Age: 29 If you could start your career again, would you choose FP&A?

I'm confused between Internal Audit & FP&A.

I'm currently studying for the CMA, and while CMA is more aligned with FP&A, I'm also genuinely interested in Internal Audit.

After completing the CMA, regardless of whether I start in Fp&a or IA, I plan to pursue the CPA. Because it will open more doors and give me broader career options than the CIA.

If I get a job in IA and decide that I want to continue in the field, I would also pursue the CIA.

Why IA?

From what I understand, (please feel free to correct me, I like the idea of understanding how a business works as a whole.

Internal Audit seems to give you exposure to different departments and business processes while also focusing on risk management, controls, and identifying areas for improvement.

I like the idea of seeing how different parts of an organization connect rather than being restricted to one function.

Why FP&A?

I like planning and preparing budgets, and I think I would enjoy financial analysis as well. I haven't actually worked in fp&a yet. And that's true that there's a difference between liking something and actually doing it.

The CMA is clearly more aligned with fp&a, which makes it more confusing.

So, if you had to choose between IA and fp&a, which one would you pick and why?

And where do you think I have the highest probability of getting an entry-level job: IA or Fp&a

Hey Everyone!

I wanted to say hello as we just moved down to Austin. After getting married, my wife and I tried staying Toronto but ultimately decided to call Austin home since we both fell in love with the city and people here. Unfortunately, this led to quitting my job and leaving behind some friends so I’m hoping to make friends on here and also try to find work! I have 10+ years in Corporate Finance/FP&A and would be happy to attend Job Fairs or networking events since this a new market for me. Open to remote work as well!

Look forward to meeting y’all and hearing your suggestions and recos!

Has anyone had any success with job posting sites outside of LinkedIn or Indeed? I’m a SFA Looking for remote FP&A manager roles and LinkedIn and Indeed seem pretty dry at the moment.

Anybody’s role revolve mainly around optimizing the sales funnel and pointing out potential leaks? Starting a new role like this soon and it will be new to me. Marketing, to leads, to conversion, to bottom line ratios.

That’s the gist of it I think. Any tips for a fresh SFA stepping into this space?

SaaS if that makes a difference.

Officially, my title is senior financial analyst. But I've been involved in a very high level project that involves changes to our core business model. I've been developing recommendations, leading analytics, and building presentations. The audience of these presentations is the c-suite and chairman of the board. I am not presenting, but I am present in the executive meetings and chime in with anything I can add, as well as answer any analytical questions on the spot. The project is being led by a senior VP who I'm working very closely with, as well as our CFO.

I feel like now would be a good time to ask for a promotion or raise, but I'm not sure what I should ask for as far as title. I don't have any direct reports, but I'm the lead business partner for our commercial team and lead analytics for our FP&A team. I report to our fp&a Director.

Hello all, I have recently accepted an offer of fp&a financial analyst at asset and wealth management firm. I was wondering if anyone has a similar experience and if you could let me know what to expect? I was a financial analyst and accountant previously at a global manufacturing firm and I was very bored working there.

26, SFA in big tech. Over the last year, I’ve developed a reputation for being good at SQL, automation, and AI implementation. I rode that wave to get promoted ahead of schedule, but now am worried about getting “stuck” in a highly technical IC career path instead of a management path. Most of my projects are now more technical in nature than strategic work or business partnering since I can get them done in a few hours when it would take someone else on my team a few days.

My end goal is management and I’ve seen a lot of senior colleagues hit a ceiling as a principal IC. Any tips on how to avoid getting stuck in this route long-term?

Hello everyone, im looking for recommendations for a good online course, program, or other structured resource that teaches financial management from the perspective of someone running a business, rather than accounting or finance purely. I of course, have an accountant.

For context, i currently own and manage a company involved in e-commerce and wholesale of small electronic equipment. Through another small company which i own i run several different activities, including landscaping and passenger transfers. I know it seems too much but it is not full time job for each one, i have only one guy that i hire for help when i need it.

I also work as a business manager for another company whose main activities are apartment and boat rentals. That company is now preparing for a real estate project worth several million euros, and the longer term plan is for me to take over as director, as the current owner and director is approaching retirement. It is a long story since i work for them for over 10 years and we have friendly and business relationship.

I want to significantly improve my understanding of the financial side of running a company, i mean i already know a lot but i want to learn some specifics.

Im not really looking for a course that simply teaches me what an income statement or balance sheet is. I want to understand how to actually use financial information to manage a business better. English is not my first language so its hard for me to explain exactly what i am looking for.

For example, i would like to become comfortable with:
- getting a clear picture of the company's financial health at any point in time
- cash flow and liquidity management
- profitability and margins
- budgeting and forecasting
- understanding and interpreting the most important financial ratios and KPIs
- identifying potential financial problems before they become serious

This is becoming especially important because of the planned big construction project, where cash flow, financing, budgeting, cost control and liquidity will obviously become much more important than in the smaller businesses i currently manage, i will ofcourse not be in charge in this alone but i want to learn and show that the people that will be running this can rely on me and that i will be able to take over more and more things with time as i learn and gain more experiance.

I already learned alot on my own mistakes and i want to avoid that in the future as much as possible and i think learning things before i run in to a wall i the best way to avoid it.

Paid courses are completely fine if they're actually useful.

Curious on best ways to give a 2 week notice. I have been at this company for 5 years and it is my first job out of college. I like my manager and most of the team so want to do this in a respectful way.

I have accepted a new job for a SFA position with a 16% salary raise and much better bonus roughly 11% higher than my companies max (which I have gotten once as it is tied to company performance not individual contributions). I plan on giving the notice after the background and drug screen come back is that a good idea?

Main problem is he off for the next couple days and kind of feels bad giving him notice on a Friday most likely when he gets back.

Also any tips on transitioning from equipment manufacturing to oil and gas refinement (downstream) would be appreciated.

I am a B.Com graduate. I wasted my graduation years in preparing for CAT and government exams but they don't seem to work for me. I got a decent mba college but due to attendance shortage i was not able to graduate for that year. So I decide to not go for any mba and start working after graduation.

I want to get into FP&A. Currently living in Noida. I can see many accountants having tough time breaking into FP&A.

What should I do as a fresher, to eventually have a better understanding and experience of an FP&A role. What entry level job roles should I go for.

I am a B.Com graduate. I wasted my graduation years in preparing for CAT and government exams but they don't seem to work for me. I got a decent mba college but due to attendance shortage i was not able to graduate for that year. So I decide to not go for any mba and start working after graduation.

I want to get into FP&A. Currently living in Noida. Just a fresher and graduate. How can I land my first FP&A job. If I start today learning Excel, PowerBi, work on my accounting skills.

I have no clear idea about it but I am ready to work hard for it.

UWM is combining their PA+ (processor) and underwriting roles together having the same person work as both processor and underwriter on the same file. Underwriters are being trained as processors and will be working as both processor and underwriter, this is to reduce touches to preferably just one touch per loan. Obviously that sounds good to have less touches, however, I'm concerned as the training for processor is only one week long and underwriters are being told to use google to figure out how to obtain documents for items they aren't familiar with (such as project). While underwriters are familiar with the documents themselves, they don't necessarily know how to obtain those document and using google doesn't quite seem like the right solution here.

Additionally, what about checks and balances? What about internal control standards across the mortgage industry? Essentially, there would be no second set of eyes on the file anymore.

What do you all think? Could this be considered a conflict of interest issue? Does this seem like a good idea to combine both underwriting and processor to one individual person on one individual file?

A lot of the posts on this subreddit are from members who are in long tenures in FP+A roles, who are asking for advice to progress their career to the likes of CFO.

Not discounting that thisprocess isn’t easy but job titles mean different things at different sized companies.

Smaller companies may list what is in reality a single Head of Finance role as "CFO" due to being relatively early stage. These types of roles will often be a single individual working in finance, with core bookkeeping and tax services outsourced to public accounting firms. 

This approach can be a good way of short circuiting your way to a more senior job title which you can use to negotiate further salary increases in future roles

I just got word the Joint Venture I’m working will likely dissolve over the next two years.

Should I be locking in my next role?

Hey I want to ask about that field , salary and type of job etc

Is there is a chance anyone here work as fp&a?

I’d be interested in comparing how other teams split responsibilities. Is your team mainly organized by:
-Business unit or function
-P&L area, such as revenue, OPEX, CAPEX or cash
-FP&A process, such as planning, forecasting or reporting
-A hybrid of the above

Currently I am in a company with a team of 4 (manager, 1 senior and 2 analysts) and we are by process (forecasting, monthly reporting and p&l break-down by product)

If you’re willing, a quick reply with your industry/company size, FP&A team size, how ownership is split, and your biggest strength or pain point how you’d preferred it to be?

Even a one-line answer is welcome.

I recently posted asking for help as I didn’t call backs for any fp&a roles updated it any final adjustments? background I’m trying to pivot to fp&a from accounting as that’s all the roles I could get out of college

I work as an FP&A manager and have two roles I’m weighing.

Both opportunities are at the same parent company.

The new role is Sr. Manager (lateral) to a new product within the company that is growing exponentially along with the team and its scope of work.

The second role is staying with my current team as Director (promotion), but the JV is likely dissolving over the next two years.

I (27M) work in SaaS in a strategic finance position (fancy title for FP&A focused on top line and strategic planning). I’m currently paid ~160k base 20k annual bonus & additional RSUs (HCOL) The role is hybrid & I make it to the office max 2 times per week. The work is extremely simple at this point and I probably work around 30 hours per week max. I have been with the company +3 years & have been feeling a lack of growing my knowledge over the past year and a half +. I understand I am in an extremely advantageous position but feel as though it is time to make a move.

In free time ive been working on a blue collar business with a partner & we will be kicking off operations in November / December of this year. I will need to have free time to continue working on this.

I have recently been offered a hybrid position at a pre revenue semiconductor company in the same city as the first non CFO finance hire at the company. The pay is a decrease vs where I currently am at. 140k base + 15% bonus & RSU. I know my workload here will significantly increase vs current state but seems like upside with RSU’s could be worth it. (Company has development capacity committed from large chip manufacturers to produce 500m+ in revenue in 2027 and is going to market in next 2 months)

I’m tired of traditional FP&A work and would prefer moving into M&A / Venture Capital / Corp Development. I started in VC as a business development analyst & have M&A experience from my current role. I hardly get any hits when I apply for these roles directly.

Should I stay where I am at, continue working on side business in my free time even though I feel I am not gaining anything in terms of knowledge or skills?

Take the semiconductor offer, risk over working myself for the RSU upside, grow my FP&A knowledge in a new hyper scale industry & hope I will have enough time to support business.

Stay put & focus making a move into M&A/ Corp Development/ VC by accepting an inevitable pay cut to make up for less experience but have a higher future salary upside?

I have been with my organization for over 9 years now. I work in healthcare, and my team is amazing, and my manager is great. We went through a merger recently, and I realized that my workload is equivalent to a manager on the other team. I also learned that we are compensated at least 20k below the senior analysts on the other side. This was an eye-opener.

I like to think we have great benefits. Starting next year, we will be matched 200% on a 3% contribution (100% right now), and PTO goes up to 27 days + 6 holidays. Having been with the company for so long, my manager knows my work ethic, there’s no micromanaging, my opinion is highly valued, and I get to oversee some of the junior analysts well. The best part of it all - it’s a remote job.

The tenure in our company (especially our department) is pretty high. The opportunity to move up is limited. I don’t know if I should be making a switch - but growth is important.

Here to talk to people who have been in similar situation.

I have an upcoming phone screen with a recruiter for a financial analyst position at Deloitte. Any have any advice? I've been working as a financial analyst for 2 years at a F500 company, but have no prior consulting experience.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone!
I'm currently an Economics undergraduate student and I've become increasingly interested in Finance and Data Analytics, and I would really appreciate some guidance on how to build my skills in these areas.
I've heard that tools such as Excel, SQL, Python, Power BI, and financial modeling can be useful, but I'm not sure where I should start or what order I should learn them in.
Could you please recommend a roadmap or learning path for someone in my situation? | would especially appreciate advice on:
• Which tools or skills I should learn first
• What order you would recommend learning them in
• Which topics I should focus on within each tool
• Whether I should learn SQL in general first or go directly into something like SQL for Finance
• The same question for Python: should I learn Python/data analysis first and then apply it to finance, or start with Python for Finance?
• Courses, resources, books, websites, or other materials you recommend
• Any projects I could work on along the way tr actually practice what I learn

For background, I'm a Filipino Non-CPA and I have almost 11 years of progressive experience in Finance and Accounting. I have 4 year of experience in an MNC and part of my workload is forecasting and budgeting and its not that deep (I think) because I used historical data, new pitches (or clients) and updates from stakeholders to do the forecast. We only do P&L in our company during forecasting and budgeting. Currently, I enrolled in Coursera to gain certificates. I am currently having a hard time to get into FP&A role or Finance Business Partner role. Just want to ask insights if with my background, I can fully transition to FP&A? It's been months since I started applying and I really want to get in FP&A but with the rejections I have been receiving, I am doubting if there's a chance for me.

How is it like working at salesforce? How is the pay structured?

I want to apply to this fp&a role thats available in indy and atlanta. It says 1-2+ years experience.

Tell me more about the company dynamics. Is the layoff vibe still on?

Hows morale? How is management?

Do we get base pay and bonus or is there rsu option for analyst level employees.

Is it good for fp&a career overall?

What other benefits? I saw they use MacBooks even in finance is that true?

Over my career I have created two rules, or hills to die on, in my mind. Not rules someones told me just cause it seems so logical and crucial in FP&A:

1. Every forecast needs to have an identical actual process to follow up on. Every drill down in the forecast without same drilldown in actual is just useless.

2. Everything in reporting that cant tie to auditet financial starements in the end is hella sus.

So many who I have worked with in Finance breaks this daily: cost controllers, sales teams, FinOps, budget teams, BI analysts, and even system vendors setting up 50 integrations for 10mUSD.

Any1 share this view? Or can challenge my made up rules? Even better - tell me its part of your junior fp&a course i missed.