Essential asked me via PM to give him an idea on paths to take in Finance instead of Accounting especially other than IB. My response posted below for all to benefit.
His follow up questions:
Right out of school you can expect to make about $50k give or take $5k at a smaller company (<$1 billion annual revenue) as a Financial Analyst. Now, this will vary off of the $50k depending on the market as well. For example, not only will NYC salaries be higher but you will also have more options as an analyst. There may even be better pay in the "Financial Services" markets, for example, hedge funds. This is not an area I'm terribly familiar with but anyone that is can chime in.
I consider FTD to be a smaller company that is not too small but not too huge (<$700 million annual revenue). I can expect that there will likely be a couple Finance Manager and a couple analysts in that group, maybe a few more but that's it. That and a Director likely reporting on behalf of the Finance team to the CFO.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=FTD+Key+Statistics
In contrast, if you look at a Microsoft or something, you are looking for a Finance team for each of their divisions, which may include categories like Xbox and Smartphone apps probably grouped together based on similar business indicators. There will also be a Corporate Finance, which likely follows a rotational approach like I mentioned above likened to GE's.
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IB can be kick ass dude. Search Westcoasts' posts and you can get more info there. You can make $100k starting but you'll bust your ass for 70+ hours a week at a reputable firm.
Corporate Finance is different. The topmost Finance hustle I've seen a guy do is go for a "Internal Audit" rotation program at GE. It's 100% travel and lots of ass busting work learning all the businesses of GE for a few years and then placed as one of its officers when successfully completed. It's been about 10 years. Dude's a VP now and if he picks up his game he can be close to the CFO soon. Many LARGE firms (e.g. Motorola) have such rotations and you should look look out for these if you want to go that route.
If not you can start off as a Financial Analyst at a smaller size firm and work your way up to maybe Controller and even CFO. You will make a decent lower 6 figure max potential living with this but you will pigeonhole yourself into smaller companies (although not smallest) and likely will not be able to get into a big dog like GE later.
His follow up questions:
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What are the salaries like in corporate finance out of school and a few years in (if you know)?
Also, what type of smaller companies do you mean regarding being a Financial Analyst at and having an end goal of Controller or CFO there? Any names you could give an example of just so I can get an idea.
Right out of school you can expect to make about $50k give or take $5k at a smaller company (<$1 billion annual revenue) as a Financial Analyst. Now, this will vary off of the $50k depending on the market as well. For example, not only will NYC salaries be higher but you will also have more options as an analyst. There may even be better pay in the "Financial Services" markets, for example, hedge funds. This is not an area I'm terribly familiar with but anyone that is can chime in.
I consider FTD to be a smaller company that is not too small but not too huge (<$700 million annual revenue). I can expect that there will likely be a couple Finance Manager and a couple analysts in that group, maybe a few more but that's it. That and a Director likely reporting on behalf of the Finance team to the CFO.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=FTD+Key+Statistics
In contrast, if you look at a Microsoft or something, you are looking for a Finance team for each of their divisions, which may include categories like Xbox and Smartphone apps probably grouped together based on similar business indicators. There will also be a Corporate Finance, which likely follows a rotational approach like I mentioned above likened to GE's.