Elite Boutique interview questions

Can someone give some guidance on how hard elite boutique technical questions are and how big the spectrum is? I know some people with EB internships and cannot imagine them answering complex DTA/DTL or in-depth sector knowledge questions 

For instance how does interview difficulty change as the recruiting process goes on and more spots fill up? I can't imagine someone at the beginning of the process will face the same level of questions as someone competing for the last spot. 

Also, are the quality of EB analysts that much higher than MMs or BBs? Or are the EB analysts just target school kids with the motivation to grind technicals their entire sophomore summer.

20 Comments
 

All the EB’s ask hard multi step accounting and restructuring technicals. CVP and PWP tend to combine these with the more “out of the box” questions such as brain teasers, mental math, curve balls etc. Evercore and Moelis are known for long, long accounting. PJT leans more restructuring related. Lazard asks more about industry.

 

bruh ur not gonna be asked restructuring questions in any m&a, generalist, or coverage interview 😭

 

Interviewed for coverage M&A at a couple of EBs 

PJT - Multi-step accounting, got asked about financial ratios, and overall a very rigid technical right or wrong interview 

CVP - By far the most unique, typical hard techs and then brain teasers + financial brain teasers, as well as a few very specific CVP questions 

LAZ - Some mental math/multi step accounting, but largely focused on having a deep and nuanced understanding of the industry

EVR - Multi-step acc, acc/dil, ev/eqv bridge, pretty much every hard tech under the sun. Felt very similar to PJT but a lot more numbers-based questions 

Got clipped at LAZ/CVP and ended up signing with a top BB over EVR/PJT

 

Evercore mental math was probably what stood out to me the most. they had hard numbers and specifically said to not use a calculator

 
Controversial

if u can do these ur good

In the terminal year of a DCF, you can choose between a $10 increase in revenue, a $10 decrease in operating expenses, or a $10 decrease in CapEx. Which has the greatest effect on valuation, and why?

A company has $100 of EBITDA and trades at 10x EV/EBITDA. It issues $200 of debt and uses the proceeds to purchase a building. What is the company’s new enterprise value?

GAAP income is $200 and taxable income is $120. What deferred tax item is created?

A company repurchases debt below par. Walk through the three statement

 
  1. 10$ decrease in capex since that leads to a 10$ increase in cash flow while the others lead to less because of taxes and this hits the TV which is the bulk of the valuation
  2. current enterprise value = 1000. issuing 200 of debt doesnt change EV since its financing, spending cash on core assets increases EV so new EV is 1200. 
  3. GAAP taxes will be higher than actual cash taxes, meaning a DTL is created 
  4. the income statement recognizes a gain from debt extinguishment, the cash flow statement reverses this gain since its non cash in cfo and has the cash spent on the repurchase as a outflow in cff. the balance sheet assets go down by however much was paid plus the extra taxes paid, liabilities down by the carrying value of the debt, and equity up by the after tax gain amount

    checkpoint for my future self
 

on does-it-get-harder: yes, but not because spots fill up. expectations about how much prep you've done rise the later you are, and these places treat a seat as optional anyway. if nobody left in the pool clears the bar they just don't hire.

the difference from bulge brackets is the digging. you mention comps and they ask whether that's actually a good comparable, do you really think that, then a weirder variation of the same concept, some real-world application you haven't rehearsed. some people get through BB processes with barely a technical challenge. that doesn't happen at an EB.

on the analysts: different more than better. BBs weight personality a bit more, EBs lean technical, past that it's fit you feel in coffee chats.

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