ACA for IB Associate role

Hello all

Does anyone have any info on how to get into an Associate role within IB?

As a bit of background: I qualified as a Chartered Accountant at a big four accountancy firm in 2009, then moved to a middle office product control role at one of the big banks towards the end of last year. I miss the client side of my job and now want to get into FO IB, but obviously I don't want to go for a graduate Analyst job when I have over 4 years' work experience already - will the ACA and my semi-relevant work experience be enough?

I've only just started researching it all, but so far I think GS is the only firm I've seen that do official Associate "intakes" (wouldn't start until July 2012 now though), and all the rest just seem to be experienced hire type things which often require very specific experience within a similar role. Clearly a good option would be to move internally, but the networking opportunities for IBD are non-existent in my current role so it's probably just as easy to go external (if I was interested in markets it'd be a much easier move).

Any input on applying for Associate roles would be great i.e. what to go for, what you need to demonstrate, tips for success etc. Hope someone can help, thanks.

K2VVV