WTF is TAS, M&A, Advisory at a Big 4

Hello All, 

I have been unsuccessful in recruiting for Ibanking in my Junior year. I am curious about what you actually are doing in at a Big 4 in TAS, M&A, and advisory? Is this a lessor version of Banking, are you looking at more accounting valuations? 

Doesn't seem like a bad path to get your CPA do this for 2 years then try and move to a bank? 

Any insight on Big 4 TAS/M&A is greatly appreciated. 

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Can only give insight into big 4 valuation (PWC/KPMG/EY/Deloitte).

What the groups do can be separated out generally into (i) purchase price accounting, which involves working backwards from a purchase price and allocating values to intangible assets (i.e., customer relationships, IP, etc.) - this is important for financial reporting purposes for larger companies, (ii) confirming valuations for PE firms (i.e., KKR, Silver Lake, etc.), which involves looking at their investments and doing an internal valuation model to correlate they are within X% of internal models - this is needed for the firms to say (Insert big 4) signed off on our valuation to their LPs, lastly (iii) goodwill impairment tests, which involve making sure the company's assets are still performing and don't need to be marked down for financial/tax reporting purposes.

Lot's of DCF/market comps/transaction comps used within those 3 general areas of work. Which was quite helpful when talking about lateraling into IB down the road.

Personally, found the work was very little value add at the end of the day, and was mostly done to check the box to appease stakeholders. 

 
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