Transition from Big 4 Consulting to PE - Advice needed

Question

Hi,
I need an advise on starting a career in PE.

I want to make a career transition from Financial Risk Consulting (Ops Risk) to PE.

My background: Currently, I am an risk advisory senior consultant at Big 4, prior to that I spent 2 years in finance transformation practice in another IT consulting firm, and have overall about 4 years in various roles in banking and treasury.
I hold an MBA from Top 10 US business school.

PE Transition plan: I did some research on the typical PE profiles and with my current experience it is next to impossible to get into PE.

Carve You Out · Accepted Answer

Few points:

The terminology you use to describe certain functions give away to me which Big 4 you are actually in. I moved from such a firm to PE quite recently without an MBA. Although, I am quite early on in my career.

Your location also matters quite heavily. By TS do you mean Transaction Support? or Transaction Advisory Services?

BankerC159 · Answer

Transaction Services/Transaction Advisory Services are the same thing at the Big 4, I believe at PwC they call it TS and at EY they call it TAS, as an example.

The investment banking arm of Big 4 is typically referred to as "corporate finance". PwC also has a group called "Deals" or "Deal Strategy". I've seen a few people transition from the Deal group into Banking.

Also, know of someone who went from Big 4 TS/TAS (Financial DD) to Banking to PE.

Carve You Out · Answer

I respectfully disagree BankerC159. 
TS all across the board is FDD, more so in EY. TAS is definitely not TS (FDD). 
In PwC the Deal Strategy team is basically the same as corporate finance Strategy which does sell and buy side strategy work for PE and corporates. 
For the OP I would advise to definitely not club TS and TAS together.

On his question below - the CPA will help for TS much less so for corporate finance.

I would advise to network/push/hustle to get into TAS and then network further for a MM PE gig.

BankerC159 · Answer

We have used E&Y to run financial due diligence for multiple deals and I just double checked the sigs from their emails. From the partner down they all say "Transaction Advisory Services"

But point being, try to network into the "Corporate Finance" group and exit to PE. I think typically these are set up as LLCs as opposed to LLPs, so I think they kind of stand alone.

+89	Nothing to do at work & bored to hell	9	2d
+67	Do people over-index on 'moats'	22	1d
+53	Predicted Net Worth in Trodden Finance Path by 60?	20	2d
+44	Biggest (avoidable) failures in PE Investments?	25	2d
+38	Why is ROIC never really a topic when looking at companies IRL	11	5d
+24	What do you think of PE Value Creation Careers in 2026?	7	1d
+19	LT Career Path after MF PE Associate Program?	5	14h
+16	Is the lifestyle really better?	13	58m
+15	Honest opinions needed about lateraling	5	1d
+12	NY LMM PE Recruiting	3	3d

1	redever	99.2
2	kanon	99.0
3	Secyh62	99.0
4	BankonBanking	99.0
5	DrApeman	98.9
6	CompBanker	98.9
7	dosk17	98.9
8	Betsy Massar	98.9
9	GameTheory	98.9
10	numi	98.8

Elite Career Bootcamp. Top Job Offer Guaranteed.

Elite Career Bootcamp. Top Job Offer Guaranteed.

Transition from Big 4 Consulting to PE - Advice needed

Elite Career Bootcamp. Top Job Offer Guaranteed.

Elite Career Bootcamp. Top Job Offer Guaranteed.

Transition from Big 4 Consulting to PE - Advice needed

Trending Content - Private Equity Forum