Moving on from public accounting (audit), what next?

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  • #175855
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi all,

    been a while since I posted here. For those studying for exams, keep studying and good luck!

    I have been in public accounting doing audit for 1.5 years now. I have disliked it since day one. I have recently gained my 1 year work experience and my CPA license. The only reason I stayed with audit this long was to get my experience. Now that I have reached that goal it is time to move on. I was wondering what sort of jobs people here would like to move to / have moved to after auditing / what type of job opportunities exist? I would ideally like a job that has little to do with actual accounting and more of a general business role.

    discussion / comments welcomed

    Thanks

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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  • #393395
    jelly
    Participant

    Describe what a “general business role” is.

    Couldn't pass again!

    #393396
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I don't know.. Maybe like a team member of some sort of large corporate project in some manor like product placement or marketing / identifying markets or creating budgets for the project and managing to keep in budget? Lol I really don't know. There is plenty of people who want to leave auditing and I wanted to hear ideas about exit options other have found

    #393397
    FlipACoin
    Participant

    Well, the problem with being a CPA and only having audit experience is that you really don't present any value (on paper of course) outside of accounting. If you are looking to get into an FP&A or other financial/ops analyst type role, your best bet might be to get a job in corporate accounting (the bigger the company the better) and do an internal transfer to a financial or operations analyst role from there. As an internal candidate it is MUCH easier to obtain a position that doesn't precisely fit your background than it is as somebody from the outside….

    Good luck!

    #393398
    Mayo
    Participant

    If you stay to two years and make Senior, you can expect to see plenty of FP&A roles open up. I'd echo the advice that besides accounting, you don't bring much value (on paper) to the firm in a very different role as of yet.

    Mayo, BBA, Macc

    #393399
    FlipACoin
    Participant

    Mayo…For a senior I agree that there would be FP&A roles that are heavily accounting based but speaking as a former manager of an analytics driven FP&A department, I just wouldn't feel comfortable bringing on somebody with just public accounting and a CPA. I've seen a few attempt it without a solid understanding of the business and they just get eaten alive by the Marketing/Operations/Real Estate/Legal departments they have to work very closely with. I DO firmly believe, however, that CPAs have their place in FP&A and that having a solid understanding of financials and accounting provide a solid foundation for FP&A roles….

    #393400
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I find it sad that I am going to be viewed as “accountant” because I really dislike accounting. I entered because people told me “there is so many opportunities and accountants can do anything in the business world”. I'm not really familiar with the term FP&A and looked it up. Do you mean financial planner working at an accounting firm or a corporation?

    #393401
    FlipACoin
    Participant

    Don't let the stereotype get to you. You are an accountant at this moment in time, you should embrace that and work to influence the stereotype. Even in FP&A I've struggled with stereotypes. I've spent the majority of my career convincing operations, marketing and management executives that being a finance/accounting person doesn't necessarily mean you sit in a corner and crunch numbers. That we can influence business, process and bottom line. That in fact we can be a profit center and not just a cost center. The point is, don't be frustrated by your stereotype, get in a position to change peoples minds and then do precisely that.

    Regarding FP&A, I'm referring to FP&A in corporate but even then FP&A can mean a lot of different things. I've seen some that do strictly budgeting, variance analysis, month end close analysis, they usually report up to the controller (or VP of corporate finance). This type of FP&A is also a good alternative to the corporate accounting bridge I was talking about, if you can find a role like that.

    The other end of the spectrum is an analytics driven FP&A department. Usually companies that employ this type of FP&A don't do a heavily amount of annual budgeting, but instead focus on quarterly or monthly forecasts. In these departments you will do plenty of forecasts and management reporting, but also a high degree of project analysis. For example, in one restaurant company I worked for, I led the monthly forecasting process (I had one analyst) that involved heavy discussion with the VP of operations, I led the marketing analysis function that involved marketing spend (was it efficient? Are they ever going to get an effective ROI from that stuff?), analyzed the use of contests for restaurant level staff (are they effective? Do they drive profit), analyzed a variety of higher end capital expenditure requests, etc. IMO, these are the best type of FP&A positions. They are usually pretty rare and highly coveted because you get to do a variety of different things while being in close touch with the business. But they take a high degree of business understanding and the ability to communicate sometimes highly complex financial topics to non finance people.

    Usually FP&A positions will fall somewhere between the two opposite poles I've described above. You will have some degree of the month end stuff, some degree of budgeting/forecasting, and some projects along the way. Hope that helps!

    #393402
    mdrobbin
    Member

    @awkward… FP&A stands for Financial Planning & Analysis. This is typically referring to a financial analyst for a company which is involved with tasks such as budget development, variance analysis, forecasting, etc. I currently work in FP&A for a large corporation and do a variety of these things. I report to a segment controller who is a CPA… He started in public.

    In my experience, finance/accounting work is looked at as FP&A or general accounting in corporate… General accounting is more account reconciliations, managing balance sheet, etc. Then you have your more focused groups for treasury, internal audit, tax, legal, etc.

    I have only worked for one company so I'm not sure how others differ. Hope this provides some insight and good luck with whatever you choose.

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    #393403
    Mayo
    Participant

    @Flip,

    I totally understand what you mean. Just wanted to throw it out there because those positions really do start coming to the forefront your Senior year. Whether it's a good fit or whether the OP will succeed is a different story entirely.

    Not to hijack this thread, but what WOULD you consider besides a CPA for someone in public accounting? A bit more experience? CMA? Really, I'm just curious because FP&A sounds more interesting to me than Assistant Controller or Controller jobs.

    Mayo, BBA, Macc

    #393404
    FlipACoin
    Participant

    Mayo–Well for me personally, if I'm filling a role that is heavily analytics driven, I look for some industry experience, preferably in an accounting or finance role that has had heavy interaction with other departments. For me, an MBA helped me a lot in rounding out my finance experience, as it made me more of a “business” person on paper. After that it's all about the interview. Interpersonal skills are absolutely critical and I tend to put the candidate in tough real world situations that I have been in in the past to get a feel for how they would respond.

    However, for the hybrid role like the one I described above, that isn't necessarily required. For example, I found a job recently in Northern CA, Financial Analyst III, they actually prefer Big 4 and Audit experience because there is heavy GL/Variance analysis involved. It's perfect for somebody with a CPA and some Audit/Big 4 experience who wants to move into FP&A. They request 5+ years experience, but I'm sure somebody with a CPA could slide in with 2-3 years of public accounting experience. Those are the kind of roles I would look for as a bridge, then try to just gain proof of those interpersonal skills to move into something more analytic driven if that's what you choose…

    #393405
    smp73
    Member

    Even though it is still audit, have you considered internal audit at a college or university?

    I moved from public accounting, doing only audit, to internal audit and it is completely different and much more rewarding. The subject matter always varies and you can use a lot of “general business” skills and not just accounting skills.

    There are a fair number of jobs out there in Internal Audit at colleges/universities as well.

    NYS CPA License # 113563
    CIA: Done as of 2/15/14

    Training for a half marathon post studying!

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