Public vs. Private Corporate Finance/FP&A
anyone here with experience in both?
is one preferable over the other?
does one typically have less stress or constraints (i'm thinking private)?
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As in private sector vs public sector? If so I would strongly advise against going into public sector. People that work in public sector are seen as uncommercial, bureaucratic and dull and in general have an extremely difficult time switching over to the private sector.
If you're talking abour private vs publicly traded companies, it doesn't matter. I've worked for tiny throught to medium sized private firms and currently work for one of the worlds biggest public companies.
Bigger companies (usually public) will often offer better career oppertunitues and exposure and can look better on your CV. That's a rule of thumb and there are obvious expections.
When picking a company to work for I'd look more at the industry they're in (does it interest you) and at how their business works. For example if you like working with large amount of quantitive data you might find it interesting to work for a large retailer / FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) as they have tons of data on everything from sales, time of day/year and weather than can be analysed. If you'd prefer to work on a more qualitive basis then perhaps a slower moving industry like construction or professional services may be of more interest.
Thanks for taking time to answer this.
When you are talking about public CF, do you refer to working in the CF department of an IB or consulting firm? And private CF is for FTSE500/Fortune 500 company (general non service provider)?
So by public I mean publicly traded, with it's shares listed on a stock exchange (LSE, NYSE etc). So if it's part of the FTSE/Fortune then it would have to be a public company. Private companies shares aren't listed on an exchange and can only be bought and sold in private transactions. In the UK public companies are called PLC's and private ones are called Ltd's. Either of these types of companies could be IB or consulting but could also be anything under the sun from coffee shops thorugh to construction firms, investment banks, tech firms, law firms, manufacturers, publishers, night clubs, resturants, etc. you get the idea.
The other meaning is public vs private sector. Public sector is working for the government, or a government department. Central gov, HMRC, NHS, DWP, schools, police, fire service etc (not sure what US equivilants would be). It's called the public sector because the organisations are owned by the public, including you and me. They're government organisations fuded through tax.
Private sector is working for an organisation (as above) that is owned by private individuals (ie. not the government) and usually does things in order to make a profit. This is what you'd usually refer to as 'business'
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