Finance Business Partner in the UK. What’s next? Looking for advice

Hi all,

Looking for some advice please. There’s is not a separate subreddit for Finance Business Partnering, so here I am.

I’m based in the UK and moved from external audit (Big 4) to Finance Business Partnering (FTSE 250), after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant.

Lately the job feels too data-pull heavy/ad hoc tasks from a million stakeholders wanting a piece of me lol. Rather than genuinely strategic analysis.

I do understand that the reports and insights I provide are important and used.

But I’m starting to feel stagnant.

I tried to raise a conversation about SQL to pull data instead of PowerPivot, but there’s a bit of resistence (I may have to build a better business case around it).

Truth is, I don’t know if I want to stay in Finance long-term.

I enjoy working with data, understanding systems, spotting patterns, and improving how things are done but I don’t love being the constant middle-person for manual reporting and ad-hoc requests.

Did any of you felt the same tension, and what did you do about it?

Did you enjoy analysis, but not the volume / structure of finance roles

Did you move closer to data, automation, or problem-solving roles?

Did any just realise finance wasn’t the final destination?

If you’ve pivoted out of finance (or reshaped your role), I’d love to hear:

- what you moved into

- what skills transferred well

- and what you wish you’d known earlier, please.

Thanks so much in advance!