Just wondering if someone could point me in the right direction.
To give some background I'm currently (and have been for a while) working as an Excel Developer/Analyst.
I'd like to get into role as Financial Analyst but most every advert I've seen says something along the lines of
'Part Qualified with excellent Excel skills'
Now while I have one I'm a little short on the other (I've working in a few Finance departments and have a degree in Business & Finance but that was a looong time ago)
Could someone give me some pointers into the easiest/best method to becoming Part Qualified that may also be useful if I continue on in a career as a Finalcial Analyst (but to be honest it wold be mostly about getting a foot in the door)?
Sorry, but I think that you are looking at these roles from the wrong perspective. Companies are looking for financial people that have strong Excel skills (i.e. be able to knock up pivot tables without thinking about it).
When they talk about part qualified they are talking about either ACCA or CIMA.
CIMA is more geared towards the financial analyst side but ACCA (which is more financial accountancy biased) also incorporates everything that is in the CIMA sylabus.
Where companies talk about part qualified they are also not talking about having just signed up with them. From the ACCA perspective they will be looking for people who have passed at least parts 1 and 2 (first 9 papers).
You may be able to get some exemptions from the first three ACCA papers due to your degree but to be honest if I were you I would still take the papers as they lay the foundations for what comes next.
You can take a maximum of 4 papers in any one sitting. There are two sittings per year.
Only if you were able to study full time should you contemplate more than 2 papers in any sitting and assume that you will fail some of the exams.
Passing levels 1 and 2 with the ACCA is the equivalent of passing a BSc. It incorporates papers on Corporate law, financial accountancy, Audit, Management Accountancy, Performance Management, Accounting theory, etc.
The good news is that it's not too difficult to sign up with either of these bodies. The bad news is that you are looking at 3 to 5 years to get through the first two levels plus another couple of years to pass the professional level papers.
I do understand where you are coming from. I went down this path back in 2004 when after many years freelance I took a permanent analyst role with one of the major banks.
If you want to get on in that world you need either ACCA or CIMA qualifications.
I am now a freelance financial analyst / consultant and I can say categorically that Excel knowledge to expert level is assumed knowledge for these roles. (As is SSADM, UML, MS Word, Visio and Powerpoint).
Note that when you are working in finance always assume that the version of Excel that you will be working with will be 2003 (and windows XP) as Excel 2007/10 has not yet been widely adopted. And the number of complex Macro's out there in finance departments that would need to be rewritten I think that it will be a long time before the larger companies do bite the bullit on that one.
My Advice would be to study ACCA or CIMA whilst continuing in your current roles with a view to devoping into a financial analysis role. Note though that these routes are not cheap. Over the duration of your studies if you self teach rather than going through a training provider expect this to cost around £3500 in training materials, exam fee's and student membership fee's. If you use a training provider at least double that figure.
Also note that as with any qualification, passing it is still no guarantee of finding employment!
Good luck with your studies and hope to hear lots more from you concerning your progress over the coming years.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
You've pretty much confirmed what I thought about the phrase 'Part Qualified'.
I guess my problem is that although I'm an Excel Power User, because it's not certified I've basically got no where else to go without a career change.
I do wish Microsoft would give VBA (or VSTO) the credit it deserves and makes skills quantifable
