Has anyone made the transition from Big 4 TAS/FDD -> Big 4 Corp Fin (IBD)? If so, how was this experience? Level of Difficulty? I’m sure being a top performer & a ton of networking is critical to succeeding in the transition.
From reading a bunch of posts on WSO it seems like my best shot to eventually break in to IB/PE down the road. I’m from a non-target majoring in Accounting and Finance.
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Definitely the best route into IB as TAS/FDD have the most transferable skills. Learn PPT on the side as it is not something you will use very much in TAS/FDD (breaking into wall street has a good course) and it's your life when you get to IB. The most difficult part will be that you will be looked at as a lateral/experienced hire so you will most likely be interviewing against people who have IB experience and it's a lot easier to hire someone who understands the M&A process than train someone up. Also, you don't necessarily need to limit yourself to Big 4 CF (internal move), if you come from a big 4 you'll be a viable candidate at many banks.
Thanks for the advice. Would waiting till Senior Associate promotion make most sense before a transition to IB?
worked in FDD for several years in a major city within a pretty sizable team (90+ FDD accountants). Nobody exited to IB/M&A roles, externally or internally. One exited to a HL FAS which does similar FDD type work. Another exited straight to a LMM PE shop (10m EBITDA). Other junior people primarily exited to various corporate finance roles, and several went to more prestigious consulting firms (Strategy&, Deloitte Consulting), in deal related roles (commercial DD, strategy, post merger, etc.)
The two who did lateral to respectable MM IB shops are both from Valuation teams. They never went past their Associate title (aka the most junior level) during their time at Big 4. After 1/2 years, they joined that bank as new Analysts.
One guy I went to MS Accountancy with started his career in FDD but in NY and then subsequently lateraled to Blackstone PE as an analyst within a year. He was the smartest and most polished guy I have met in the grad program. Went to a top 5 undergraduate business program.
A lot of information for you. I think the key takeaway is that if you are trying to do it, do it early rather than later. Promotion to Senior Associate is not really helpful. FDD skills is related to IB but there isn't much overlap. Depending on the industry, it could be completely useless. IB buy and sale business, while FDD people churn out QoE reports. Perhaps networking is more important.
I went through the expensive route. MBA and then IB Associate recruiting. Genuinely hope you can make the leap without the hefty price tag.
Hope this helps.
This helps a lot thank you. Which industries in particular would you say are the most relevant?
Relevant in a lot of industries. If you think about what FDD really does, is that it calculates a the go-forward normalized earning of a business. So your FDD experience in more relevant in industries that have a relatively stable cash flow - aka the kind of business that private equity firms generally love the most. healthcare services, consumer, food, industrials, SaaS, etc...however, FDD is not very relevant to biotech, high growth technology companies, etc. FDD are usually not a big part of the deal process when dealing with these businesses. Because 3 years of detailed normalized earnings are not very meaningful at all to a 10 - 15 year valuation model.
But do know your FDD experience is fantastic in general, as it is probably the best accounting training you can get out of Big 4.
Question - if I want to go into IB (but I also want a top MBA for personal reasons) would the Big 4 FDD route be the best way to go about it, or would Big 4 FDD (out of undergrad)-> Lateral to Boutique (maybe MM?) IB -> MBA be a better route?
I think your comment related to my question got deleted. I got the notification but no response appeared.
I have a question about FDD - what is your travel like?
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