Corporate finance jobs: treasury vs FP&A?
Hi there,
Which of these two positions with Fortune 500 can provide more opportunities, if I want to move to IB (mm, boutique etc.) / PE or valuation after couple years.
treasury analyst vs fp&a analyst. Both are entry level positions.
job descriptions for both positions are typical of similar fortune 500 positions, except there is no in-house trading or anything like that in treasury and I may be able to do some work related to purchase price allocation and some modeling in fp&a.
Any input is appreciated.
I'd take treasury every time; at most companies FP&A is glorified accounting at the junior level.
Later on, FP&A is kind of interesting; you actually get to forecast earnings, get to know the business, etc. But, at the entry level, it is mind numbing.
Treasury, depending on the corp, can at least provide some finance skills such as risk management. In either case, your best bet to move to IB would be to get into Corp Dev and/or get a MBA.
I thought FP&A's job was to forecast earnings, know the business, etc.? Why is it that you only do all of this at the later levels? Also, isn't banking also fairly mind-numbing at the entry level as well? Which one is worse in your opinion? FP&A probably pays worse, but has less hours required as well.
If you are looking to get into corp finance, check and see if the company offers a sort of financial leadership development program.. A lot of them do (some have different names). Basically you will spend 2-3 years in 6 month rotations learning different aspects of finance.
Agreed that fp&a can be similar to accounting at jr levels, but how about treasury? Aren't the junior folks involved in setting up bank accounts for the company to pay vendors? I thought that was a big part of the job from what i've heard from jr folks at my company. Though treasury gets more interesting as well higher up.
treasury ccan be as you said, bank accts, etc. Also, at some firms, treasury is the issuance/repurchase of stock/debt and how the firm funds itself- pretty neat stuff (good for IB)
Those rotation programs aren't finance, as the poster above said about FP&A, glorified accounting at junior levels. Notice how none of them offer corp dev as a rotation?
Lockheed, Raytheon, GE, Verizon, J&J, IBM ( I know ppl at all of them except raytheon, PM if you want more info). Look at all of them and tell me if you think they sound like finance or glorified accounting. General Mills offers corp dev as a part of their rotation.
That being said, these programs are great places to start and set you up for an MBA, from what I know- but the skills aren't transferable to IB as you think, and you will most likely need an MBA to get into IB.
There are quite a few that do offer corp/business development rotations - I've done one and I know others at different companies that have been able to as well. Same thing with investor relations, treasury, and other "more interesting" positions.
fp&a is pretty boring, but it does give you experience analyzing a business, understanding its operations and drivers, etc - which translates decently well to banking, for something that's not banking
while i think treasury might be more interesting to someone interested in banking, i think it might ironically be less helpful for making the move, since it's less transferable in my opinion
Treasury is supposed to suck. FP&A is also supposed to suck but at least you can rearrange the letters to say "fap."
treasury in the concept of setting up bank accounts and all that crap is boring/not transferable.
But determining and analyzing whether to issue stock/debt or repurchase stock or debt is transferable to banking; it really matters on what the treasury group does at the firm you work for.
right, perhaps we could/should get a list going... thoughts?
Thanks for replies.
is this a possible track?
FP&A - corporate development - mba from top school - IB / PE etc?
How long do you think I should stay in Fp&a before making switch to corp/dev?
Also, I've passed cfa level 1.
treasury job seems to be gone by now, although after talking to treasury folks here, the position did not seem appealing to me. mostly operations/basic treasury duties.
Seems possible enough to me assuming you can network with corpdev group and potentially have a well-respected senior manager in FP&A go to bat for you. I'd say you should probably spend a year in FP&A minimum. Spend that time networking, developing relationships with senior management in your field, and knocking out another level of the CFA.
Treasury seems really hit or miss, even at large financial institutions. Wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Do your homework on the firm. I have def seen people make the move in many cases after 6 months-10 years.
That being said, be careful. Some/many firms are VERY specific in who they want for their CorpDev teams and hire exclusively our of IBD and Consulting.
If you are going the corporate route, and you've done your HW to find that it is possible or has been done to move from fp&a to corp dev, start networking now, I don't think you can/will get dinged. An example would be to take a modeling course, be able to build/run merger and valuation models. Then, say 4-12 months down the road, your kicking ass in your fp&a job and have downtime, you can shoot your contact in corp dev an email and ask if they need help with anything (and have the modeling skills to do the job).
PM for more info.
OP im also in fp&a and a cfa l2 candidate. Agree with above poster that you need to do your hw... at my firm corp dev is post mba only and everyone has a title of manager or higher.
FP&A all the way.
Ok, I have another question. I appreciate all of your responses.
Out of these two career path options, which one do you think helps most to get into IB?
FP&A - Corporate development. (assuming the move is very possible)
Big 4 audit - Transaction Services couple years later.
Thanks in advance!
Under your huge assumption of FP&A --> Corp Dev being likely, this is a no brainer - clearly better than audit.
Of the two, Transaction Services actually does send people to IB, although mostly to MM shops.
If you want BB, keep in mind CorpDev places very, very well at business schools. Like probably the next best thing after MBB and IB->PE backgrounds in the realm of traditional backgrounds. From a MBA business schools ">M7, getting IB anywhere should be quite doable.
Anyone else?
Keep in mind, big 4 offer is audit, not TS. I know from friends' experiences the transition from audit to TS won't be easy. I don't want to lose too much time doing audit. I thought corpdev experience is closer and maybe more valuable to IB than TS experience. From what I heard TS is not IB, although Deloitte's corporate finance is.
Thanks
Deloitte corporate finance functions as a MM investment bank. Deloitte also has a separate group that does TS like the three other Big 4 auditors.
I dont know how much experience you would get in corp dev that would be transferable , but like sayandarula Deloitte corporate finance does operate like a MM invetsment bank, i've personally been involved in some projects and the skills required are; modelling, preparation of investor documents, term sheets, and negotiations with potential financiers, i believe all these skills are transferable to IB. But like has been mentioned, transfering from audit to Corp finance is not mean feat and is not guaranteed, so depending on the skill obatined in corp dev, i would say its a safer bet to getting into IB.
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