Is there a lot of accounting in investment banking?
I was looking on some sites and they were saying that accounting was a better major than finance; something about accounting majors could do anything that finance major could do and was better for banking. I always thought that investment banking was in the finance field and that accounting was more of the law of business.
I was just wondering if an accounting background is needed at all, I was looking at some local investment banks and they have requirements like "9 credit hours in accounting" and I was wondering what for, I thought investment banking was just basically bitch work, adding, subtracting, playing around on Powerpoint etc.
it is, they just like accounting majors since those are used to looking at balance sheets. I mean 80% of people in I-banking from Ivy league schools are in liberal arts majors(english, sociology) etc
Man all that pisses me off... how do you go from english major to doing investment banking? English majors can do anything, investment banking, MBA, what is really the point in doing undergrad business, what a waste. Might as well do engineering, go into ibanking, get MBA and aren't you better off than someone who has only business degrees?
"what is really the point in doing undergrad business, what a waste."
I think you just answered your own question.
I wouldn
yeah i made a post about this a while ago, people get all the breaks based on grades from 5 years ago(high school), which got them into an Ivy league.
And that Ivy league much harder than non ivy...is a bunch of bullshit, my sister is at Cornell, and I saw some of her tests/homeworks...its the same difficulty wise...granted this was an economics class, since she is in hotel administration major...but the stuff they learn is the same.
Also there is that whole grade inflation thing, at my school there is A(4.0) and then B+ is 3.5. No A-. Cornell for example has A(4.0), A-(3.7). So if you don't do A type work, my highest gpa can be 3.5, while a Cornellie highest can be 3.7.
Finance tests = all quantative English tests are all writing essays, which is all about bullshitting the teacher.
business undergrad is not a waste if you are coming from a non-target school, and also I think it helps you, since you are showing that you have an aptitude and interest in finance, to devote 4 years of your life to it
banking at the analyst level is more accounting analysis in practice and finance in theory. you'll be pulling a lot of 10k's apart, so you better know your accounting...
as an analyst, all you really need to know with regards to finance is valuation, which they teach in training. the "upper-level" (which is not that advanced) stuff, like the various types of financial instruments you can use to raise money and their respective benefits, is delegated more to the ECM/DCM guys. the pros/cons of a spin-merge vs. lbo vs. leveraged recap vs. asb are all left to the MDs and VPs...
as far as ivies are concerned, to be fair, those at the target schools did work hard in hs to get there. if you have a brain and cared marginally about your work in high school, it's really not that hard to get into some of these ivies (or, at least, other targets)
while it's not a clean slate, non-target kids always have a shot if they work hard enough
[[you'll be pulling a lot of 10k's apart, so you better know your accounting...]]
Then how do liberal arts majors manage to do this since they have no accounting backgrounds? In training do they train you how to do all the accounting stuff you would need to know? It's my understand that boutique firms wont teach you anything so you must be a business major whereas bulge bracket banks will show you everything during training.
I came into a MM firm from a non target and they recruit juniors rising to seniors with finance/accounting type degrees for their internships. Seems to me they look for those who majored in quantitative subjects.
you're right, the boutiques offer fairly minimal training, but BBs will give you 6 weeks (pretty much a crash course) of acct/fnce/excel... obviously, this isn't enough to offset the people with fnce/acct backgrounds so they are already up the learning curve as far as knowledge is concerned and will probably do things a little faster during the first few months
because of the amt of time you spend in the office doing this kind of stuff, liberal arts majors tend to catch up within the first few months... it's not rocket science, so if this is what you're living and breathing, you'll get it eventually.
the general idea is: boutiques take from top schools usually w/ strong fnce/acct backgrounds/work experience BBs take mostly from top schools w/ wide variation of majors (but many have taken an acct/fnce course here and there), and some non-targets who are fnce/acct majors
There is a great amount of financial accounting in banking. But reagrdless of what you did/didnt learn in school, the most important thing is that you pick up on things quick. Everything you need you will get in training, which is why the english major isnt at much of a disadvantage. However, business majors arent a waste of time. You should major in what you like, its that simple. Moreso, if you think a business major is a waste of time, you probably dont have much interest in business, and probably shouldnt be doing banking. If you are getting into this grind for the money, you are making a big mistake.
Honestly, I don't care much for business; I like the culture of it though (seeing people work for prestigious firms and how they act). But the whole
good luck spending 80-100 hour weeks doing something you have 0 interest in
You are so fucking wrong. If an idiot like you interviews me and thinks I'm "not interested" in corporate finance just because I didn't spend 4 years studying it, then please tell me so that I can stop wasting your time and go to a firm that hires educated people instead of degree mill grads.
There are much more intellectually stimulating, fascinating, worldly, challenging fields of study than god damned accounting. You think everyone in M&A is intrigued and inspired by financial statements? Why don't people like you undersatnd the difference between WORKING in finance and READING boring-ass finance textbooks?
I'm not saying I lack a modicum of interest in complex corporate deals. It is not a black-and-white issue, you dolt. I'm saying this: If I can get away with studying something that makes me THINK and makes me understand the world better for 4 years instead of (effectively) going to vocational school and regurgitating shitty-ass business curriculum at Jorge Gomez Buttplug College, then I sure as hell am going to do it.
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