CA examination and I dont find the utiltiy in doing so anymore but I am pretty confident that I would nail it if I do.

#50

Doubtful. Not because you’re a not a smart guy, but the US CPA exam (which may or may not be like the CA) is not about budgets, corporate finance, pricing, or banking. It’s about debits, credits, journal entries, substantive tests, audit disclaimers, Section 179 deprecation, and $5.12m estate exemptions.

All of the stochastic calculus and partial differential equations and linear algebra matrix theory in the entire known universe means diddly squat on the CPA exam.

#51

Stupid Question

#52

But you didn’t answer it.

#53

CA Final May 2013; Both Group: 2764 out of 27556 (10.03%);

Group I: 6319 out of 45822 (13.79%) and

Group II: 9389 out of 50354 (18.65%)

#54

Thanks for posting. This furthers my argument.

#55

Passing even 1 ca final grp is tuffer na

#56

These figures imply nothing significantly different than what you posted earlier. Besides the odds of passing both the groups increase significantly if attempted once at a time in 6 months interval.

I have also passed Indian Competititve Banking examinations twice where more than 100K+ Candidates apply where the passing rate is less than 5%. But I refuse to accept that this examination is tougher than CFA because the pool of candidates is not very strong same goes with the CA exam.

Passing rate of 50% in L III is after passing the hurdles of monster of L II and comparitively nimble L I , which puts littledoubts on the quality of candidates.

#57

so u mean to say quality of candidates in CFA> CA

The thing is in CA people fail for 7-8 attempts but thats not the case with CFA

Ps: I really apprciate u. With a demanding bank job + cfa is amazing

#58

How many candidates have you seen? With these comments you are actually supporting my earlier statements. I really pity the guys who dont pass the CA exams after 7-8 times. I sincerely hope the lord helps them and they pass the 9 th time and give them a little sense. Do you still believe in these guys and their intellect? And I never mentioned anything about the pool of CFA candidates and that they are smarter. In fact they can be pretty average.I only said something about the pool of CA candidates and the Bank entrance exam candidates.

But since you insist. I have seen at least 7 candidates having good coaching who appeared for L 1 5-6 times and still failed 3 of them were Engineers 1 was CA, he never bothered after 2 tries. This other guy was Engineer + MBA who failed 4 times in L1. I know still one other girl who is CFA charterholder from ICFAI and failed twice in L II.

You have taken this discussion to a bizzare turn which I would normally never respond to but am compelled because of my earlier posts.

#59

We also wont know people who have taken CFA cert going and trying CA actually (talking purely from India perspective now)!

#60

Hairy, I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you about which one is more difficult. (To be honest, I really don’t know. I have no idea what a Chartered Accountant is, does, or goes through to get the title.) But I don’t think that you’re proving why one is more difficult than tht other.

A Math PhD could take the CFA exams (not CA) and fail, simply because he doesn’t understand the difference between the LIFO and FIFO methods of inventory. It’s not a hard concept to grasp, but definitely outside the purview of mathematical analysis. Also, a lot of those kinds of people rely on their brains too much and not enough on their elbow grease. That is, they don’t understand that you have to do a lot of practice questions, simply because the volume of material is so great, and it requires a lot of knowledge of accounting. So just because an engineer fails the test, that doesn’t make it a hard test.

And if an engineer fails Level 1 six times, and a CA fails twice, that’s not a good commercial for how smart the engineer was in the first place. If anything, the CA is smarter because he knew to fold 'em after two failures.

Simply comparing pass rates and saying, “Well, I knew a really smart guy who failed” doesn’t mean a whole lot.

(Again, for the record, I’m a CPA and have taken Level 3 of CFA. I have stated many times that CFA is much, much harder than CPA. I know nothing about the CA exam.)