Route to CFO

[greenlake]

Probably, she got me a great latte this morning, what CFO would do that for you??

Maybe you'll get the "full body" latte next time....

[tarbera]

mmmm

Isn't that a stupidly inflated figure for the work actually being done though?

Probably, she got me a great latte this morning, what CFO would do that for you??

[original PM]

My 24 year old PMO with a few A-levels is on £128K as a contractor do CFO's earn more ?

Isn't that a stupidly inflated figure for the work actually being done though?

[tarbera]

I've recently been doing a bit of career related soul searching and I'm hoping to get some third party opinions. When I observe the more experienced people at my job (i.e., sr managers, directors, partners) I don't really see a life that seems fulfilling to me personally. Therefore, I've concluded that higher level public accounting is not the route I would like to follow.

I've observed a fair share of CFOs at small to medium public companies. They all seem to have reasonable work-life balance and get paid pretty well. In addition, the leadership role the position offers really appeals to me. CFO of a small to medium size public company has essentially become my long term goal. I feel that larger company CFOs tend to lack as much life-work balance and it seems they typically come from finance backgrounds. A non-public company CFO position also doesn't sound bad, but I feel that the public company aspect provides a few additional perks (specifically equity compensation). I've been debating what my best course of action would be so I though I would get some reddit opinions. See the specifics of my situation below.

My Resume: * Bachelor of accounting from a state school * Master of accounting from a large well recognized state school * 3 years Big 4 audit experience (2 staff, 1 senior) * 1 year senior accounting advisory experience (e.g., FAAS, CMAAS, AAS) * Ratings have been fairly high compared to my peer group * 6 years reserve military experience * Licensed CPA * Work in a large metropolitan area (top 5 largest US cities)

The CFO at my current client progressed as follows: Asst controller> division controller> director finance/ accounting> Director finance> VP Finance> VP Finance/ CFO> CFO

I think in general it is more common for a CFO to have a finance background, but the above progression proves that it is at least possible with an accounting background.

I am considering a jump to a large F500 (analysts, senior, reporting). The plan would be to find a F500 company provides MBA reimbursement. Then after working for a year or so I would enroll in an executive mba (large/ well recognized).

I feel like this path gives me a chance to see accounting from the industry perspective while simultaneously building the resume for a leadership role. I've always gotten the impression that seeing accounting from the industry side is pretty key and I feel like an executive MBA increases my odds of moving into leadership roles. I'm afraid of becoming boxed into strictly accounting roles if I leave at/after manager. I also do recognize that a full-time MBA from an M7 would obviously carry more weight, but again I'm not looking to be CFO at a large company. I've seen CFOs at these types of company's that don't have any MBA.

If I were to jump to industry and see a halt in career progress then I would plan to return to Big 4 to get the manager title and proceed from there.

Am I overestimating the impact of being boxed into accounting roles if I stay until manager? Am I underestimating the difficulty of moving up in industry? Am I crazy? I don't know I just want some opinions if you kind people wouldn't mind.

tl;dr - I'm a senior in a FAAS practice. I want to be a CFO of a small to medium public company. Give me your opinions on the best route I can take.

My 24 year old PMO with a few A-levels is on £128K as a contractor do CFO's earn more ?

[NotAllThere]

Or, heaven forbid, he's a trolling sockie?

Nah. Just a spammer - I did a little digging. Banned now.

[Paddy]

I've recently been doing a bit of career related soul searching and I'm hoping to get some third party opinions. When I observe the more experienced people at my job (i.e., sr managers, directors, partners) I don't really see a life that seems fulfilling to me personally. Therefore, I've concluded that higher level public accounting is not the route I would like to follow.

I've observed a fair share of CFOs at small to medium public companies. They all seem to have reasonable work-life balance and get paid pretty well. In addition, the leadership role the position offers really appeals to me. CFO of a small to medium size public company has essentially become my long term goal. I feel that larger company CFOs tend to lack as much life-work balance and it seems they typically come from finance backgrounds. A non-public company CFO position also doesn't sound bad, but I feel that the public company aspect provides a few additional perks (specifically equity compensation). I've been debating what my best course of action would be so I though I would get some reddit opinions. See the specifics of my situation below.

My Resume: * Bachelor of accounting from a state school * Master of accounting from a large well recognized state school * 3 years Big 4 audit experience (2 staff, 1 senior) * 1 year senior accounting advisory experience (e.g., FAAS, CMAAS, AAS) * Ratings have been fairly high compared to my peer group * 6 years reserve military experience * Licensed CPA * Work in a large metropolitan area (top 5 largest US cities)

The CFO at my current client progressed as follows: Asst controller> division controller> director finance/ accounting> Director finance> VP Finance> VP Finance/ CFO> CFO

I think in general it is more common for a CFO to have a finance background, but the above progression proves that it is at least possible with an accounting background.

I am considering a jump to a large F500 (analysts, senior, reporting). The plan would be to find a F500 company provides MBA reimbursement. Then after working for a year or so I would enroll in an executive mba (large/ well recognized).

I feel like this path gives me a chance to see accounting from the industry perspective while simultaneously building the resume for a leadership role. I've always gotten the impression that seeing accounting from the industry side is pretty key and I feel like an executive MBA increases my odds of moving into leadership roles. I'm afraid of becoming boxed into strictly accounting roles if I leave at/after manager. I also do recognize that a full-time MBA from an M7 would obviously carry more weight, but again I'm not looking to be CFO at a large company. I've seen CFOs at these types of company's that don't have any MBA.

If I were to jump to industry and see a halt in career progress then I would plan to return to Big 4 to get the manager title and proceed from there.

Am I overestimating the impact of being boxed into accounting roles if I stay until manager? Am I underestimating the difficulty of moving up in industry? Am I crazy? I don't know I just want some opinions if you kind people wouldn't mind.

tl;dr - I'm a senior in a FAAS practice. I want to be a CFO of a small to medium public company. Give me your opinions on the best route I can take.

Bachelor of accounting from a state school * Master of accounting from a large well recognized state school No, no... these are fake, your are not from the USA...

[woohoo]

I've recently been doing a bit of career related soul searching and I'm hoping to get some third party opinions. When I observe the more experienced people at my job (i.e., sr managers, directors, partners) I don't really see a life that seems fulfilling to me personally. Therefore, I've concluded that higher level public accounting is not the route I would like to follow.

I've observed a fair share of CFOs at small to medium public companies. They all seem to have reasonable work-life balance and get paid pretty well. In addition, the leadership role the position offers really appeals to me. CFO of a small to medium size public company has essentially become my long term goal. I feel that larger company CFOs tend to lack as much life-work balance and it seems they typically come from finance backgrounds. A non-public company CFO position also doesn't sound bad, but I feel that the public company aspect provides a few additional perks (specifically equity compensation). I've been debating what my best course of action would be so I though I would get some reddit opinions. See the specifics of my situation below.

My Resume: * Bachelor of accounting from a state school * Master of accounting from a large well recognized state school * 3 years Big 4 audit experience (2 staff, 1 senior) * 1 year senior accounting advisory experience (e.g., FAAS, CMAAS, AAS) * Ratings have been fairly high compared to my peer group * 6 years reserve military experience * Licensed CPA * Work in a large metropolitan area (top 5 largest US cities)

The CFO at my current client progressed as follows: Asst controller> division controller> director finance/ accounting> Director finance> VP Finance> VP Finance/ CFO> CFO

I think in general it is more common for a CFO to have a finance background, but the above progression proves that it is at least possible with an accounting background.

I am considering a jump to a large F500 (analysts, senior, reporting). The plan would be to find a F500 company provides MBA reimbursement. Then after working for a year or so I would enroll in an executive mba (large/ well recognized).

I feel like this path gives me a chance to see accounting from the industry perspective while simultaneously building the resume for a leadership role. I've always gotten the impression that seeing accounting from the industry side is pretty key and I feel like an executive MBA increases my odds of moving into leadership roles. I'm afraid of becoming boxed into strictly accounting roles if I leave at/after manager. I also do recognize that a full-time MBA from an M7 would obviously carry more weight, but again I'm not looking to be CFO at a large company. I've seen CFOs at these types of company's that don't have any MBA.

If I were to jump to industry and see a halt in career progress then I would plan to return to Big 4 to get the manager title and proceed from there.

Am I overestimating the impact of being boxed into accounting roles if I stay until manager? Am I underestimating the difficulty of moving up in industry? Am I crazy? I don't know I just want some opinions if you kind people wouldn't mind.

tl;dr - I'm a senior in a FAAS practice. I want to be a CFO of a small to medium public company. Give me your opinions on the best route I can take.

I know of a couple of people at director level in one of the big 4 that have moved to industry and are doing well. The work life balance can definitely be better than working for one of the big four. I think an MBA is pointless (just my opinion) but I know a couple of people in finance that are doing well with them, so perhaps it still has some weight.

I can't help but think this is a sockie/troll post but I can't see the joke or the point??

[original PM]

Well the first thing to do is set up a forum for managing changes.

I currently run a Changes, Updates and New Technologies forum which may suit you down to the ground.

In other unrelated news I may be back on the market soon.

[northernladuk]

Or, heaven forbid, he's a trolling sockie?

[fullyautomatix]

Posted here https://www.reddit.com/r/Accounting/.../route_to_cfo/

I am not even sure why OP has posted it on an IT forum. Looks like he is posting this across many forums for some purpose.

[greenlake]

I'm a senior in a FAAS practice. I want to be a CFO of a small to medium public company. Give me your opinions on the best route I can take.

The answer can be found here....

[NotAllThere]

The fact you've asked an IT contracting forum

And a UK based one at that.

[northernladuk]

Work hard, stab people in the back, grease a lot of palms, be extremely lucky, lube up regularly and play the politics game.

The fact you've asked an IT contracting forum and in General makes me think you are just not cut out though. Back to counting beans for you.

[NotAllThere]

...My Resume: * Bachelor of accounting from a state school * Master of accounting from a large well recognized state school

Comprehensive or grammar?

[Brianna99z]

I've recently been doing a bit of career related soul searching and I'm hoping to get some third party opinions. When I observe the more experienced people at my job (i.e., sr managers, directors, partners) I don't really see a life that seems fulfilling to me personally. Therefore, I've concluded that higher level public accounting is not the route I would like to follow.

I've observed a fair share of CFOs at small to medium public companies. They all seem to have reasonable work-life balance and get paid pretty well. In addition, the leadership role the position offers really appeals to me. CFO of a small to medium size public company has essentially become my long term goal. I feel that larger company CFOs tend to lack as much life-work balance and it seems they typically come from finance backgrounds. A non-public company CFO position also doesn't sound bad, but I feel that the public company aspect provides a few additional perks (specifically equity compensation). I've been debating what my best course of action would be so I though I would get some reddit opinions. See the specifics of my situation below.

My Resume: * Bachelor of accounting from a state school * Master of accounting from a large well recognized state school * 3 years Big 4 audit experience (2 staff, 1 senior) * 1 year senior accounting advisory experience (e.g., FAAS, CMAAS, AAS) * Ratings have been fairly high compared to my peer group * 6 years reserve military experience * Licensed CPA * Work in a large metropolitan area (top 5 largest US cities)

The CFO at my current client progressed as follows: Asst controller> division controller> director finance/ accounting> Director finance> VP Finance> VP Finance/ CFO> CFO

I think in general it is more common for a CFO to have a finance background, but the above progression proves that it is at least possible with an accounting background.

I am considering a jump to a large F500 (analysts, senior, reporting). The plan would be to find a F500 company provides MBA reimbursement. Then after working for a year or so I would enroll in an executive mba (large/ well recognized).

I feel like this path gives me a chance to see accounting from the industry perspective while simultaneously building the resume for a leadership role. I've always gotten the impression that seeing accounting from the industry side is pretty key and I feel like an executive MBA increases my odds of moving into leadership roles. I'm afraid of becoming boxed into strictly accounting roles if I leave at/after manager. I also do recognize that a full-time MBA from an M7 would obviously carry more weight, but again I'm not looking to be CFO at a large company. I've seen CFOs at these types of company's that don't have any MBA.

If I were to jump to industry and see a halt in career progress then I would plan to return to Big 4 to get the manager title and proceed from there.

Am I overestimating the impact of being boxed into accounting roles if I stay until manager? Am I underestimating the difficulty of moving up in industry? Am I crazy? I don't know I just want some opinions if you kind people wouldn't mind.

tl;dr - I'm a senior in a FAAS practice. I want to be a CFO of a small to medium public company. Give me your opinions on the best route I can take.