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if you're working in accounting or
planning to you've probably heard there
are a lot of different certifications
that you could obtain it can be
confusing so in this video I'm going to
discuss the most common types of
certifications and why you might obtain
them to make things easier I put the
certifications into five categories
there are certifications related to
public accounting management accounting
auditing forensic accounting and
investing in financial planning let's
start with public accounting most
countries have some type of license or
certification for public accountants in
the United States this is the CPA which
stands for certified public accountant
the CPA is a professional license you
obtain after passing a four-part exam
and obtaining work experience and
accounting becoming a CPA allows you to
do certain things that a non-cpa can't
do like start a CPA firm or sign an
audit opinion the CPA is the most highly
regarded accounting credential in the US
and if you want to pursue a career in
public accounting your employer almost
certainly will want you to be become a
CPA while someone outside the U.S can
technically become a CPA most people
outside the U.S would pursue a chartered
accountant designation in their own
country if they want to work in public
accounting to name just a few examples
India Indonesia South Africa and
Australia and New Zealand all have a
chartered accountant designation in
Canada you can become a chartered
professional accountant and in the UK
you can become an associate chartered
accountant there's also a public
accounting credential that's not
specific to any one country and that's
the Acca the Acca is awarded by an
organization that's based in the United
Kingdom but it's actually a global
credential the acca's exams are offered
by the Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants and topics include
financial and managerial accounting
audit and Assurance taxation financial
management and business analysis
business law corporate governance and
ethics but what if you don't want to
work in public accounting and would
prefer to work in private industry in
that case you might be interested in
becoming a CMA or a cgma
CMA stands for Certified Management
accountant the CMA isn't a professional
license like becoming a CPA or a CA it's
a global credential that's offered by
The Institute of Management accountants
you can obtain the CMA credential by
passing a two-part exam part one covers
topics that are commonly covered in
managerial accounting and financial
accounting courses and part two covers
topics that are usually covered in a
corporate finance or Investments course
the CMA has been around for decades but
in 2012 it got some competition the
aicpa which is the organization in the
US that makes the CPA exam in the Cima
which is Europe's largest Association of
management accountants partnered to
create the cgma cgma stands for
chartered Global Management accountant
and because it's relatively new it
doesn't have the same reputation as the
CMA plus when the cgma was first created
the aicpa allowed its current members to
purchase the cgma designation for a fee
thus some of the people who have the
cgma credential didn't actually do
anything to get it which devalued the
credential a bit but enough about
management accounting let's move on to
auditing if you want to position
yourself as a specialist in auditing you
could become a CIA cisa or cissp CIA
stands for certified internal auditor to
obtain the CIA you need to pass an exam
administered by The Institute for
internal Auditors you'll also need to
obtain work experience in auditing or a
related area
cisa stands for certified Information
Systems auditor this credential is
geared toward it Auditors you'll need to
pass an exam and get work experience and
information systems auditing control or
security
cissp stands for certified Information
Systems security professional this
credential is for people interested in
cyber security with the increased focus
on technology at accounting firms
credentials like the cissp and the cisa
might become increasingly important in
the future now if you're interested in
fraud examinations of forensic
accounting you can become a CFE which
stands for certified fraud Examiner to
become a CFE you have to pass an exam
administered by the Association of
certified fraud examiners and you have
to have at least two years of fraud
related experience
finally if you're interested in helping
clients with investing decisions and
financial planning you could become a
CFA or a cfp I don't personally see
these as accounting certifications but
there are some accountants who hold
these designations so you might be
interested
CFA stands for Certified Financial
Analyst and it's awarded by the CFA
Institute this is the designation you'd
pursue if you want to manage an
Investment Portfolio bear in mind that
you're going to need to learn a lot of
Finance if you want to become a CFA the
exams have a reputation for being very
difficult
cfp on the other hand stands for
certified financial planner and people
sometimes confuse the cfp with the CFA
but these are two very different
credentials the CFA exam focuses on
investment management whereas the cfp
exam covers a broad range of topics
related to financial planning thus a CFA
is more likely to work for a large
institution perhaps managing a portfolio
or working as an analyst a cfp will be
more likely to work with individuals
perhaps helping them set up a college
savings fund to save for retirement or
engage in tax and estate planning so
which certifications are right for you
well it depends on your career goals if
you want a career with a large public
accounting firm in the U.S you need to
become a CPA if you're already working a
public accounting and you want to switch
to working in Private Industry you might
consider becoming a CMA if you're
pursuing a career in internal auditing
you might become a CIA
and if you simply like having lots of
letters after your last name you can try
and get every single certification I'll
put links in the description section
below so you can learn more about how to
obtain each of these credentials
