Big4 Audit to FP&A
8 years in big 4 audit. Promoted along the way. Any tips to transition to FP&A? I need to make a move.
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Focus on industries you've worked in, being able to explain the business will make the case for FP&A vs. Accounting easier.
Companies in growth mode will be easier because the finance roles will be more "hybrid" with accounting/FP&A.
If you've ran the engagement economics on your projects make sure to discuss that. How'd you set up the budget, when did you reforecast, how did you explain variances to leadership. Odds are you've done FP&A work internally, tell that story. Best of luck
Much appreciated!
Congrats on lasting eight years. I gave up after getting a "C" in my college auditing class.
I think you are well-positioned to move into FP&A. You could start by focusing on smaller companies with former controllers as CFOs, but if you prepare your resume well, I doubt you have any issue at all with any company. I would stress the transferability of your skills if asked why you are interested in certain industries, but also have a real reason why that industry interests you.
One area that I would dig deep in if I were interviewing you would be your strategic thinking. FP&A not only needs to explain variances, but also needs to answer the question of "how can we avoid these variances going forward" or "how does missing budget in January affect Q1, Q2, etc." This has been my biggest issue with accountants- they are very, very good at finding things, but they are not always the best at tying that into the future. If you can be strategic, you will instantly be in the top 1% of candidates.
That being said, talk up your accounting knowledge and how it ties into FP&A. I've seen this too where an FP&A guy might be very strategic, but they miss simple things like how accruals could affect future months because they lack a working knowledge of basic accounting. A lot of FP&A, especially if it's at a smaller or PE-backed company, will be focused on cash management, estimating the affect of expenses occurred vs. cash out the door, etc. Talk up how you already know this.
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