r/FPandA

Moved into product/strategy finance roles the past 4 years and now that I’m looking at leaving my company. I feel it’s impossible to find roles synonymous to what I’ve been working on. Only finding FP&A type roles vs strategy 😭 ~10 YOE IC

I’m curious how others would quantify the $ value of WFH. Context: 4 YOE, $142k TC, been at this company for 13 months. I work for a super cool boss and I’m basically given free rein as far as going into the office goes. Most of my first year, I felt pressured to go in 4 days a week as that’s what was on my offer letter, but this dynamic has changed as I’ve proved myself to my boss/peers. I usually like to go in 2-3 times a week, but sometimes, specifically this week, I chose not to go in at all because I was a bit under the weather.

This got me thinking… I know it’s different from person to person, but what $ value would you give this situation vs. something like 4 days in, 1 WFH? How much higher would the comp have to be for the exact same job, but must go in 4 days a week. I’d say maybe $10k, but curious how others feel?

I’m in my first week at a PE backed company (~$200M annual revenue) as a finance manager. The culture seems great and there is WLB (largely 45-50 hours a week), but it’s definitely different than what I’m used to at my prior F500 of 5 years.

I had pressure cooker environments in my F500, but wondering what will it really be like in a PE backed company where the finance org has a lean (but growing) team, less than stellar systems, and tons of juggling priorities

What have been some of biggest transition challenges going from a F500 to a PE backed company?

Don’t want to leave anytime soon and made the choice to come to this environment for more ownership, scope, $$$ and an early promo to director that likely comes with equity

Hi so I just recently graduated with a finance, accounting, and supply chain management major. I don't have any work experience and I was looking to get my foot in the door into FP&A. I was thinking about staff accountant, AR, AP as sort of an entry job to get my foot in the door. Is there any other role I should be aware of in my job search that might also be helpful to getting into FP&A? Career goal wise I want to get into FP&A and maybe pivot into equity research from there if the option presents itself but I worry that career wise I'm too behind to think of as an option compared to peers.

Has anyone switched treasury, deposit, payment, AR services (the whole gamut) from one banking institution to another? I'm talking for a medium-sized company with some complexity. Any idea how much work this is?

Hey all, some context:

After 10+ years of various roles in Controlling/FP&A I'm making the switch to Product Management.

Signed the offer and will start this summer.

Very excited about it, especially for the steeper learning curve.

I would be thankful if anyone who's gone through the process has content recommendations (newsletters, blogs, courses etc...) or might want to share their experience.

Our Controller is leaving, and leadership wants me to take over Accounting in addition to FP&A. I currently lead FP&A and come from an investment banking / strategic finance background. Strong on operations, forecasting, business partnering, and process improvement - but I do not have a CPA or deep technical accounting experience.

The role would essentially become Head of Accounting + FP&A. I would report to the CFO.

I’m excited because it’s a major growth opportunity, but also aware there’s a steep learning curve on the accounting side.

For those who’ve been through something similar:

• What were the biggest surprises?

• What should I prioritize in the first 90 days?

• How important is deep technical accounting knowledge if you have a strong team underneath you?

• Any resources or advice you’d recommend?

For context, this is a private company with an existing accounting team already in place.

Would appreciate any honest advice from people who’ve made a similar jump.

Hey Pandas,

Just wanted to share I’m leaving FP&A. Thank you all for being a compass in the most formative years of my career. Wish you all the best!

we're a team of four in finance and the way we're currently managing reporting packs and forecasts is starting to fall apart. too much back and forth over versions, someone always working off a file that's not the latest, and pulling together the monthly pack has become way more manual than it should be.

we've been evaluating accounting software for finance team workflows specifically and the challenge is finding something that actually supports real collaboration rather than just being a single user tool that technically allows logins. most of what we've looked at feels built for smaller setups where one person owns everything. curious whether people have used something that actually scales for a small but structured finance function

I’m a Senior Manager at a PE-backed company (~$250M revenue). My VP, who I had a really strong working & personal relationship with, just announced he’s leaving. Small finance team .. he reported directly to the CFO.

I had visibility into a lot of meaningful initiatives through him. I’m not gunning for his role (not ready), but I don’t want to lose the momentum I’ve built or become invisible during the transition.I am planning to have a conversation with about this soon.

Has anyone navigated something similar? Is there a way for elevate myself during this transition?

Would love to get your thoughts.

If you are working in an MNC or a large group replacing workflows with AI is not as simple as people make it sound. It usually becomes a full scale transformation project, for example, our MIS reporting file alone is around 30MB and connected across dozens of tabs feeding into a master sheet. Practically, it’s not easy to just upload that entire structure into AI and expect clean variance analysis, KPI insights, and reliable outputs instantly.

Do you really think organizations will eventually try integrating tools like Claude directly into excel, especially since many people find it more capable than Copilot for analysis and reasoning? how many you are already actually getting meaningful productivity gains from AI today versus just using it for small tasks and shortcuts?

Hey - just wanted to share my situation and get your thoughts.

Been working on a team of two for 4 years as a Senior Analyst alongside a Director. Our org structure is changing and that Director is moving off the team.

I will not be backfilled and I will be taking on their work along with retaining my own. I expected a promotion after 4+ years in the same capacity working closely with bus ops and gaining their trust.

Fortune 500 legacy business with not stellar financials.

Should I just be happy I have a job?

I am 26 and my spouse will be giving birth to our second child soon. (I had my first at 23).

I have also just accepted a SFA role after starting my career in FP&A, moving to corp Treasury and now pivoting back into FP&A as a SFA.

I don’t feel like it’s affected my career growth, given that I have reached SFA in 4 years, 3 of which I had a kid during, however I can’t help but feel that I’m being judged at the companies I’ve worked for. Yes, there are times when you have to leave early for a sick child, but this might happen once a month at most, and coworkers have always left work early in the same frequency just for other reasons. It just feels like it hits different when the 25/26 year old leaves for their kid when your coworkers think of you as fresh out of school.

Anyone else done something similar? How did this affect your career? Ultimately, I don’t care to be a CFO. I’ve already amassed more wealth in these 4 years of my career than I ever was able to even fathom in my childhood (lower family income upbringing) and I feel like I balance pretty well right now between work and family life. Anyone relate or can chime in?

I have a year of experience at Big4 audit and recently accepted a position as a Financial Analyst I.

Kinda nervous about the transition - how long does it take to become comfortable as someone with limited experience?

Hi. I am a FA at a manufacturing (aerospace) company. I am about to take my final exam for the CFI FPAP certification as I was gifted an account for my birthday, I have heard people say this isn’t something worth putting on the resume I wanted to get some additional feedback. For context I am looking to eventually pivot into defense sector FA work so I think it is a relevant certification.

intercompany is my nemesis. genuinely every single month I think ok this time the balances will agree and then they don't and I lose half a day figuring out why. last month it was because someone in the other entity posted an IC invoice to a random expense code instead of the IC control account. took me ages to find it

the other one that kills me is late invoices. we have a cut-off date. it's not a secret. it's the same date every month. and yet ops will send me a bunch of POs on like day 5 asking if they can go into last month. no mate they can't. but then the FC caves and suddenly I'm reopening the period

also if one more person "cleans up" an excel export before sending it to me I'm going to lose it. someone merged cells in the GL detail last month and it broke everything. I've told them three times now. THREE times.

anyway. what's yours? what's the thing that no matter what you do it just keeps happening every close

How is this going to effect current financial planners and the financial industry as a whole? As an aspiring CFP, this is something I’ve worried about, but have took into consideration. Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.