Is there any value for the CFA in consulting?

Question

With applications coming up soon, I thought I might ask this question. I'm currently attending a master in management at a target university in Europe. I have passed CFA L2 recently. Reconciling past and future, I sat for the exams to secure my career choices, given how well regarded the CFA is.

However, as I'm becoming more inclined to go for consulting, I am confused whether I've made the right decision to sit for those exams, in retrospect. Is it valued? Could it be leveraged for skills on the job?

Again, my university is target and has a proven track record with MBB & tier-2. I have previous experience but in equity research.

Happy to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi,

I am sure you had good reasons to invest the time & effort to get the CFA certification. Why doubt it now? Don't fall to peer pressure or some other external reasoning. You must trust your plan, efforts and stick to it.

Unless you end up in Corporate Finance consulting or Enterprise value consulting type roles, CFA wont add much weight.

But CFA is not an easy to get certification and there are plenty of skills you can bring to the table regardless whether you use it directly or not. So, its not wasted effort in my view. If you tell a good story about the skills you can bring, nothing is wasted!

Answer 2

Hi there,

The CFA is a nice-to-have in the CV but is not required to land into consulting. I would not recommend to do it just to improve your CV (you can get better results with networking and getting a referral), but if you have it already, definitely include it in the CV.

In terms of the job, it may be helpful for projects with a high focus on financial analysis given the topics it covers, in particular if you would have started without any business background otherwise.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 3

No - There is not much value of CFA skills in consulting. Most financial modelling in consulting is common sense, and quite far off from being accurate or precise.

Yes - Having a CFA will put you in a higher regard as a barometer of your intelligence.

No - Equity research is not the best track for transition into consulting. Your skillset is limited to problem solving and insight generation. Communication, teaming, and leadership are important qualities relevant to consulting as well.

Yes - Preparing well for cases and making sure you position your profile correctly will help you

Answer 4

Hello,

I would say that it is a nice-to-have, but not required (or specifically sought for). It will provide a clear barometer of your quantitative skills and financial knowledge, and might be an advantage if you are looking to interview for PE/finance consulting roles (or companies that do a lot of work in those fields). However, it is not required and generally entry-level associates will not have the CFA qualification. It is not particularly applicable for the job.

So it certainly won't hurt your application, but is also unlikely to hugely help it, unless you are going for specific finance consulting roles. It will probably not be the most useful thing in terms of skills you'll be able to leverage for the job.

Answer 5

Hi there,

If you have a CFA, then you should add it to your resume (it does add some value).

Having a CFA is not going to particularly benefit fit you on the job itself though.

(For other candidates considering a CFA) I would not recommend getting a CFA for the purposes of consulting recruiting/job as the time-value benefit just isn't there.

Answer 6

Some of the answers given here are very misleading!!! There are many concepts taught in the CFA that are applied in mgt consulting e.g. Time value of Money, Financial Statement Analysis, portfolio management, and Economics. And management consultants are usually also involved in M&A and IPOs. So obviously having an understanding of capital markets and portfolio management is a must for anyone in a top mgt firm. But don't take my word for it, just check on the Linkedin pages of Mckinesy, and Bane and see how many of their guys have CFAs. You can even go the extra mile and reach out to them and ask them if its relevant to their line of work.

Answer 7

Not a differentiator for your profile and not required at all.

It is more of “personal investment” for yourself as you might need some of what you learned on some projects but you can always learn on the job..

Good luck!!

Answer 8

Hi!

It is nice to have and it might also give you a spike in more finance-related context as well as - potentially - show you as a valuable addition to e.g. Corporate Finance practice.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Anto

Answer 9

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