Going to Work for My Dad, Who is a CFO

Hey guys,


Background - I graduated in Dec 2023 from a non-target in the SE and started working for a regional accounting firm in their TAS group. I had an IB internship at a MM firm in the summer of 2023 but didn’t get a return offer due to the crappy market at the time.


Career Options - One option was CPA and TAS for a year or two, then try to lateral to IB or Project Finance.


Recently, I've considered talking to my dad about working for him. He’s a CFO at a middle market poultry producer (~$150mm annual revenue). I’m not sure of the role or need I could fill (which will go a long way in answering my question). But, if my career goal was C-Suite or business owner, it could be a great opportunity for me to learn from him and others in the C-Suite, learn the ins/outs of the poultry manufacturing industry, create relationships, etc.


Question - Does working for my dad for the reasons above make sense? Is it worth leaving my current position in TAS, given TAS is ideal if I wanted to lateral to IB? Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

TAS at a Big 4 is a possible route to IB, but not from a small accounting firm, and not in this very challenged IB market.

What is your end game here? CPA is not a good use of time if you are planning to leave accounting. I would personally not want to work for my dad or at a poultry company, and your exits would be very limited from what sounds like an FP&A type job, but that is up to you. If you want to do IB, I'd start thinking about MBA applications.

 

If I did end up trying to lateral to IB, I would move to Big 4 TAS beforehand, and a CPA would help with that. But yeah, I hear your point on the CPA, I would only get it if it were needed to move from regional to Big 4.

If I worked for my dad, the goal would be to leverage the connection with my dad to learn as much as possible and be promoted within or use the experience and connections I’ve made to start a similar business. I wouldn’t make this move for exit ops.

 
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