CPA, CFA, ACCA, FRM, which one is more useful?

CFA (Certified Financial Analyst)

CFA is the abbreviation of "Chartered Financial Analyst". Also known as "Chartered Financial Analyst".

Test people:

The exam focuses on the most cutting-edge international financial theories and techniques, including investment analysis, portfolio management, financial statement analysis, corporate finance, economics, investment Performance evaluation and professional ethics. The CFA qualification is awarded to a wide range of professionals in various investment fields, including fund managers, securities analysts, financial directors, investment consultants, investment bankers, traders, etc.

Exam scope:

The CFA exam content is divided into three different levels, namely Level I, Level II and Level III. The exams are held uniformly in various locations around the world, and each candidate must complete three different levels of exams in sequence. The CFA qualification examination is conducted entirely in English. In addition to mastering financial knowledge, candidates must also have good English professional reading skills. Successfully passing the CFA program is an achievement that earns high respect from employers, investors and the entire investment community. As the number of candidates for the CFA exam continues to increase, the Investment Management and Research Association has increased the Level I exam from once a year to twice a year since 2003. In addition to being held once in May/June at 160 exam centers around the world, It will be held again in December 2003 in 23 regions where candidates are concentrated, including Singapore and Hong Kong. Therefore, Level I candidates will have two opportunities to take the exam from 2003 onwards. Examination centers have been opened in mainland China. The examination centers in June each year are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, and the examination centers in December are Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

Chinese candidates generally feel that the exam is very difficult and expensive. It will cost at least 20,000 to 30,000 yuan to complete the exam. The examination content is roughly as follows: ① Ethics and professional standards; ② Financial accounting; ③ Quantitative techniques; ④ Economics; ⑤ Fixed income securities analysis; ⑥ Equity securities analysis; ⑦ Portfolio investment management.

Certificate prospects:

The world-renowned institutions that employ the most CFA professionals include: Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan, Citigroup, PricewaterhouseCoopers, etc. There is an urgent desire for high-end financial talents: many companies clearly state during recruitment that those with work experience and professional certificates (CPA, CFA, FRM) are preferred, especially foreign-funded institutions.

According to incomplete statistics, our country will need 150,000 professionals in the financial field every year in the next ten years. Those who obtain this certificate currently have broad employment prospects in the country; their salaries range from 500,000 to 1 million.

People who work in the financial circle usually have master's degrees from prestigious universities at home and abroad, and they have always lived in flowers and applause. CFAer has conducted a survey and found that many people who work hard in the financial circle are CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) certificate holders. Even if the three generations of their ancestors have not accumulated wealth, they can still rely on their own strength to live an elite life of wealth, wealth and beauty.

CFA international recognition: high, a pass in the global investment field.

CFA’s domestic recognition level: high, it is the “ace” certification in the high-end financial field.

With the continuous development of China’s capital market and the increasing trend of Internet finance, the already popular financial certificate has won the favor of many job seekers. Nowadays, financial companies attach great importance to whether candidates hold CFA qualifications when recruiting. It can be seen that employers in financial companies have extraordinary recognition of CFA. The extremely high recognition and unusual popularity have driven up the salary of CFA holders.

A survey of the salary situation in the investment industry shows that employers are willing to provide high bonuses to investment professionals with CFA charter certification. Among people with 10 or more years of experience, those with the CFA designation earn 24% more than those without the designation (median range from $248,000 to $200,000).

If work experience is not taken into account, the gap in salary status is even greater, with people with the CFA certification earning 54% more than those without the certification (between $180,000 and $116,850).

Data show that: the annual income of CFA holders in Singapore is about 113,000 US dollars, and that in Canada is 108,000 US dollars. The global average salary is 178,000 US dollars. In the United States, CFA holders earn more than Harvard MBAs. The average annual salary of 128,000 yuan is about 60,000 yuan higher.

U.S. CFA certificate

Basic salary: $194,000

Basic salary plus bonus: $304,000

Work 10 Basic salary plus bonus for more than 1 year: $392,000

UK CFA certificate

Basic salary: $179,000

Basic salary plus bonus: $320 , 000

Basic salary plus bonus after working for more than 10 years: $412,000

Hong Kong CFA certificate

Basic salary: $194,000

Basic salary plus bonus: $304,000

Basic salary plus bonus for more than 10 years: $392,000

ACCA (Chartered Certified Accountant)

ACCA - The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) was founded in 1904. It is currently the world's leading professional accountant group. It is also the professional accountant with the largest number of overseas students and the fastest growing student base in the world. organize.

Application qualifications:

Those who apply to take the ACCA exam must first register as an ACCA student. Registration must meet any of the following conditions:

(1) Anyone with Those with a college degree or above recognized by the Ministry of Education can register as an official ACCA student;

(2) Students from higher education institutions recognized by the Ministry of Education who have successfully completed all freshman course examinations can register as an ACCA student Official students;

(3) Applicants who do not meet the registration qualifications 1 and 2 can first apply to take the FIA ??qualification examination. After passing the three courses of FFA, FMA and FAB, they can apply to transfer to ACCA It is also exempted from the examination of the three courses F1-F3 and directly enters the examination of the ACCA skills course stage;

Exam content:

ACCA has formulated a detailed syllabus, special teaching materials and related The supporting learning materials include a total of 14 examination courses, with questions set by British university accounting and financial experts, unified teaching materials, unified examinations, unified marking, and unified scoring standards. You can take the exam in March, June, September and December every year.

ACCA*** has 16 courses. If you pass 14 subjects, you can get the ACCA associate member certificate (the last 4 subjects P4-P7 are two out of four). These 16 courses are divided into two parts: basic stage courses and professional stage courses, and are also divided into four major modules: knowledge module (F1-F3), skill module (F4-F9), core module (P1 -P3), elective modules (P4-P7).

The first part is the basic stage, which is mainly divided into two parts: knowledge courses and skill courses. The knowledge course mainly involves the core knowledge of financial accounting and management accounting, and also builds a platform for detailed learning in the subsequent skills stage. There are six courses in the Skills Course***, which broadly cover the knowledge areas and skills that an accountant must master.

The specific courses are:

1. Knowledge course FUNDAMENTALS--KNOWLEDGE

F1 Accountant in Business (AB)

F2 Management Accounting (MA )

F3 Financial Accounting (FA)

2. Skills Course FUNDAMENTALS—SKILLS

F4 Corporate and Business Law (CL)

F5 Performance Management (PM)

F6 Taxation (TX)

F7 Financial Reporting (FR)

F8 Audit and Assurance (AA)

F9 Financial Management (FM)

The second part is the professional stage, which is mainly divided into core courses and electives (choose two from four )course. The courses at this stage are equivalent to the difficulty of the courses at the master's level and are an extension and development of the first part of the course. This stage of the course introduces more advanced professional skills and knowledge skills necessary for future senior accountants. Elective courses are designed to equip students with the skills to solve more advanced and complex problems for those pursuing senior management consulting or consulting careers. The specific courses are:

3. Professional core course PROFESSIONAL—ESSENTIALS

P1 Corporate governance, risk and professional ethics Governance, Risk & Ethics (GRE)

P2 Corporate Reporting (CR)

P3 Business Analysis (BA)

4. Professional elective courses PROFESSIONAL-- OPTIONS (choose two from four)

P4 Advanced Financial Management (AFM)

P5 Advanced Performance Management (APM)

P6 Advanced Taxation (ATX)

P7 Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)

Certificate prospects:

According to the 2008 ACCA survey, the annual salary of members is mainly between 100,000 and 800,000. , which is much higher than the income of financial personnel in the general market. Among ACCA members aged 26 to 30, the main salary range is between 100,000 and 300,000, with starting salaries above 50,000; for ACCA members aged between 31 and 40, the salary range is between 200,000 and 50,000. Ten thousand. According to the 2004 mid-year salary report of the Worry-free Index, the average monthly starting salary of financial personnel is between 1,500 yuan and 2,999 yuan (that is, the annual salary is between 18,000 yuan and 36,000 yuan). According to the results of the eighth salary survey of China Talent Network, the starting salary of high-income earners in Shanghai is 120,000 yuan per year. And data from China Talent Network also shows that the income of ACCA members exceeds the average annual income of graduate students (i.e. 48,000 yuan) and the average annual income of MBA graduates (i.e. 60,000 yuan).

The data points out that 65% of ACCA members hold mid-to-senior positions in enterprises, such as partners of certified public accounting firms, financial managers, financial directors, general managers of multinational companies, etc. .

Those holding financial executive positions accounted for 22% of all surveyed people, with annual salaries ranging from 250,000 to 1 million, and mid-level financial managers’ annual salaries ranging from 100,000 to 400,000.

From the perspective of annual salary distribution, in each income range above 300,000, ACCA members have obvious income advantages, and their proportion is much higher than that of associate members and students. The proportion of ACCA members with income between 500,000 and 1 million is as high as 21%. The highest annual salary of the members interviewed exceeded 2 million.

90% of the respondents expect their annual salary to continue to rise in the future. In 2008, the annual salary of the respondents showed an overall growth trend. 58% of the respondents had an annual salary increase of more than 10%, and 20% of the respondents had an annual salary increase of more than 30%. Among them, 42% of ACCA associate members had annual salary increases of more than 30%.

CPA (Certified Public Accountant)

CPA (CertifiedPublic Accountant) is the abbreviation of Certified Public Accountant. Refers to practitioners who have obtained a certified public accountant certificate in accordance with the law and are entrusted to engage in auditing, accounting consulting, and accounting services.

Application requirements:

Chinese citizens who have graduated from a college or above, or have an intermediate or above technical title in accounting or related majors, can apply to take the National Unified Certified Public Accountant Examination; Persons with senior technical titles in accounting or related majors may be exempted from examinations in some subjects. Those who have passed the National Unified Certified Public Accountant Examination and have been engaged in auditing business for more than two years may apply for registration with the CPA Association of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Examination content:

Starting from 2009, the CPA examination will be reformed. The CPA examination under the new system is divided into two stages.

The first stage is the professional stage, which requires passing 6 exams within five consecutive years.

The second stage is the comprehensive stage: it is required to pass a comprehensive professional ability test within five consecutive years. Only those who pass all two stages of examination can receive the general qualification certificate. It can be seen that the requirements for CPAs are getting higher and higher now.

Certificate prospects:

At present, the CPA qualification exam is the most difficult among all types of qualification exams in my country; fortunately, you can pass the exam "within five years." Therefore, the value of certified public accountants is very high now. Many large and medium-sized companies are recruiting for positions such as accountants, financial managers, finance ministers, financial directors, and chief accountants, all of whom are required to hold a certified public accountant certificate. The salary of those holding a certified public accountant certificate starts at 5,000-8,000 yuan per month in economically underdeveloped areas, and is around 10,000-20,000 yuan per month in economically developed areas. If you open an accounting firm as a partner, you can earn an annual income of one million yuan. The future is bright, and the "money" situation is also bright!

FRM (Financial Risk Manager)

Financial Risk Manager (FRM). It is an international professional qualification for professional risk managers. Certification and examination conducted by Global Risk Management Association (GARP).

Three major thresholds:

Threshold 1: The examination is more difficult: the examination subjects are comprehensive, covering the fields of market risk, credit risk, operational risk and corporate governance, and involve modern management , finance, economics, quantitative statistics and many other disciplines have complex knowledge structures. Therefore, candidates need to undergo rigorous professional training. Otherwise, it will be difficult to understand the complex quantitative relationships and the risk nature of businesses and products.

Threshold 2: The cost of examination is high: the scope of knowledge is wide, the reading volume of textbooks and review materials is about 10,000 pages, and candidates invest a lot of time in review.

Threshold 3: It is not easy to obtain qualifications: The application conditions for the FRM certification examination are relatively loose. There are no restrictions on the academic qualifications and industry of the candidates. College students can also apply. However, there are many hurdles to overcome in order to obtain the professional qualification certificate issued by GARP.

First, you must pass the difficult FRM exam; then, you must have more than 2 years of work experience in the financial risk field or other related fields before you are eligible to apply to become a GARP member; in addition, you also need to sign a professional ethics convention with GARP to truly get started. , to become a professional financial risk manager.

Certificate prospects:

RM members, the national average annual salary is 230,000 yuan. Career development: Mainly involved positions include risk management departments of financial institutions, audit departments of financial institutions, asset management departments, fund managers, financial traders (brokers), investment banks, commercial banks, risk technology companies, risk consultants, Corporate accounting and auditing departments, as well as the CFO, MIS, CIO, etc. of each enterprise.

The salary level of financial risk managers is more than enough than above. At the same level, the average salary level is not as good as that of the business department, but it should be higher than that of back-line departments such as IT and finance. The salary levels offered by different companies are also very different. For example, joint venture securities companies can offer double the salary to the same person and the same position, compared with domestic securities companies.

The treatment of each bank is also different. As the degree of marketization continues to improve, there is more and more room for bargaining with companies based on one's own capabilities. It seems that the salary of risk management positions in fund companies is lower than that in securities companies. For private equity firms, the difference is even greater.

Although there are high and low salaries, there is a certain reason for them. Usually business departments have performance pressure. If they do well, the salary will be high. If they do poorly, the salary will be low (maybe lower than risk management). , will also affect job development. There is usually no performance pressure in risk management, and the distribution of year-end bonuses varies from company to company. Some companies receive fixed bonuses, such as six months' salary, while others follow the company's overall performance.

In addition, there are reasons why some companies offer high salaries. For example, joint venture securities companies generally offer relatively single businesses and little room for career development. In order to attract talents, they deliberately offer high salaries. Banks usually offer better benefits but weaker basic wages. Another important factor is the rank. For a financial risk manager, as the rank goes up, the salary will naturally go up. It is not unusual for the salary to differ by 5 or 6 times.

In addition, the value of the certificate is linked to the job position. For example:

The Venture Capital Department

is suitable for people with a relatively calm and calm personality. Since they need to evaluate risks, they are required to be more careful and meticulous in doing things. It requires a foundation in finance and systematic study and understanding of risk management. It is best to take the FRM exam while in school.

Institute

Suitable candidates are good at writing, not afraid of writing reports, have a spirit of research, have a foundation in accounting and economics, and are good at expressing and communicating with others. Generally speaking, the more suitable educational background for industry researchers is a professional undergraduate or postgraduate background in economics or finance. This will provide a certain foundation for engaging in research in a certain industry, and former classmates and teachers will also be resources in the future. Of course, students majoring in financial economics also have their own areas of use, such as macro strategy, finance, real estate, etc.

It requires the accumulation of professional knowledge in relevant industries and a certain foundation in finance, finance and accounting. It would be better to have CFA and CPA qualifications or pass CFA Level 2 and CPA or more.

Direct Investment Department

To do direct investment, it is best to have certain industry experience and social experience. You will not be easily fooled. If you are a recent graduate, you need to accumulate experience and ability as soon as possible and be bold. Careful and careful, it is suitable for students who are flexible and open-minded. You need to be familiar with financial statements. You can accumulate accounting, financial and other financial knowledge in school, and obtain securities qualifications in advance. You can take the CFA exam while in school.

The Fixed Income Department has a large space for market growth in the future. There is a diversified demand for talents in sales, trading, issuance, matching, research and other positions, and the demand for talents is large. It can be based on its own characteristics and Choose a position based on your interest.

You need to have a good foundation in finance, a deep understanding of bonds, obtain securities qualifications in advance, preferably pass CFA Level 2 while in school, or self-study professional courses related to fixed income.

Asset Management Department

The asset management business will develop greatly in the future, especially in the future, securities firms will set up a large number of public fund companies. The demand for talents is diverse and you can actively pay attention to it.

It is necessary to have a major in economics, finance, finance, and financial engineering. It will be more helpful to obtain the securities qualification in advance. It will be more helpful to prepare for the CFA exam early and pass at least CFA Level 1.

Securities Investment Department

Recruitment requirements generally only recruit assistant researchers. Usually one person has to look at many industries, the work pressure is relatively high, and the settling time required is relatively long. By gradually learning investment logic and analysis methods, those who perform well in the future can be promoted to investment managers, etc. It is a better choice for talents with better investment sensitivity.

It is necessary to have a relatively corresponding major in economics, finance, and financial engineering. It will be more helpful to obtain securities qualifications in advance and pass CFA Level 1 or Level 2.

Investment Banking Department

For those whose family members have extensive connections and rich social resources, it can help them gain access to more project opportunities and is also very conducive to career development in the investment banking department. . But if you often travel overtime and work overtime, you are considered a flyer.

You need to accumulate accounting, financial, and legal foundations as early as possible, and obtain securities qualifications in advance. You can obtain CFA, CPA, lawyer and other qualifications in school.

Summary: Each certificate has its own role and value. Which certificate to take must be judged according to your own situation, and you must not follow the trend.