MM Commercial Banking at BB or Big4 Accounting?

East coast uni student, already accepted big 4 accounting internship, but got a middle market commercial banking fellowship at a bulge bracket bank. Wondering about career path, exit opportunity, earning potential etc

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Depends what your financial situation is and your end goal is.

Financial situation: (Assuming you convert upon graduation) A full-time CB role is going to pay you a living wage; an audit/accounting role at big4 will pay you barely enough for food. If you can tough out the latter (or come from money) then I feel like you can evaluate the two on a level playing field. 

End Goal: If you see yourself moving into corporate banking, direct lending, levfin, restructuring consulting, etc. then CB makes more sense. If you see yourself being an accounting controller/cpa in industry, staying in accounting (audit/tax/etc) at big4, or moving into an advisory group at big4, then the accounting role makes more sense.

 

Without a doubt the earning potential in the short-term is higher. With that being said, making it to Partner within a Big4 group pays significantly more than the ceiling for a CB role; however, most people don't spend their entire careers within CB or Big4 so that may not be worth taking into consideration. 

I think it is more important to consider if you truly enjoy accounting-related work and what exit opportunities you are considering, because taking Big4 out of the gate begins to steer you into a career of accounting-focused work. Nothing wrong with that! I just hope you enjoy accounting if that is the choice you ultimately make. 

There is more than one way to get there. I'd rather have 30 chapters than 3000 pages.
 

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