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Mentor
Mentor
Does AAS pay the same as FDD?
What is a look back analysis?
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I think your partner is pulling out the stops to keep you, and they’re not being entirely honest with you.
I moved from audit to fdd 5 years ago- my audit partner did the same thing. After 5 years I finally left Fdd and looking back leaving audit was a great choice. If you have the opportunity to go to fdd take it as it opens A LOT of doors.
Mentor
I will bet that partner my life savings that I can get a job offer in audit
Mentor
Biggest downside, you have to deal with audit for the rest of your career.
Make the move and don’t look back. FDD work is significantly more interesting than audit work. You can ask former auditors at any FDD practice if they want to go back and I will wager you won’t find one.
FDD is so much better. The comp is better, the hours are on average better, the work is so much more interesting. The downside is the unpredictability of your schedule.
His point about recurring revenue is true but...I’d rather be in a high growth high margin business than a flat low margin one.
“Layoffs more likely in recession” didn’t really bear out in this most recent downturn. At pwc anyway, FDD held headcount flat at the start of covid and now is hiring like crazy.
More diverse exit opps is totally false. So is “fdd takes audit people but not vice versa.”
Audit would certainly take FDD people, like you say that’s false - it’s just no one wants to move back to audit
Simply put, that partner cappin’
If you really want to be a big 4 partner - consider staying in audit. The FDD partners I work for work at least twice as hard as the average audit partner I know, and they don’t get 2x comp.
Everything else is bad advice. Exit ops - FDD opens many doors audit doesn’t, but doesn’t close any audit type roles. Layoffs - never seen them in 12 years. Partner track - my impression in audit is you’re waiting for a slot to open, in FDD there is much more business to be won. Sure deals aren’t “recurring” revenue - but the phone doesn’t stop ringing if you’re good.
Coach
Audit may have a clear path to parter that is if you stay long term at the company. Audits are recurring revenue due to clients signing longer term-contracts for audit. Any op you can get in audit you can get with FDD but not any op you can get in FDD can you get with audit. Lay offs are most likely in a recession but also more likely to have the lowest salary and bonus YOY
All valid but I think the “path to partner” is a moot point. It’s impossible to forecast your career trajectory 10+ years, let alone promise a promotion.
Former audit senior and FDD manager here (separate firms) who now runs a staffing firm.
I disagree with what the partner says for several reasons and can speak to exit opportunities on both sides.
FDD generally pays better, has better bonuses, and offers better hours but it’s more unpredictable as you don’t know when a “deal” will hit or how many you’ll be working on at once if your team is understaffed. Exit opportunities can still include traditional senior accountant/accounting manager but given the QofE experience as well as the data modeling and analysis tools (Tableau, powerBI, etc), you also open the door to exit opportunities in FP&A, Corp Dev, investor relations and reporting, or directly into private equity or IB in some cases.
On the audit side, your exit opportunities internally and externally but still in public accounting include transitioning into advisory (like FDD) but also the traditional senior accountant, accounting manager, financial reporting, etc roles. More accounting-targeted exit opportunities so if you want to open the doors to the finance side of things - FDD is a great option.
While the revenue streams are not as steady, I only know of a few layoffs across all the firms in FDD and most were primarily lower performers who would be looking to leave anyways.
If I were your recruiter I’d say what you want to do long term should steer your decision. If you want to be a controller - stay the accounting route/audit. If you want to be on the strategic side of things, and end up in finance - go FDD. If you’re the typical audit senior with the “I want to be a CFO” mentality - in my experience, small company CFO’s can be from the accounting side of things (former controllers, etc). But large company CFO’s are more often than not from the finance side (FP&A, Corp Dev, PE, etc). While these folks are sometimes “CPA’s” - they started their careers in audit and moved into finance early on.
Everyone I met that went from audit to fdd talks about how much better it is (and that they wouldn’t go back lol). It’s definitely got it’s ups and downs, but I’ve found it to be more enjoyable over audit. Realize that your partner might also be trying to sway you to stay, because he doesn’t want to lose a talented employee.
Whats FDD? May have to look into it for a switch
Thanks!
Did your “mentor” ever consider that FDD people don’t want to go back to audit and maybe that’s why audit doesn’t hire them? Honestly, find a better mentor
No, switch. I transferred from audit and it’s a lot better. Audits also have serious automation risks and are being outsourced to India. You can only go into senior accounting positions from audit. FDD can get you those, corpdev, FP&A, etc.
lmao they said "FDD takes audit people but not vice versa"? maybe because nobody ever wants to go into audit? Partners are shamelessly self serving sometime