Entry-level Positions for Aspiring Financial Planning and Treasury Professionals

Thanks. I came into this field from accounting. It's not strictly necessary, but I think it gave me a strong foundation in fundamental skills, especially on the corporate side.

To put that into plain English, this is mostly for accounting professionals who might be watching and wondering where their career can lead if they don't plan to stay in accounting their entire lives. I remember when I started, it wasn't my first choice, and I kind of fell into the role.

A lot of careers end up going that way, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. After a couple of years in audit, I looked around and realized I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. I even moved to the corporate side at Big Five, leaving my audit role in New York to join the accounting team.

After two or three years there, I learned debits and credits and how to close the books. I was looking for ways to support business functions that could use my skills but weren't strictly accounting. That's where financial planning and treasury come in.

I think it's a natural progression for people who have core skills but want to apply them in different functions. Nobody graduates saying, "I want to get into treasury or FP&A at a large public company." There are other entry points, like an MBA for financial planning, which looks for people with business backgrounds who want to focus on forecasting or future growth.

You might look for a different skillset, perhaps from banking. This is a much more professionalized path to FP&A and treasury. Treasury is an interesting role because there isn't a direct undergraduate path into it. Most people come from a business or accounting background and find they enjoy it.

Some people transition from commercial or retail banking, especially if they gained higher-level experience working for a bank for a while. They can move into a more advanced treasury role. What I do is quite basic and simple for the size of my company, but it's a lot of responsibility.

If you worked for a large bank like Chase or JP Morgan, treasury is a great corporate role to transition into. If you don't have a business background but are interested, I'd suggest taking any business-related role and working your way over. Any entry point, like a budgeting or forecasting role, can get you started.

From there, you can look further down the line towards leadership. To sum it up, there isn't a direct avenue into treasury, but business and accounting backgrounds are certainly valuable.

To add, while not required, certifications are highly valuable. I have an inactive CPA, which helps me most in financial planning and treasury. There's also the CTP, or Certified Treasury Professional. These certifications show your intent, whether you get them before starting a job or after you've begun and are looking to advance.