...For students who want to work in investment banks, which one should they choose, ACCA, CPA or CFA?

If you are a domestic securities firm doing IPO or issuing bonds, then there is no doubt that you should take the CPA exam, which is more practical than the CFA.

And we must distinguish between buy-side and sell-side. CFA focuses on buy-side.

The investment banking business is sell-side, so the CFA is of little use.

If you are a fund manager of a fund company or an analyst at a securities firm, it is useful to take the CFA exam.

Depends on your career plan

1. Domestic securities firms -> IPO projects -> insurance agency, CPA is required

2. Foreign investment banks -> venture capital or PE->Value investor, CFA+industry experience

3. Foreign investment bank->VC or PE->Compliance, etc., CPA+Big Four

If you are doing finance in China, CPA is the most useful. This "useful" means that for accounting firms and enterprises, senior accountants must have a CPA certificate. However, I personally feel that ACCA is better than CPA in cultivating the business ability of a financial person, as can be seen from the examinations of both. CPA pays more attention to memory. If you want to pass the exam, you need to memorize a lot. Occasionally, the examiner will not know which corner of the book to pull out a very obscure knowledge point. In contrast, ACCA focuses more on candidates' ability to apply knowledge flexibly, and the exam is mainly case-based. These differences are most obvious in the examination of "strategy" between the two sides. Moreover, if the subject wants to go abroad in the future, ACCA is still very valuable. However, compared to ACCA, the CPA exam has fewer subjects and is cheaper. If the subject is new to finance, you can try to take the CPA exam first, so that you can first evaluate whether you like finance.

But if you want to work in finance, then CFA is the most worthy of consideration. Although ACCA and CPA also have financial-related content, they are both accounting certificates. Some students around me who are interested in the financial field are taking the CFA exam. I don’t know much about this exam. I just heard that CFA only has level 1, which is relatively easy. After that, it becomes difficult, and the exam fee is also very expensive. What’s worse is that it It has the same abbreviation as the Chinese Football Association, so it is sometimes misunderstood (I faint). Moreover, the question subject is just a sophomore, so it seems that he is not qualified to register yet (nor is he qualified to register for CPA, but there are many such registration agencies in China, such as Zhaopin CPA, and all freshmen can apply).

So, you should think about a few questions first:

1. Why is engineering not suitable for you? Is it because you feel bored? Accounting and finance may not be very interesting. The excitement of Wall Street may not happen around you. After it happens, you may still miss the simple and easy life. And accounting is actually very boring. Not everyone has the opportunity to be a CFO. If a young person doesn't work hard, the boss will become an accountant.

2. Does the questioner want to work in accounting or finance? If you want to engage in accounting, learn about ACCA and CPA. By the way, CIMA and ACCA are now competing in full swing around the world. You can check the information and compare. If you want to pursue a career in finance, CFA is your first choice. If you want to take the CPA exam, you can pay more attention to many CPA exam forums.