Valuation -> Portco FP&A + Corp Treasury
Hi. Currently heading into 2nd year analyst at one of independent valuation firms at an investment bank (HL, Lincoln, Duff & Phelps, etc.). Recently received a job posting from a recruiter for this FP&A + Corp Treasury position for PE-backed portfolio company. Given their small Finance team (less than 10 ppl) it seems like I will be exposed to both FP&A and Corporate Treasury functions, and even some strategic finance. I originally thought of pitching to Private Credit role. Does this opportunity seem like a career step back? Any advice will be appreciated.
I think it comes down to your long term goals:
1) If you love valuation, obviously stay
2) If you're interested in private credit like you mentioned, or other lending, IB, buy-side, etc. roles, I would stay (and continue to think about what your next step should be). Corporate finance would not be as transferable to those roles unless you worked in corporate finance for a number of years and then you found a role at a PE firm that valued corporate finance experience. I cannot think of any lender or investor I've interacted with that worked at a portco without also getting an MBA / summer associate internship between their portco time and lending/investing role.
3) If your goal is to eventually land at a portco and eventually end up a VP, SVP, CFO, etc., then it sounds like opportunity. I am in a similar position to what you described with the addition of technical accounting as I'm a CPA. You get to learn a lot working in a lean group at a portco and FP&A is a good role as you'll get exposure to both operations and finance management and can lead to more strategic roles in the future. Just understand that private credit or other roles mentioned above may not value your time in corporate finance as they would additional years and advancement within valuations, IB, etc.
Hope this helps, others may disagree, but it comes down to your long-term goals and to give yourself the best options in the future.
Thanks. This makes sense very well. Do you think consulting, such as operational consulting or CFO service, is a potential exit working at a lean Finance team at Portco? My position will not be just FP&A, but more of a combination of FP&A, Corporate Treasury, and Strategic Finance. Again, I really appreciate your prior reply. It was very helpful and thorough.
That sounds like a good role. Yes, I think those could be a potential exit, especially if the consulting firm has a strong practice in the industry your portco is in or if you get the work with them on a project while at your portco. I'd also suggest that if your portco has any M&A activity to volunteer yourself to be the point of contact to the valuations consultants or to do the work yourself to keep that skillset sharp. Maybe poll the CO forums about your potential Valuations > Portco CF > CO / Other career path. Good luck!
Someone at my old MF PE backed company pre-MBA did this. Post MBA valuation consultant at a Big 4, now he's a SVP Treasury of a ~$10B subsidiary of a F100 company (my old company sold to the F100 at around that price). He joined the company when it was valued <$1B.
So it's definitely a feasible path.
Do you have any advice how to position myself for MBA? Should I stay long and aim for promotion? Or should I try to pitch to consulting to rebrand my resume? Another question is what are some possible exit from this portco to rebrand my resume for MBA application? Thank you for your insight in advance.
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