[Anonymous]

I am currently a first year senior at a Big 4 in the west coast. My client and I have a GREAT relationship and we have had a few happy hours where they asked where I saw myself in 5 years and they joked about letting me know when they are ready. I told them I wanted to move into FP&A eventually and they said they would keep me in mind if something were to come up.

Fast forward to today, and they just posted and FP&A Director position on their website. They are a small public company so they are in the process of building their FP&A division. As I was reading the qualifications, it seemed like I hit all the qualifications (plus I have a great rapport with them). However, they were asking for 5+ years of experience in FP&A while I only have 3 in public and 2 in a financial analyst intern role I had during college. I know once I apply, I will have to be taken off the engagement and it seems like if they wanted me for that role, knowing that is what I am interested in doing, they would have reached out to me directly. Should I go ahead and apply even though I dont meet the minimum experience requirement but hit everything else on their request or should I wait for them to approach me if they think I would be able to do it? I know audit doesn’t always translate to FP&A so I might have set my sights to high on what I could do in industry. If anyone has an opinion or experience with this, I would love some advise!

[mrsMBA/FutureCPA]

I say apply! I applied for a Director of Accounting position that required a minimum of 5 years of non-profit/governmental accounting experience AND a CPA license. At the time, I only had a Bachelor's in Accounting with 5 years of Accounting experience in healthcare and was pursuing an MBA degree. Well, after applying (although I didn't meet the minimum), I received a call for an interview. The next day following the interview, I received a call offering me the position! It has been the best company I have ever worked for. If you apply, the worst they can say is no. If you don't apply, you will always wonder “what-if” I would have applied. Don't wait! Go for it!!

[Son]

Do NOT apply until you have tested the waters. This will send a bad message to your current team, and can make working with the client really awkward. Start by dropping something innocuous like “So I've heard you guys are looking for an FP&A person to join your team..” around someone from the client you know and who is fond of you. Ideally, this person is also involved in the hiring process. If they are smart they will understand you're interested, and will either let you know it's a good idea to apply or will be diplomatic about why you shouldn't. Seems like you've lacking experience for the job (there is a big gap between a senior and director at most of my clients), but they might be willing to take someone less experienced and train them, or maybe they just like giving flashy titles to people 🙂

AUD - passed
REG - passed
BEC - passed
FAR - passed

[MaLoTu]

I agree with Son. Do you have a contact at the company where you can get more information about the role and what they are looking for? I don't think it hurts to stipulate your interest, but I wouldn't apply for that title without knowing whether you would ever be considered.

Just some food for thought, as a director (even if it is a glorified manager) you will be responsible for supervising the work of others (potentially with more FP&A experience than you) and in some cases training. It sounds like if they are expanding their FP&A department that you will be tasked with a lot of the initiative. I am not sure that someone fresh out of public accounting could do that. But, ultimately it will be up to the company to decide.

Definitely find out what they want. If you email them make sure they know that you are just curious and you haven't talked to your firm about anything yet. People on here have been burned by this type of situation.

Good luck.

[Ginja_CPA]

I agree with MaLo and Son also, the fact is they are a current client and if you are taken off the engagement it could end up hurting you at your current position.

Talk to the people within the company that have brought it up in the past, and see if they are wanting more experience, or how they feel you would fit in. This is a difficult situation for you to be in, and it would suck for you to lose all upward momentum in the big 4, and end up not getting the position.

Good luck either way though!

REG: 80 (02/19/16)
AUD: 83 (04/11/16)
BEC: 78 (05/28/16)
FAR: ?

[Author]

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