Which is Which

Hi everyone,

I am going to attempt to make the transition form accounting to finance. (Have had several accounting internships, and am graduating with an accounting major soon). I was wondering if someone could advise me on which would be a better starting point as I have offers from accounting firms in the BVal Practice and also the Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) Practice. Also, I was hoping someone wouldn't mind giving me a brief description of the differences between IB, PE, HF, and VC?

Thank you so much, I have read many articles and have an idea, but would like to hear it directly.

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I would start in something like asset management.

  1. IB is very client facing, and advises on deals, in one sentence. There are five different groups in IB, and you can read about them here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/finance-dictionary/investment-banking-d…

  2. Private equity is the business of taking public companies private, or providing capital to new companies who don't want to go public.

  3. Venture capital is somewhat the same as private equity, except that VC invests in companies that have long term growth potential, whereas private equity tends to sell the company after about 5 years, they don't hold onto it for long.

  4. Hedge funds are alternative investments that actively use derivatives in their trading, hence the term "hedge," as derivatives can be used as hedges against the underlying asset of the derivative.

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