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It is a bit of a challenge to make transition from the operations to the corporate finance area, however, not impossible. As others said, look at internal options first-treat it just as seriously as external job. If you have good rapport with your manager, ask him what opportunities you can take on. In my company I have seen people move from operations to deal teams, from operations to legal (after law school graduation), from mail room to accounting.
Sorry to hijack, but what about someone trying to transition from staff accountant to financial analysis? I initially thought it wouldn't be that hard a leap especially since I already have budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis experience. On the other hand I don't have any modeling experience which seems to be a must have (how could you get that skill?)
A recruiter told me that it would be next to impossible to move to financial analysis from accounting. Is this true?
It is a bit of a challenge to make transition from the operations to the corporate finance area, however, not impossible. As others said, look at internal options first-treat it just as seriously as external job. If you have good rapport with your manager, ask him what opportunities you can take on. In my company I have seen people move from operations to deal teams, from operations to legal (after law school graduation), from mail room to accounting.
unfortunately no one that i report to seems to care much at ALL about my progression. much more about watching their own tails.
probably one of the main reasons why this job and my career are completely stagnant right now.
OP, I think your best bet is internal transfer and if you have to compromise on title...ie somewhat a demotion, take it. I get nobody cares about your progression but that is a double edge sword...if you were stellar at your job then I would think someone in your mgmt line would notice and vouch for you...that's typically what I have seen at 'good' companies...at my company we moved in non-FP&A people (IT, scientists) into FP&A because someone on their old team really vouched for them as a great person so its low risk to bring someone in like that so long as they are quant oriented and taking a lowish level role.
I would also agree an MBA or CPA is no sure fire shot into FP&A....one thing you could do on your free time if you are super serious about FP&A is get your CMA....only requires an exam but shows you are serious about your intent to get into FP&A. A nice to have but not critical.
Also, FP&A at the junior levels can be BORING to many people - there is a lot of repitition...standard report running, filling out templates, fielding administrative finance questions...I really dislike it when people start throwing out the 'strategy' aspect of FP&A...I spend a ton of my time just tying out numbers from various presentations to ensure sr mgmt always sees the same stuff.
Sorry to hijack, but what about someone trying to transition from staff accountant to financial analysis? I initially thought it wouldn't be that hard a leap especially since I already have budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis experience. On the other hand I don't have any modeling experience which seems to be a must have (how could you get that skill?)
A recruiter told me that it would be next to impossible to move to financial analysis from accounting. Is this true?
Your best bet is working in a company's accounting dept and then transferring into FP&A. That happens with some regularity at large F500 type companies. To some degree the recruiter is right and wrong about moving into FP&A from accounting. From a RECRUITER perspective, he's not going to waste his time on an accountant when he can try and find people with FP&A experience to fill and FP&A slot. From a pure skills perspective, accountants can do fine in FP&A but I find good accountants don't like FP&A.
I'm a F500 senior financial analyst who made a seamless transition from revenue accounting to FP&A. I was able to make an internal transfer at my last company. I think that's the easiest way for someone in accounting to get into analyst roles. The biggest hurdle for me coming from an accounting background was that I had gotten used to things "tieing" out. Not the case in FP&A as it's more of a strategic role. You need to see the bigger picture and being ok with reasonableness vs. ticking and tieing. Also struggled with variance analysis early on too. But, the more I worked my analyst muscles the better I got. My transition was easier because I felt all along I was more of an analyst than an accountant. My managers agreed so I was able to transfer departments pretty easily.
Modeling tutorials can be found all over the web. Take a course. Perhaps get into a certificate program. Get familiar with terms such as NPV & DCF. There's plenty of ways to do it.
I agree with what was stated earlier about accounting people not liking FP&A and vice versa. It's funny but true. Personally, I prefer the ambiguity of FP&A vs. the black and white (ticking and tie-ing) accounting stuff.
I'm a F500 senior financial analyst who made a seamless transition from revenue accounting to FP&A. I was able to make an internal transfer at my last company. I think that's the easiest way for someone in accounting to get into analyst roles. The biggest hurdle for me coming from an accounting background was that I had gotten used to things "tieing" out. Not the case in FP&A as it's more of a strategic role. You need to see the bigger picture and being ok with reasonableness vs. ticking and tieing. Also struggled with variance analysis early on too. But, the more I worked my analyst muscles the better I got. My transition was easier because I felt all along I was more of an analyst than an accountant. My managers agreed so I was able to transfer departments pretty easily.
Modeling tutorials can be found all over the web. Take a course. Perhaps get into a certificate program. Get familiar with terms such as NPV & DCF. There's plenty of ways to do it.
I agree with what was stated earlier about accounting people not liking FP&A and vice versa. It's funny but true. Personally, I prefer the ambiguity of FP&A vs. the black and white (ticking and tie-ing) accounting stuff.
One thing I've always heard is that it is easier to take an accountant that understands accounting and put them into a finance role than to take someone that starts in finance and try to get them to understand accounting.
Sorry to hijack, but what about someone trying to transition from staff accountant to financial analysis? I initially thought it wouldn't be that hard a leap especially since I already have budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis experience. On the other hand I don't have any modeling experience which seems to be a must have (how could you get that skill?)
A recruiter told me that it would be next to impossible to move to financial analysis from accounting. Is this true?
I don't think that's true at all. Don't listen to these recruiters. If they don't see an easy match they'll discourage you. I know of several accountants that have transitioned to FP&A
I'm a F500 senior financial analyst who made a seamless transition from revenue accounting to FP&A. I was able to make an internal transfer at my last company. I think that's the easiest way for someone in accounting to get into analyst roles. The biggest hurdle for me coming from an accounting background was that I had gotten used to things "tieing" out. Not the case in FP&A as it's more of a strategic role. You need to see the bigger picture and being ok with reasonableness vs. ticking and tieing. Also struggled with variance analysis early on too. But, the more I worked my analyst muscles the better I got. My transition was easier because I felt all along I was more of an analyst than an accountant. My managers agreed so I was able to transfer departments pretty easily.
Modeling tutorials can be found all over the web. Take a course. Perhaps get into a certificate program. Get familiar with terms such as NPV & DCF. There's plenty of ways to do it.
I agree with what was stated earlier about accounting people not liking FP&A and vice versa. It's funny but true. Personally, I prefer the ambiguity of FP&A vs. the black and white (ticking and tie-ing) accounting stuff.
FP&A guy all the way for the same exact reasons.
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