We don’t have anything on Big 4 CF vs. IB, specifically. But there are a few other articles on Big 4 groups if you do a search:

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/?s=big+4

Some are much older, but I don’t think too much changes over time other than the salary/bonus levels. I’ll see if we can cover this topic in the future.

I can’t give you an exact percentage because I don’t know how many Big 4 professionals apply for IB Analyst roles, but I would say it’s “doable but not necessarily easy.” The problem is that many people take these Big 4 roles with the aim of moving into IB eventually, and lateral hiring for IB roles comes and goes in waves based on market conditions and deal activity. So you’re up against a lot of competition and not-very-consistent open spots at banks. If you put in enough effort over a long enough period, you should be able to find something, but it might be at a smaller bank.

The original version of this article from ~2 years ago had lower numbers, but then people left comments saying they were too low, at least in the U.S. So we increased them based on these comments.

Since 2022 was a terrible year for most finance firms, including banks and the Big 4, bonuses are now lower and below the ones here. And outside the U.S., I don’t think they were ever close to these figures.

The point here is that salaries and bonuses sometimes change slowly over a long period (2010 – 2019) and sometimes very quickly in a short period (2020 – 2022). We will probably revisit this topic and update the ranges later this year or just eliminate them altogether. Keeping track of Big 4 salaries/bonuses each year adds exactly $0 to my revenue, given that it’s not at all the core focus of this site, so it is not very high on the priority list.

Traditionally, non-Big 4 firms paid around 20% less than the Big 4 firms, but the last data point I have is from 4-5 years ago, so I’m not sure currently. I would imagine that there is still a discount, but no idea if it’s closer to 10%, 30%, or something else now.

Maybe a little, but the difference is very small vs. working in a completely different group or firm type. Valuation is arguably better for the types of exit opportunities discussed on this site because it’s closer to what bankers do; FDD requires more in-depth accounting knowledge, but that’s less important in banking vs. understanding the story and spinning the company correctly.