Competency Exam At Advisory Firm & Way Below Average Candidate Profile At Firm

So this advisory firm mainly advertises that it helps companies find alternative capital for special situations, primarily bankruptcy but since defaults are not common at this moment they are branching out into other investment banking services. They want me to do a skills check to make sure I'm capable of the work I suppose. I triple majored in college from a non target school in Managerial Finance, Banking & Finance, and Economics in 2014. I've worked in risk management since, I haven't performed a DCF in quite a while but I regularly analyze and interpret financial statements.

The skills check will cover the following: Explaining how the 3 primary statements are connected Being able to explain each line item on the statement Working a problem where I have to create a financial model

Does anyone have any recommendations on how I should freshen up for this? Or where I should go to get these materials to be as ready for the discussion as possible? My interview is next week at their office.

Regarding my candidate profile...I graduated in 2014 from a non-target school, and have not gone to grad school yet. However, during my sophomore year I earned a (partial) scholarship for academic performance and I graduated with the most majors in my business school - possibly entire school but at least the business school.

Everyone that works there (5 people) has gone to a target school for undergrad (like UT Austin) and they have all gone to Rice University for their MBA. The Managing Director teaches Corporate Financial Restructuring for the MBA program at Rice, and has gone to Harvard for both his MBA and JD.

I feel like a peasant in comparison to them, however I was selected to go in for possibly a final interview by the VP. How can I walk in there confidently knowing all this?

1 Comments
 

Eum voluptatem qui inventore libero architecto. Sint adipisci sit excepturi id quam dolorem voluptatem. Sequi dolor tempore vitae necessitatibus voluptatum. Ut ipsum rem voluptates quis velit est non. Fugiat neque voluptate consequuntur totam.

Doloribus qui neque ipsam. Saepe et iste qui debitis sit.

Fugiat delectus beatae magni voluptatibus voluptatem reiciendis ex. Quam ex enim facilis doloremque sint eaque nisi. Dolorum earum sunt ut nam atque. Impedit sed et est esse et provident ipsam.

Voluptate dolorem nesciunt rerum unde. Optio ducimus assumenda enim laborum labore mollitia. Sed saepe aperiam sed eius provident.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (47) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (24) $180
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (82) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”