It seems like I see all the Big 4 auditors who want to transition into IB first try to land a role into Transaction Advisory Services, and then use that as a middle ground to jumping into IB.
Is this true? Does everyone in Big 4 TAS treat it like a transitional job before IB, and if so, what does that do to the culture of the team?
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No. There are plenty of people who don't want to work in IB
No, there are plenty of people who do TAS as a career, and the Big 4 has a lot of turnover at every level, both forced (up-or-out) as well as naturally (people leaving for corporate + other jobs). Generally people in Audit try to get into Advisory because it's more interesting to pursue over the longer term as well as has better exit options.
Going directly into IB is also not easy for someone in TAS. Although theoretically possible, a lot of people still do MBAs to make the transition.
No, not everyone views it as a stop-gap to get to IB. There are alot of people who don't want to do IB and instead are happy in Big4. If you're able to succeed and make it to director / partner you'll still be able to make great money.
From my experience, a solid portion of the people who start in TAS out of undergrad think of it as a way to back channel into other front office finance roles (whether it should be viewed that way is a different discussion), but the auditors who make the transition to it seem to view it more as a destination than a stepping stone.
TAS is also a large umbrella, some groups within it have more transferable skills than others to finance recruiting. That tends to have a self-selection with people pursuing that optionality aiming for specific groups.
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