Big 4 Audit to IB to PE?

Hi,

I am currently working for Big 4 in audit with financial services clients (registered mutual funds, hedge funds) went to a liberal arts non target school and am looking to transition into IB. Do I have any shot at making the jump directly from audit, or am I better off trying to work in a TAS type role first and then segway to IB? Also curious if my clients being financial services helps my case at all.

Another question - would I be on crack to think that I could leave Big 4, go to a PE group on the accounting side, and then eventually transition to the analyst side of things for the same group?

Just throwing it out there, would love any advice. Have seen multiple people try both of the above and seems to be a generally low success rate. I think the only other viable option is the MBA route which then presents a whole set of new challenges (getting into a top tier program).

Appreciate any insight.

 

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Best Response

Difficult but possible to go directly from audit to IB, though to your point, you'd probably have a better chance if you're coming from TAS. As you can probably guess, networking is a pretty critical of the lateraling process, especially since you'll be competing with candidates jumping from one bank to another. In addition to reaching out to bankers, consider reaching out to some headhunters as well.

Covering clients in financial services is really only relevant if you're targeting FIG groups.

Trying to get into PE from the fund accounting side is extremely unlikely. If you want to do PE, your best shot is to go through banking, not pursue accounting further.

Depending on your situation, it could frankly end up being easier to pursue banking via an MBA.

 

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