Do league tables really tell you anything about a firm/how good/culture besides actual $Value of deals?

It seems like everyone is obsessed with league tables and just the general ones from financial times and WSJ but do they really tell you that much? All it really seems to tell you is $Value of deals the firm has done and ranks firms that way... but that does not tell you about complexity of deals/partners involved etc right?

Why is everyone so obsessed with these? It seems like some bulge brackets are not even listed on the tables?

Trying to decipher top M&A players: https://markets.ft.com/data/league-tables/tables-and-trends

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

League tables give you rough approximation of deal flow but other than they are rather in uninformative especially when it comes to deal attribution for balance sheet banks like the big BBs. Banks that are on the acquisition financing side will often ask their clients to give them fees attributable to M&A even though they have nothing to do with the actual M&A advisory, just so they can juice their league table numbers. Additionally, there are quite a number of deals that go undisclosed due to client guidance and may not be counted within the league tables.

 

Nam iste molestiae quidem sed et delectus. Odio placeat ullam qui cum cum fugit debitis. Dolores velit animi consequatur modi beatae asperiores. Recusandae nihil est exercitationem.

Possimus quos optio iusto commodi facere. Autem aut vero dolor modi. Atque cupiditate rerum impedit amet. Pariatur rem qui non vero.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.9%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (53) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
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

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...”