from what i know...
CPA - if you graduate from Accountancy in NTU, totally exempted from all papers. after 2~3 yrs of relevant working experience, take a one-week course, qualifying exam and voila, CPA!
this is definitely much easier than going through ACCA. i've a few frens (with degrees in other disciplines) who started n never finished bcos it's too tough doing it part-time (most ppl). so i guess it's really rather tough.
CFA - not easy to pass - the passing level drops every year. even after passing 3 papers, also need relevant working experience to qualify, though the range of experience's quite wide n not too difficult to fulfill.
qualifications are well and good jumping boards but without the actual capability and experience, they're really nothing much afterall. i've friends with degree, cpa, cfa, some even masters but doesn't mean anything if they can't work.
lotsa people wanna get into the financial industry. doesn't mean once you get a cpa / cfa you'd definitely be able to get into the big merchant / invt banks. big bucks? depends on what function you're in. doesn't mean you might be happy doing what you do though.
imho, too many people just take these qualifications for the sake of having them as "insurance". before one takes these tedious courses, shouldn't one think of WHY one's taking it in the first place? if you're not gonna be an accountant / auditor / financial-related professional, then why? it'd be just another piece of paper rotting in your drawer after having spent 4 years of your life slogging for it.
