Need Guidance on pursuing finance courses

[Former Member]

Dear Team,

Greetings for the day !

I graduated from one reputed university in India with Master's Degree of Business Administration in Finance.  I have a total of 4 years of experience out of which 2 years is into SAP.  I have been working with a reputed organization as FICO Consultant and I am 27 years old.

I just want to pursue other finance related courses which would accelerate my career in both SAP and Managerial Accounting.  I have gone through the curriculum of so many courses like CPA, CFA and program management courses like PMP, but I could not able to decide which one to take.

Need your expert suggestions on SAP and Finance related courses which would provide me international opportunities.

Thanks and Regards,

Ganesh Nanduri.

[Former Member]

Hi Team,

Need your suggestions on the above mentioned thread.

Thanks and Regards,

Ganesh Nanduri

[Former Member]

Hi Ganesh,

You should look for the right combination with FICO, in my experience I have seen people going for CONTROLLING after learning FICO, as it makes a good combination and in creases the job opportunity.

It is very important to have sound experience in any module to crack big job opportunities. You should be able to meet the expectations of companies having huge projects. Your knowledge and experience will be enough to impress the employers as you are already working in SAP domain and have experience.

Try to search for people in Linkedin who are working in SAP (FICO) and interact with them and find as much as information you can about what they have experienced and achieved. A good network is the key to good and solid information.

Let me know if you have any other query, if I answered your query then please rate it and close the post.

Good Luck,

Nagarajan Viswanathan

[Former Member]

Hi Nagarajan Viswanathan,

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

I want to pursue any other professional qualification.  What would be the best option.  Please advice on this.

Thanks and Regards,

Ganesh Nanduri,

[Former Member]

Hi Ganesh,

If you are inclined towards achieving more credentials and get core knowledge then like you have already researched on CFA you might consider going for that. You are already having an MBA in Finance and you are working as a FICO consultant so you have already achieved two big milestones which people starting their career in SAP face i.e. selecting a module to learn and securing a job in that module and gaining experience.

CFA would give you deep knowledge of finance and portfolio management so from a finance professional's point of view you will have an additional credential and core finance knowledge which you can use to secure better jobs and a high position in India or abroad in corporate finance. Based on your interest in finance and SAP from your thoughts I don't think PMP will give you much satisfaction so you may consider it after sometime when and if you see a need of it for your career.

Thank you,

Nagarajan Viswanathan

[former_member182098]

Hi Ganesh,

Good to know you, usually people at your age is more ambitious and tend to learn many things at one time. I had gone through similar phase in life.

You need to be clear what you wanted achieve and where you want to see yourself in the next five years.

If you are looking for career in SAP, being a finance professional, SAP FICO would be a good starting point.

CPA - I am taking that you are from India, the problem with CPA is you need to travel to USA in order to write the examinations at Prometric Center. Unless, you have your VISA ready many a times visa might be rejected. I took training for CPA, then I did not get the visa, ended up at loosing the knowledge learned during the training. You need to consider the training cost / travelling to USA / boarding costs etc. You will have total 4 papers to clear, which are multiple choice questions.

CFA - Unless you are planning to move your career towards core financial markets or banking, probably CFA may not be yours.

This could be a good starting point.

http://www.cfapubs.org/loi/cpb

CMA - This is management accounting examination from USA, equivalent to CWA in India. If you pass CMA from USA, you can also become a member of ICWAI in India* as per their reciprocal arrangements(* conditions exists). One of the condition is that you must pass your CMA from outside India. However, you can write the examinations within India, this is a much advantage for Indian students. Similarly, Associate Member can CWA can also become member of CMA in USA. However, ICWAI would be far tougher than CMA in terms of clearing the examinations, as the pass percentages in CWA when compared with CMA are much much lesser.

PMP - Not sure whether this would fit into your bill at this point of your career. I would not recommend, as you have hardly 4 years of experience. PMP would be usually good for people with considerable experience in projects / programs. You may plan in this in the future of your consulting career. Prince2 is also not a bad option either in future.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Kind Regards,

Ravi

[Former Member]

Hi Nagarajan Viswanathan & Ravi,

Thanks for your detailed suggestions on my career aspirations.

Thanks and Regards,

Ganesh Nanduri

[Former Member]

Hi Ganesh,

If you feel your query is answered and you have no other question then please close this threat with your ratings.

Good Luck.

Nagarajan Viswanathan