Move into front office from Internal Audit (with CAIA/MBA?)
Hi guys, I'm in need for some advise regarding the best way to transition into front office roles in PE/Credit/Private markets in general. To give a bit of a background, I'm 30 y/o and currently work in the internal audit team of an American based PE firm in London and have about 8 years of experience. From an academic point of view, I've completed my Chartered Accountancy exams successfully few years back and have recently completed CAIA Level I + plan to appear Level II later this year. Is it realistic for me to aim for these roles given my experience? My employers aren't aware of my intention just yet as I'm not sure how they will perceive it. I have also been having thoughts of doing an MBA and targeting a one year course (possibly INSEAD or LBS although the latter being slightly longer) but wanted to get some advice on how to go about this. Any response would be appreciated, thanks!
akshay208s, sorry about the lack of response. Maybe one of these topics will help:
More suggestions...
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
Any help on this would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Why didn't you initially try to get into finance?
Thanks, that’s a fair challenge and I’m trying to frame my response as honestly as I possibly can.
I never really hated audit and did in fact find it quite interesting to learn about various businesses at the beginning of my career. I kind of know that if I stay where I’m right know I could easily achieve a C-Suite audit role at a top firm in the next (10-12) years but I’m very certain that I don’t want to. I feel I’ve possibly learnt all I can and there are very few areas in which I can have any personal growth.
It’s probably since the last couple of years or so since I’ve developed some genuine interest in finance but my previous firm was quite conservative and did not understandably want to take a risk with someone w/o relevant qualifications (CFA/CAIA), although my ACA (pass rate of 10%) was quite intensive and did provide me with a decent set of skill sets to knock the doors but I probably did not make enough of a case then.
I did manage to make some progress by getting the CAIA L1 but I don’t think it’ll be sufficient to make the transition. I have started the prep for the GMAT and have my target schools are LBS/INSEAD and potentially Kelloggs one year.
From what I’ve read here, it’ll still be next to impossible to make a move to buy side since I don’t have any relevant prior experience. I’ll still probably want to do it anyway and explore some options with IB/MC (PE consulting) for a few years and see where life takes from there.
Just keen to have some genuine feedback and hear that it’s not all doom and gloom for me yet and there’s still some hope?
Cheers
If you're not fixated on front office PE and are willing to accept consulting, it's not all doom and gloom, but still very hard.
In my view, this is how I see your options and likelihood of success:
1. Move internally - close to impossible even with CAIA/CFA (I think people in the industry actually care less about CAIA than CFA, and CFA doesn't matter much either). In the UK MM PE you'll actually find more ACAs than CFAs. Did you do your ACA in a Big4 firm? If so, maybe you could go back and transfer somehow to advisory there. If you try an internal move, you may be able to go in a more middle office type role, like risk or valuations (still not easy).
2. Move externally - even harder, but maybe you can find some financial consulting role that would be a first step in a multi step move to front office.
3. MBA - Your best option in my opinion, if you can get in. Firstly, make sure you don't call Kellogg Kelloggs in the application :) Joke aside, the only factor from the info you've provided that would be a plus in your application is the name of the PE firm (I assume it's a well known name). The factors that would be against you are your age and perceived selectivity of your role. At 30 now, 31/32 by the time you start an MBA, you'd be clearly on the older side of your cohort, so you'd need to explain well in your application why you should be admitted. Also, it is tough to get admitted from an audit role, unless your profile has other standout areas (experiences, not GMAT/GPA, although those need to be stronger than school average, but won't be enough). Once you're in, a lot of banking and consulting opportunities are available to a similar extent to other students. PE/AM/HF roles still tend to require previous relevant experience.
Would add that it's absolutely never too late - even if you might be 5 years over the class average age. A good chunk of your class will only have relevant experience in an attack helicopter - so I won't worry about your time in audit. Expand your search beyond the M7 and to T25s. If you manage to land a consulting or a banking role out of school, your next step will come naturally.
similar path. feel free to DM
Thanks SReaper and camembert for taking the time to respond!
I’ve kind of ruled out the option of moving anywhere externally as no one would actually consider hiring me.
The only option I may have internally is if I ask them to consider me applying after graduating from a B-school. Again, this is very unlikely as I’ll be competing with candidates who already have experience either in IBD or are lateral hires in PE. No harm in asking but I already know my answer.
To give some more context, I did my ACA training with a big 4 and did also move around a bit in their Financial Due Diligence team for a brief stint. This was all ages back and don’t really see a way in to applying for advisory roles into big 4s now.
Yes, my current employer is a PE MF so maybe that might help in adding some weight to my application. I’ve heard mixed feedback about INSEAD but for someone at my age, it gives me a chance to graduate sooner.
I started out thinking front office buy side roles are a possibility but have become more pragmatic now and realised that consulting or even banking can be a potential option which can be aimed at if I do get into a decent school.
What are some of the things I can do from now that might make me more ‘employable’ post MBA? Apologies, this may sound a bit too into the future but I’d like to make sure that I give myself the best possible chance and hence clearing my mind here :)
Few things I thought of:
CAIA L2 - might as well since I have the L1 in the bag.
Financial modelling courses - probably not that time intensive and could possibly pay off at some point in the future?
Cheers guys, appreciate the support.
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