USA CMA or CPA for financial analyst job

[Shally02]

Hi all,
I am eligible to sit for CMA and CPA . I am currently evaluating which one to go for.
I know CPA is valuable but I like to work towards a career in finance, analysis kind of work, mergers acquisitions, financial markets.Am I better off with CMA rather than CPA because I am not interested in compliance/audit etc? I don’t wish to work for public accounting firms, I want a corporate career. Please can you provide some guidance here.
I can start CMA immediately but have to do evaluations for CPA and since I have international Chartered Accountant license, I have to get transcripts and start the process. Could take few months.
thanks,

 

[Varunjain]

I would suggest you to go with CPA as it has more scope and you get to explore a lot more (concept and content-wise) in CPA compared to CMA.

 

[ABCExpert]

I suggest going with the CMA because you wrote you are interested in a "corporate career". CPAs place excess emphasis on external financial statutory accounting reporting for government regulators and investors. In contrast, CMAs place their emphasis on internal management accounting to provide insights to managers and executives to make better decisions. The former is for “valuation”. The latter is for “creating financial value”.