[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

I’ve seen a lot of posts about folks considering taking the CFA after passing the CPA. What about the otherway around? I have a CFA and have been working on a Private Banking team at a bulge bracket firm for many years. I recently took a director of finance position with a start up. I’ll be taking a couple online accounting courses to bush up on my accounting skills. If I have to take a couple courses, I may as well consider taking the CPA. The CFA curriculum covers some accounting but its been long time since I took undergrad Financial and Managerial accouting. With a CFA as a background, if I needed to take 3 courses to satisfy the educational requirement to sit for the CPA exam, which courses would you guys recommend to best prepare me? Also, is that even reasonable? Thanks for any thoughts you have on the matter.

[kcrc]

You don't have to sit in the state where you live. Shop around and find out which state's CPA works for you. You'll want to find a state that doesn't have a residency requirement and a state that has a 150 credit hour rule as opposed to a state that lists out the specific courses you have to take. If you can sit for it without taking any additional courses, I'd recommend that. CPA prep courses are as good (or much better) than many college courses. A prep course's job is to help you pass, a professor's job is to weed you out – or fail you.

Finally, I'd only recommend it if it's your last option. You've already passed the CFA – go enjoy yourself.

[Kay]

I just wanted to share my perspective on your future study. I am an internal auditor (IT audit) covering Actuarial, Finance and Investments systems, which means I need to understand business processes to be able to have seamless risk coverage working with business audit teams. I had studied for CISA (certified information systems auditor), CPA, and ALMI (Associate, Life Management Institute. it is about insurance adminstration and core functions etc). Now that I am thinking about my future career path, thinking whether I should move onto Risk Management, and given that I am closely working with Actuarial auditors, so I have decided and started studying for Actuarial exams (ASA – Associate of Society of Actuaries) because it is partially related to what I am doing as part of daily work.

Most frequently asked question is as follows: “you are already a CPA, why would you study for actuarial exams? you are crazy”
Well.. many people would think that I am taking exams for the sake of getting more certificates. It could be partially true, but I am preparing for my next move. If I stay in Internal Audit, then hopefully in 5 years, I will be in senior manager or director position where I leverage my IT and actuarial knowledge to deliver better risk coverage in integrated audit projects. Or, if I move on to Enterprise Risk Management, then actuarial knowledge, and risk mind-set (that I built from internal audit experience) will be valuable as well.

I think you need to be clear on what you want to be doing in the future. You are already a CFA. You wouldn't want to take CPA exams unless you work in department where investments and accounting knowledge are needed (for example, Investment Backoffice, or Enterprise Risk Management). If you know what you want to do with CFA and CPA designations, then you may want to start thinking about what study material you want to use for your CPA prep. In my opinion, Becker will be the most reliable study material for CPA. Honestly, I am very lazy, and easily get distracted, so I did not learn a lot from lectures, or reading textbooks, but I found Becker multiple choice questions, and simulations very very helpful to prepare for the CPA exams. If you review multiple choice and simulations twice, then you should be in a good shape.

Currently:
CPA - Class of 2013
ALMI (Associate, Life Management Institute)
CISA - Passed in 2011, Certified in 2014

In Progress:
ASA (Associate of Society of Actuaries) - EXAM P (O), EXAM FM (O), EXAM MFE (X), EXAM MLC (X), EXAM C (X)

[spikesrd]

I used to work with a guy that had multiple accounting credentials and hadn't done a lick of accounting in years. He started off in accounting but then moved into operations for a significant pay increase. The guy even had business cards that read Xxxx Xxxxx, CPA. He said he still put CPA on his business cards to let people know that they couldn't screw him on the financials.

All that aside, if you think you are up for the challenge at this point in your career then go for it. The fact that you want a CPA license should be reason enough to pursue it.

I'm currently using Yaeger for prep but I have stopped using their MCQ generator in favor of Ninja MCQ and Wiley Test Bank. I highly doubt that you'll find everything you'll need in the product offerings of one company since they all have their flaws. The Ninja products are steadily gaining steam though.

“The reward for work well-done is more work.”

BEC - 05/26/2015 77
AUD - 07/27/2015 88
FAR - 08/31/2015 80
REG - 11/30/2015 73, 04/18/2016 80 Done!!!

[Mayo]

Wow…is there a list of posts that are April Fool's day posts? CFA looking to pass CPA? SMH….

 
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Mayo, BBA, Macc

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