📬 Big Four: When is it time to move on?

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Pankaj from India asked:

I have 12+ years of experience in finance, but I still feel nervous while talking to a larger audience.

Secondly, I am feeling stagnant in my career. I did my CMA in India 12 years ago.

How would you handle these 2 issues?

Hi Pankaj. Thanks for the questions.

The answer to the first question is simple: practice. Confidence comes from repetition, not the other way round. Improvement comes from making mistakes and improving a bit each time. You can’t wait until you have the confidence to try something. This is something I have tried to drum into my children at home too.

As you build reps, you’ll find the tightrope you were walking was never as high off the ground as you thought. So practice, practice, practice. If work doesn’t give you enough opportunity for practice, find it in your personal life. Give speeches at family events. Join a speaking club. Anything…

And with regard to your stagnation. I sympathize. Growth isn’t linear, it tends to happen in waves and steps. That means there are times it can feel like everyone else is whizzing by you, and you are stuck. Everyone has these thoughts at times, so it’s natural.

Take some time to reflect on how much you think you can learn from your current role over the next twelve months. If the answer is uninspiring, then it’s probably time for a change.

Sometimes, an environment change is all you need. As the old proverb goes: ‘a change is as good as a rest’.

Focus on how you can leverage the skills you have built to find a fresh opportunity that gives you growth. Then go out there and get them, Pankaj. Best of luck.

ABC from São Paulo, Brazil asked:

Hello, Secret CFO! First, thanks for the awesome content you've been sharing.

I'm in my late twenties with a finance and economics background (bachelor's and master's degrees). My experience has mostly been in corporate finance within energy companies (FP&A, Treasury, and currently credit analysis).

I'm facing a career dilemma: I have the opportunity to move into risk and portfolio management in energy trading—an area I find very appealing due to its dynamic nature. However, mentors and colleagues suggest that continuing in corporate finance might offer more stability and clearer growth opportunities.

In your view, does climbing the corporate finance ladder generally provide greater career stability compared to more specific roles that are partially related to finance? How can I balance my eagerness to explore new fields with a conservative approach to career planning?

Thanks again!

Hey ABC.

I think the advice you’ve had from your mentors and colleagues is correct. Continuing on your current path probably does offer more stable opportunities.

But who said stable was good, ABC? 😎

I’ve had the most fun in my career when I wandered off the beaten path.

So let’s zoom in on what you’d be saying ‘no’ to by sticking to the corporate path.

The key bit of information I am missing in your question is what your business does. Is it in the business of energy generation/trading? Or is energy just an input (i.e., manufacturing)?

I think this is material.

For example, if you are working in a business whose core business is energy, then it sounds like you’ve been offered a part of the sharp end of the P&L to run. You won’t be reading the news in that role, you’ll be making it. And that would sound exciting to me.

If your org is not in the energy business, and energy is just a ‘cost’ to the business (i.e., you are being offered a chance to help manage the risk on a cost basis), it would be a whole lot less exciting and a bit niche.

So I guess the question I’d ask is this: would this move get you closer to the action? Or further from it?

If it’s closer, then run into the fire, my friend.

Just make sure you’ve got a ripcord. Perhaps take the role on the condition that it’s for 18 months only. It’s a good way of keeping a 2 way door open. If you like it, and you are good, staying will be easy…

If you hate it, you can always say it was only ever for 18 months.

Best of luck, ABC.

Howie from Dallas asked:

I’m finishing up my 3rd busy season in audit at a Big Four. I have secured a spot in the FDD group and will be transitioning after I’m finished with my busy season clients.

What should I focus on, and how can I use my time in FDD to best position myself for a future career move towards the CFO position?

Congratulations Howie. I believe this remains the best early path for a career as a CFO. Not the only path… far from it… but the best path for maximizing your options and accelerating your growth.

Two years in audit, to grind out some foundations now, will set you up with valuable technical and transferable skills for a lifetime. Following that with a year in M&A services, where you see something more commercial, is the perfect start. It will help open doors to FP&A and Corp Dev roles in industry, when you are ready.

You couldn’t handpick a better first 3 years.

Make sure you get yourself on some interesting deals. You won’t get to see the sharpest end of any deals, like the negotiations, etc. But you are close enough to be able to keep pace. Make sure you understand the value equations that have made the deals happen (or not). Ask questions of your managers and partners. Make sure you understand the deals you are a part of.

Work your ass off for a year in this environment, focus on maximizing your learning and development. And use the opportunity to lean into AI. I know the Big 4 are experimenting with AI to support client work at the moment. Put your hand up to be part of the trials. It wouldn’t take much to be declared the office AI champion. The bar is low.

And it will make you even more hirable in the future.

Then, after 1 year in FDD, you should leave to find a finance role in a business. Either a junior FP&A role or corp dev in a great business with a world-class finance team.

This is the hard bit. One more year and they will start dangling the early manager promotion carrot. Maybe even long-term partnership potential.

If you want to be a CFO, pretty much every year you spend in the Big Four after the first 3 is a waste. The ‘make manager first’ myth is one told by the Big Four and people who got suckered into that path. I promise you that a manager with 5 years in the Big Four and a 3-year senior associate are pretty much competing for the same roles in industry when they leave.

I have seen this more times than I can count.

The Big 4 are brilliant at keeping you on the conveyor belt (if that’s what they want). There is always something 12 months in front of you, which can make it hard to leave.

I know of more than one Big Four audit partner who wishes they’d been a CFO, but after they hit senior manager, it got too hard to find a move that made sense. They’ve almost ended up a partner by getting stuck. Not a terrible life by any stretch, but not the one they wanted.

So in short, make the most of it while you are there, then get out to apply what you learned in the real world.

Best of luck, Howie.

Every week, I’ll share a book I loved or found useful.

A few of the biggest stories that every CFO is paying close attention to. This is the section you probably don’t want to see your name in.

PricewaterhouseCoopers laying off around 1,500 employees — 3% of US workforce amid industrywide slowdown

The Big 4 cuts continue, with this article citing PwC targeting audit and tax for downsizing. They do like to be tight on those services. It’s where their margins are lowest so keeping capacity tight forces internal efficiencies (AI?!) and keeps upward pressure on fees.

Doctors Warn Accountants of Private-Equity Drain on Quality: You Could Be Next

A doctor, an accountant and a private equity associate walk into a bar… Joking aside, it feels like audit quality is under attack from all angles right now. That is not a good thing.

ICYMI, here are some of my favorite finance/business social media posts from this week. In the words of Kendall Roy, “all bangers, all the time.”:

speezytaughtme

2,793 followers

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ICYMI in Saturday’s CFO Secrets newsletter, we got into long-range planning, as part of our 9-week MEGA-series on FP&A. You can check it out here.

Disclaimer: I am not your accountant, tax advisor, lawyer, CFO, director, or friend. Well, maybe I’m your friend, but I am not any of those other things. Everything I publish represents my opinions only, not advice. Running the finances for a company is serious business, and you should take the proper advice you need.