Big 4 audit to IB - have I made a terrible mistake?
Currently a 2nd going on 3rd year level 7 audit apprentice who has decided big 4 will make me rope if I find myself stuck here long term. Give it to me straight, what are my chances of pivoting to IB post ACA qualification (June 2028 if I continue to pass first time)? All feedback has been very good so far and received the highest year end rating possible in my first full feedback cycle - the hard work to get this translated into a pitiful bonus and has solidified my direction of leaving at the first reasonable opportunity. Most people in my apprenticeship programme seem completely content to either stay in audit or pivot into an industry accounting role, I could not think of anything worse, I could go on and on. I gave up economics at Bath for this, thinking more and more that this was a terrible mistake, will the lack of a university degree kill my chances or will 4 years of experience be enough to make up for it? I work in banking and capital markets audit in London if that helps at all. Any advice, anecdotes is appreciated.
Acc -> FDD/Vals 1 Year -> IB this has been covered. I feel that with your 2yr tenure u could lowkey just tell ur MD provided he's chill that you're interested in moving across the firm.
Thank you, I probably didn’t make it clear in this post that the concern is more whether the lack of university degree is going to hurt me, thoughts?
Yeah you should've made that clear thats like saying would a UK IB accept me if I don't know english. But I'm not in the UK so idrk.
ACA here - I don’t think all hope is lost, although you almost certainly need deals (Lead Advisory / TAS) experience before the pivot. (Degree holder but got approaches from recruiters after ~1.5 years in deals)
If it’s truly the path you want to take, an internal move now would be your best bet, followed by post qual move.
I imagine it’s also possible to do a 1 year masters which could put you in a good position given you can have a few years of deals under your belt.
Thank you, tbh I highly doubt that a service line transfer would be on the cards before qualification - a three month secondment over the quieter periods maybe (although I haven’t heard of anyone doing either pre qual)
I do know someone that made the jump straight from audit - but they had a degree so I imagine they are treated a touch differently by recruiters.
I am not 100% set on IB (something transactional for sure) but the feeling of staying in audit does fill me with a deep dread, I’m not public with wanting to leave but I don’t really get the feeling my peers are in a rush to get out, a completely different story with the grads I work with.
I also imagine ai will rip through the industry at some point in the near future so there’s that
Fair enough re the transfer, sometimes it’s just not possible. Nothing wrong with biding your time in audit and positioning for the move later on, plenty of fantastic opportunities (including front office) out there for ACAs, look at any experienced analyst people spec and CA/ACA is on there more often than not.
Really appreciate the advice, I still am concerned about the lack of degree, think i’ll look into the masters - I also wonder about the prospect of just applying for a grad scheme/analyst 1 position. Would need to go through recruiters and network hard to get the foot in the door (past the ats) but would be a significant pay bump from what they pay newly qualified here. Any thoughts on that?
Firstly, nothing to stress about with the degree, you are in year 2/3 of a 30-40 year career, if you get to where you want to be in 5-10 years you still have the vast majority ahead of you.
On the An1 route, I would say the odds are stacked against you, not necessarily impossible but considerably more remote. I’d recommend seeing your contract out and use the time to network, practice technicals etc, with a view to moving shortly after.
Remember lots of the analyst positions will be filled by previous interns and you will be competing with degree and masters students who likely have internships as well for the remaining few spaces.
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