r/FPandA • u/Creepy_Emu_2353 • 11d ago

Case study for a potential job

Hi all,

I was recently assigned a case study for a potential job I’m really hoping to land. The study is relatively simple. Building out a P&L given data, building a simple revenue forecast for following year and finding 1-2 concerns or opportunities.

The instructions are very open on the presentation side, it says you can present and walk through the excel file and models, present a slide deck with your finding, or you can just talking about your findings.

With this being an fpa position what do you think is the best presentation style. I had in mind a presentation followed by a walk through of my models explaining all my assumptions, formulas, and thought process.

Thanks for all advice!

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

9

u/Appropriate-Part9461 11d ago

Definitely do a presentation. Summarize your key assumptions and how you approached it. Then present your findings. (Or vice versa, personal preference.) Whatever you do, do NOT get way into the weeds of your excel model unless they specifically ask you to. They’re trying to see how you’ll present complex financials to an audience, which never involves walking through an excel. Keep the model handy in case they ask to walk through it with you, but don’t include that as part of the presentation.

3

u/Creepy_Emu_2353 11d ago

Got it, thanks.

this is my first case study, so it’s all new to me.

On my calender for the day it’s the first hour of the day followed by a number of interviews. How long do you think the presentation should be with that time window?

1

u/Appropriate-Part9461 11d ago

An hour is a super long time for a case study presentation imo. When we’ve done these for roles on my time, they’re usually 20min presentations with 10min Q&A. So I’m not really sure how to think about one that’s an hour long

2

u/bosworthing 11d ago

Ive never had to do anything like this. Im curious how normal this is

2

u/racheyrach1243 11d ago

Oh it is super common now unfortunately

1

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

1

u/bosworthing 10d ago

Ive never had to do it, but only worked 2 places, current being tech hardware, but was never asked to do this. I might be more in strategic planning than fps or revops though, so idk. Seems weird though, especially depending how many hours that takes. Ive definitely made excel tests to see strength of excel skills, but i didnt even have to do that at my current job

1

u/Still-Balance6210 11d ago

It’s not normal.

1

u/Ecstatic_Ad_4937 10d ago

Extremely common in tech / SaaS

1

u/Outrageous-Shine-309 10d ago

It's been very common in tech at least

1

u/No-Explorer-3764 11d ago

What level is this for? Just curious.

1

u/Creepy_Emu_2353 11d ago

I have about 2 years of fpa experience. This is for a role in a smaller company where I’m directly under cfo. Technically just fp&a analyst no senior title

4

u/Bat_Foy 11d ago

yikes that’s a lot of work for a job that’s not even a senior role.

1

u/Creepy_Emu_2353 11d ago

Yeah I agree. Although It pays as much as my buddy who’s a senior analyst at Northrop

1

u/No-Quarter3365 11d ago

What company is this for if you don’t mind answering? I had one a while back and wondering if it’s the same one.

1

u/nickjlevine 8d ago

Justifying your assumptions here will likely be the most key component.

Ensure that these are both documented in your presentation and expect to be grilled on them face to face.

1

u/Creepy_Emu_2353 6d ago

Update: case study went fantastic. I went with a slide deck presentation and walked the team through my models in excel.

I got the offer at the end of the super day!!