Fund Accounting

Newaglish

The college I go to had a Careers Fair recently, and I met a lot of people at stands that were from Mutual & Hedge Fund Accounting companies. It seems like a great opportunity to do some interesting work after college once I get my Accountancy qualification, but I still don't know a great deal about what's involved in Fund Accounting or what the job itself is really like. I applied for a few companies, including BISYS, PFPC International, IFS & State Street, and I'd really like to work with BISYS as they're opening a new office near where I live and it would be a great oppportunity to get in there when it's only starting up.

Just wondering, has anybody worked for any of these companies or have they worked in a Fund Accounting business? Could they tell me what it's like, what are my opportunities, what does it involve really? Also, where can I learn more about Hedge Fund Accounting?

Thanks to anyone who can answer my questions

Cyrus

hi, my girlfriend has been working for IFS for a year and a half now and she is very happy there, she has recently been promoted to supervisor and as such her salary is now over 40k, she had a degree in economics and finance.

The perks are very good, pay is great and staff benefits are excellent, however the hours can be long and there is no overtime it all depends on the fund you are on.

To be fair tho there is not much accountancy involved (i am an accountant myself with a big 4 firm) and while they encourage you to do the accounting exams there is no real provision for study leave etc.

Basically if you dont mind the work its a good co to work for and the prospects are very good with senior mgt apparently earning over 100k

fintan

Basically you do the administration work on a fund, some reconciliations, form filling, logging of buys and sells into and out of a fund, redemptions that type of thing.

The problem with fund accounting is that it has the wrong name.

You are not an accountant and if that is what you want to become, fund accounting isnt the way to do it.

Newaglish

Thanks for the info guys, it certainly does sound interesting. The position I am in is that I'm in my Final Year of Accountancy, and judging by my grades and experience it's highly likely that I will probably get an offer for at least one of the Big 4 companies. What I'm wondering is, would I be foolish to pass up an offer in one of these firms just to do fund accounting? Would fund accounting limit me in terms of moving back into mainstream accountancy/audit/other industries? What if I wanted to move into the world of economics/finance, what are my options then? What are people's general opinions towards fund accounting & fund accountants?

fintan

If you want to be an accountant and get offered a place in the big 4 take it. Fund accounting would be like a job in McDonalds in comparison (no offence to McDonalds employees)

If you do fund accountancy and try and move back to accountancy/audit/economics /finance you will be starting at the bottom and therefore at a disadvantage. Your fund accounting experience will count for practically nothing.

The reason it is attractive to grads is because it sounds cool and there are lots and lots of jobs available due to the number of large fund accounting companies and the high turnover of staff.

Seriously Newaglish, if you want to be an accountant, don't think your missing out on anything by not taking the fund accountant job instead of a job with the a big 4 company

Cyrus

to be fair fintan makes it sound like a chumps job which it certainly isnt, its just a different job.

if you join a big 4 you will be doing audits or tax, if you join a hedge fund co you will be administering a fund.

Ive been with a big 4 for two years and have just done my finals in the summer, if i get them my wages will be 38k rising to 40 in may, compare that to my girlfriend who is in IFS she earns €40k after just over a year (risen from 22-40 in that space of time) however she also gets €9 a day lunch allowance and pension and health benefits and if she continues to progress in the co there is serious money at manager dir level.

The only thing is, its a very narrow career path and you will be generally have to stay in it there are much more options joining a big 4, that said if you like hedge fund work theres not a problem

CCOVICH

I've a friend working for a fund manger/administrator. He seems happy enough. One of my colleagues worked for another of the companies mentioned above-he absolutely hated the job and the company. A lot of people I trained with worked on fund audits-none of them want to work in funds when they leave practice.

For what it's worth, if you receive an offer from a 'Big 4' firm, I would advise you to take it. Salaries are much better than they were a number of years ago, and most of them give fairly generous study leave for your professional exams.

If you feel that funds might be where you want to work in the future-try and work for a 'Big 4' firm that has a funds department (very few people want to work on fund audits, so you should get all the funds work you want), and you'll get good exposure to the industry, and this will give you a better idea if the work is interesting or not. At the same time you'll be getting a professional qualification, and will more than likely to be able to move into the industry fairly easily when you complete your training contract.

BTW, PwC audit around 90% of funds in Dublin as far as I know. KPMG also audit quite a few funds, I'm not sure about Deloitte or E&Y.

Cyrus

thats sound advice from that man really if you want to qualify as an accountant big 4 is the best way really, the study leave is great i was off for 3 months for my finals

Money wise you should start on circa 21-23 k depending on if you have a masters or not and by the time u negotiate the faes it should be the guts of 40

also in my co if u get the faes first time u get a 2.5k tax free bonus :cool: