I don’t believe there’s been one for 2026 so I wanted to start one up after seeing Canada’s.
Please list the following -
Title:
YOE:
Region/CoL:
Industry:
Salary:
Bonus:
Retirement:
Extra comp (Equity, sign on bonuses, etc):
Extras -
Firm size:
Certifications:
Hours/Wk:
Additional info:
Link to previous years thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/FPandA/s/IIDdUViPWF
Useful information :
Years of experience
title
base salary / bonus
WFH?
I recently joined a PE backed SaaS company in the financial services space. I was jarred seeing how badly our interest expense crushed out net income into the red. My background is in manufacturing so I had never seen a statement like that before.
I understand now the PE bros parked the LBO debt on our BS so we can service the debt. But like, damn its so ugly.
Any advice on changing gears and becoming an ebitda multiplier bot?
Thanks.
I spent all week on ARR reporting & QBR prep
This weekend, I need to knock out Q4 '26 commissions plan, headcount report, set up Weekly ARR Forecast for Q4, and update our 3-statement model
Thought it was a lot for a 2 day weekend, but pleasantly surprised have an extra day off
Currently Financial Analyst at a store-based retailer for almost a year, and somehow I’ve gotten interest for a Senior FP&A Analyst role at a recreational/outdoor products company (think Stanley, RTIC, Hydro Flask). The recruiter screen is tomorrow.
A little info on the role:
My biggest concern going into this process (and future interviews) is my background. Even though my title is FA, about 90% of my job is reporting and routine month-end close work. My biggest responsibility is getting forecast inputs from our merchandising team and running them through a legacy model to set next month’s sales. So I’m not really doing hands-on modeling, forecasting, or planning, and I’m worried I’m underqualified. They still seem interested, though.
For extra context, my company was recently acquired and the finance team has had a lot of turnover. I’m now the only one left covering revenue/margin, reporting to interim leadership, so things are pretty chaotic.
I lurked here before my current job, and the advice I got helped me land it, so I’m back! For anyone who’s made a similar jump:
On a more general note: whether or not this one works out, I want to become more well-rounded for true FP&A roles, both lateral moves and Sr Analyst roles. What would you recommend I do, at work or outside of it, to build real planning and forecasting skills? I’d rather actually be prepared for these interviews than stumble through them trying to fit what they’re looking for.
Any feedback or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
TL;DR: Retail FA whose job is mostly reporting, with a Sr FP&A recruiter screen tomorrow for an e-comm/marketplace channel role. Looking for what to expect in the screen and later rounds, and how to build real planning/forecasting skills for future FP&A moves.
I get an above average number of students who message me to try and network since I’m at a name-brand tech firm. I usually will chat with them if I have time. I’ve noticed a couple of themes in their knowledge gaps that I feel like other students should be aware of. These apply to me, but I figure others can tell me if they disagree or add onto the list.
Recruiting happens much earlier than you think. For my company, it’s almost a year in advance. Reaching out in October or November is probably too late since most of the slots are filled by then. Nothing I can do to help once the analyst class is full.
You need a “starter” internship. Everyone in my analyst rotation program class had multiple internships before we applied to big tech.
I am not a recruiter. I can’t check on application statuses. If you got ghosted three months ago, I can’t tell you why. I also won’t ask recruiting why and they wouldn’t tell me if I did.
Talk to me before you start your application. If you want a referral, it’s infinitely easier to do if you haven’t already submitted. Please don’t make me raise a ticket that might get rejected. Plus, I can’t give you resume or application tips if you’ve already submitted.
Focus more on soft skills. Chances are if you know how to use xlookup() instead of vlookup() and/or can write basic SQL, your technical skills are fine. Focus more on being someone who can solve problems and receive tough feedback but still be fun at the happy hour.
Send a calendar invite. Don’t just say “let’s do x time” and send a link. Send me something I can get on my outlook calendar or I will 100% forget our call or have someone schedule over it. Include your resume so I can get an idea of what advice to give.
ASK REAL QUESTIONS while networking. I get asked the same like 8 questions by everyone. They’re so canned. Ask something unique and interesting or that you really care about. I remember the student that asked me about if I thought AI would turn out more like Terminator or R2-D2, but couldn’t tell you much about the dozens of students that asked me about what Excel skills they needed to have.
Anyways, rant over. Hope it was helpful. If any more experienced folks have a different opinion, feel free to disagree.
I’ve just discovered the Claude/Hubspot MCP and I’m thinking it could be useful for rolling forecasting on sales revenue etc which changes by the hour.
What other MCPs are yall using in your day to day?
Hi, I'm seeking advice. A few days ago, I started a job as a financial analyst in a residential developer company. Based in Europe, if it matters. It's a relatively small company. The parent company has around 20 investments. I report to the Finance Director and work with the second analyst/controller and specialists assigned to produce statements with IFRS and local GAAP.
In the last company, I had worked in a small treasury team. I had done many tasks related to FP&A and automated every task possible. I feel very strong in this field, and I've also looked for smaller companies, where it might be an advantage. What I knew, from my new boss, was that the technical side of the finance team is my responsibility.
I would like to ask you: what would you like to do in my position, and how would you communicate with the CFO to be successful and develop a career in finance?
I've started doing my job; I got access to the accounting database, and I see many places for improvement. Of course, I will do this to get better performance and work easier, but I seek field visibility for my boss. After 10 months, I will get a new job contract, and it's important for me to get a promotion/better money.
I can hold some new reports like AR/AP aging, real cash position, and future payments, but I'm not sure if they're valuable for the CFO and board. In the past, statements, forecasting, and valuation were done just with Excel files, which is understandable, and I just couldn't change how I input data. Do you have ideas for what might be good to fill their expectations and manage my career as well? I still don't know their business. Definitely, I understand giving insights from data is crucial, and I have to understand the company position, but I want to make myself visible also from a better reporting side.
I can give some new reports to the company and ask my boss, but I don't know if it's the best strategy, and still I consider what might be good for the presentation.
I work in corporate fp&a (more focused on costing and strategy because it is T1...) in the automotive industry.
We implemented PowerBI about 1.5 years ago but we only use it to present the usual Excel reports like ebit, sales summary, headcount, inventory etc. and limiting the data access. Nothing really fancy.
As I was always more of a technical side I wonder whether and how it can be used in a more advanced way for deep analysis.
I am trying to get the approval for SQL db access (everything takes time in automotive t.t) to stop downloading sheets from ERP manually and to make some checks before refreshing the reports and going backwards.
Could you give me some ideas how you use it and what is worth exploring?
I started in a new role leading fp&a and am wondering whether people are still buying planning tools or building something in house using Claude.
The challenge with tools is that I find they generally require your model structure to be relatively stable or you end up needing more consulting hours.
At the same time, our excel model is slow and you can’t manage access controls and share broadly across the leadership team.
We are a late stage pre-ipo company.
Curious to hear how other teams are thinking about building with Claude vs buying a tool, or both.
I am trying to find out what the norm for work life balance is in corporate consolidation FPA work.
I have been working in corporate consolidated FPA for 3 years. I am 50% of the regional FPA team at my current org. I’m leaving to another role soon that is part of a 6 person FPA team for regional and global reporting.
Current org is very top heavy with supervisors and managers, and they work 70-80 hours per week including weekends. Edit: most people working these hours are not Accounting or Finance, but because I’m a “regional” position I’m expected to “rise to the level of everyone else. Words my boss has said to me directly”. Every Monday I come in to a dozen emails from people working over the weekend. They have all built that expectation into a norm over years and decades so everyone expects every person to work like that. If I take any time off I feel like I’m behind, even holidays.
The new org claims serious commitment to work life balance and they say the team is staffed so no one has to work over 40 unless it’s year end, and even then it might be one week of 50-60 hours. They also have a policy of “flexible” PTO, not truly unlimited, but no accruals and no tracked hours. They “strongly encourage” people to take 120 hours of PTO.
Which is more “normal”?
I'm a CA and CBV currently working as a Director, Finance and Corporate Development (lead a team of 12 responsible for FP&A, reporting, M&A and financial management) for a company with revenue in the $300-400m range. Earlier in my career I worked in the CFO's office and corporate dev with larger (mainly public) companies in the $1B to $10B market cap range, as well as public company audit. I'm evaluating an opportunity to join a small but established 5-person advisory firm that provides valuations and outsourced CFO / FP&A services to small to mid-sized owner-managed companies (revenue in the range of $2m to $30m).
For those that have made the switch from working with larger to smaller companies - how would you characterize the difference for finance professionals? What should I expect as the greatest challenges and learning curve or other things to be aware of?
Hi all,
I’m looking for a career change and looking to get into FP&A. I’m 33 and I currently have an associate’s in accounting, bachelors in business administration and am starting school in spring for my master’s in finance (my company pays for it). I also am almost finished with my certification in FP&A through the Corporate Finance Institute. Where should I begin role-wise when looking for jobs? Is getting right into fp&a possible from the get-go or do I need to start lower and work my way up?
Hi all,
I’ve been here for a long time but I’m posting for the first time. So my company approved copilot and I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now. It’s been good, it eliminates data cleaning and can create nice enough slides.
Sometimes there are slight mistakes that I’ll catch and fix. At this rate it’s pretty good and I can only imagine what 5 to 10 years would look like.
Initially, it doesn’t look like a job killer but eventually, I think it’s gonna get to a point where it can do a lot of stuff, with an emphasis on A LOTTT.
I guess what I’m really asking is do you guys see this as something that will change the job or do you see this as a complete job killer? I’ve seen a lots of people here say it’ll make the team smaller. I mean the teams are already small like I have a director and a manager and me and we get the job done. So what happens like does the job become just maybe a manager and a director or just a director? I don’t know I mean, I don’t know what the future holds or how it’s going to look like in 5 to 10 years from now but, at this pace I’d say it’s only gonna get better so what happens to this function that we all work in?
I don’t know. I feel like I’m just blabbing. Just trying to get an understanding from those that have been using in consistently for maybe a year plus or just anything would help.
Also, sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors. I took this out really fast, it’s been a busy day😞.
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I have a B.Com in Finance & Taxation and 1.5 years of experience as a Tax Associate. I'm considering switching to AML/Financial Crime or FP&A.
My goals are:
Good salary and career growth
Good work-life balance
WFH/hybrid opportunities
Possibility of working abroad in the future
Is switching from tax to AML or FP&A a good idea at this stage?
What skills and certifications should I learn to get a job faster in both? Should I learn Al tools/automation as well?
I'd really appreciate advice from people working in either field.