As far as industry goes, I would say that buy side asset management/hedge funds are a pretty good place to be. The hours are good 35 - 40 hours a week in NYC, the benefits are almost unheard of in other industries, and the money can be good - decent base + bonuses of 20 - 100% depending on the firm and the year.
There are two paths for accountants in asset management:
1) Operations - this is trade reconciliation, valuing the portfolios, and fund accounting - which means doing the books of the fund, not the firm. I have done this work and it tends to be a dead end. But, some experience here and understanding is critical if you want to be an executive (CFO, CCO) in an asset management firm. This area gives you a really good understanding of trade flow (desk, clearing, settlement) and a lot of insight into operational risk. If you know how to work with IT to make things flow from the trade desk to accounting/reporting there is a lot of money out there for you. A manager in operations at a top firm in NYC could expect to make between $400 - $500k/year all in. Most grunts in operations are making between $70k - $120 base and $15 - $40k bonus in NYC.
Most of the cats doing this think that they're going to make the jump to front office but they're dead wrong. The guys in the front office studied history at Dartmouth not finance/accounting at Buruch (sp?). To move to the front office pedigree is huge. They would be better off to focus on operations, learn more about IT and systems and try to rise within that department. It's not sexy at all but it can be alright.
2) Corporate accounting - this is keeping the books of the firm. I have found this to be extremely cushy since there are like 10 days of actual work a month. From a business stand point asset management is very simple: you have a pile of assets that you earn management fees on, your only expenses are compensation, rent, and market data. What falls out at the end is net income.
Again this work is not sexy, but can be pretty good. A senior accountant at a decent firm (again NYC dollars so adjust to a local market) will make $80 - $100k base. Bonus again probably $20k - $40k. A controller will make $250k base + $250k bonus. CFO is usually over $1mm.
Overall I would say that asset management is a really good spot to be (it tends to be the end game for most cats in public). But I will caution that the politics are super heavy. Most people department heads in the back office tend to have inferiority complexes and really try to flex nuts to assert their value. Because they see the 7 and 8 figure salaries of the front office guys they feel somewhat inferior and there tends to be a lot of infighting between the back office departments (corporate finance, operations, risk) to see who can be queen bee.
If there is anything I haven't covered that you'd like to know about let me know.
There are two paths for accountants in asset management:
1) Operations - this is trade reconciliation, valuing the portfolios, and fund accounting - which means doing the books of the fund, not the firm. I have done this work and it tends to be a dead end. But, some experience here and understanding is critical if you want to be an executive (CFO, CCO) in an asset management firm. This area gives you a really good understanding of trade flow (desk, clearing, settlement) and a lot of insight into operational risk. If you know how to work with IT to make things flow from the trade desk to accounting/reporting there is a lot of money out there for you. A manager in operations at a top firm in NYC could expect to make between $400 - $500k/year all in. Most grunts in operations are making between $70k - $120 base and $15 - $40k bonus in NYC.
Most of the cats doing this think that they're going to make the jump to front office but they're dead wrong. The guys in the front office studied history at Dartmouth not finance/accounting at Buruch (sp?). To move to the front office pedigree is huge. They would be better off to focus on operations, learn more about IT and systems and try to rise within that department. It's not sexy at all but it can be alright.
2) Corporate accounting - this is keeping the books of the firm. I have found this to be extremely cushy since there are like 10 days of actual work a month. From a business stand point asset management is very simple: you have a pile of assets that you earn management fees on, your only expenses are compensation, rent, and market data. What falls out at the end is net income.
Again this work is not sexy, but can be pretty good. A senior accountant at a decent firm (again NYC dollars so adjust to a local market) will make $80 - $100k base. Bonus again probably $20k - $40k. A controller will make $250k base + $250k bonus. CFO is usually over $1mm.
Overall I would say that asset management is a really good spot to be (it tends to be the end game for most cats in public). But I will caution that the politics are super heavy. Most people department heads in the back office tend to have inferiority complexes and really try to flex nuts to assert their value. Because they see the 7 and 8 figure salaries of the front office guys they feel somewhat inferior and there tends to be a lot of infighting between the back office departments (corporate finance, operations, risk) to see who can be queen bee.
If there is anything I haven't covered that you'd like to know about let me know.