At a RX Firm That Does Mainly UCC Work... Am I Screwed?
Tried my ass off to break in from industry to RX consulting, and I did get an offer, which I accepted, at a pretty good firm. Come to find out that they do majority UCC work, and I'll most likely be staffed on such deals as a result. Partially my fault, I should've researched more before applying, but that's water under the bridge, and the interview gave no hints either. I'm not going to turn it down either because an offer in hand is worth two in the bush.
Going off what I've read on here, it appears UCC work is hell on earth and absolute shit when it comes to exits, work itself etc; and it doesn't help that most people on here have no clue what exactly it entails. Created this post in the hope that some kind soul on here has had actual experience with UCC work and can chime in on what it consists of, exits etc. Hopefully.
Ok, got to break this down into parts. First off, congrats on breaking into RX—no small feat, especially from industry. Re: UCC work, you're right that it's often misunderstood and gets a bad rap online. In reality, it's a mixed bag. You’ll be deep in the weeds of creditor negotiations, waterfall analysis, intercreditor disputes, and sometimes forensic accounting; valuable skills if you lean legal/creditor-side. UCC work still includes an element of financial gymnastics that secured lender work does. That said, it can feel grindy, especially since UCC committees often have smaller budgets and longer deal timelines, so the pace can be less dynamic than debtor-side or distressed M&A. Exits are trickier not impossible, but less direct since PE and hedge funds usually value operational or principal-side experience more. Still, you're in the RX ecosystem now, and that’s a strong base. Use the seat to build reps, get smart on credit docs, and pivot later if needed. Not a dead-end, just not the sexiest track.
However, if you're interested in going to law school or something similar, I honestly think UCC side RX consulting sets you up better than 99% of other options. The work you'll be doing gets you very close to the legal meat of restructurings: negotiating creditor rights, interpreting intercreditor agreements, understanding Chapter 11 dynamics, and interacting with debtor and creditor counsel. You’ll get exposure to legal frameworks that many incoming law students haven’t even heard of. That gives you a compelling story for your application: you've been in the trenches of financial distress, seen how law shapes outcomes, and now want to be the one driving those legal strategies. So, in my opinion and experience, it's extremely fertile ground for T14 / T6 law schools. Once you get to that point, make the jump into big law, and I promise you no-one's going to be laughing at your comp or anything at that point.
Guessing you landed at FTI, BRG, or Province? I can help. Congrats btw. All very good firms.
Why'd you mention those three firms? Are they known for doing the more shitty UCC work, or just randomly?
I wouldn’t say they’re “known for UCC work” but they are all a tier below Alix/A&M (regardless of what this forum says “FTI is in the T1”). They all are extremely reputable firms but most deal flow comes from UCC work. BRG and FTI are actually known for their most reputable Debtor-side engagements (Forever 21 and Meyer Burger as recent exs) They can all still comp very well, but you will be doing majority UCC work.
Province? FTI?
Trust me, when the private equity private credit super bubble pops it will be the golden age of restructuring so good to get in now.
Don’t get caught up in it being UCC work. Focus on moving up as fast as you can and making $. Also it’s actually some of the more valuable experience, especially at the junior levels.
Random - but any chance you have some example case studies for 13 WK CF modeling?
Unfortunately not, it's a bummer bc there's virtually no resources to learn how to build a 13wk cf. I was fine because I was in FP&A prior so I knew how to build one, but for people with no experience, I'd maybe suggest WSO's 13wkcf course? I've heard it's pretty good, but not exhaustive, so you'll likely have to get some external resources as well. I'd highly recommend talking to any friends you have in FP&A to teach you, because as of right now, there aren't really any good case studies floating around.
How good is your accounting? I have tried to find 13 WCF resources online while I was interviewing, but could never find anything for free like I could with 3-statement models.
That said, I've had to work with team members that were doing it on my engagements and it's not rocket science. It's basically working with operational teams to understand how to, for example, unwind AP/AR/Inventory and the cadence of big ticket purchases/items that cannot be stretched when on the debtor side (i.e. utilities, when raw materials for inventory will be bought, payroll, etc.).
In more simplistic terms, let's say you have Customer A. You know that you have to produce Product X for them and it has a cycle time of 2 months. So the lifecycle might be you purchase raw materials from Vendor B within the first 2 weeks (have 30 day terms with them), 4 weeks for manufacturing, and then maybe a week after that for delivery (30 day terms w/ customer). So the 13 week cash flow will actually only show a cash outlay around week 6 or 7 (when you actually pay Vendor B) and you won't receive cash until around week 10-11 when the customer actually pays. Additionally, you'd have to understand accrued liabilities and when certain items might be due since GAAP will likely amortize them over time, which is not necessarily how the cash balances will react.
Where it gets complicated is if you have more complicated payment terms (i.e. downpayments, financing, etc.), updating this weekly for multiple customers/products, and making sure your cash balance roughly aligns with the 3-statement as much as possible. If you have good accounting and Excel skills though, it's pretty doable
Congrats on the role.
And if you're willing to stay in the industry, you can always jump over to competitors that primarily deal with Debtor and / or Lender(s) after you gain some experience.
What if I don’t want to stay in the industry…what exits are available to me?
Unfortunately don't have much insight into other exits (barring other RX roles), and defer to Parter in Legal's post above.
But would imagine it's tangentially related litigation support to forensic accounting.
How did you accept a job offer without knowing what you would be doing? Kind of weird?
Also very noob of them not to make it explicitly clear.
Does anyone know what type of discount you would take moving to a UCC role from a pure secured creditor or debtor side advisory role? At FTI for example, on average, assume similar billable hours, should you expect a 20% haircut in comp compared to a peer on the debtor-side?
Totally depends on the firm you’re switching from.
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