Career Paths

Having been involved in Investment Accounting for over 20 years I have had the opportunity to mentor a number of people in developing and progress their careers.

This is a concise resource I came across that outlines a potential career path in investment accounting; unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an Australian equivalent. The starting position would be a role as an Investment Accountant, Fund Accountant or Fund Accounting Analyst (all role would be similar). The point I try and make clear when interviewing graduates is that Investment Accounting is not a career path to become a portfolio manager!

As a Investment Accountant you would usually be responsible for ensuring the Net Asset Value (NAV) of funds is calculated correctly. The implications of an incorrect NAV can be catastrophic and as a result these position have a large amount of responsibility attached.

In terms of education post graduate course such as Kaplan’s Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance would be recommended. The course covers such topics as financial markets, ethics, operational risk management, applied valuation, etc. Coupled with good on the job training this will develop a strong skills base. 

I came across this quote “If individuals are risk-neutral decision-makers who bear the full cost of investment in their own human capital, marginal costs of investment in formal education should be approximately equal to expected present value of marginal returns.”

This unfortunately doesn’t take into account the full picture. Don’t look at additional training in terms of the short term gain (promotion. Pay rise, etc). Those things will come in time, however you will gain networking contacts and your exposure across the industry.