CFA and CPA are two professional courses popular among business professionals, but due to dynamics of supply and demand, one is better than the other. This article will inform students intending to pursue either of the courses about the merits and demerits of pursuing CPA or CFA.
Certified Public Accountants is ideal professional certification for acountants.It is a trending professional course year after year since it covers all sections of accounting profession. The course can be pursued by even those who didn’t perform very well in high school. If you scored less than c+ in high school, you can be allowed to study the course, but at Technical level (ATC).
One of the main advantages of studying CPA over CFA is that you have minimal chance of failing your exams. In fact, if you study well, you can be able to complete all the three levels in one and half years. This is amazing.
Again, you can pursue CPA alongside your degree, which is not the case for CFA.
Besides the advantages we have listed above, CPA has so many shortcomings, which many employers won’t reveal to you.One thing they can’t tell you is that you may fail to secure employment outside your country with just a CPA certificate since it’s not recognized in other countries.
When it comes to CFA, which is a mother of all professional courses, the program is extremely marketable. The moment you pass Level 1, employers will start looking for you. The course is simply a darling of all employers in finance world.
Regardless of the country you pursue the course from,you can apply for employment with CFA certificate in another country and easily secure employment.
Chartered Financial Analyst course is most ideal for individuals who intend to work at investment and finance fields. If you are enthusiastic about statistics, financial projections, stock market analysis, financial statements analysis, then don’t hesitate to register for this course.
The salary for CFA holders is 4 times that of CPA holders. To make it more interesting, if you possess CPA certificate and unfortunately meet at the interview with someone with CFA, you better not attend that interviews-CFA holder will simply beat you.
Apart from CFA being a hot cake, it’s very hard to complete the whole course. Statistics show that it takes most of the students at least 7 years to complete the course while CPA can take at most 3 years.
Another demerit of CFA is that it’s more expensive than CPA.You need at least $3,000 to complete the whole course while CPA require at most $50.
The last demerit of CFA is that you can’t do the course anyhow; you must be at least in your final year at college or at least completed a degree course.
