Do books matter?

As an IB analyst, so much of our time is spent making slides for books, and occasionally building financial models.

With that said, I feel like the books are rarely even read by clients during meetings with MDs. The numbers are so skewed to paint whatever picture the MD wants, and I'm sure the clients know that.

We obsess so much over "attention to detail," and understandably so, because a misplaced footnote or a wrong number would make the MD look incompetent and potentially unworthy of a mandate.

But I can't imagine changing colors or fonts, the random analysis or wordsmithing changes will make a difference in a bakeoff situation.

So do books actually matter in winning a deal?

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