Transition to Investment Banking Industrials from Public Accounting. Feasible?

So far my first year out of college has been in public accounting but its not living up to expectations and my firm doesn't have any intentions on letting me move into the deal side from assurance so I am looking at pivoting into IB to get some M&A exposure. The work is public accounting is just so dry and the pay is pretty shit in comparison to what I see others making (plus I already work over 60 hours a week) so I want to jump ship as soon as I apply for my CPA license.

I am looking at joining an Aerospace & Defense company in the long term and I don't want to get pigeon holed into accounting only roles given my current background so I feel if I try this move into IB it might open up some exit options. Wanted input from anyone about deal flow in the Industrials space specifically A&D if anyone has had experiences and what banks they worked for.

I did fine in school (3.7 in both Undergrad and Grad). Non target, Accounting and Finance degree. Idk if this is still relevant or if they're more looking for technical skills at this point since I've worked for a year (been doing some self study on modeling).

3 Comments
 

Hi I’m just graduating undergrad but most of my internship experience was in audit or accounting related and I was able to land a full time role in IB.

Network + get certifications in IB related things like the FINRA licenses. You should also consider looking into TAS and doing that for a few years as a way to transition. The pay would be better than public accounting too. Also why would you get your CPA if you want to do industrials coverage in IB? If you look it up alittle more, a CPA is ultimately seen as worthless when working in IB. Consider taking a CFA level 1 to help you make that transition, it validates your finance knowledge as well. Good luck, it’s a difficult process.

 

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