Duff & Phelps Valuation: exit ops and compensation for analyst?

I worked at a valuatio firm before. You'll probably be doing a lot of FASB Post-merger 141 and 142 valuation (purchase price allocation and intangilble asset valuation), 409A stock options etc. So basically you're the "valuation consultant" for the Auditors (no IBD deal experience here). Not sure about Duff & Phelps but I got a lot of modeling experience from it and successfully transferred to IBD at a top MM bank (but took a long time, lots of rejections and some luck). So it's best to avoid it all together if you have better options. Hope this helps.

anyone?

You'll acquire excellent modeling skills there, but I'm not exactly sure what the reputation is in terms of exit ops. When I was working there over the summer one of the senior associates jumped to a PE group. I'd be lying if I remembered the name though.

Any idea on what % the bonuses are?

From what I understand, bonus is based on hours billed. I'd assume that there is a % of base bonus with marginal increases based on those hours, but that's simply a guess.

That would make sense. D&P seems to be well respected in industry even though it doesn't have a big public name.

imamonkey....did you interview with them? if so, in whcih office? i pm'd u a couple days ago

Xenowang - how did you like the office culture?

I can only comment on the Philadelphia office, but given its small size, I was disappointed in the culture in general. Everybody there is very friendly and the analysts/associates are young, but I didn't get any true sense of camaraderie among the staff. Sure, they'll joke around sometimes and shoot the breeze, but I got the sense that people often came in, did the work, got out and returned to their normal lives. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting people to be best friends or to be constantly going out together, but I did feel the general culture slightly lacking.

I think the two main reasons behind this are: a) Turnover there seems fairly commonplace.
b) Small size of the office (~40) means you're more likely to be stuck working with people you don't necessarily click well with.

Yea their analysts atleast are pretty much cranking out models all day though i have a buddy over there who says the hours and not too bad and the senior bankers are pretty good to work for

The B-Val group of Duff and Phelps does just that - valuing businesses. However, these are purpose of the valuation is usually for accounting purposes, such as goodwill impairment tests or purchase price allocation after an M&A transaction has closed. Some projects may be to value stock options of private companies.

Thanks for the reply!

can you explain a little bit more what "goodwill impairment tests" or "purchase price allocation" are??

i think the above poster is wrong...if assets are written down the excess would go to goodwill

Yes, as part of the PPA, excess over book is allocated to goodwill.

But it is important to note that, there is a REAL difference between annual impairment testing of company assets for financial statement and tax reporting, and purchase price allocation after a deal closes, which is what you are referring to.

For PPA's after an acquisition, YES, the excess would go to goodwill just like any purchase method acquisition (unlike pooling). But all publicly traded company assets are subject to annual impairment testing if the circumstances dictate a possible impairment of assets.

For financial statement reporting purposes, all impairment write downs are charged to the income statement for the quarter, as part of a general impairment review (the cause, and valuation methodology is footnoted aswell in the 10q), but if it's a PPA, yes excess over book is allocated to goodwill, and the goodwill & other indefinite-life intangibles (that aren't amortizable) are in turn also subject to periodic impairment reviews in the future.