Big4 Valuation to IB
Hi all
I managed to land an analyst position at the valuation practice in one of the big 4.
It's my first after-graduating job even though I have some extra experience (I'm 27. Where I come from we start academic studying a bit later).
I do consider it as a starting point for investment banking eventually, preferably anEB.
My question is 1. whether the experience I'd gain where I am now can leverage my case intoIB, or is it not that relevant for investment banks since I won't actually work on transactions and mostly do the valuation/PPA/OPM/audit support.
- I've read that it is recommended to go for the transition within 6 months-year into big 4 experience. Is there a reason for that? Trying to transfer after 3 years for instance would lower my chances?
Thanks in advance.
Comments (23)
bump.
I made my way intoIBfrom a valuation firm (non-Big4) so I have a fair amount of insight here. Valuation is essentially the perfect field to land in as a next best thing for people who are unable to land offers inIBdue to the transferable skills. In the valuation field you will go down to a far more granular level of financials diligence than inIBso from a technical standpoint you'll be set. The biggest hurdle I found and the biggest knock against me when interviewing forIB是我很少PowerPoin经验吗t and while I did study and know the ins-and-out of a deal process I had no real hands on experience, so when interviewing against people who had at least a few months of actualIB经验我是处于劣势。使交易nsition within a year is definitely key but not impossible if it takes longer than a year, I did it after 3 years and was able to lateral in as a 3rd year analyst which is pretty much unheard of considering I had no actualIBexperience. The issues is that if you have 2-3 years of experience you'll be "over qualified" for a first year analyst spot but but since you don't haveIBexperience you'll be "underqualified" for a 2nd and 3rd year analyst spot.
Thank you for that insightful reply!
So to clarify what your saying: I should aim for a transition within a year for higher chances not to fall into that over/under qualification circle of the analyst years spots?
Also, any recommendations to avoid that PPT gaps required for theIBjob? Like what specific knowledge I should bring in for the process?
Btw, is it aBByou got into after your valuation job?
Definitely ideal to make the transition within a year. To fix my PPT knowledge gap I bought the Breaking Into Wall Street PowerPoint Pro course, best $200 I ever spent. I'm sure there are plenty of Youtube tutorials but having a very guided approach tailored specifically forIBwas second to none. I went to aMMfirm, I like working with mid-size companies still in their growth phase so I had no interest in working on the big buyout deals thatBBtypically cover.
I can attest to this. I'm also non-Big4, major valuation service background and just recently landed an offer at aMMIBafter 10 months into the job. I was surprised at the number of looks my applications were getting from other banks given my valuation background. I'm pretty sure it's partially due to the high turnover and hot lateral market right now, but I think my background certainly helped.
Thank you for your reply!
I am about to enter a very similar role and was wondering how long you waited to start networking? And what types of banks to target,BB/EB/MM? I am looking to stay in M&A.
It's never too early to start networking and developing relationships but I would make sure you have your story down and know your technicals in the event that a casual chat shifts to more of an interview. When it comes to what banks to target there seems to be a mentality onWSOthat if someone comes from a non-target school, or doesn't have any internship experience, etc., that they need to limit themselves to only reaching out toMMor Boutique banks because they feel they have no shot at theBBorEB. This is a really dumb approach in my opinion, target every bank because the worst they can do is say no. Maybe target your banks of choice first and after that initial outreach to your preferred banks then just blast your resume out to anyone and everyone.
Bump
I made the transition recently as well. Non Big 4 valuations to aBBIBcoverage role.
The big hurdles for me were the lack of transaction and PowerPoint experience at my valuations role. I was able to navigate this due to previousPEinternship experience. But it was still a concern from some firms I interviewed at
I think I did this right
Nice to see another guy that made it happen and thanks for your reply.
After how long in valuation you made the transition? And did you actually get rejected because the lack of experience you mentioned?
I made the same move recently from Non-Big4 vals intoIB. I spent half of my 3 years of valuation experience in a big4 vals team.
The best advice I can give for someone trying to lateral is to make sure they have a detailed/working knowledge of each the valuations they have put on their resume. You should be able to talk in detail about how you modeled each component and how you handled/ thought about some of the more complicated areas of valuation.
I found that the interviewers were comfortable that I didn't have transaction experience - after all it was their decision to interview me. But they wanted to know that I had experience building models from scratch - this seemed to be their biggest concern and it took me a while to start making a point of driving this point home in each interview.
PPT never seemed to come up as an issue as we use it a lot in vals. I don't think it would be difficult to learn either.
Ideally I would want to make the move after 18months, this gives you enough time to gain decent vals experience which will help later on if you choose to move to the buy side. However the market is so hot right now you may as well take advantage if you can.
Thank you for your detailed reply!
Yes the timing is tricky, however I tried many of the big names banks before shooting at this Big 4 opportunity. I wasn't confident enough to pass these interviews that time.
Also, at my firm, it seems like most of the modeling work is done from previously used templates (which I heardIB和顾问工作is being done as well). I'm saying this because you mentioned you were talking about models from scratch. Is it important for me to be able to actually create these models from scratch?
There are obviously elements that make sense to be templated.Like aWACCor the basic lay-out of theDCF.
By "from scratch" I mean modeling out a 3 statement model which can feed into yourDCF. A lot of vals teams just take client forecasts and put them through an existingDCFmodel. You need to try demonstrate (or at least know that you can demonstrate) that you've had mandates where you've had to build out an operational model. This is where the key transferable skills lie as this where the key modeling skills and valuation assumptions are applied.
Transitioned from big 4 valuation to a topEBafter spending half a year at the group.
What was your interview process like, just submitting resume on the website or did you have a connection
Could you please specify the region this is applying to? Europe, Asia, ... would help context wise!
EMEA
I made the similar progression. Near big 4 accounting firm in their business valuation team. I was there for 18 months and made the move to aBBand started as a second year analyst.
I think I did this right
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I think I did this right
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