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My Case for Corporate Finance
 

STorIB's picture
CF
(Orangutan, 372
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 4:23pm
monkey business.jpg

As a few of you know, I have been working in a FP&A role at a F50ish company for a few months now. Through most of my undergrad, I was very naive and thought finance only pertained to capital markets. After I failed to get offers from both ER and IB at a few MM and boutique firms the spring before my graduation, I panicked. I began working at a start up that showed signs of failing about a year later, and had to reach out to my fledging network. I managed to get an interview at a few places, including the company where I am now.

There isn't a lot of hate for people working in corporate finance on these forums, which is great, but there isn't a lot of love either. I get that this is WallStreetOasis.com -- a site that has helped me out tremendously -- but some of you absolutely need to consider an alternative to the IB/ER path. Working where I am now is exactly where I want to be, given my circumstances. Here's why:

Pay/Benefits- All in you can expect to make between 55-65k, in a much less expensive area than NY. Since I am part of the CF rotation program, I receive a sizable promotion (with good work) every time I rotate. Our finance and accounting departments are completely separate and I do not have to do an accounting rotation if I choose not to. I'm not getting paid massive bonuses, but chances are the IB people aren't this year either. In CF, you're also not working more than 50 hours per week for 85% of the year, which leads me to my next item.

Work/Life Balance - I am rarely stressed and always well rested. My work hours are minimal and I only work weekends when I choose to login from home to keep updated on emails. There are pool and ping pong tables everywhere, cafes on every floor and massages are offered at every one of our campuses.

Quality of Connections- I interact with the senior directors of all business groups that I am assigned to. I joke with them, talk to them about non-work related items and receive career and rotational advice from them. No one I have interacted with has come off as pretentious or arrogant. Less senior people are more open to chatting with people who want to work for their firm and usually have an incentive to refer qualified students to the interview process.

Business School - Most of the highest ranked F500 companies will pay for business school if you want to go. If you don't want to stay with the company but want to get the MBA, you still get the name on your resume which greatly helps with admissions at top programs. Sure it's a stretch for Harvard or Wharton but I doubt it's an easy time getting in from the IB side either.

The bottom line is this: If you're at a target or a top non-target and have known that you've wanted to do IB since you were a freshman, then you should absolutely pursue getting into a BB or top boutique. But if you're like me, who came from a non-target and didn't know what I wanted to do with my career until I was a junior, you should put time into networking with some people at top F500 companies. There is plenty of upside in terms of quality of life, work/life balance and networking at a top Fortune500 company.

Tags:
SECfinance's picture

When your rotation is over,

IB
(King Kong, 1,415
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 4:32pm

When your rotation is over, what do you see yourself doing?

Neighbor's picture

Nice post. So many people on

IB
(King Kong, 1,236
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 4:50pm

Nice post. So many people on this forum get major tunnel vision with GS/MS/JPM that they fail to realize finance is one of the broadest fields you can enter.

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

STorIB's picture

SECfinance wrote: When your

CF
(Orangutan, 372
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 5:07pm
SECfinance:

When your rotation is over, what do you see yourself doing?

Technically you can rotate indefinitely at the place where I work, but after the fourth rotation it's harder to get a promotion after your rotation is finished. Most of us who transfer to operations go into Sales & Marketing, Corporate development (Though I am told it is harder to get into) and treasury. You can also take "strategic" rotations where you are working with business partners to create pilot programs, analysis projects and marketing research. I'm too new to really know where I want to be.

STorIB's picture

.

CF
(Orangutan, 372
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 5:09pm

.

SRRubio123's picture

Even breaking into CorpFin is

 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 5:17pm

Even breaking into CorpFin is hard from my super super non target =/

This week I followed up to a couple contacts and was told to get back to them around late April.. Uh.. I NEED THE PIECE OF MIND NAOOOOOO

eriginal's picture

CF is always a great fall

AM
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 5:37pm

CF is always a great fall back option. I think most hard driving people are turned off by the "sane" work life balance, and therefore don't consider it. I got an ER offer but if not CF was always a consideration since that was the only OCR my school offered. If you can make it into corp dev more power to you but the thought of being a lifer in treasury makes me want to find the nearest bridge and jump.

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

eriginal's picture

And no offense as I agree CF

AM
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 5:39pm

And no offense as I agree CF is respectable, but your post makes it seem like your trying justifying how great you have it for your own peace of mind.

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

STorIB's picture

I think that too often we,

CF
(Orangutan, 372
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 5:49pm

I think that too often we, including myself in the past, think that the only way to be successful, make money or have a good life is to go through the IBD route and that CF is like how you say -- a great fall back option. I'm trying to clarify that by saying if you come from a background like myself, the CF route is just fine before an MBA or even as a solid career path, as TLynch said above. There are other areas of finance besides working models until 3am.

Not all of us use free time to watch more movies or play more video games. I have a few side projects that I have the time for that are producing decent income for me.

accountingbyday's picture

StorIB - glad to see another

CF
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 6:02pm

StorIB - glad to see another CF person on this board. The thing for everyone to keep in mind is that each company (and rotational program) can be very different. Your's sounds like a great experience, assuming its a great brand name I'd encourage you to keep rotating to get more experiences.

A slight contrast to what you're saying - in the rotational program at my company it's almost impossible to avoid the accounting-based roles. You can definitely influence the roles that you're going to get, but you will almost definitely get some sort of FP&A role.

btw - hearing that you might go into Ops is pretty sweet. I'm currently Finance support for one of our Ops groups and it's pretty cool. I'm not 100% sure if my next role will be Finance or Ops (likely finance though).

Do you mind PMing me what company you're at? I'm always interested to learn more about the top companies.

The only thing to keep in mind is that salary progression in CF is likely to be a lot lower then IB/Consulting/Big 4.

UncleMilty's picture

Does the OP feel that the

 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 8:37pm

Does the OP feel that the role would be similar at companies all up and down the F500? Any specific companies with good programs? Off the top of my head, I can only thing of GE, JNJ, LMT, and NOC.

"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is."
- Oscar Wilde
"Seriously, psychology is for those with two x chromosomes."
- RagnarDanneskjold

eriginal's picture

LIFE and QCOM both have good

AM
 
Points)
 on 2/11/12 at 9:07pm

LIFE and QCOM both have good ones in Cali.

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

technoviking's picture

accountingbyday wrote: btw -

O
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 8:47am
accountingbyday:

btw - hearing that you might go into Ops is pretty sweet. I'm currently Finance support for one of our Ops groups and it's pretty cool. I'm not 100% sure if my next role will be Finance or Ops (likely finance though).

I'm confused about the Ops group... I thought Ops was "bad". How is this different to Ops in IB

M Friedman's picture

Thanks for this, One of the

(King Kong, 1,007
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 9:33am

Thanks for this,

One of the things you mentioned is that you still have enough time to work on "side projects that bring in extra income." To me, not having the time, or capability, to remain creative because of work (or working in IB) is one of my biggest fears. Staying entrepreneurial is one of my biggest fall back plans, I know that is not the same for everyone, though.

Also we all hear about the creepy bankers who cannot function on dates or with women. I've also heard of how your non finance friends stop calling you, you stop going to the gym, etc. To me, the extra 15-25K (not adjusted PPP) is not worth it.

I am waiting to hear back from an F500 in corp strategy, hopefully they come through.

See my WSO blogs here.

BJM85's picture

I have been working in CF

(Monkey, 61
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 9:52am

I have been working in CF since graduation 3 years ago and am very happy with my decision. I started around $60K and have increased my salary by about 40% over 3 years which is not uncommon if you do a good job and look for opportunities. I work 8:30 - 5:15 most days with a few exceptions like budget season but even then it's usually 60 hours or so. While you're not going to get the 6 figure salary right out of school, you will have a life and what you do make goes much further in a place like Atlanta. My old boss, at 27, just got promoted and is making IB money while working ~50 hours a week. Also, taking vacation is encouraged and expected. I'm taking a week off to go to Europe this summer and my boss is excited for me and said to make sure I don't take my blackberry. For those looking to own a jet by age 30, CF is probably not for you and that's cool. If you want to make a nice living and enjoy life outside of work, I think it's something you should certainly consider. As a side note, we bring people from IB into our CorpDev group in the $100K+ range regularly.

accountingbyday's picture

technoviking

CF
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 10:38am
technoviking:
accountingbyday:

btw - hearing that you might go into Ops is pretty sweet. I'm currently Finance support for one of our Ops groups and it's pretty cool. I'm not 100% sure if my next role will be Finance or Ops (likely finance though).

I'm confused about the Ops group... I thought Ops was "bad". How is this different to Ops in IB

"Ops" can be slightly different at different places. If you're looking for high finance - Ops isn't what you want. The ops people are essentially the support group for the financiers.

In corporate it is slightly different. At my company we lump manufacturing, supply chain, purchasing and a few other functions into Ops. When you realize that we are essentially a huge, global healthcare manufcaturing company those are extremely important roles.

We don't have an exact equivalent at my company, but one of the guys I present to fairly regularly would be like Tim Cook was at Apple 6 months ago. We are even more manufacturing focused than Apple and you can see how much Apple values the Operational roles.

sayandarula's picture

"No one I have interacted

O
(King Kong, 1,812
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 11:26am

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?

bears1208's picture

Are you bored at your work?

(Gorilla, 535
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 12:25pm
kmess024's picture

How do you contact people in

EN
(Orangutan, 312
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 12:26pm

The Four E's of investment
"The greatest Enemies of the Equity investor are Expenses and Emotions."- Warren Buffet

blastoise's picture

the question is op if you had

O
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 12:29pm
Faddy's picture

blastoise wrote: the question

(Baboon, 112
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 12:45pm
D M's picture

That was blastoise being a

O
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 1:03pm

"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer

blastoise's picture

Faddy wrote: blastoise

O
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 1:27pm
STorIB's picture

blastoise wrote: the question

CF
(Orangutan, 372
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 2:15pm
BJM85's picture

blastoise wrote: the question

(Monkey, 61
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 2:23pm
UncleMilty's picture

Where does salary max out for

 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 3:03pm

"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is."
- Oscar Wilde
"Seriously, psychology is for those with two x chromosomes."
- RagnarDanneskjold

KNICKS020's picture

How do you apply for Corp Fin

(Baboon, 155
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 3:36pm
littleredman's picture

Op you mentioned that your

(Monkey, 30
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 3:50pm
UncleMilty's picture

KNICKS020 wrote: How do you

 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 3:50pm

"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is."
- Oscar Wilde
"Seriously, psychology is for those with two x chromosomes."
- RagnarDanneskjold

bears1208's picture

STorIB wrote: bears1208

(Gorilla, 535
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 3:59pm
D M's picture

If you're seeing "very few

O
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 4:26pm

"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer

JM312's picture

Great post. I did MM IB last

VC
(Chimp, 3
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 4:32pm

----
There is no doubt you will try to kill me, but you will never kill what I believe

eriginal's picture

This sounds like my reasoning

AM
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 4:38pm

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

Werkmier's picture

JM312 wrote: Live your

(Chimp, 4
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 4:48pm
STorIB's picture

BJM85 wrote: blastoise

CF
(Orangutan, 372
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 5:50pm
KenUDiggit's picture

Is it possible to get into a

(Monkey, 50
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 6:30pm
eriginal's picture

STorIB wrote: eriginal

AM
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 6:33pm

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

bears1208's picture

KenUDiggit wrote: Is it

(Gorilla, 535
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 6:55pm
apan's picture

Great post. Everyone is

IB
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 7:06pm
BigBucks's picture

It would be nice if someone

IB
(Gorilla, 509
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 7:10pm
apan's picture

BigBucks wrote: It would be

IB
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 7:15pm
SECfinance's picture

apan wrote: While banking

IB
(King Kong, 1,415
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 7:37pm
bears1208's picture

SECfinance wrote: apan

(Gorilla, 535
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 7:47pm
cgcantrell's picture

Hi all, I've been reading

O
 
Points)
 on 2/12/12 at 8:25pm
ejam21's picture

Does anyone have any insight

(Monkey, 32
 
Points)
 on 2/13/12 at 12:18pm
STorIB's picture

cgcantrell wrote: Hi all,

CF
(Orangutan, 372
 
Points)
 on 2/13/12 at 9:38pm
alexpasch's picture

Corporate finance is very

EN
(King Kong, 1,866
 
Points)
 on 2/14/12 at 6:47am

www.jetcigs.com - Use coupon code WSO30 for 30% off

Otter.'s picture

You can be 30 and make much

CD
(Gorilla, 554
 
Points)
 on 2/14/12 at 10:34am

Hi, Eric Stratton, rush chairman, damn glad to meet you.

alexpasch's picture

Otter. wrote: You can be 30

EN
(King Kong, 1,866
 
Points)
 on 2/14/12 at 8:34pm

www.jetcigs.com - Use coupon code WSO30 for 30% off

ERGOHOC's picture

What a failure you are

AM
(Orangutan, 271
 
Points)
 on 2/16/12 at 2:18am
AsianMonky's picture

I agree that CF is a good

(Orangutan, 347
 
Points)
 on 7/27/12 at 9:37am

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