[Robillard]

User,

I'm sort of in the same boat as you describe. When I graduated from university I was hoping to find work with a fund management company. Unfortunately, the industry seems to have a bit of a catch-22. Fund management companies want to hire people with the CFA, but one can't earn the CFA without professional experience.

Fortunately, I believe that the CFA institute has lightened up a bit on what qualifies as acceptable professional experience. They have posted a list of sample job titles that most likely qualify for membership here: https://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/charterholder/membership/jobtitles.html.

I believe accounting firms are not a bad place to earn the necessary experience. The list says that auditor and corporate finance analyst are qualifying job titles. Furthermore, most of the larger accounting firms, in addition to auditing, do corporate finance advisory, valuations, even investment banking. According to the institute, the key is that the work must be involved in (or supporting?) the investment decision-making process.

Incidentally, a good place to start in the industry might be as a portfolio administrator or fund accountant. They aren't exactly glamourous positions, typically involving pushing paper and bookkeeping transactions. But once one is in the door and has some professional experience, it is much easier to get into investment analysis and management.

 

[Robillard]

It's not that the CFA is necessarily a requirement in the portfolio management industry in Canada. Actually, I'm not sure if it is. It's my understanding that most of the reputable portfolio management firms only hire portfolio managers with that designation though. The institute has been focusing its lobbying efforts to make the designation mandatory in various jurisdictions. On the plus side, it should mean that the average portfolio or asset manager will be more knowledgeable, and bound by the institute's ethical code. On the downside, it limits the pool of possible talent that can do that work (perhaps also raising salaries and compensation of managers).

Having passed the first two exams, I am a little sceptical that any amount of standardised testing ever qualifies one to do anything. What it does show is that you are able to work hard, study for long hours and basically suborn one's social life to the goal of making money. I'm not saying it's not worth it. I wouldn't have signed up to write the level III if I didn't think it had value for me. Still, I think most of the real learning, when it comes to portfolio management, is done on the job.

The finance has always had an element of the "old boys network" aspect to it. It's not about to change any time soon. If you really want in, in addition to studying, you should try attending some of the social and educational events put on by your local CFA society and networking with professionals in the industry.