Current Role: FA2, 123k base, 5% annual retention bonus, 10% annual bonus Offer: Senior FP&A Analyst, 160k base, 10% bonus (2.5% paid quarterly), 15% ESPP

I love my current team and my manager is the best I've ever had, but the work I've been doing has been straying away from what I actually want to do due to sloppy Salesforce implementation transformation project. My current work life balance is also very good too, and I can WFH anywhere I want in the world 3 weeks a year. Both roles are 4 days a week in office, although the new role is more strict on 4 days a week and the commute is worse.

Edit: well, that didn't take long. Comp is too low. Thank you everyone! I will do what I can to encourage a higher salary for this role 🥲

Hybrid in Chicago, 135-150k. I'm not the hiring manager, but I work in the finance and accounting department and not having this role filled is a strain. Posting has been up for 2-3 weeks and there hasn't been much interest. Hoping to get advice on if the salary is too low or if there's a glaring red flag on the job description. Will share the job link if anyone is interested.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the annual operating budget process and manage updating monthly/quarterly rolling 12-month financial forecasts across revenue, operating expenses, and cash flow.
Develop, maintain, and update comprehensive 3-statement financial models, DCF valuations, and scenario analyses to evaluate strategic initiatives, pricing, and capital investments.
Prepare and own monthly and quarterly management reporting packages, delivering detailed variance analysis (Budget vs. Actuals) alongside executive summaries.
Develop, maintain, and report on executive-level dashboards for core financial and SaaS operational KPIs (e.g., ARR/MRR, CAC, LTV, NRR, Churn, and Gross Margin).
Collaborate with accounting and auditors to document, justify, and defend key financial models, valuations, and management estimates.
Assist executive leadership in preparing financial presentation materials and strategic commentary for quarterly Board of Directors meetings.
Provide ad-hoc analytical support for pricing decisions, unit economics optimization, cost-reduction initiatives, and strategic business projects.
Partner across departments to ensure system integration and data integrity across ERP, BI, and FP&A software platforms.
Achieve operational excellence across all financial planning and management reporting functions.

Required Qualifications

BS/BA in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field (MBA or CPA is a plus).
5+ years of progressive FP&A, strategic finance, or corporate finance experience, with strong preference for experience in a SaaS/subscription software organization.
Proven experience building complex 3-statement financial models from scratch and conducting strategic scenario planning.
Experience with ERP systems (e.g., NetSuite, QuickBooks, SAP) and modern FP&A/BI tools (e.g., Adaptive Insights, Power BI, Tableau).
Proven experience with audit process and documentation
Deep understanding of SaaS business metrics, recurring revenue streams, and unit economics.
Strong quantitative, analytical, and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated experience delivering reports and insights to executive leadership and key stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to learn new concepts quickly, manage priorities independently, and work hands-on in a dynamic team environment.

Started as a fp&a analyst at a mortgage lender. What skills / how much exp do i need to lateral to big tech?

Also, how’s fp&a in banking?

A late budget change can leave two separate jobs... updating every number in the review pack, and then figuring out whether the explanation still holds 😭 Those two things are pretty easy to confuse when the output is described as an automatically updated report.

Univer’s official Aurora demo makes the numerical part pretty concrete 👀 ....Univer is a developer SDK for building office interfaces inside other applications. In this demo, one departmental budget supplies values to a written brief, a three-page review deck, an allocation map and a chart.....

The example starts with allocations of 4,200, 3,600 and 2,200... totaling 10,000. Changing the last allocation to 2,700 would make that total 10,500 📊

The mechanism is explicit numeric binding... inline formulas in the document, formula-backed shapes in the slides and map, and a chart reading the sheet’s range. The authored wording and layouts stay in place.

This is an official demonstration using Pro components, with author-reported value-editing checks... it’s not an independently reproduced result here.

For an FP&A review, the useful idea is that an analyst could revise an assumption without manually hunting for every linked total. But a sentence saying the plan is comfortably within budget could become misleading... even while all its numbers are current 💀 Nothing in this example automatically rewrites that judgment..

The demo also stops short of a production reporting process... it has no backend, collaboration or approval workflow, and doesn’t demonstrate Office-file export or printing. Multi-document save/reload and undo are among the outstanding acceptance items.

So this is a bounded example of keeping calculated figures connected across a pack... the commentary review, version control and actual delivery still need their own solution 👀📊

I’m currently a FA in the private sector at a relatively small company. I’ve been here almost four years and really like the work and the company, but the pay leaves a lot to be desired. And in a day and age where the cost of living just keeps going up, it’s just not sustainable to be getting yearly 2.5% increases. But I have a relatively stable job, we’re not overstaffed in my dept.

My dilemma is that my company hasn’t really pushed AI, for security purposes. We only have access to Copilot Chat. I can’t learn to use SQL, again for security because I cannot download software onto my work computer. We’re very behind the times when it comes to new technology. I’m the only one on my team who even knows what Power Query is (and I use it pretty frequently but have many other opportunities to use it more) So I haven’t had a lot of hands-on experience with these new programs that seem to be running many other departments.

I’ve considered many times moving companies, but I’m getting worried that as the days go on, I just fall more and more behind with the technology. The skills I had a year ago were more desirable than the skills that companies are looking for now. I’ve considered going back to school for my MBA, or to sit for my CPA (I’m eligible but would need to study like hell to be able to pass.)

I don’t know, I just feel like I’m in a rut. I want to evolve and move with the direction that FP&A is heading, and am scared that the more I wait, the lower my chances of success are, but I don’t know where to go. Anyone else feel this way? Scared to stay put, but scared to move on?

I know some of you believe that AI will take all of our jobs. Not discrediting that hypothesis (genuinely not sure what I believe), but trying to think realistically what will happen with this profession the rapid growth of AI. Won’t some of us still be needed to at least review and explain AI output? Will soft skills become the post important? It seems like some companies (tech) have fully adopted AI, but realistically won’t it take a long time to scale to all businesses where all employees are capable of using? I guess it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the profession fully disappearing like some people comment about on this page. Curious to hear some nuanced takes.

Such a cliche title, but for the the past couple months, ad hoc request have gone through the roof. For about the past month, I’ve been working through lunch, and after hours til about 7-8pm.

This week, I completed an analysis, had the “senior” check it out for any errors and what not and had a meeting about it. My manager credited him for the findings. He didn’t necessarily say he did it, but he also didn’t say he didn’t do it. I didn’t speak up which is my fault, but my manager is totally crazy, so I didn’t really want to get berated by him at the moment (which is another issue I have with my manager due to his hotheaded personality).

This is moreso a vent, but also, how do you guys deal with overworking? How do you dial it back, but also not come off as a slacker? I work hard, never miss deadlines, but I think I’m burning out. I am truly grateful to have a job but damn, it should be like this.

I started interviewing for a new position because I couldn’t stand my director a couple weeks ago. Today I got an offer for a new position and also found out my current director was being fired. I’m conflicted now on if I should take the offer or stay at my current job. The new position is in the same industry and pays 8k more in base plus bonus eligibility at 20% (current position not eligible for bonus). I feel crazy for thinking about turning down more money but I do really like my coworkers and business partners in operations. On the other hand our director was awful so the remaining team members are kind of traumatized and whoever they replace our director with could be good or bad. A fresh start might be nice.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Role based out of Menlo Park in California

Automated the shit out of standard cost process and month-end closing.

Senior lady specialist returns from maternity leave, she decides not to use it because she doesnt want to learn and has "her ways" (offset and vlookup type) of doing things.

It will take 4 times longer for her, manager is fine with it. Wasting resources, much?

The end.

Has anyone tried using the latest ChatGPT and Claude models for FP&A? My biggest issue with AI used to be its inability to understand messy workbooks, especially those with multiple tabs, complicated formulas and inconsistent formatting. But that doesn't seem to be much of an issue anymore, even the messiest workbooks can now be figured out and worked on within minutes.

I've been using ChatGPT since November 2022, and here's roughly how much of my FP&A work I think AI has been capable of handling:

2022–2023: 5% – Mostly writing emails, reports
2024: 15% – formulas, troubleshooting and financial modelling
2025: 25% – Similar to 2024,but started using to vibe code to automate tasks
2026: 50% – Can now work through spreadsheets, edit models and connect the dots surprisingly well. A lot of my work has shifted towards reviewing and fixing slides UI.

It's crazy how AI has gone from a decent tool to something resembling a senior FP&A analyst in just 3–4 years. Obviously, it still needs reviewing and isn't great at everything, especially commercial judgement.

Curious if others are seeing the same thing, or am I overestimating how good these models have become?

Well, not a boomer, but I feel like I’m far behind on AI tech. The last few yrs I’ve been managing the finances smaller IT company. Doing basic cash, tax and financial statements. Accounting etc.

Looking at switching jobs, I’m realizing I’m waaay behind in what people are using AI tools for. I’m obv using it for basic free LLM questions about a variety of topics. But not really for anything complex - I haven’t really needed to at current job.

I’ve seen a couple posts about people talking about using Claude, GPT etc to do stuff, but what specifically are you guys using it to do?? Like actually specifically.

Are you using it to build bespoke dashboards that you would have been using programs like Tableau or something?

Any specifics would really help, as I’m kinda starting from scratch trying to get myself up to speed.

I’m qualified and worked in FP&A for 10 years and the last few years I’ve been operating at senior manager level with PL performance management ownership and more high level FP&A management.

I’ve attended a bunch of interviews this year at the same level, same title, however I’ve been turned down for a few due to having no experience in executing margin manipulation. (Releasing provisions and accruals early)

I know how it works, but it’s always been Head of Finance/Financial controller decision after base performance is completed on our FP&A end.

Question is, is this the norm for this level of FP&A or are these places unsure of what they even want?

Hey all,

I was losing about 30 minutes a day handling onboarding admin. I automated a good chunk of it with Claude Code. You can also do this in n8n.

1. I manually send a DocuSign with the advisory agreement, Form ADV and privacy policy.
2. Once it’s signed, this triggers a webhook which sends the client an email with a link to their portal and the list of documents to upload and details to add.
3. Once the client uploads all their documents and fills out their details, it sends a Google Calendar link to book the first meeting.
4. After the meeting, the meeting is automatically logged in my spreadsheet + their portal.
5. And it sends the client a Typeform risk questionnaire.

Hope this is clear enough. Hope this helps someone 🙏

Obviously this varies by company. Finally looking to find a FM role and a little worried if I’m ready from a workload standpoint. Just curious about people’s experience that have made the transition from SFA up to FM.

Hi All,

All the posts on how powerful ChatGPT and Claude have become in understanding complex excel models has made me anxious. And I am envious of everyone who is fortunate to have access to these from workplace.

Unfortunately I don’t have access to these from my workplace but I can’t shake off the feeling I am being left behind so I have decided to buy one personal subscription to try these. I have a Mac and I will be running a windows virtual machine as excel on Mac has limitations.

What subscription should I buy ? Claude or ChatGPT ? For people who have used both or either can you please help? Thanks a lot.

Edit:- Seems like Claude is the winner. Thanks everyone for your inputs.

Hi everyone, I could use some advice on whether to apply to a new job.

Here's my current FP&A job history:

Company A, Job 1 - Financial Analyst: I worked there for 2 years. This was my favorite job, I had the opportunity to work with SQL, Power BI dashboards, and really enjoyed the people I worked with at the company. However, I left when I was not promoted to SFA and wanted to increase my income. And for salary transparency's sake I made about 75k.

Company B, Job 2 - Senior Financial Analyst: I worked at this company for just over 1.5 years. This job paid about 100k. This job was more traditional FP&A. I started out as BU finance supporting some of the operations, but the company underwent some changes and then I ended up doing corporate roll up within FP&A. Job became heavy on forecasting inputs with monthly updates and a lengthy annual budget process. This job became boring and the lengthy commute led me to look for a job closer to home.

Company C, Job 3 - Senior Financial Analyst: I am working at this job currently and have been here just under a year. It is with an F500 company and they are one of the biggest employers in my area. The job however is lacking in resume building opportunities from my perspective, and it is very boring honestly. I am in business unit finance but I mostly just input the quarterly forecasts that are provided to me by the business unit leaders. I also do more accounting than I would like with posting reclass entries for the business units when they have expensed something incorrectly. I have no revenue exposure, and I feel like I am lacking in strategy opportunities. I do think there is some room for movement within the company since it is so large but honestly, I'm not sure that long term this is a great company for me. Being that it is a very large company there is a lot of paperwork required to get anything done and I struggle with getting to know people outside of my immediate team. However, it is a company that prefers to hire for longevity so I feel like if I leave then I will not be able to come back. So, while I have my issues with the culture it is a very stable company which in this economy is something important.

This is where my dilemma is. Company A posted a job that involves helping with pricing and analytics strategy. I believe this job would be equivalent to my current SFA level role in pay and level. This job would involve using SQL, Power BI, and other tools. I would be very excited to come back to this company, and this job sounds perfect for me. I think I have a background that matches fairly well and believe I would get an interview especially being a potential boomerang employee. Company A it should be noted has a somewhat rocky history with financial performance but is currently doing well though that could always change.

I wouldn't want to apply to this new job at Company A unless I was truly committed to leaving my current job and that's where I am stuck. Any advice or thoughts you have would be appreciated. Thanks!

Looking for some perspective from people who've been through this.

I'm a senior manager in a finance organization supporting a fairly large business. Over the last couple of years, my role has evolved from being heavily hands-on to building out more of a centralized FP&A function across multiple locations.

As part of a recent reorganization, my only direct report is moving into a different role. In place of that, I'll be getting support from offshore resources.

I'm having a hard time figuring out how I should interpret this.

On one hand, leadership's message is that this expands my capacity. Instead of managing one person and doing a lot of the work myself, I'll have access to more resources and can focus more on business partnership, planning, forecasting, analytics, process improvement, etc.

On the other hand, I'm losing someone who knows the business, understands the stakeholders, and can operate fairly independently. Anyone who has worked with offshore teams knows there can be a significant investment upfront in training, documentation, and oversight before you see the benefits.

What makes this even harder to read is that my overall scope isn't shrinking. If anything, the business support expectations continue to grow. So I'm not sure if this is:

• A positive signal that leadership sees my role as more strategic.
• A neutral efficiency move that lots of companies are making.
• A subtle reduction in organizational influence because I have fewer traditional direct reports.

For those who have been through something similar:

• Did it ultimately make your job easier or harder?
• Did offshore resources become a force multiplier after the initial learning curve?
• How did leadership view management of offshore teams versus traditional direct reports?
• Did losing direct reports affect your visibility, advancement opportunities, or perceived level within the organization?
• Looking back, was it a net positive or negative for your career?

I realize every company is different, but I'd be interested in hearing experiences from people who have lived through this transition because right now I'm genuinely not sure whether I should view it as an opportunity or a warning sign.

Thanks in advance. I suspect I'm overthinking it, but that's probably why I'm posting here.

I have over 6 years of experience in finance and operations. I took a 2–3 month career break to complete my Anaplan certifications and work on a few personal projects involving Anaplan model building.
I am currently actively applying for jobs in India, but most of the openings I come across require 2–3 years of hands-on Anaplan model-building experience. I rarely see any openings for entry-level candidates.
How can I break into Anaplan model building without prior professional experience in the tool? Given my finance and operations background, what would be the best way to enter this field?
I would appreciate any advice from people who have made a similar career transition or are working in the Anaplan ecosystem in India.

Hello all,

Is anyone here who retired early or plan to retire early? If so, what are some consulting or part time job options do FP&A professionals have and what are some good areas to gain experience keeping the retirement goal in mind?

FYI - I am 35 and Senior Finance Manager. While I like my job, the stress from a bad manager and work pressure has creeped up. I am hoping to retire early but wondering if I should just continue my finance trajectory or gain experience in business, project management or corporate strategy type roles?

I have experience in sales finance, P&L management, FP&A, strategic finance, GTM finance, etc.

Hey everyone,

I’m starting a new role soon as an FP&A analyst at a non-profit hospital. This is actually the hospital's first time having a dedicated FP&A function (it was previously handled by accounting).

Since I'm building this from scratch, I'd love to hear from anyone in healthcare FP&A:

What should my expectations be for a hospital setting vs. standard corporate FP&A?

What healthcare-specific quirks (metrics, revenue drivers, etc.) should I study up on immediately?

Any tips for clean data or partnering with non-financial clinical staff?

Appreciate any advice and tips you have. Thanks!

I’m wondering whether a career as a financial analyst would suit my personality. By nature, I’m an introvert, and I enjoy analyzing data and building mathematical models and have an interest in Finance.I can also program in Python. When it comes to meetings, I definitely prefer focused conversations, a straightforward exchange of information, and presenting results rather than engaging in long discussions, which I find extremely draining. Because of this, I have concerns about whether working as a financial analyst or financial controller would provide me with satisfaction in my day-to-day professional life

Just asking for pathway through Executive position let say 10 years from now.

Background

BS Business Administration - 2 years
BS Accountancy Graduate - 4 years

Corporate Accounting Staff - 1 year
Junior Audit Associate at EY - 2 years
Property Management / Tax Compliance Associate - 2 years

CPA or CFA or CMA or MBA or? ( best for the career path)

Any suggestion building my career and skills over the years? Thank you so much!

It's been a little rough since being RIF'd earlier this summer, and I'm not quite sure why I'm not getting a lot of interviews, despite applying to tons of reqs. I have a bit of a diverse background besides FP&A, but I think that helped me understand the SaaS business model all the better.

I'm applying to jobs in RevOps/Treasury as well to keep my options open, but not getting very far. Any suggested roles based on what my experience aligns with, or any changes I need to make? (SoCal based; which I know is a tough market too).

Thank you so much!