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Any tips to learn dsa?
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Rising Star
My guess is that most people answering haven't actually worked in FP&A, so I'll give my own insight (although they did hit on a few). I'm a senior analyst and will give you some of the negatives.
> Bad data = more work (although bad data also hurts the accounting side; it's not an FP&A specific issue)
> Forecasts are often inaccurate, but part of the job is working to improve the accuracy; you'll always be wrong though lol
> A huge one... is your FP&A job forecasting/budgeting OR is it strategic finance? Most FP&A roles are both, so assuming that's the case, what's the breakdown? For example, mine is about 40/60. However, I have seen roles that are 90/10 or 100/0 forecasting/budgeting. The F/B side is routine and can get mundane. Strategic finance is the "sexier" side, where you partner with the business on growth, investments, strategy, etc.
> Going further about the strategic finance side. There are high expectations, because the work you do is very valuable to the business. You're not just booking a JE or calculating the correct revenue recognition. You're building a model that determines which business units perform best. You're looking at NPV/IRR for the potential release of a new product. You're analyzing which suppliers give you the best rates on raw materials. And on and on...
It's truly a finance role (assuming you're actually in FP&A; there are accounting roles that call themselves "financial analysts"), and therefore you need to be ready for something pretty new/challenging. For me, my first few months were a bit daunting because the people around me could build financial models and work directly with the strategy team... meanwhile I was sitting there as the noob from accounting lol.
My WLB is pretty good (40-45 hours), but I have seen other roles that are not. It's very important to determine what the hours will be like as you go through interviews. I've always been more interested in the finance path, so it's the right fit for me. It's way better than working on accounting, tax, financial reporting, or IA (for me at least). I will say, if my job was 100% forecasting and nothing strategic, I'd probably get tired of it quickly.
This is very helpful. Appreciate the insight and detailed answer!
Competing with the MBAs of the world rather than CPAs.
Promotion is the main thing. Leveling up in FP&A is very competitive and an MBA will get the promo over someone more competent 9/10 times
Your life is only as good as the quality of the company’s data
Chief
It can be a glorified reporting role
You will never be 100% right
Long hours and fire drills