Attention to detail is about taking your time to do things and setting up a routine that is as redundant as possible in checking things. Whether its rereading pages, printing them out and going through them again, or creating a to-do list, its important to have a process that you know works. Also, print out models and go through them by hand.

Figure out what works best for you through trial and error and implement that.

 

I think others will have a more fulsome perspective, but attention to detail to me is something that some innately have (they can go through extensive pages of work product quickly, not review thoroughly, and still come away error free because they are quite diligent). I'm not in this bucket ;P

As with any other skill, attention to detail is something that most people gain and build with time in my view. It’s really important to build the foundation first before experimenting with things like speed or faster cadence. When you are a first year, the expectation will be that you produce error free work, and then get faster at producing this error free work as you continue to get the necessary reps. Everyone has their preferences and best practices. For me, It was always doing an initial scan on the screen to check for immediate errors, printing out my work, and then taking a highlighter to note any changes/additions made so as to ensure that any comments are properly being reflected. If there are any minor nits that I may have missed I’ll make edit and then print one more time before sending. The other key for me was a bit more implicit, which was taking a step back and understanding the big picture of what I’m doing. If you’re just plugging away numbers into a model, looking up precedents, or turning through comments for a deck, you might end up missing a few things vs. if you had a degree of understanding for why you were doing it. It’s much easier to find mistakes if your understanding was that a multiple of [ ]x was well above norms. It also allows you to anticipate the next steps in the process (this is more personally for me from an M&A perspective, but applies broadly as well), which reflects well on you.

It’s a bit of a cumbersome process when you start, particularly because most are not accustomed to looking through their work to that degree of rigour. Speed might get sacrificed initially, but it’s far more preferable for a new 1st year to have good product if it took them a bit longer vs. fast error filled work product. I imagine that you will very quickly ramp up the speed just given the volume of work that you will be given, and the early principles that you instilled will be very helpful in getting to a point where you are both proficient and with a keen eye for detail. I’m sure you’ll be just fine :)

OTOH, there does come a point in my mind where it would be helpful to prescribe to 80/20, particularly when v48 of the document isn’t meaningfully different from v08. But you didn’t hear this from me :)

There's a closer meaning to my user name. Try reading it quickly. Perhaps you will then understand ;P
 

Hey thanks so much, this is all very very helpful. I'm bookmarking to refer to it during the summer!

As mentioned in my initial question, is there anything a student can do in the mean time to practice? I'm sure I'll mess up a few times as I have in prior internships but I don't want to get out of the groove of things in the mean time.

 
Best Response

Print off everything and make multiple passes. Try and take a few minutes once you’re done to clear your head before reviewing, ideally go for a walk, grab coffee.

First pass should be formatting, catch the easy stuff. Ask: Are the paragraphs justified? Are charts centered? Am I consistent in numbering e.g. using MM, BN and one decimal place for numbers.

Second pass should be spelling/grammar. Third, making sure your numbers are consistent, I’ve caught more analysts who don’t do this than anything else, if it says 8% in the table, it should say 8% in the text. Fourth, read for flow and logic.

Ultimately making a lot of passes through is what catches errors. Also use your mind, so few people do. Apply the smell test, does revenue look like a hockey stick and you’re working with a bland industrials company? Does EBITDA margin get nuts? Is revenue lumpy, and if so why (some companies do have cyclicality)?

 
  • As others have mentioned - print pages out after you’ve made edits, and actually check them against markups. It’s really easy to miss things on a screen

  • Work out a system of how to scan a page - e.g., grammar/spelling? does the title & subtitle reflect what’s on the page? Are there numbers in graphs / charts / comps on the same (or other) page referenced in text? If so do they match? Do graph titles match or are axis correct? Any stale/irrelevant/go-nowhere footnotes? After you get the big items, you scan for things like alignment, image cut offs, page numbers (sometimes they go missing because of master template discrepancies or whatever), are there the right (or wrong) logos, etc.

  • Also keep a note of references to numbers that exist on multiple pages - if you change a model or assumption... you’ll need to make sure it happens globally across a deck

  • Check your edits again as you’re doing page flips on the printed & bound decks. Have a quicker system for this stage of checks, but always page flip (sometimes there are print shop fuck ups, or you may find you missed a critical edit before final print).

  • Don’t just be a robot and do exactly as you’re told. Sometimes people above you make a mistake (in spelling, text, context). Try and read through something yourself and if something looks off, you could always grab someone to get a second opinion. Of course don’t do this for every tiny little thing - use your judgement

  • For models... it’s good to do some back of the envelope type math (print out the pages). It’s easy to be overly dependent on excel, but a wrong link or reference or bad assumption can throw things out of whack. Make sure the numbers are directionally correct... if rough math sanity checks are getting you drastically different results, it’s worth doing a quick check to see if something is up

 

I’m not trying to be a dick, but seriously, is this a question? You’re essentially asking us how to double check your work, or how to obviate the need for a double check. It’s pretty simple - either double check your work, or eliminate the potential for risk through process control.

Why do you need WSO to tell you that?

Just take a deep breath man. If you are thoughtful in your work and unafraid to ask questions when you don’t understand what’s going on, you’ll do fine. The best way to avoid errors is to understand what it is you’re trying to do in the grand scheme of things. Once that is understood, you will be able to work through your project methodically, and tailor your methods to eliminate risk.

Array
 

My original question is:

"What is the best way to practice your attention to detail before your SA stint?"

I'm asking how to PRACTICE BEFORE an SA stint, as in things that I can do in the mean time such as x website or practice using x resources.

 

Dude, cool it with the monkey shit or I will stop being nice about this.

I am imploring you to lighten up a little. If you were hard working enough to get an IB offer, your attention to detail doesn't need practice. You will do fine as long as you understand the tasks at hand. Yeah, you could do all the things mentioned in this thread...that's what I do to produce error free work. But all those techniques should be entirely self-evident to someone with a modicum of intelligence.

What will potentially harm your prospects is asking fucking lame questions like "WSO, give me homework to help me practice attention to detail". Take that drone shit elsewhere, son. Go have a beer with your buddies for crying out loud, you're in college. The very notion that you need to literally practice your attention to detail before this SA stint is ludicrous - it's investment banking, not open heart surgery.

Array
 

I've never had a significant attention span, and as a first year analyst, this is a huge flaw. I've had some numbers that senior bankers will look at for me and say "this just looks off". I've slowly started to develop that eye, but it's a work in progress.

That being said, there are definitely ways to improve your attention to detail. As stated above, printing things out or taking a break to look at things with a fresh set of eyes are crucial.

Aside from that, my spreadsheets have a system: tab colored red for ones that haven't been finished yet, yellow for once they are completed, and green for once they have been proofread and double-checked.

Hope that helps.

 

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