I am currently at a NYC tech startup. Currently working directly under an executive as their 'assistant'/'direct support'. Going to be making a transition to the finance department as an 'FP&A person' in the next couple weeks. Just graduated, had internships the past two summers at BB banks (JPM/GS/MS), and have studied extensively for IB interviews/superdays in the past. I was wondering what I should do to prepare, what I need to do to be successful in this role, what will my hours be like, and any excel tutorials that I should look into that explain the unwritten do's/dont's (b/c I will be working directly with the CFO)? I only have a preliminary understanding about what an FP&A does so I think I need some guidance for where to go to educate myself about the day-to-day in this role and the types of challenges/problems that I am going to have to solve. Thanks
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I was in a similar role as you, but much different sector. For me it was basically doing all the modeling/excel/presentation work for the CFO. If he wanted a deep dive into anything relating to the business, that was me. Was a lot of supply chain modeling, operating budgets, break even analysis, and some light valuation work.
Thanks! What advice would you have for me if I have never even seen a supply chain model before? Also, I understand the concepts behind a break-even analysis but have never done one before, any advice/resources? Were you entry-level? What was the learning curve like?
My advice to you would just be to ask as many questions as you can. You are just getting into the role so no one expects you to be an expert day one. The fact that you are worried about learning everything before means you will probably do well. Supply chain, and break even analysis is easy and you will learn it along the way. I was entry level into the FP&A role but had capital markets experience. Just make sure you get as much clarity as possible on the things you are asked to provide and understand the numbers you are presenting.
CFI has some FP&A stuff on their website. Just search Operating budget excel and it should pop up.
Great - thanks for the help.
Corporate finance institute could be a useful resource to understand the roles within the FP&A group. If you are going to be the CFO's business partner I'd expect you would be rolling up the the CFO's by department forecasts and presenting them to the head of FP&A/ execs. Think HC, 3rd party expenses, revenue (treasury related). It is all pretty dependent on what the Job Description was that you signed up for. You also should expect that every month to be reviewing actuals vs the forecast. That said, I work at a public company so startup FP&A is likely very different depending on complexity of the Organization. As far as excel, learn fast and leverage youtube/ google, someone out there has already figured out what you are trying to do.
To be successful try and listen and learn as much as you can from everyone you talk to, learn the business model really well. Also, try and become a great modeler and get pulled into highly visible strategic projects, those are 10x more interesting than variance analysis.
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