Think of any company: a shoe brand, a hospital, a software startup. Somebody inside it has to keep track of where the money’s going, decide what to spend it on next, and figure out whether buying another business makes sense. Those people work in corporate finance.

Banks and investment funds sell finance. Corporate finance people work at a company that sells something else, so you learn how one business really runs, and your numbers help steer it.

In this chapter

FP&A

Financial Planning & Analysis

Plans the budget, then checks how the year is actually going.