Serious help needed deciding on offer

Here is my situation. I have an offer at one of the big 4 accounting firms in their enterprise risk advisory group that I am not thrilled about but it is a brand name and maybe I could move around to something more relevant.

I also have been interning this summer at a small regional boutique M&A shop in NYC that brings in about $8 million in revenue from banking fees, but there are only 8 of us working on deals (I am only analyst level person) and 3 secretary/office manager people. I am supposed to find out next week if they want me full time or not.

If I were to get an offer does anyone have any insight as to which would be better for my career? Does "banking" really mean that much if it is coming from a no name shop? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

I had a similar situation (as did one of my college friends) and we both decided that M&A and a no name boutique > any non-IB role if your goal is to pursue IB. Work at the no name shop for a year and then lateral to a better shop. Sil has a lateraling guide that you should check out. Ultimately, it will be easier to go from a no name boutique to a better shop than to even get into any IB role from big 4.

 

My firm is nearly identical to yours but we probably bring in about half the revenue or less, as we are in a small region outside a major financial hub. I'm also the only analyst. I don't have much insight into pe recruiting from a no name as I'm still a first year analyst myself.

 

If you want to do IB and the pay is comparable than i would stick with the boutique even if no name. Big4 ERS is boring AF and you will most likely try to switch out after a few years anyways.

 

I don't have much insight on NY boutique scene and the comp could vary wildly but if i were to make an educated guess based on your shops size i would say base $55-65K and bonus anywhere from $15-30K

 

I worked at a "no-name" boutique in a large city (not NY, LA, or SF) and made $60,000 all-in. I would expect your base to be between $50,000 and $60,000 with a bonus between $10,000 and $15,000. Some boutiques pay per transaction (i.e. you get X% of every transaction's EV as a bonus and nothing at the end of the year).

EDIT: Since you asked for firm size in another post, my firm had seven bankers including me and closed one to two transactions a year. There is no way we brought in anywhere close to $8M in fees.

 
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