Are these results valid for life?

G

Going_for_CFA_a

New member
Joined
Jun 18, 2026
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
I’m 25 and in the position of having cleared all three levels but do not currently work, although I am applying for finance jobs where the experience would finally earn me the charter.
I have 2 years experience as an auditor with the Big 4 and focused on audits of investment funds. I don’t know if this is relevant for earning the charter, there were some pretty strange derivatives involved, maybe I’ll submit this experience later when applying for it - but for now I’ll assume it has no value with respect to obtaining charterholder status.
Also, I am considering doing other things in life (such as franchising / setting up a small business) and if this were to materialize, I’d be away from the industry for a while (and maybe forever).
Basically, I’d take a job that ‘that involves investment decision making’ if it felt right for me …. but I don’t feel any urgency to become chartered, and its not my priority right now. However, I don’t want my efforts to go to waste either, and as it’s only a matter of finding a job and working for 4 years …. why not go all the way?
I guess I just wanna explore other areas of life first. Please advise, thanks.
 
That is my question also. I am 24, working in the telco industry, do something like supply chain management. I always want to do investment job, but my current job is ok, and my boss is very nice to me. So can u advise if my 4 years experience does not come so soon, will the result after so much hard word still valid?
 
Does anyone know how old your workexperience can be to be valid.so if you work in equity research 5 years ago will that be valid.
 
I have asked CFAI this question before.
Yes, the results are good for ever and ever amen. Even if it takes you 100 years to get the work experience, your test results never “fall off” like the CPA exam.
You never have to take another CFA exam again.
 
autumngrass wrote:
That is my question also. I am 24, working in the telco industry, do something like supply chain management. I always want to do investment job, but my current job is ok, and my boss is very nice to me. So can u advise if my 4 years experience does not come so soon, will the result after so much hard word still valid?
Click to expand...
having worked at multiple banks and done my share at a corporate as a business analyst, i can tell you now you need to get out of scm. i spent a considerable amount of time with the scm group of a large mnc and your best bet is to get into procurement on the commodities side, supply chain finance, or get into a more front office strategy role (sometimes they call up on people with the logistics background).
 
Hi Yabbadabbadoo,
Thank you for your advise. My current job description is:
  • Routing management: Recommend and execute routing changes for international traffic based on quality, cost, capacity and traffic arrangements; ensure daily traffic is routed optimally, accurately and promptly
  • Traffic monitoring: Monitor quality degradation for all route classes, looping and spam traffic, and identify unusual surges and dips in traffic
  • Keep track of margin and revenue pattern in order to achieve maximum profit
  • Crisis Management: Ensure circuit outages are worked on immediately and re-routing done in consultation with the Carrier Account Managers and Technical Manager
  • Plan advance routing to cater for festive periods and special promotions
  • Identify issues, obtain relevant information, relate & compare data from different sources, & generate alternative solutions
  • Develop & maintain effective relationships to achieve the goals of the work

Does it sound like totally unrelated to finance? Can it have chance of catching the eye of any recruiter? I guess I should aim at operations first.
 
autumngrass wrote:
Hi Yabbadabbadoo,
Thank you for your advise. My current job description is:
  • Routing management: Recommend and execute routing changes for international traffic based on quality, cost, capacity and traffic arrangements; ensure daily traffic is routed optimally, accurately and promptly
  • Traffic monitoring: Monitor quality degradation for all route classes, looping and spam traffic, and identify unusual surges and dips in traffic
  • Keep track of margin and revenue pattern in order to achieve maximum profit
  • Crisis Management: Ensure circuit outages are worked on immediately and re-routing done in consultation with the Carrier Account Managers and Technical Manager
  • Plan advance routing to cater for festive periods and special promotions
  • Identify issues, obtain relevant information, relate & compare data from different sources, & generate alternative solutions
  • Develop & maintain effective relationships to achieve the goals of the work

Does it sound like totally unrelated to finance? Can it have chance of catching the eye of any recruiter? I guess I should aim at operations first.
Click to expand...
Is it totally unrelated to finance? No but is it unrelated in terms of work experience CFA requires, yes.
Your job sounds more related to logistics and delivery, which in my limited experience in SCM means the very tail end of the supply chain. Back when I was a BA, I was working with the procurement & production and those guys worked closely with the sales team (demand planning) so there were opportunities to go more “front office” since you worked with the sales & marketing teams. Another route as I mentioned would be to align yourself with raw materials procurement which required negotiating contracts with your vendors and there were some aspects of risk management in that.
If you really want to get into finance, seems like you’ll have to take a bigger leap than a small step since what you’re doing now is so far from it. I would check your internal job postings at your company and see what “front office” roles would let you leverage off your sc background. You are not going to get into an internal finance (cfo/treasury role) but you might be able to get into the product finance side. Few years there and then make a 2nd move more towards the treasury role. But at any corporate, the only area that will offer “investment” experience that qualifies for CFA would most likely be treasury, corp dev/strategy or investor relations.
 
My company is a very small wholesales company with less than 10 ppl. The finance department here mainly do invoice, try to collect payment from customers and delay payments to suppliers. So I guess I have to start fresh with a finance company.
The notice period is 2 months which I think will be a big constrain for my application for any new job. I have been thinking hard every day since the result whether I should resign and start applying for my dream job. But I’m also scared of unemployment for a long time. My current job is not so high pay, but still enough to live on. My boss is supportive. If I can wait till end of year can get 13 month. If can wait till next year apr or may I can get at least 2 month bonus if things continue well like past 7 months. I have been weighting pros and cons and cannot make decision yet. Can anyone give advice? Thanks a lot.
 
autumngrass, why not try to apply some entry-level buy/sell side equity research analyst positions covering logistic or trading type companies. I believe your industrial insight + CFA knowledge would be able to earn you a position quite easily.
 
Going_for_CFA_and_ACCA wrote:
I’m 25 and in the position of having cleared all three levels but do not currently work, although I am applying for finance jobs where the experience would finally earn me the charter.
I have 2 years experience as an auditor with the Big 4 and focused on audits of investment funds. I don’t know if this is relevant for earning the charter, there were some pretty strange derivatives involved, maybe I’ll submit this experience later when applying for it - but for now I’ll assume it has no value with respect to obtaining charterholder status.
Also, I am considering doing other things in life (such as franchising / setting up a small business) and if this were to materialize, I’d be away from the industry for a while (and maybe forever).
Basically, I’d take a job that ‘that involves investment decision making’ if it felt right for me …. but I don’t feel any urgency to become chartered, and its not my priority right now. However, I don’t want my efforts to go to waste either, and as it’s only a matter of finding a job and working for 4 years …. why not go all the way?
I guess I just wanna explore other areas of life first. Please advise, thanks.
Click to expand...
I think your work experience can count toward the CFA program, as long as you can find someone at work to be your reference, you will be fine!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top