Accenture Strategy vs Blue Chip FLDP (in dream city)
Fortunate enough to have received 2 offers and currently struggling to decide which to take. One is Accenture Strategy in London. Strategy work is simply much more interesting to me. Long term, I’d ideally like to move into a corporate strategy or corporate development role and eventually work my way up to Director or another senior strategy leadership position.
The other offer is a FLDP with a blue chip FMCG company in Copenhagen (think Mars, Unilever, Nestlé, P&G, Diageo, PepsiCo, etc.). Objectively it’s a good opportunity. During the interview process, the Nordics CFO personally hired me into his team and was incredibly supportive throughout the process. The programme has a clear path into senior leadership I’ve seen plenty of alumni progress to Cluster CFO (leading finance across multiple countries within a region rather than just one market) within roughly a decade.
The problem is that, if I’m being honest, the work itself feels less exciting. FP&A is less “sexy” than strategy consulting and I know I ultimately want to end up in strategy or corporate development rather than spending my whole career in finance.
At the same time, Copenhagen is my dream city. I genuinely want to settle there long term, whereas I don’t particularly enjoy London. Lifestyle is a huge factor for me, not just the career. There’s also quite a meaningful compensation difference at the graduate level. Accenture is around £36k in London, whereas the Copenhagen FLDP pays around DKK 500k plus benefits. Even after accounting for Denmark’s higher taxes, I’d still likely have more disposable income given the lower housing costs compared with London, and I also have student loans to repay.
I’ve considered taking Accenture and trying to transfer internally to Copenhagen after a few years, but from what I’ve heard, international transfers into a relatively small office like Copenhagen aren’t something you can really rely on. So I’m stuck between what feels like the more interesting career and what feels like the better overall life. Would really appreciate any advice. Thanks!
American here so take my opinion on Europe stuff with a grain of salt, but if you want to be in Copenhagen, take the job in Copenhagen, especially since it pays more and will give you more disposable income. I don’t think there’s anything magical about the Accenture job in terms of optionality and I don’t think it will have an outsized impact on your career in 10 years if you took it.
Also £36k in London sounds low as shit for a salary, I would rope myself if I got paid that little
Thanks - agreed on the comp point unfortunately, outside of IB & Big Law salaries in London are pretty shitty, even MBB pays around £50k and some T2’s around £40-42k.
Would you say that I can parlay the FLDP into a strategy role in the future - if I end up hating FP&A. All of my prior internships are in on the buyside in either PE, AM or Private Credit so I haven’t done corporate finance before.
yikes those UK salaries are unfortunate.
At least in the US, I’ve seen FLDP/FP&A -> corporate strategy happen before in F500 companies. If you can be a rockstar at your job, build a strong internal reputation and network across the org, gain visibility with senior leadership, I see no reason why you couldn’t make that hop.
Also, if your goal is just corp strategy at company in Copenhagen, the FLDP route is potentially a more direct route than Accenture in London -> hope I get transferred to Copenhagen -> get another job in corporate strategy.
FLDP, please don't overhype a strategy role at a Big 4 for yourself...
Thanks - I was under the impression that Accenture Strategy was better than B4 consulting arms and was a solid T2 (albeit with a non-existent PE practice).
It's not viewed as a T2. It is better than most B4 consulting arms, but it isn't 'true' strategy consulting from what I've heard (granted very few firms are but at least reputation wise, it isn't seen in the same light as T2s by recruiters for exits). It used to be, but not so much anymore.
Appreciate it, I suppose that seals the deal for me. Last Q do you think it’s possible to move to MBB after say 3 years or a similar Tier 2. Obviously it will depend on the type of rotations on the FLDP but assuming I got exposure to the “strategic finance” side vs focusing solely on reporting, I would guess it is possible although unlikely.
Possible although unlikely. It's all about getting quality rotations. Would agree strategic finance, capital markets, corp dev, venture funds are rotations that could open doors to exits. I have friends in rotational programs who've done stints in strategic finance, corp dev and although the hours can be long - the exposure is great at the organizational level.
I ended up in consulting because I couldn't get the desirable LDPs I wanted out of B school / MBA. If I had the option, even with a slight pay cut - I would have taken the LDPs over my current job in a heartbeat.
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