Big 4 Audit vs Mid Tier Corporate Finance/Transaction Services

Which of the following scenarios would help me break into Investment Banking? I have received the below offers:

(1) Big 4 Audit

Pros - Pretty much the only pro of this would be the brand name that it provides. It could also lead to an internal transfer to the Corporate Finance/Transaction Services team

Cons - Very boring work. The skills learned in audit are also not incredibly transferable to IB

(2) Mid Tier Corporate Finance/Transaction Services (Grant Thornton, Mazars, BDO)

Pros - The skills learned here are quite transferable to IB. I would be able to get M&A experience on my CV straight out of university, rather than joining Big 4 Audit.

From my points above, it seems like option number 2 is better. But does the big 4 brand really carry that much weight? I would be getting the ACA qualification of course.

Thanks in advance

2 Comments
 

I did a year at a “mid-level” firm in TAS M&A and had no issues in the lateral process (pre- today’s market) and had no issues. 98% of people in Audit that want to IB have to lateral into TAS anyway.

 

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