Hi,
Thanks for reading this. I got an offer from Accenture Strategy Consulting. Would I be able to get into PE?
Thanks
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Hey there!
Congrats on the offer from Accenture Strategy Consulting! That's a great achievement. Now, as for your question about transitioning into Private Equity (PE), it's definitely possible, but it's not a straightforward path.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, consultants have made the jump to PE, but it typically requires a strong understanding of financial modeling and investment analysis, which you may not get in-depth exposure to at a consulting firm.
However, your experience in consulting, especially if you're involved in projects related to financial transactions, due diligence, cost restructuring, revenue growth strategy, and large enterprise transformations, can be very valuable. It can help you develop a strategic mindset, problem-solving skills, and a deep understanding of business operations - all of which are useful in PE.
To boost your chances, you might want to consider the following steps:
Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint. So, keep learning, stay curious, and don't be afraid to reach out to people in the industry. Good luck!
Sources: Q&A: Consultant at Accenture Strategy, Q&A: Strategy consultant leaving for private equity
Not extremely likely.
Your best bet is to pivot after a year into a PE-group of MBB, A&M, or AlixPartners.
These firms, and specifically their PE groups, tend to do due diligence, portco performance improvement, portco growth strategy, and portco turnaround work. All of which will help you build your case for pivoting into PE.
It’s not impossible to do this at Accenture, since I know they have a small PE practice, but it’s just not going to be as likely and it definitely will limit the number of funds you will be able to get your foot-in-the-door with.
Furthermore, the groups I highlighted will best prepare you for PE Ops and should give you a relatively straight shot into it. However, deal team is not going to be as straightforward, even with the aforementioned experiences.
For deal-team, you’re going to have to focus on targeting consulting-friendly funds and really nail your technicals / financial-modeling experience. Even then, you are at a disadvantage to your IB-counterparts.
Best of luck!
Tell me you’re from AlixPartners without telling me you’re from AlixPartners bro, oh my goodness
I worked at A&M for 3 years and pivoted to a MM PE firm about a month ago, so guess again “bro”
Chances are below 1%. To get into PE from consulting (investment team) you gotta be at MBB.
Not exactly true. Odds are better if you're at MBB, but plenty of people from the CDD-heavy T2s (LEK, OW) end up in PE too. Even at some UMMs.
chances from non MBB are already drastically lower. yes there are some slots for T2 firms but def. not for Accenture.
Let’s be careful using the phrase “plenty of”. It’s certainly not impossible but to say plenty of people from LEK are exiting into UMM PE is the overstatement of the year. I’m not here to tell anyone to not push for their goal but OP should also fully understand the uphill battle. I don’t claim to know the entire PE landscape but I’ve seen very few people from T2 consulting at solid MM or UMMs. LMM is a different story and as their are thousands of sub $500M funds that need grinders.
What country?
in Europe, it seems unlikely directly from Accenture
Best road would be Accenture (1 year) - MBB or LEK (2 years) - PE
Unlikely. I work at an MBB in Europe and lateral hires from T3 are rare.
If ACN guys get hired its for tech verticals and much much more senior guys (e.g., partner specialist in cloud migrations in financial services).
To be brutally honest the pipeline ACN -> PE is nonexistent. ACN does no PE work and even if you go MBB it will be a tough case to make to join the PE practice (they'll put you straight into digital).
What about lateral to MBB in the US?
Strongly recommend that you go to a shop with a decent DD practice - MBB, Parthenon, LEK. If you're dead set on PE, just lateral to banking asap and you'll at least get looks at some MM shops even if it's not a tier 1 bank. Source: I've worked in venture, growth, and buyout - I wouldn't say anyone has a bias against Accenture per se, but above options are seen as good prep for buyside.
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