Merrill CFO Program Exit Opportunities?

CFO at ML is "back office" accounting/controlling/finance type work for the most part. I have not done it first hand but ML CFO recruits at my school and I have some friends who did it as summer analysts.

CFO is comparable to GS's "controlling & finance" division. I think DB has a similar title for their comparable division. I have some clue about this program (although certainly do not know everything, by any stretch) because all 3 of those companies and the CFO/controlling/accounting divisions recruit at my university. A bunch of kids go as summer analysts or sign on for FT at these places/programs from my school.

What I have heard on my own, for exit opps, is in line with what this forum has said before: back office = not good, if you want to go to banking,trading, PE, HF. One girl I know who summered in controlling at one of the 3 banks I mentioned above(who is actually quite attractive) said the traders look down upon those from the back office. This was somewhat telling because one would think an attractive young woman, with a 3.8 nonetheless, might have been able to at least find a way into an interview. She said that the bank's HR dept. wanted to hear nothing of it.

If banking is what you want, it is better to go boutique or MM - money is better (I am pretty sure of this because I don't believe CFO-type people get nearly as much bonus(potential), if any?), experience is better, IB is the best way to learn corp fin inside out - not working in a finance dept. at a corporation, skill set gained is better (modeling, forecasting, valuation), exit opps to PE/HF actually exist (the extent to which depends on indiviudual deal experience & contacts/networking & how far the bank falls on Wall Street's prestige scale)

It seems logical that a BB would rather hire a new analyst from a boutique/MM shop rather than from their own firm's back office- the boutique/MM analyst will have some deal experience, modeling ability, and have had experience with pressure/banking situations before. To bankers looking to hire a lateral, I would think (again, I am not at all positive, but this seems logical) CFO does not come off better than an IB analyst @ a boutique/MM because it is probably more difficult to get a boutique/MM job than a CFO-type position. CFO/controlling at a BB is more like an accountant/risk management role and I have actually heard auditing is even better then back office stuff at banks because you actually have clients.

If trading is what you want, not so sure what to say. There aren't nearly as many trading boutiques as there are M&A/corp fin boutiues.

hope this helps