Big 4 vs. GE FMP

Big 4 Audit. I could also possibly (hopefully) transition into Consulting, as I am not yet a senior.

futurectdoc

FMP gives you more opportunities to do "real finance" than does Audit, it will also be easier to get into a top tier MBA, there is a strong anti-accountant bias.

Solid point - I was only thinking about the external transfer. Internal is every bit as bad. They invest a lot of money in you and do not want you to go elsewhere. Not to mention they schedule you months out and then try to guilt you into staying another busy season. A girl recently left my office who after being promised for 6 months that she could interview to transfer; it never happened. I'll reiterate: GE.

The people that knock it are usually the ones that see "Finance" in the title and think that'll get them into banking or teach them banking-related skillsets. It's just plain ignorance. Really the only ways to move from corpfin -> WS related (even coming from GE's FMP) is getting your MBA (easiest way), trying to make the move later in your career, when at the Director-level (very difficult, no guarantee you'll make dir), or networking into a job at GE Cap (hella difficult I'm sure).

BackOfficeLoveFor the rest of those roles(with the exception of treasury) you would ironically be reporting to former B4 audit grunts. Lol. Those positions are all typical audit exit roles. Don't get me wrong, PwC/Deloitte audit sucks, but it actually may be better than half the roles in that FMP program.

Please don't post garbage if you have no idea what you're talking about. You clearly don't have any firsthand knowledge of FMP or GE considering you're just quoting the website. FMP is not designed to give someone exit opps outside of GE. It's there to train the future leaders of the company, mostly as a pipeline into the Corporate Audit Staff. The reason why some of those rotations don't look 'sexy' is because corporate finance itself isn't a sexy thing. Again, they don't care about about developing your skillset for banking. If you think accounting or audit rotations are beneath you, you're not a good fit for leading a company in corporate finance. And you probably wouldn't be reporting to former B4 people. GE focuses on developing talent internally. That's the reason why FMP exists. If you look at the executives for the various GE businesses, a huge amount came from FMP then CAS. FMP then CAS is the fast track to management in GE, not B4 audit. If the OP wants to be at GE, then they should do FMP.

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If i could do it over again, I would have chosen GE FMP hands down over big four. It really depends on what you want to do. Auditing to me was just not interesting and the majority of the people in it seemed miserable. Applying my accounting/finance skill set to business decisions is. There are many good companies out there with great rotational programs - and if you perform - they love to promote from within. Also, keep in mind that many of these companies have better retirement benefits than the big four firms. This was something I never considered in school. I know plenty of people who after doing these programs have gotten their MBA part-time (paid for) at great schools. Whatever you choose to do, make sure its because you want to do it and not just because its the easy route (i.e. big four recruiting at a school like uiuc)

Wow, okay.

And I am assuming the most important thing the program likes to see in applicants is leadership?

i work for a big 4 firm and have several friends who went though F500 financial leadership programs. I'm no big 4 supporter, but I would recommend most people go the public accounting route over industry when starting after college (if they plan on a career in accoutning and/or corporate finance/fp&a). when you join a financial leadership program i'm sure you will get paid a little more and work a little less than a big 4 person, but the big 4 experience and brand on your resume will give you more options down the road when you decide to leave public and jump to industry. i would also argue you learn much more working in a client facing public accounting environment, than you would starting in a corporate accounting department. not to mention, most of the people in management positions in accounting/finance have a big 4 history and target people with similar backgrounds when hiring. in terms of mba placement, there might be some F500 programs that place better than the big 4, but for someone still in college there is absolutely no way you can be sure you will ever pursue an mba so don't let that impact your decision.

ge

latter

GE

GE FMP....on ALL accounts including exit opportunities

GE all day, everyday

I'm a Big 4 auditor, and from what I see, Big 4 exit opportunities can be greatly overrated. I see a lot of 2-5 year Big 4 people mostly becoming nothing more than senior accountants or finance analysts in industry. If you stay longer, you can score a Director of Financial Reporting or Controller position, but just because Businessweek always puts the Big 4 at the top of the "Best Places to Launch a Career" list doesn't mean that other opportunities won't be better. I can't speak to GE's FMP, but at Big 4, you'll do a lot of mindless work, have awful hours for part of the year, and be paid very little for what you do.

This isn't to say a Big 4 career is worthless - I'm still there for a reason. It's the gold standard of accounting, and you'll certainly move up the ladder a lot faster than 95% of your peers. If you do a scan of executive profiles, you'll find Big 4 firms in the history of a very large portion of top executives. However, this perception that Big 4 = best career ever is slightly warped, and there are other options that are even better in terms of career progression and not as bad in terms of work/life balance. GE's FMP is one of the few that falls in that remaining 5%.