Why Corporate Finance Academy Exists

I started this site for many different reasons.

• To help people out there that want a corporate finance career, that wants to advance their corporate finance career, or want to land a new job
• Give everyone a chance to hone their skills in finance and beyond and to do better in their job.
• To help college & university students that aren’t aware of careers in corporate finance or that don’t realize how great of a career you can have in corporate finance.
• As a resource for managers in corporate finance that want some assistance developing employees
• It may also be very helpful for corporate employees that do not have a finance background but want to learn more (the BEST CEOs and General Managers fully understand their financials!
• Help teach and coach people to succeed in corporate finance. I want our tribe of corporate finance nerds to find jobs, get promoted, and make it to the top
•  I want colleges and universities to start adapting some curricula to get students ready for careers in corporate finance

The Corporate Finance PROBLEM

Corporate finance careers aren’t talked about very often. Colleges & Universities have finance and accounting degrees and even have some corporate finance classes.  But, most of the classes and curriculum lead finance students toward an analyst (CFA) or Investment Banking path, a personal financial planner type path (CFP), or some type of financial sales/insurance / other.  Accounting majors are generally steered toward careers in the “Big 4” accounting firms. Lots of schools have specific curricula developed to move students toward a CFA or CFP, but VERY few have anything similar for corporate finance.

I’ll be honest… I didn’t even know what a career in corporate finance was or that it was a possibility until I was in the last year of my college/university. Sure, I had completed one “corporate finance” class.  I knew most companies had a CFO that ran finance for the organization.  But, nothing was steering me toward corporate finance.  There weren’t any resources, no one was telling me this was a potential path.

Let me help!

Now, having risen through the ranks of corporate finance and having lived it firsthand.  I want to help you. I know the education and skills that are needed to forge a path to the CFO chair. You can learn from some of my successes and my mistakes.

I can share with you advise I share with my mentees as well as things I have learned from my mentors.  We will lay out the landscape of the different types of jobs in finance, and leadership programs designed to fast-track young employees. I will help lay out the different types of roles within corporate finance. I will help teach you extremely valuable technical skills to advance your career (or get you hired) … things like Excel modeling, capital allocation, modeling a deal (NPV, DCF, etc..), understanding financial statements, how and why companies grow or don’t grow, acquisition & disposition processes, how to think about productivity or pricing, how to do a forecast or a Pro-forma, driving cash and working capital performance, telling a financial story, business fundamentals, being a partner with operations, managing and leading a team, and much more.

What do you need to succeed?

I’m living proof, that you don’t have to go to the best school, you don’t have to be the smartest man or woman in the room.  Here is what you need: you have to be willing to work, work smart, develop the right skills, and make good career decisions. That is how I went from coming out of a school as a fresh graduate in a leadership program and over 10 years got my first business unit CFO job…and progressed from there.

I’m a regular guy. I have done this while having a life, having hobbies, playing rec league sports, reading a lot of books and watching some good movies & tv shows, taking vacations with my wife, and having 2 great kids! I feel fortunate for everything I have achieved (and I think earned), so I want to share it.

The goal is to do everyone on this site in a simple way, in words everyone can understand.  I want to put things into context with examples that make sense and aren’t boring as hell textbook language. So much of what I learned in college, I don’t use… so I want to give you the REAL deal!

I hope I can connect with as many of you as possible. I’d love to help everyone out there find jobs, get hired, or get promoted. I want to help educate and develop you. Ideally, I’d be thrilled if I can get some universities to align curricula or programs more closely to the corporate finance world.

I am open to feedback as we go on this journey together – so reach out – leave feedback – ask for things – let’s start a two-way conversation!

So PLEASE sign up for our e-mail list (I won’t spam you, I won’t share your info with anyone… just occasional e-mails from me that hopefully bring value to you)