本帖最后由 西瓜-C 于 2013-10-24 13:12 编辑
CPA vs CMA vs CFA
One of the best ways for accounting and finance professionals to boost theirknowledge and get an increase in pay is to complete a certification. There are many out there, depending on the area of accounting or finance thatyou specialize in. In my opinion, there are three that stand out as bothbroadly recognized and highly relevant to a variety of industries and job functions,the CPA, CMA, and CFA.
Each of these certifications involves three main things:
- Passing a series of exams
- Completing some type of educational requirement
- Completing some type of experience requirement
CPA – Certified Public Accountant
The CPA is by far the most broadly recognized both inside and outside theaccounting and finance world. Tell a random stranger you’re an accountantand they might ask you if you have your CPA. I think the term gainedpopularity throughout our culture simply because the CPA, is the person thatthe Joe Taxpayer would get to help them do their taxes. The CPA firm wasthe accounting firm John Business owner knew audited his company’s books, oradvised him on certain irregular business transactions. Essentially, theCPA is the customer-facing side of the accounting world. Even though many jobsin corporate accounting ask for a CPA, the CPA is a state license topractice public accounting. It allows you to charge foraccounting services to the public.
There are four parts to the CPA Exam. The CPA Exam is uniform throughout the USin that the content and structure is the same in every state. You canschedule to take the exam in what are called exam windows. Each window is twomonths and there are four of them throughout the year (Jan/Feb, Apr/May,Jul/Aug, Oct/Nov). As of 2012, the parts and their content is as follows:
- Business Environment and Concepts
- Financial Accounting and Reporting
- Audit and Attestation
- Regulation
Pass rates for the exams are typically 50% or just slightly lower and the exam isonly offered in English.
Work experience for the CPA varies from state to state, but most states requirebetween one and two years of experience working directly for a CPA. Education also varies by state. The typical requirement is 150 collegehours of total coursework with a certain minimum in accounting (excluding thetwo fundamental courses Financial and Managerial). A common minimum is30-36 accounting hours. Some states have much easier education hours, butnote that you might have to qualify for your state’s educational requirementsif you wish to transfer your license in from another state. See yourlocal state board for detailed requirements.
As far as popularity goes, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2011there were little less than 1.5 million accountants and auditors in the UnitedStates. Expand this to everyone in corporate accounting and finance, andyou might get 1.8 to 2.0 million. The accounting field in general is projectedto grow at a rate far above the average for all occupations. Visit BLSAccounting and Auditor info for more information. As of September 2012, there wereapproximately 575,000 CPAs registered in NASBAs Mobility and AccountancyLicensee Database (ALD). National candidate database increased 4.3% yearover year in 2010. See NASBAs 2011 Annual Report for more details.
CMA – Certified Management Accountant
The CMA, in my opinion, is the least understood, but possibly most relevantcredentials available to accounting and finance professionals today. Infull disclosure, I am a volunteer board member for a local chapter of theorganization that issues the CMA, the Institute of Management Accountants.
The CMA is not a state license, but instead a global credential. It is mainlygeared towards individuals in corporate accounting for finance (industry as theysay), making it more relevant to the vast majority of the accountingprofession. Areas such as GL Accounting, even though heavily relies upon GAAP,includes more material from the CMA program than the CPA. See the CMA brochure for more information.
The education requirement for the CMA Exam is significantly less strenuous than theCPA in that you only need a bachelor’s degree to qualify. This makes the credentialavailable to many professionals with backgrounds in Finance, Marketing andEconomics that don’t have the accounting hours to sit for the CPA exam.
In 2010 the IMA announced the transition from a four-part exam to the currenttwo-part exam. Previously, the four parts were Business Analysis, ManagementAccounting and Reporting, Strategic Management, and Business Applications. Inthe new exam, the content was modified to concentrate more specifically onfinancial planning, analysis, control, and decision support and focused less oneconomics, information technology, marketing, and behavioral organization.
Part1 – Financial Planning, Performance and Control
- Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting (30%)
- Performance Management (25%)
- Cost Management (25%)
- Internal Controls (15%)
- Professional Ethics (5%)
Part2 – Financial Decision Making
- Financial Statement Analysis (25%)
- Corporate Finance (25%)
- Decision Analysis and Risk Management (25%)
- Investment Decisions (20%)
- Professional Ethics (5%)
Just as with the CPA exam, the CMA exam has testing windows throughout the year inwhich you can take the exam. When the exam was four parts the windows wer thesame as the CPA. Now that the exam is only two parts, it is only offered threewindows per year: Jan/Feb, May/Jun, and Sep/Oct.
Pass rates for the CMA exam typically hovered around 50%, but with the new format(and limited data on it), the pass rates are lower. In 2011, Part 1 pass ratewas 31% worldwide (48% in US) while Part 2 was 47% worldwide (56% in US).Again, with limited date its hard to know why the worldwide pass rates are somuch lower, but at least for Part 1 it seems like poor passing rates in theMiddle East is driving this at only 17% on Part 1 and 32% on Part 2. This maybe due to the fact the exam is offered only in English and Chinese.
Work experience for the CMA is very similar to the CPA, at two years, except thatyou do not need to work for another CMA for your experience to qualify. Just aswith the CPA, the list of jobs earning qualifying experience is relativelybroad.
IMA currently has around 65,000 members of which 20,000 hold a CMA. This is aboutone-fifth the number of CPAs and a little less than one-third the number ofCFAs. Although this certification is less known throughout the accounting andfinance world, it is growing at a much faster pace, especially outside the US.This recent surge in CMA growth has brought with it new attention to amanagement accounting credential. As more and more professionals seek out themost relevant certification, or seek to earn additional certifications, the CMAhas benefited.
As a side note, in early 2012, the AICPA and the CIMA (from the UK) announced anew credential in the management accounting space. Teaming up to offer acompeting certification, the CGMA is currently available to only AICPA votingmembers as an add-on credential. This means if you are a CPA, you can become amember of the AICPA, pay a fee, and in 5 minutes get more letters after yourname. There will ultimately be an examination process developed for grantingCGMAs, so I recommend everyone pay the fee now and get it while it’s easy. Thisdoesn’t say much for what the credential means today, but if the program is asuccess in 5 or 10 years, you’ll have the same letters regardless.
CFA – Chartered Financial Analyst
The CFA is, in my opinion, the hardest of these three credentials to earn. The CFA is focused on those with an active role in the investment decision-makingprocess. This includes those in the corporate world as Treasurers and FinancialAnalysts, and then those in the investment world as Financial Advisers,Investment Banking Analysts, Portfolio Managers, Private Bankers, ResearchAnalysts, and Traders.
The CFA is a charter issued by the CFA Institute. The institute recommends that youprepare for at least 300 hours for each of the three parts, or 15-20 hours aweek for four to six months. The CFA exam is offered only on certain dates andis not an exam you can schedule at your convenience. Candidates take the examon the same day. Part 1 is offered twice a year, in June and December; andParts 2 and 3 are offered only once a year, in June. The exam is also, as ofnow, not computer based, but pencil and paper.
The three parts of the CFA Exam do not test subject matter separately, as the CPAand CMA generally do. The CFA builds each exam on the last covering many of thesame subjects just at broader and deeper levels. The following shows subjectmatter for each of the three parts of the CFA exam as an approximate percent ofthat exam total.
Subject Matter (Lv1%/Lv2%/Lv3%)
- Ethical and Professional Standards (15/10/10)
- Quantitative Methods (12/5+/0)
- Economics (10/5+/0)
- Financial Reporting and Analysis (20/5+/0)
- Corporate Finance (8/5+/0)
- Equity Investments (10/20/5+)
- Fixed Income (12/5+/10+)
- Derivatives (5/5+/5+)
- Alternative Investments (3/5+/5+)
- Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning (5/5+/45+)
Because of the test structure, offering (the exam is only offered in English), and thedifficulty of the subject matter and the exam itself, passing rates for the CFAare the lowest of any of the major professional certifications. CFAs who’vecompleted the process often boast as to how low pass rates were in theirspecific class. Level 1 routinely has the lowest pass rate at 34-42% (June 2012was 38%) as many candidates get weeded out at this point. From there, passrates improve. June 2012 pass rates were 42% for Level 2 and 52% for Level 3.
Education requirements for the CFA Exam are similar to that of the CMA in that theyrequire only a bachelor’s degree. In face, you can actually satisfy thiseducation requirement even if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree with fouryears of professional (investment related or not) experience. This might behelpful for those students who have a college degree but not from an accrediteduniversity.
Just as with other credentials, there is also an experience requirement to get yourCFA. However, instead of two years like the CPA and CMA, the CFA requires fouryears. On top of that the experience must “add value to the investment decisionmaking process.” Which excludes a lot of typical accounting and finance roles.
In 2011 there were 5,742 charters awarded globally with about half of those comingfrom the US and Canada. Just as with the CMA, the CFA charter is currentlyexperiencing significant growth in Asia and the Middle East. As of March 2012there were about 107,000 members of the CFA Institute from 138 countries aroundthe world, including 98,000 CFA charter holders.
Summary
I did not cover the specifics of the cost of each exam above because generallythe costs fluctuate more than the process and exam content and the costs betweenall three exam processes are relatively similar. I tell any candidate who isworried about spending $2,000 on a certification (provided their employer isnot paying) that spending the money is the least of their expenditures. Themajor expenditure is their time. If they value their time at just $10 per hour,conservatively speaking, then an examination process is likely to cost themupwards of $10,000 just for their time.
All in all, each of these exams covers relatively unique content and serves a specificpurpose. Each one is geared toward a different type of professional, althoughmany who earn them span across these different areas. Each credential providesvalue for the amount of time and money it takes to earn them. In my opinion,the CMA is the easiest to earn and the CFA is the most difficult.
Although many will argue that the CFA provides the most value to a candidate and theCMA, due to its relative lack of market penetration, provides the least; I feelthat each has a place and that earning any of these is a very good investmentin your career. Your time and money will rarely find such good opportunities torealize these kind of large returns in life. Working on getting one, two, orall three of these credentials is something I recommend to all youngprofessionals. You just need to have the drive and large amount of disciplineto study and put in the effort and you will come out successful.
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发表于 2013-10-24 14:01:11
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