Ambition

Check this out - the link takes you to a blog called Successwithu. It's written by Alex Chan, a Chinese guy working in Singapore. He's a financial controller (hence his appearance here), but he's dissatisfied with his lot:

Many accountant are working under my team. When they join my company, they are young and poor. After a few years, they are rich and Wealthy. Some are much richer than me........ Yes, there are so many opportunity there ! you can make money from share market, from property market, from trade, from joining a group of friend doing small business and make it big ..... But, I didn't do any ! What is the reason ? Why I didn't ride on it ? Why am I not set up a company there nor forming a team of people that we can work together ?

Good question, Alex. And that's one many more FCs could probably ask. And there are entrepreneurial opportunities out there, even for accountants, as he points out.

Is it too cheesy to suggest that getting into a growing business with a bit of excitement about it, an opportunity to make some decent money and a chance to experience life beyond the boundaries of the corporate finance function satisfy at least some of those frustrations? That is, after all, what the guys at EquityFC try to help FCs do. I'm not sure being FC at a high-growth PE-backed company would fulfil Alex's definition of success ("a person that can do the thing he love to do all the time"). But it's probably a lot closer than doing the faceless finance function thing in a faceless corporate...