15 July 2020
10 minute read
This month’s edition is all about the different courses you can pursue alongside your graduation. These Courses could be a highway to your dream job. Courses like FRM, CFA, Actuarial Science etc are a way to make you job-ready for your career. These courses not only add to your job-specific skills but can help you gain that extra edge over the others. Want to sync your passion with your career? This could be your first step towards making that true! Move forward and read the first edition of Corporate Catena to find the answer to all your queries & doubts about these courses!
CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) is a globally recognized credential in the field of Financial Management and Investment Management, provided by the CFA Institute. The program has an in-depth focus on financial modelling, portfolio management, and other investment-related areas.
•Introduction to asset classes- Equity, Fixed Income, Alternatives etc.
•Higher dive into valuation of assets- like Equity- Fixed Income- Derivatives
•Introduction to Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning
To be eligible to apply for The CFA Program, candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree, or be in the final year of your bachelor’s degree program (or have four years of qualified professional work experience.)
1. What is the exam fees for all three levels?
Ans.Early Registration Fee- USD 700 for 8 Months
Standard Registration Fee- USD 1000 for 4 Months
Late Registration Fee- USD 1450 for 3 Months
2. How is CFA different from CA?
Ans. • The focus area of CA is Auditing, Accountancy, and Taxation whereas the focus area of the CFA Program is Investment Banking, Equity Research, Investment, etc.
•Candidate can start preparing for the CA right after the 12th standard whereas a candidate can start pursuing CFA only after graduation.
References:
Candidates can opt the course from:
Financial modelling is the task of building an abstract representation of a real world financial situation. This is a mathematical model designed to represent the performance of a financial asset or portfolio of a business, project, or any other investment. It is a core skill that is almost mandatory for anyone who wants to build a career in finance.
There is no minimum qualification required to pursue the Financial modeling course. Professionals with Financial Modeling skills working in Equity Research, Investment Banking, Credit Ranking Analysis, Financial Analysis, Business Analysis, Project Finance, or Fund Management have an advantageous edge over others.
There are many sites offering this course:
1. Who builds financial models?
There are many professions and career paths that require financial modelling. Here are some of the most common ones:
Ques: How will Financial Modelling help you in your career?
The financial modelling program doesn’t require the candidate to have a commerce background. As long as the candidate wants to understand decision making which may be in the form of project finance, or equity research or any other field where decision making comes in handy.
Ques: How does Financial Modelling help in Investment Banking Jobs?
As we have seen, Financial Modeling also helps investors to find companies where they can invest for better returns. Usually, the Investment Banks also end up helping/advising their clients on how to manage their financial assets.
Financial Modeling assists investment bankers to do the valuation of the companies. If you want to get into Investment Banking, then Financial Modeling has proven to be a pre-requisite.
Ques: Few courses that you can look up if you want to learn Finacial Modeling as a skill?
Actuarial Science is the study of application that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk management in insurance, finance and other industries. It deals with evaluating risks and maintaining the economic stability of insurance or financial organizations.
Actuaries analyze the financial costs of risk and uncertainty. They use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to assess the risk of potential events, and they help businesses and clients develop policies that minimize the cost of that risk. Actuaries’ work is essential to the insurance industry.
Anyone who has passed 12th grade.
1. What is the exam fee for Actuarial Science from different Institutions?
Ans. •SOA – The initial exams P and FM start from around Rs. 17000/- each for computer-based and Rs. 14500/- for pen and paper based.
•IFOA – The initial exams CM and CS series start from around Rs. 17000/- for pen and paper based exam.
•IAI – The initial exams CM and CS series start from around Rs. 5000 for pen and paper based exam.
2. What is the passing rate of these institutes?
The passing rates of both SOA and IFOA are same, which is 40-50%. Whereas, the passing rate of IAI is quite less than this, which is 20%-30%.
It takes nearly about 1.5 to 2 years to clear Part 1 and Part 2 of FRM Exams. Exams are conducted twice a year in May and November. The approximate cost of two exams is 60,000 (USD 1000) and tuition fee is 50,000.
Chartered Accountant is a designation given to an accounting professional who has received certification from a statutory body that he/she is qualified to take care of the matters related accounting and taxation of a business, like file tax returns, audit financial statements and business practices, maintaining records of investments, preparing and reviewing financial reports and documents. A Chartered Accountant is also qualified to offer advisory services to clients which include companies and individuals.
In India, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), conducts CA exams and certify a candidate as a qualified Chartered Accountant on successful completion of the three-level course.
For direct entry to Intermediate course, the candidate must be:
Commerce Graduates/Post-Graduates (with minimum 55% marks) or Other Graduates/Post-Graduates (with minimum 60% marks) from a recognized university (including Open University).
Ques: How do you get a rank in IPCC/ Intermediate group? And is there any relaxation when you appear for both the groups together?
Intermediate/IPCC paper is divided into two groups, Inter 1 and Inter 2. Each group consists of 4 papers. A candidate can either appear for both the groups at once or first clear Inter 1 and then appear for Inter 2. However, if they want to be eligible for rank, they must give both the groups together. Moreover, there are certain relaxations on the passing score when you appear for both the groups together. If you appear for the groups individually, you have to score 200 in group 1 and 150 in group 2. But if you appear for both the group’s at once, you will have to score a total of 350 in both the groups. This means, if you score 230 in group 1 and 120 in group 2, the total comes up to be 350, hence you will pass the exam. However, when you appear individually, there is no layoff or carry forward of marks.
Ques: What is the direct entry option? Who all can opt for it?
Direct entry option allows a graduate to skip CA Foundation exam and directly be eligible for IPCC group 1 and 2. Any commerce graduate or post-graduate with 55% marks or any graduate from any other stream with 60% marks, can opt for this option. To be eligible for the exam, apart from holding the degree, the candidate must have completed 9 months of articleship and taken 4 weeks of ICITSS (Orientation course and Information Technology). Candidates who have passed the Intermediate level of Institute of Companies Secretaries of India or Institute of Cost Accountants of India can also exercise this option. But, they only have to go through only 8 months of articleship.
Ques: What are the career opportunities after CA?
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) institute.As a globally recognized education and updated/Industry relevant content, ACCA qualification is a great way to build a career in Accounts and finance. Students can pursue this along with their graduation. Its flexible examination scheme makes this qualification more attractive.
To qualify as an ACCA member, a candidate will be required to do the following:
ACCA has a flexible study approach and you can take their computer based test at any of their ACCA’s Authorized Computer Based exam centres.
Ques: What are the entry requirements for the ACCA Qualification?
To enrol onto the ACCA Qualification at Fundamentals level you need a relevant secondary school education covering five separate subjects, which must include English and maths.
Ques: How quickly can I complete the ACCA Qualification?
From 2016, ACCA will run four exam sessions per year. Students can sit a maximum of four exams at each exam session, and a maximum of eight distinct exams each calendar year. You could, therefore, complete all of the exams in 2 years.
However, as you also need three years’ of practical work experience before you can become an ACCA member and be considered a qualified accountant, the qualification takes a minimum of 3 years to complete.
Ques: What exams do I have to take to complete the Foundations level?
The Foundations level exams and awards are detailed below:
To achieve this award you need to complete all of the above exams and two of the following exams:
Ques: How is ACCA different from CA?
The main difference is that its passing percentage is somewhat higher than CA and in ACCA you can give the papers one by one instead of studying for all the exams at once.
Data science is a blend of mathematics, business acumen, tools, algorithms and machine learning techniques, all of which help us in finding out the hidden insights or patterns from raw data which can be of major use in the formation of big business decisions. With the amount of data that is being generated and the evolution in the field of Analytics, Data Science has turned out to be a necessity for companies. This field is such that anyone from any background can make a career as a Data Scientist.
Ques. How Data Science differs from Big Data and Data Analytics?
Data Science is a field containing tools and algorithms for gaining insights from raw data and includes data related tasks, whereas Big Data implies an enormous amount of data that can be filtered using various channels and Data Analytics is the field for providing insights as well as deals with the prediction of future.
Ques. How do Data Scientists use statistics?
Statistics is one of the most important disciplines to provide tools and methods to find structure in and to give deeper insight into data. It serves a great impact on data acquisition, exploration, analysis, validation, etc.
Ques. What is the average salary of a data scientist?
A report by AIM had found out that the average salary for a data scientist in India is ₹12.7 lakh p.a. in 2018, which has levelled off with the average salary of ₹12.6 lakh p.a. across all experience levels in 2019.