Public Accounting to Investment Banking: How to make a move (2024)

Bored with regular audits and recurring cram-cycles in taxation?

If you are ready to challenge your potential accounting skills to make some risk transactions, consider investment banking as a counter-finance career this fall.

How to know it’s time to switch?

Undoubtedly your CPA role at Big 4s is earning you a lucrative salary, but you are afraid that your great interest in taxation is getting a little out of sync. Perhaps it’s time to plan the next move. Let’s guess the challenges that you might have faced.

As part of the collective feedback that we received from accounting peers, we are introducing and interacting, both mid seniors to entry-level accountants are curious about investment banking. Either they have tried their luck with prospects beyond CPA responsibilities but failed or have little idea about how to make a transition.

The main reason behind the unsettlement is, despite CPA capacity, investment banks who sell marketable securities and other investment services are sensitive to the few criteria as hires. If you are seeking a career as a portfolio manager with a CPA title, it won’t be enough to match the requirements. Most US banks and MNCs prefer specialized designations to welcome candidates for high-risk roles. Adding a few more relevant designations to your CPA.

It is always good to keep options handy to have remunerative careers in the future years. Here is the coveted list of designations to choose from –

• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification
• Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation
• Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation
• Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification
• Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA) certification

As an investment banker you will be eventually tasked to estimate the risk of investment, here is where you will need CPA superpowers to disclose the required insights. Those transitioning with a strong accounting background are wired to make a background check for the holdings and asset values and recalculate the books as a pre-decision-making step. And a CPA performs extremely well-knowing compliance while checking stakes in buying selling stocks – with the check-in company’s financial health.

The Investment – Accounting tradeoff

As a US-certified public accountant, it’s a given understanding that you are thorough with GAAP guidelines in preparing financial statements. Consequently, expenses are accounted for in the period in which they were incurred, regardless of when they were paid. Where an accountant will report the expenses incurred, an investor can use those financial statements prepared for assent valuation & credit analysis to balance expenses with the revenue.

Be it in portfolio management, research consulting, risk analysis, or risk management roles

Investment strategy, an ‘accountant-investor’ assures to render –

• Profitability against expenditure
• Revenue sheets & better acquisition channels
• Risk evaluation insights from past tp present financial performance
• Active valuation of assets

Next time if your interviewer confronts you asking if you are a job hopper, step up and take the lead. You can express your interest in investment banking as accounting with a certification in CFA, you are sure to elevate your chances of getting hired among the bankers.

Becoming one among the CFA Charterholders

Be it after CPA or completing your bachelor’s we can start working in investment banking right away. After you’ve been hired, you will need to register with FINRA as a representative of your company. Depending on the nature of your day-to-day employment, you may additionally need to pass special series examinations to be eligible for registration. Following are the advantages of becoming a CFA after CPA/Graduation –

• CFA is a gold standard in meeting evolving needs
• Global recognition with 178,000 active shareholders in
• Shapes learning journey for investment professionals
• Presents you a community of 22000 charter holders in India to network