👋Hey there,
Thousands of people read this newsletter and listen to this podcast.
Some work in FP&A for the biggest companies in the world.
And some are the only Finance, Accounting, HR, and Legal person at their small company (so many hats to wear) 🎩
So what’s better, working for big or small companies?
Our insanely vague answer is…it depends.
Each job presents unique learning and networking opportunities.
And the order in which you take them in your career doesn’t matter either.
This episode is about our experience working at the biggest companies in the world.
AND some of the smallest companies in the world.
Listen on
Experience Comes in All Shapes and Sizes
Big, small, public, private, well-known, and completely under the radar.
These words best describe all the companies we’ve worked for and with.
There was no perfect size or type of experience.
Each company offered unique learnings that set us up for the next thing.
Here’s the order we went in and what we learned along the way.
Show Notes
- 00:30 – all it takes is a blow-up swimming pool to make kids (and adults) happy
- 00:55 – FP&A can be a very different animal in large vs small companies
- 02:00 – starting at large companies, like GE or P&G, gives you role rotation options
🔥TIP: read this to learn why role rotation can be a career accelerator
- 02:40 – journal entries help you understand business drivers, which help you drive results
- 04:15 – large and mid-size companies offer business partner roles (think Sales, Marketing, R&D, Operations)
- 04:55 – FP&A is planning for the future while understanding today and using the past as a history lesson
- 05:50 – the smaller the company, the bigger the scope of work
- 07:01 – small company CFOs have to make decisions that can make or break their company every day
- 09:30 – small businesses require focus – and cash is most important because it pays the bills
- 09:55 – doing an IPO and working in larger companies can grow your network exponentially
- 10:55 – like we always say, jump on sales calls to learn about your business
- 12:20 – advice we received early in our career—walk the production floor
- 13:20 – the big finish—no one career path is the same, so keep learning and do what fits your life situation
We Started at Very Big Companies
GE (General Electric) and P&G (Procter and Gamble) are giant companies.
The odds are that you use many of their products daily.
Big companies did something for both of us early in our careers that accelerated our learning and promotional track.
Role rotation.
Role rotation required us to take a job for a year and then take a different job the next.
Each job had a very specific scope.
For example:
- Start as a Plant Accounting Co-op/Intern
- Transition to systems implementation project team
- Then become the Regional Profit Forecaster of a brand
- And finally, become a Global Profit Forecaster, forecasting a collection of brands
All of the above in 6 years.
We’re exhausted just thinking back to those years.
We worked long hours and connected with a lot of people.
Which eventually helped us leave our big company jobs and test out the mid-size company waters.
Then Dove into Mid-Size Companies
Mid-size companies offer a bit more variety when it comes to scope.
Our experience was with fast-growing companies that were hiring rapidly.
What’s the most important thing we offered when we splashed down at our cube for the first time?
Connecting financial results to everyday business activities.
Without that connection, financial performance becomes disconnected from the goals of the company.
And all that hiring and spending can start to drift away from achieving the actual goals of the company.
This is where business partnering roles come into play.
Consider them mini-CFOs who own:
- Collecting info
- Understanding what it means
- And providing recommendations
All to ensure the goals of the company are achieved.
The skill set to be a business partner is clear communication with the ability to get relevant information very quickly.
This skill set served us well when transitioning to the next jobs we took on, which would be considered small companies.
Small Companies Are a Humbling Experience
The scope of roles in small companies is humungous.
Which can make it hard to describe what you’re actually doing on a daily basis in one sentence.
Preparing for an IPO is a good example.
- You need to tell the performance story
- You need to understand how that performance was achieved
- You need to be part of the goal setting
- You need to communicate those goals clearly to everyone in the company
Don’t understand how your business works or how your coworkers tick?
Your chance of success (aka business performance meets or exceeds expectations) will be low.
And because you are likely one of a few (if not the only) FP&A team members, all of this responsibility can fall on you.
The same goes for being CFO of a small privately held company.
Cash flow, customer orders, inventory levels…you must have a handle on all these metrics every week to ensure the business can keep operating.
Conclusion: What We Learned by Going from Big to Mid to Small
At every company size, you will learn as much as you are motivated to.
Go into each opportunity like a sponge.
You’ll meet some amazing people.
Help them do their jobs.
And they will help you.
That network of people may lead to your next job opportunity (it did for us countless times).
And above all else, make sure you enjoy what you do.
Being interested in what you’re doing, who you work for, and what customers you serve matters most 👊
What size company do you work for today? And how has your experience been like?
Share your experiences with us by replying to this. We read and reply to every email.
Now go have fun making an impact on your business and your career!
See you next time 👊
Cheers,
Drew & Yarty
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