Accounting & Commerce

Step 1: Gather all the knowledge you can about the programme. (Don't worry I am not going to make you work so hard I will tell you all about it.)
Eligibility: The very first thing that you need to know is that whether you are eligible to take the exams or not. To be eligible for the exams you must:
Have an international travel passport and
An undergraduate education: A Bachelors (or equivalent) degree. You can be in your final year too while registering for the exam. Or
Work experience: Four years of professional work experience. Or
A combination of both: Education and professional work experience that meets the minimum of 4 years. (Part time jobs and positions do not qualify). EXAMS: There are three levels of exams namely, level 1 level 2 and level 3. Level I CFA It focuses on Investment Tools whose learning focus lies on knowledge and comprehension. It consists of 240 multiple choice questions split among 3 hour sessions. It has no negative marking for an incorrect answer. It takes place twice a year in June and December. Level II CFA It focuses on Asset Valuation whose learning focus lies on application and analysis. It consists of 120 multiple choice questions with no negative markings. It takes place in June
Level III CFA It focuses on Portfolio Management whose learning focus lies on synthesis and evaluation. : It consists of 8-12 essay type questions that are conducted in the morning and 10 multiple choice questions that are conducted in the afternoon. The candidate is to appear for both. It takes place in June. Jobs that you can go for: It is very important to know what the end result of this certification is. It bags one of the best jobs in the world. It gives you designations such as:
Portfolio Manager
Research Analyst
Chief Level Executive
Consultant
Financial Advisory
Corporate Financial Analyst
Risk manager
Relationship Manager
Step 2: Be ready to take the exams in English. Step 3: Become a member of the CFA Institute. Enroll yourself for the CFA programme by paying a one-time enrolment fee of US $450 (INR: 28,309.70). Step 4: You have to pay a fee when you register yourself for the first level of exams. It is always better to register yourself well in time for the examinations. Keep yourself updated on the CFA Exam Dates.

To enroll for the CFA programme and register for your first level of exam, you must have one of the following criteria:
Education: A Bachelor's degree or be in final year of any Bachelor's degree is needed to pass all the levels of CFA Exam. Work Experience: Four years of Professional work experience
Now the question is what kind professionals can become CFA. What kind of work experience is required to get the CFA institute membership is the main concern in your mind right now. As per CFA institute, there are limited professionals who can become CFA:
You have at least 4 years (48 months) of experience in the field of investment
Any type of decision-making process; supervising persons who conduct such activities; or teaching such activities related to investment will be eligible for CFA membership
Operations in big investment banks, deals with processing of the trades and record it in Accounting Systems will be eligible as well
As per CFA institute, trading, economics and corporate finance such type of fields are also acceptable as your working experience
Minimum 50% of your 4 years of working experience should be spent directly involved in the investment decision-making process
Work must be full time and can be earned before, during, or after participation in the CFA programme
Managing investments for yourself or your family or friends does not eligible
Combination of Education and Experience: 4 years in addition of education and work experience in total to passing the Level I CFA Exam. First, there is the educational benefit; you will learn a great deal and add a great credential to your CV. Then, there is the boost to your reputation. People in the business know the time and dedication it takes to earn the charter. When they see you have earned it, they will likely believe you have the ability, dedication, ethical grounding and analytical skills necessary to do the job in question. There also may be financial benefits. You may see your salary increase after you've become a CFA or you may surpass other applicants who don't have this designation when competing for a new job. The operative word here is "may. "
Buy-side trader or other buy-side professional positions
Sell-side analyst, associate or other sell-side professional positions
Business school professor
Economist
Financial advisory or financial planner
Beyond this list, there are a number of professions in which having the CFA Charter helps,. .

CMA - Cost & Management Accountants as the name goes, are experts in Costing & Management. These subjects include concepts which are globally applied. So wherever you go, the theories remain same, except for the Economic environment which calls for additional learning. Thus, this course is helpful if you wish to work in different countries, however, in India, this course is shadowed by the Chartered Accountants. In future, we may expect better developments in this course. CFA A new breed of professionals who are experts in Finance. This course basically covers all small courses like FRM, Risk Management, Wealth Management, CFP etc. Because it covers almost every aspect of Finance and in detail. This profession is currently high in demand because the growing complexity in Businesses. However, it is a tough course and also expensive as compared to courses other than MBA. With this course, there is no need to go for any other course, it alone makes a great career and experience is highly important here, much more important than broad knowledge.

EDUPRISTINE: Like you, even I had an impression that this is the only legit training center. But alas, they work like a Spoken English class Managing 'part time faculties on weekends and expanding their Business'. They use cheap marketing gimmicks as well, such as, the impressive professor Amit Jain, VP Kotak, and probably IIM and IIT pass out, who took the demo sessions doesn't take many of the actual lectures.
Their infrastructure is good, their flexibility is very good and they have got a presence online. However, hardly anyone at Edupristine is into full-time teaching. Good professors get promoted at finance companies, where they are working, so on weekends, they prefer leisure over work and rightly so. High turnover could be the reason for drastic teaching quality deterioration.
) IIT IIM founders (They don't take the actual CFA lectures. Their office argues that how can we students expect IITian founders to go to Mumbai suburbs, and that too for just teaching. It is this attitude of considering teaching as inferior that results in the problem of Hyped Brand' but Poor Teaching Quality).
b) Another pitching point is that Edupristine is a big USA company basically, all Indian founders actually went to the USA to register their Company' (company as it is called & meant to be). There are still many Indians who feel all that is foreign is superior to the Indian born and bred!
V D SHAH: Lacks experience and Knowledge that one would expect from a professor. Makes mistakes in formulas and keeps his book open during formulas which are petty issues but overall sends a signal of low confidence. I must also admit that he, after that, logically derives every formula & also gives some practical valuation stories regarding it.
If you are weak with arithmetic, it would be burdensome to digest his explanations and derivations. In that case, V D Shah might not be a suitable option. He is by far the only coach using the official CFA curriculum and avoiding the shortcut mug up approach of Schweser notes. Although V D Shah as an institute is content poor with hardly any original content; neither do they prepare their own mocks or practice questions, operating more like a group tuition and relying on paid-pirated materials of other institutes.LIFE-SCHOOL: Might not come under the coaching class category, as they position themselves beyond a prep institute; an undergraduate students B-school as they describe. They shall push you the hardest to get all the three CFA level

EDUPRISTINE: Like you, even I had an impression that this is the only legit training center. But alas, they work like a Spoken English class Managing' part time faculties on weekends and expanding their Business'. They use cheap marketing gimmicks as well, such as, the impressive professor Amit Jain, VP Kotak, and probably IIM and IIT pass out, who took the demo sessions doesn't take many of the actual lectures.
Their infrastructure is good, their flexibility is very good and they've got a presence online. However, hardly anyone at Edupristine is into full-time teaching. Good professors get promoted at finance companies, where they are working. So, on weekends, they prefer leisure over work and rightly so. High turnover could be the reason for drastic teaching quality deterioration.
Results: Percentage of students passing from Edupristine were as good as 60% and also below 40%. It varies batch wise.
Their reply on why one should join Edupristine:
a) IIT IIM founders (They don't take the actual CFA lectures. Their office argues that how can we students expect IITian founders to go to Mumbai suburbs, and that too for just teaching' Its this attitude of considering teaching as inferior that results in the problem of Hyped Brand' but Poor Teaching Quality).
b) Another pitching point is that Edupristine is a big USA company basically, all Indian founders actually went to the USA to register their Company' (company as it is called & meant to be). There are still many Indians who feel all that is foreign is superior to the Indian born and bred!
2. V D SHAH: Lacks experience and Knowledge that one would expect from a professor. Makes mistakes in formulas and keeps his book open during formulas which are petty issues but overall sends a signal of low confidence. I must also admit that he, after that, logically derives every formula & also gives some practical valuation stories regarding it.
LIFE-SCHOOL: Might not come under the coaching class category, as they position themselves beyond a prep institute; an undergraduate students B-school as they describe. They shall push you the hardest to get all the three CFA levels done in eighteen months and will top it up with internships and WorkEx, but sadly a sophomore at Life-School has no life beyond its school.
As any and every business school would, Life-School does not even offer a certificate for the long hours you devote. They say it is to attract the crowd with a class, not the mass. The certificate shouldn't

Both courses have nothing to do with BBA. BBA is basically a course designed to equip students with the basics of management. As such, BBA graduates are not products that are immediately employable. A Masters, i.e. an MBA is desired to give any value as such. CFA are degrees that are completely independent of any graduate degree as such, in this case BBA. If you are a BBA. I would suggest you to take up a job at a bank and then pursue your CFA. Ideal would be a job in corporate finance (mergers, deal advisory) in consulting but your chances of getting through such firms with a BBA are close to 0 to 10% in India. Second option is to kick start an MBA and pursue your CFA side by side. If you want to further your career in any of the fields above (except finance Management, for which CFA is recommended), go for CA. Chartered Financial Analyst.
Topics Involved on an overall basis:
Equity
Alternate Investments
Economics (small portions at every level)
Quantitative Analysis (small but technical portions at all levels)
Financial Reporting and Analysis (includes US Gaap & IFRS reporting and analysis, does not need you to know the accounting as in CA)
Derivatives
Portfolio Management
Corporate Finance
Fixed Income (debts)
Professional Ethics (the Do's and don'ts, as a professional cum member of the Institute)
So, if you want to enter hardcore finance sector such as equity research, debt research, IB, MF etc. CFA would be the right choice. Having said the above, please refer some of my previous answers related to CA and CFA .
I would say, do CFA if you are completing BBA.