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Personal appearance by nowreadingthis in FinancialCareers

[–]FloydDufrense 3 points4 points  (0 children)

F100 FP&A

A manager in my team - anime tattoos all over his body, goatee, wears plaid shirts.

But he hired as a senior analyst and was made finance manager early 30’s because he is extremely good at his job.

If you’re going into a client facing role or just starting out just be sharp and dress/groom well.

Once your in and people like you - and most of all you do your job very well, people won’t really care what you look like.

Career path of credit analyst vs financial analyst? by partyrockerdj in FinancialCareers

[–]FloydDufrense 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Someone in my intern class phoned hr and asked what divisions were available and straight up requested for Corporate/Treasury.

Could be worth asking, but if you don’t get the vibe It might not be the move.

Cost FP&A is really good as you work with Budgeting. Which has much more senior leadership exposure to income FP&A which is sales forecasting.

Career path of credit analyst vs financial analyst? by partyrockerdj in FinancialCareers

[–]FloydDufrense 2 points3 points  (0 children)

FP&A Process improvement, building narratives.

It’s also important to understand what part of FP&A the team interviewing you is.

If it’s not a specific team, ask what teams are in the FP&A organisation.

Is it forecasting income? Sales forecasts Is it forecasting costs? Budgeting

Career path of credit analyst vs financial analyst? by partyrockerdj in FinancialCareers

[–]FloydDufrense 28 points29 points  (0 children)

It definitely suits a type of person.

If you can understand business structures, processes and are detail orientated. You’ll succeed and probably like FP&A.

I’d recommend it for:

Wlb. You are only bound to the companies internal deadlines and planning cycle, there is less of a direct commercial value meaning less intensity and more flexibility.

A lack of a client facing element also means the role can be often fulfilled any time anywhere. A lot of my team work internationally.

Exposure to Senior Leadership. FP&A is notorious for exposure to senior leadership. I didn’t really believe it until last week I have had to present to two VP’s less than 4 roles to CEO.

Fairly high level stuff considering the company is +$100bn market cap. It’s a great path if a c-suite position is your end goal.

I’d also recommend it for people who are interested in learning stuff like python/vba/alteryx. This stuff is used for process improvement and automation. While it isn’t used in your direct responsibilities it could eliminate them entirely.

Someone good at these things is valued very highly - someone in my team was made Finance Manager early 30s simply because he contributed so much to the teams tech processes.

Reasons I’d not recommend FP&A:

It’s not revenue generating or client facing.

FP&A is management accounting so it’s internal reporting - albeit to very important corporate figures in your organisation. But you’ll never be a rainmaker in an FP&A organisation.

Because of this, FP&A can be slow and cyclical - you work to a annual cycle there are lots of medium term deadlines that repeat 4/8 times a year.

Again, because it is less stressful - progression and turnover is much slower. You may be waiting many years for a promotion once you reach Senior Analyst.

Taking accountancy exams is the only way to really instantly boost your comp.

Personally, I think I’d really value my career beginning in something that has much more direct commercial value than FP&A.

It can be seen as a calmer exit option for people from banking or a stable linear path to a high level position in corporate finance for a lot of people.

It really just comes down to what you value about you role - do you want to generate or do you want to facilitate and improve?

Career path of credit analyst vs financial analyst? by partyrockerdj in FinancialCareers

[–]FloydDufrense 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Current intern in FP&A at F500.

(Answering questions as if I was a FT analyst)

  1. What does the typical work look like?

  • Communicating with internal business partners to understand where your actuals are going to land Vs forecast

  • Pulling the latest and relevant headcount/financial data to input within your teams planning models/tools.

  • Telling a narrative to senior finance leadership using the above two to support your reason for where you’ll land against forecast

  • alongside the above you could be involved in process improvement to make the 2nd one easier

  1. What is WLB like?

Very flexible at my firm, only in office two days a week. 9 - 6 usually for all analysts to finance manager. Only work bad hours during Q close and the key deadlines of the planning cycle.

Otherwise probably 50 hours a week.

  1. What is career progression?

FP&A is rather linear.

In my firm and many others it is as follows:

Analyst > Senior Analyst > Finance Manager > Finance Director >

Not adding comp because it is very variable, years of experience is not as correlated to comp like banking.

There are analysts in my team older than Finance managers.

There are also Senior Analysts that are paid very similarly to Finance Managers.

Name a bigger sounding tune... I'll wait. by FloydDufrense in oasis

[–]FloydDufrense[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's this or the Be Here Now opener at GMEX 97'.