Q&A - Big 4 Audit to Boutique IB
Hey everyone - been scavenging this forum for a long time over the past 6 months, and I want to answer any questions potential B4 auditors or other career switchers might have. Words can’t describe how glad I am to be out of audit. Background of me is that I graduated from a non-target, large SEC school last August (2017). I started full time in January 2018. From August to January, I passed the CPA and Level 1 of the CFA, while also completing a 3 day seminar with Wall St Prep to learn modeling. I’m a CFA L2 Candidate scheduled to take the exam in 2 weeks, and will be starting at the boutique right after. I was in auditing for ~6 months. Disclaimer: I read stuff on here and M&I that the CPA was uselesss in banking, but I heavily disagree. If you are in accounting and want to move, definitely get that. It helps you master concepts that are NEEDED in banking modeling (e.g., purchase price allocation/goodwill, diluted EPS, deferred taxes, how to do a cash flow statement, etc.) and many guys in the industry agree it’ll help.
Congrats on move.
I’m in the same position been in the big 4 for close to a year. How did you reach out to this firm?
Also assuming you don’t mind but what do you plan on doing for the future as well?
Thanks
Found the firm by searching “Investment Banking CFA” on LinkedIn and connecting with a banker who was a Charterholder. After our 30 minute call he referred me to another banker and the rest is history. One strong benefit of doing the CFA is you can start reaching out to people who have it and asking for insight; it can yield decent response rates.
Not really sure. Going to try banking out for awhile and see what happens. Could potentially move into PE/HF or apply for a T15 MBA if I dislike it, but we’ll see. Focus on this post is not to worry about my long term plans, it’s to give clarity on what I just did to break in, and why I did it.
PM for more specific info if you want. You can do this from B4 just keep at it. Reach out to everyone, try to establish a connection in the body of the email/LinkedIn req, and study technicals. An opportunity will arise!
X2 congrats on making the move!
Could you elaborate more on how audit is helping in your current role? I'm currently in a Big4 Firm but in the financial advisory division, and was hoping to make the move as well to IB or CorpDev sometime in the future. Do you see a lot of people making the move from financial advisory to IB as well? Do you think it's an advantage / disadvantage of being in financial advisory vs audit for what you do now on audit?
Thanks!
Appreciate it Hermit. Financial Advisory with the B4 is phenomenal experience, and I have seen guys go from there to Corp Dev, IB, PE, and other high-finance areas. I networked with tons of guys in both Due Diligence and Business Valuation, and personally saw guys making these moves. I think it is certainly better than audit to get into banking, but I wanted to emphasize earlier that you do not need a “steppingstone” role to break into a MM firm if you can network extremely well. IMO, if you are in audit and know you want IB, go for it and don’t try to transfer into TAS for a few years then go. Use TAS as the fallback option (although i shouldn’t really call it a “fallback”, given breaking in is still a crapshoot).
Recommend highly to reach out to people randomly on LinkedIn, search your alumni directory for people in high finance, send out cold emails to everyone (especially if you’re going on work or vacation to a big city - cold email to say you’re there for a bit and want to set something up), and I think you’ll be just fine. PM if you want to talk more.
Will you be able to get the CPA License with less than a year's work experience?
I'm in a position where I may be able to land a fulltime gig out of school with a bank, but i'm currently in my last year of MAcc and planning to sit the CPA in the spring. I feel like I should do audit for a year to meet the experience required to actually get the CPA license and then try to lateral over.
Absolutely. Investment banking counts as financial/management advisory experience which is listed as a sufficient work experience requirement.
Definitely network right now and try to get in because once you’re full time in audit, it gets exponentially harder. I know you’re sitting for the exam and things seem rough right now, but just wait until you’re at a Big 4 and they start exploiting you for more work. Try to do it now.
Sit praesentium eligendi vel soluta voluptatibus quo laboriosam nihil. Tempora veniam ad mollitia aut voluptatum saepe.
Magni omnis non dolorum dolore hic maxime dolorum omnis. Nihil architecto commodi nihil ea atque earum ipsam. Non sunt sit commodi et saepe.
Est et omnis culpa officiis vitae. Quas consequatur itaque ad ut dolorum a aut beatae. Corrupti odio quidem asperiores. Sint perspiciatis quis nulla in facilis saepe. Et iure temporibus aspernatur ut ut.
Molestiae quasi quae eligendi voluptates. Quia illo et quasi fugit. Recusandae modi animi qui itaque mollitia quaerat corrupti. Officia in quo consequatur ab adipisci sint.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...