Big 3 RX 2021 Comp (A&M, Alix, FTI)

With RX being slower right now, what were people's bonuses and all in comp for 2021? How many hours were you billing? Are you enjoying the slowdown or hoping to get some more experience in? Looking specifically for AN1/2 and AS1 if possible. Obviously more catered towards A&M and FTI since they have undergrad recruiting. Thanks!

 
Most Helpful

A&M's bonus is based off billables so an An1 at A&M RX is approximately $450/hr rate * 1600 hours (40hrs/wk for 40 weeks given slowdown in market) * 15%-20% (call it 17.5%). That would be 126k in total comp. We subtract the total billables from bonus so 126k - 80/90k base (depending on where you live and COL). 

I would say that's very low compared to banking and those assumptions are based on the huge slowdown in RX but at that rate:

1. You're working 9-5pm (if even). For the most part, no one comes in MWF and Friday everyone leaves by 1/2pm if they do show up

2. You have 12 weeks (3 months) of doing basically nothing based on my calculations above.

People call RX consulting an exit opportunity because you still make good money while having periods where you're "on the beach" doing nothing. You'll be in the mid 200k range as an Assoc1. Again, it's not banking comp but you're barely working. The more you bill the more you'll make so when RX is hot you'll have a strong bonus. 

How does FTI differ from that? What's your utilization and how many hours are you billing this month and/or year given the markets?

 

Pull a fee statement off a bankruptcy docket for any of the rx firms and you will see the rates by person. Lower levels typically bill 400-500 $/hr. You can even see their time detail to the tenth of an hour in those statements also if you’re really bored. Obviously the person doesn’t make that entire amount of the rate but comp is usually based on a % of that number. A&M and Alix have different formulas of getting there but with that base rate then obviously it can stack up very quickly.

 

This was super insightful. I looked at the Intelsat docket (easily found online), and it seems my thoughts on A&M comp were accurate. I noticed no one is really billing more than 40-50 hours on average, and there's only two cases of 60-65 hours of billing (at least for the month of July in that specific docket). 

Have you seen people bill 60-80 hours in the first few months of the project and then trim it down to 40-50 as things slow down? If we're comparing those numbers to regular 9-5 jobs, the comp is very impressive. But, from a banking perspective it is still significantly lower. Seems like associates can see a take home pay of 225-275k which just seems a bit low (maybe my expectations are too high given the fact that we work less than bankers).

 

Good questions. Just as note, all dockets are easily found online so any case that you are curious about then I encourage you to pull down files from the docket to get a feel for the bankruptcy process in general. You can learn a lot about a business or risks in a specific industry/business model.

As far as your observations on hours, it’s worth noting a couple things

  1. Different points of a case have extremely high hour requirements but if it is steady state then yes it can smooth out. There are particularly a lot of hours leading up to a filing which aren’t captured in fee statements. Depending how long the team had to prep and the type of bankruptcy (pre pack vs free fall) can really cause variations in the amount of hours during the actual case.
  1. With bankruptcies being relatively slow right, firms might be spreading work around more resources since they are available in order to keep everyone in the firm engaged to a certain level. So for example, instead of having 2 associates billing 60 hours per week then you might use 3 associates that bill 40 hours per week. Both get you technically the same 120 hours of output. Obviously there is nuance because workstreams can’t just be easily chopped up like that while maintaining efficiency, but still generally can work especially when lots of work streams going on.

For your comp comment, since you use A&M as an example then we can stick with that and their structure. I think an associate bills between 500 to 600/hr. So if you bill and collect a standard 2000 hour year (40 hr/week) then that would be 550*2000= 1,100,000 in collection. If your pay range is around 25% then thats 275k. So that’s the high end of your range you mentioned. Obviously, you can do the math to toggle hrs or your pay range up or down to get a better sense of the range of potential outcomes.

 

You can find the dockets via the various case administrator web sites like Prime Clerk or Stretto. 

2000 hours isn’t necessarily standard for billables but it is the equivalent of working 40 hours/week for 50 weeks which is considered standard for most industries. Either way, I’ve heard from a few people that analyst utilization rates have been in the 60-70% range. Obviously that is a blend of everyone so there are going to be fully utilized people and some that have sat on the beach for extended periods of time. 

 

It's kinda annoying to hear firms like A&M preach "you're expected to receive 100% of your base if not more" and then hear something like this where analysts are barely working. On the one hand it's free money for not a lot of time but on the other you're getting practically 0 experience when as an analyst you want lots of it.

Have you ever heard of people taking on side hustles or remote jobs in addition to consulting? I know it sounds absurd but if you can juggle both and want to I feel like it could be an option. 

 

Fair point. It is worth noting that this is the slowest restructuring has been in a long time so this isn’t typical. Usually not an issue getting an analyst plenty of hours and experience so during the slow down it has been a new problem that the firms have had to deal with to get analysts the right amount of experience. Ideally, analysts can be shared across multiple practices at the firm to ensure they are busy and getting a broad base of experience before rx picks back up. All of that being said, utilization is trending in the right direction and phones have been ringing a lot more over the past month or so.

I wouldn’t recommend doing a side hustle and be careful with any employment agreement that you have. I think you’d be better served going above and beyond on non-billable projects to build relationships and get some semi decent reps to ensure that you are at the top of the list for the next staffing.

 

Ratione alias voluptatem quibusdam voluptates nisi. Quos modi enim aut tempore autem consectetur eligendi. Amet eius rerum in ratione cum voluptas nobis et. Perspiciatis fuga expedita quo qui ex animi.

Eos aliquam alias deserunt. A ad officiis eum laborum velit aliquam. Et velit molestiae fugiat nihil deserunt. Necessitatibus eum tenetur et dolores voluptatum eaque incidunt. Corrupti dolorum soluta voluptatem rerum tempora quibusdam. Reprehenderit adipisci consequatur temporibus.

Tenetur labore doloribus aliquam nam natus. Cupiditate qui itaque praesentium voluptas provident. Est distinctio nesciunt modi autem saepe est. Culpa et maiores ipsum aut.

Ratione quia quia officia voluptatum. Voluptatem ut qui eligendi deserunt architecto iure deserunt. Architecto repellendus nihil consequatur consequatur laborum explicabo optio voluptatum. Enim quis dignissimos numquam tenetur.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.7%
  • LEK Consulting 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • Cornerstone Research 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • McKinsey and Co 97.7%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.7%
  • LEK Consulting 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Consulting

  • Partner (4) $368
  • Principal (25) $277
  • Director/MD (55) $270
  • Vice President (47) $246
  • Engagement Manager (99) $225
  • Manager (152) $170
  • 2nd Year Associate (158) $140
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (108) $130
  • Senior Consultant (329) $130
  • Consultant (586) $119
  • 1st Year Associate (538) $119
  • NA (15) $119
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (145) $115
  • Engineer (6) $114
  • 2nd Year Analyst (342) $102
  • Associate Consultant (166) $98
  • 1st Year Analyst (1046) $87
  • Intern/Summer Associate (188) $84
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (547) $67
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”