[Twixboy]

Looking for some career advice here in Boston. I have my CPA, 5 years of public accounting experience in audit/attest and 2 years in the corporate world as an accounting manager. I’m now offered a position as accounting manager in an investment management firm. My current company is the Parent company of several investment management firms. Since I am in corporate, I only see the traditional financial side of things. I prepare all the monthly and quarterly financial reporting for our CFO and Board, review journal entries booked by our staff accountants, authorize payables to be paid, review fixed assets and depreciation, prepare corporate tax forms, etc. My career goal is to rise to the Controller level or possibly higher, but I’m not thinking that far yet.

In this new role I will have the same title as I currently have, but now I will see things from the client accounting side. Responsibilities will include preparation of quarterly client financials, calculation of management fees and rates of return, monitor cash levels, reconcile various G/L accounts, prepare tax workpapers and calculate the NAV for various funds on a monthly basis.

We all know fund accounting is a career path that no CPA should enter unless they want to go into a downward spiral. Since I am past the “Fund Accountant I” stage do you guys think it’s okay to take this accounting manager role? It seems like most Controller positions for investment management firms require both Corporate and Client accounting knowledge. I want to broaden my experience a little because I currently only have experience on the Corporate side. Will taking this position open up more career opportunities in 1-2 years?

[Twixboy]

Also would like to add I am currently earning about $92k/yr which includes my “expected/average” bonus. The pay for the new position would be similar, so I'm not doing this for a pay raise. I would only take the position if it broadens my experience and opens up more career opportunities in the future.

[Twixboy]

Also would like to add I am currently earning about $92k/yr which includes my “expected/average” bonus. The pay for the new position would be similar, so I'm not doing this for a pay raise. I would only take the position if it broadens my experience and opens up more career opportunities in the future.

[PurpleK]

Not sure where you heard that working as a fund accountant is a poor career choice… I would actually argue the opposite for the most part.

From my own personal experience and the experience of all my former ex-Big 4 colleagues that went to go work at hedge funds, most of us left after 3 years to become fund accountants or assistant controllers. Depending on the size of the fund and the size of the back office, some have even become controllers after 2 years. All of us are making significantly more than our counterparts that stayed in public accounting (averaging 150k+ including bonus).

As for broadening your horizons, not sure where on the investment management spectrum you fall, from mutual funds (corporate/RIC reporting) to hedge (partnership accounting). If you are considering the partnership side, partnership accounting is very different from corporate accounting – and if you are doing hedge, the complexities increase especially when it comes to taxes (wash sales, straddles, contributed securities, tax allocations) and equity allocations (high water marks, hurdle rates, carry allocations, waived management fees).

Not sure if your role will encompass due diligence and SEC compliance. Learning about compliance (ERISA reporting, new issue, filling out Form ADV, Form PF, FATCA, MFN, Blue Sky) is extremely important for when you become a controller and if you aspire to be a CFO/CCO.

However, it is important to note that your success is somewhat dependent on the success of your portfolio managers, which is unfortunately out of your hands. Nevertheless, the experience you can get working in asset management is applicable across the entire industry and is very highly sought after by large institutional funds as well as start up funds.

[PurpleK]

Not sure where you heard that working as a fund accountant is a poor career choice… I would actually argue the opposite for the most part.

From my own personal experience and the experience of all my former ex-Big 4 colleagues that went to go work at hedge funds, most of us left after 3 years to become fund accountants or assistant controllers. Depending on the size of the fund and the size of the back office, some have even become controllers after 2 years. All of us are making significantly more than our counterparts that stayed in public accounting (averaging 150k+ including bonus).

As for broadening your horizons, not sure where on the investment management spectrum you fall, from mutual funds (corporate/RIC reporting) to hedge (partnership accounting). If you are considering the partnership side, partnership accounting is very different from corporate accounting – and if you are doing hedge, the complexities increase especially when it comes to taxes (wash sales, straddles, contributed securities, tax allocations) and equity allocations (high water marks, hurdle rates, carry allocations, waived management fees).

Not sure if your role will encompass due diligence and SEC compliance. Learning about compliance (ERISA reporting, new issue, filling out Form ADV, Form PF, FATCA, MFN, Blue Sky) is extremely important for when you become a controller and if you aspire to be a CFO/CCO.

However, it is important to note that your success is somewhat dependent on the success of your portfolio managers, which is unfortunately out of your hands. Nevertheless, the experience you can get working in asset management is applicable across the entire industry and is very highly sought after by large institutional funds as well as start up funds.

[Anonymous]

My experience has been very different from PurpleK. I jumped from Fund accounting to Corporate accounting, back to Fund accounting back to Corporate accounting and am now sitting as an Assistant Controller on the Corporate side of a financial services company. It's been a lot like two completely different careers for me.

When I moved from Fund Accounting to Corporate, my new boss asked me if I knew what a debit and a credit were. There was very little respect for Fund accountants and I had to prove that I could do “real” accounting.

I moved back to Fund accounting as a supervisor and the Fund accounting group was less than enthusiastic because they weren't sure I knew what was required for Fund reporting. It was like I had abandoned the club and was trying to get back in.

Now that I'm back in Corporate accounting, the CFO likes that I have knowledge of both side but first and foremost he cares about my Corporate experience because when push comes to shove, that's what I do, and the Operations group does the Fund Accounting.

[Anonymous]

My experience has been very different from PurpleK. I jumped from Fund accounting to Corporate accounting, back to Fund accounting back to Corporate accounting and am now sitting as an Assistant Controller on the Corporate side of a financial services company. It's been a lot like two completely different careers for me.

When I moved from Fund Accounting to Corporate, my new boss asked me if I knew what a debit and a credit were. There was very little respect for Fund accountants and I had to prove that I could do “real” accounting.

I moved back to Fund accounting as a supervisor and the Fund accounting group was less than enthusiastic because they weren't sure I knew what was required for Fund reporting. It was like I had abandoned the club and was trying to get back in.

Now that I'm back in Corporate accounting, the CFO likes that I have knowledge of both side but first and foremost he cares about my Corporate experience because when push comes to shove, that's what I do, and the Operations group does the Fund Accounting.

[Author]

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