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Open poll:
Do yall think posting about www.big4transparency.com on linkedin is a good idea to increase the reach, and people will think “oh cool, good initiative”
OR
Will it be suicide in terms of all my contacts and relationships from my previous firm and people will just think i’m stirring up shit
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I would focus on questions related to the position and organization and not on comp and benefits.
In addition to what the other posters have mentioned, hopefully the following gets touched upon: how long the accounting staff has been there, any retention/exit agreements between staff and management since acquisition, support that PE has for the accounting group (as PE is known for cost cutting). On the operations side: any contractual agreements that the PE group is waiting out, any particular local, state or federal regulation or legislation that's pressing, ongoing litigation or liabilities, any new management members that are coming into the mix, any particular benchmarks by particular dates that the PE group is looking to reach.
Talk benefits with HR, not the Finance people. I would be prepared to discuss comp in case they bring it up, but I wouldn't raise it. Wait to see an offer first.
Be prepared to come with thoughts on how to address these challenges they are facing. Doesn’t need to be fully flushed out, but they want to see what’s your value-add. Ask them about their current process and what’s their biggest pain point.
Make sure they can pay their bills. I’ve had a controller who took a job without asking about their cash flows and she spent the rest of her time at the job just trying to make sure people got paid.
Ask about their coaching and communication styles to try and get a sense of you will like reporting to them. Ask why the last person left. Ask what success in the position will look like and how it will be measured. Ask about the priorities in the department for the next 6-12 months.
Ask about any times when taking vacation is off limits. I left as a controller late last year, and once I started, I was told I can’t take vacation the last day of the month, first 6 business days of the month, and there are about 2-3 months of the year it’s frowned upon. Was a huge shock coming from PA when I could take off all year except busy season.
(cont)
For what it’s worth here are some additional tidbits:
I’m an M2 and have spent my entire career in public and small to midsize firms.
They have a pretty decently staffed accounting group (AP clerk AR clerk, Senior,l Accountant, Accounting Manager, Senior Accounting Manager, and Controller).
They were acquired by private equity last year.
I have no experience with NetSuite (what they use).
EDIT: The recruiter let me know to save the HR stuff for him, so that’s why I mentioned if there are other questions outside of compensation/benefits I should ask.
Assume as Asst Controller you will be involved in monthly close process - ask how that goes, turn around time expectation, etc.
PE firm normally plans 3-5 years before an exit...what so they think the exit would be? IPO? If so ask how they are with controls - beginning stages or already well documented?
How will the measure your success in the position in a year? What do they need from the Asst Controller?