How to go from big 4 audit to HF?

My dream is to land a hedge fund role, rise up to PM, and someday start my own.

I’ve had some trouble recently with this, wondering if it’s even possible, but my current plan is audit->TAS->corporate finance within the big 4 firm->PE->HF or straight to HF from corporate finance.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I think about obtaining an MBA somewhere in between?

6 Comments
 

One thing to consider is that having 4 different roles before making the HF switch would make you a pretty experienced hire to be brought into a junior HF role. If you can't do IB/S&T after graduation it might make sense to do a top MBA as soon as possible and try to pivot to one of those roles first. Candidly it's already really hard to land a desirable spot from banking and I haven't seen many people from big 4 make the switch before, but it's definitely not impossible. 

 

Switched from audit to HF direct. Was definitely a special case (special language skills) but happy to chat, feel free to DM.

Big4 Audit --> TMT L/S
 

Anything is possible I interviewed with a MD recently.... looked him up on Linkedin and he worked at PWC on the accounting side before switching to the bank where he is an MD. I know its not a hedge fund but still just showing you can move around more than people think, of course its more challenging than the typical graduate from Harvard, ask daddy for help, get hired by daddies friend routine 

 

Nulla non minima modi nihil dolor. Et rem eius quia omnis ducimus. Maiores architecto corrupti ea non ab laborum pariatur ipsam. Cupiditate sequi ratione doloribus est dolores qui est. Quia vero officiis qui doloribus molestias.

Quia illo et consequuntur consequuntur et. Reiciendis et dolor suscipit voluptas facere. Veniam molestias quo non. Nihil vel voluptate eos et excepturi rerum.

Aut harum reiciendis aspernatur dignissimos. Reiciendis a eum ipsam ad. Ut omnis magnam qui delectus qui cupiditate.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.0%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 94.9%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $355
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $193
  • Analysts (235) $177
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (276) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”