[mystical guy]

I have 4 degrees and a couple certifications – CIA, CPA, CISA. I was wondering if anyone could recommend the next intellectual challenge I could pursue?

I have heard that the CFA is becoming “obsolete.” The CMA focuses on Management Accounting, the CFP & CFE are both a joke. Any suggestions for getting a certification that will challenge me, keep me busy when I come home from 9 hour Audit job, and improve my earnings potential in the future?

Much appreciated….

CPA - Since 2015
CISA - Smashed 2012
CIA - Passed 2015

[Skynet]

Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime.

Try and tell me that trying to Binge Watching for 24 hrs straight is not a challenge.

[mystical guy]

@Skynet haha. Yes, that's a good one. I have my plasma TV sitting outside in my second vehicle. Never bothered to bring it into the house because I gave up on TV. But, who knows, maybe I'll get back to it.

CPA - Since 2015
CISA - Smashed 2012
CIA - Passed 2015

[ohiostategirlcpa]

The CMA might be a challenge, or a graduate degree: MBA, PhD/DBA, etc.

F91 A95 R90 B94
CMA since 2015
(Gleim books/PDFs, MCQs, SIMS)

[fuzyfro89]

Intellectual challenge, or advancing your career? Many things can provide intellectual challenge. Take some classes online in a new area. Teaching. Learn a new hobby or a new skill (welding, carpentry, painting, electrician, plumbing).

Certifications won't advance your career, unless it's a pivot (new skill set outside your area of core competency). For example, working toward CFA could show you understand and interpret financials, valuation, advanced corp finance, etc. Since your current skillset is presumably in audit/tax/accounting, this is an advantage. A CMA may be nice, but doesn't really add much that you don't have today.

Can you elaborate on what you're trying to achieve? Maybe I'm just misunderstanding your post?

[monikernc]

IFRS certification may be fun for you. XBRL? These will be quick and don't start with a C but they may add something extra with a twist. analytics?
Why is CFE a joke?

FAR 7/25/15 76!
AUD 10/30/15 93
BEC 2/27/16 82
REG 5/23/16 88!
Ninja Book and MCQ and the forum - all the way!!!
and a little thing i like to call, time and effort!
if you want things to change, you have to do something different

[Finally done]

You may try to take SAP FICO consultant certificate. There are many global companies using SAP. The implementation and maintenance expenses of the system are huge and very expensive. If you can have both CPA and SAP, it'll be a very valuable resource in personal career development.

FAR:76
BEC:78
AUD:74
REG:69
--
Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is.
--Zig Ziglar

[Skynet]

ohiostategirlcpa – The Country Music Awards ( CMA ) is very tough. It's not that easy writing and producing a great country hit song.

[mhueycpa]

JD, LLM In taxation? Btw what 4 degrees do you have?

THE 300 CLUB WILL DO JUST FINE!

[nyclife]

Instead of collecting the alphabet, maybe you should focus on gaining more skills/responsibilities in your profession. That's the surefire way of making more money through work. Certifications are useless if you can't leverage them in your career. More certifications signal a competent test taker. I can give you a hammer and nail but it doesn't mean you know to properly use it without an adequate amount of experience.

The CFA is not becoming obsolete. If you were in finance, then you'd realize that. Also, if you wanted to mentally challenge yourself, you should consider taking the exams. Given your background as an auditor (most likely IT based on your certifications), I don't see how it would add a ton of value though. Chances are that you will never meet anyone who has completed both say that the CPA is more difficult than the CFA exams.

I would cosign on Fuzy's recommendation of taking up a hobby or learning a skill that is unrelated to work.

[mystical guy]

@All – what I'm saying is, I'm am extremely hungry to keep learning but don't wanna keep going to school. I learn a lot at work but there's a lot of redundancy (e.g. test 1 control with a sample of 50 items – same steps again and again). My mind wants more and more, and I can't get enough.

@ohiostategirlcpa – I was surprised at how easy Part 1 of CMA appears to be. I'm someone that felt BEC was easy, so, I don't know if CMA is the best challenge but definitely on my top 5 list!

@fuzyfro89 – haha. New skill, welding? Good one. Seriously, I took welding classes in High School. It was a good experience. Thought of pottery classes to meet some girls, sorry, women, at my age. And, I'm not trying to advance my career, just yet, because, according to my Manager, I'm more qualified than him. (He already “promoted” me unofficially, and my VP has said I'm brilliant and he can see me taking on greater roles very soon. No problems with promotions).
I want to keep learning about general business but also get certified, rather than just netting CPE credits. CFA is on my top 5 list, but I heard it's becoming obsolete?

@monikernc – I have a strong/above average IT background so I know XBRL, C++, VB, ACL, etc. I just heard that CFE is “easy” if you just do the MCQs from the ACFE, so people don't take it as seriously as the CPA, for instance. I'll look into the IFRS certification. Thanks! +

@taigpegg – SAP FICO certification might be a good one, since I audit SAP. Thanks!

@mhueycpa – BSC. Accounting & MIS, Masters – Financial Accounting/Audit, Information Systems Audit Control. And some associates from another life, which I don't put on my resume. JD might require me to stop working…but thought of it a lot!


@nyclife – I kinda agree with the idea that I should try to gain more experience and be a lot more well-rounded. I'm in a position where completing certifications is no longer as challenging as it used to be, so I've considered studying engineering, advanced calculus, chemical science (stuff outside my comfort zone). It's almost funny that I get CPE credits from getting more certifications (e.g. CIA gets me 80 credits for CPA in my State). I want to keep my mind nimble.

CPA - Since 2015
CISA - Smashed 2012
CIA - Passed 2015

[funtiks]

focus on learning code, VBA..SQL

FAR - 76*, 73, 85
BEC - 69, 72, 78*, 80
AUD - 72, 71, 90
REG - 71, 74, 85

AFTER 3 YEARS I'M DONE!!!

[Anonymous]

What about Lean, Six Sigma (green/black belt)? I found continuous improvement is fun and useful

[Tncincy]

Phd? I have never heard of someone wanting to learn so much, but I guess it's possible. Or maybe teach what you already know ( your own study materials, cpa candidate tutoring?) It's really not that much more without going into a different occupation.

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[tuanxn]

^this. You don't fully know how well you understand something until you try and break it down for other people.

[jrb0048]

I mean if your looking for another one to do, I would go with the CMA. I don't know why you feel that b/c its management accounting its a turn off. Frankly, I would say management accounting is alot more useful than CPA unless your a manager or partner at a CPA firm. But CMA will also look good with the CIA, just my two cents though.

Audit- 86 5/27/2015
Regulation- 89 7/2/2015
Bec- 83 7/23/2015
Far- 80 8/31/2015
Ethics-62, 90
CMA-
Part 1: Passed 12/10/2015
Part 2: Passed 3/11/2016

CIA- Pass 1/29/16/// CRMA- Pass 2/9/16// CCSA- Pass 2/21/2016/// CFE- Pass 2/29/2016/// CFSA- Pass 3/15/2016

[Author]

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