Background: undergrad was in accounting, master’s was in finance, and I’m currently studying for my CPA.

I’ve read a few books about equity research and financial scandals, and I’ve come away with the impression that analysts have a superficial understanding of accounting. Is this a fair assessment? Do analysts know the accounting games that managers play to accelerate revenues or boost earnings with pension assumptions? Or do analysts simply accept earnings as given? Are pro forma earnings looked at skeptically? My understanding is that aside from hedge funds who go short, it’s not common to read the footnotes to the financials or scrutinize accounting policies. Is this correct?

I ask because I’m interested in moving to equity analysis. I think the CFA is much more common than the CPA, but I suspect that a thorough understanding of accounting would be beneficial for FSA. But I’ve been told the a CPA is not valued. Can anyone speak to this?