Consulting, I Banking, or Public Accounting?
I'm a junior accounting major and I want to eventually end up as a corporate finance executive (CFO, Treasurer, Controller, VP, etc.) at a Fortune 500 company. What would be the best way to start my career then?
Should I go into banking than corporate development then switch over to corporate finance?
Or should I go into financial consulting then make a switch?
The current climate seems to favor CPA's as a result of Sarbenes-Oxley so would Big 4 audit be the best option?
How do you know you want to be a CFO, Treasurer, Controller, VP ect?
I only ask because it is important to keep in mind that your career aspirations will likely change, especially if you are still in school.
Big 4 audit definitely has a proven track record to put people in these senior accounting roles (CFO, treasurer, controller) and would probably be the most popular starting place among them.
If I were you I would look at my options. Do you really have the option to go into banking? Not mental abiilty but do you go to a target? Do live or want to live in NYC or major metro?
If there were a guaranteed path to corporate finance executive, then every F500 CFO might have the same background. Do some some homework. Big 4 is very prevalent among execs, but then again, tons of people go into IB and become execs elsewhere. Big 4 is valuable in that regard, if you're sure that's what you want to do. Banking can lead into careers equally as lucrative without necessarily obtaining CFO status, but depending on your coverage area, would be just as good or better a route into an executive role at a F500 (oil and gas, for instance).
Honestly I'd worry about landing one of these positions first. Just network/go through ocr and take whichever one you can get and seems the most interesting.
I'm a former big 4 and I will admit I got sucked into the notion that Big 4 is a golden ticket to CFO. I'll tell you right now that is simply not the case. You have to make partner to lateral over as CFO and good luck trying to move up the ranks of a F500 as an accounting manager/controller. Everyone I worked with that was manager level and above only received opportunities at the accounting manager/controller level. You need finance experience to be a CFO and audit does not give you that skillset, no matter what they preach to you during the interviews. Also, you'll quickly find out that anyone halfway smart in Big 4 dreams about moving over to consulting/i-banking/finance in general and they all think the CFA/CPA combo is their golden ticket. Go ibank or consulting, even transaction services is much better if you're stuck on being an accountant.
I agree I don't think someone with purely public accounting experience would be a good CFO, even from the partner level. However, big 4 allows you to jump over to higher level finance/accounting roles (from the manager level) that you would need to be on the CFO track. You could go straight into private accounting and work your way up, but it takes about twice as long to management in private versus transfering in from public.
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