Financial Due Diligence Exit Opportunities
What are the best exit ops from a career in transaction advisory services (TAS)?
Table of contents
- What experiences will you learn in FDD?
- What do you need for the best financial due diligence exit opportunities?
- What are the most prestigious FDD firms?
- What are the best financial due diligence exit opportunities?
A “financial due diligence exit opportunity” is another field that you can move into after working in FDD. Working in FDD is an incredible learning experience, and can lead to some of the most sought after jobs in finance.
What experiences will you learn in FDD?
Financial due diligence will teach you the following skillsets:
- In depth understanding for accounting
- Understanding for the flow of cash through a business
- Understanding the key drivers of revenue and profitability in a business
- Ability to identify key business risks
- Ability to quickly understand new business models
- Ability to speak with key members of management teams
What do you need for the best financial due diligence exit opportunities?
Firm prestige
To pursue the best exit opportunities available from FDD, you need to work at one of the most prestigious firms. Working at one of these firms will give you the best chance of eventually getting great exit offer.
Geography
Many of the best exit opportunities will be located in New York, Chicago, and other cities with large finance industries. Although many jobs can be remote in todays world, but geography should be considered when analyzing exit ops.
Education
Similar to any interview process, the amount and quality of education will have an impact on your exit opportunities. However, at this point in your career, experience is valued more than education. For example, you can still land a great job with an average education but experience at a great FDD firm.
Deal flow
Deal flow refers to the number and quality of deals you have gotten the opportunity to work on. The more deals you’ve worked on, the more experience you have, and the more marketable you will be when looking for a new job. Luckily, FDD allows you to work on ~15-20 deals each year. Additionally, if you have worked on extremely large and notable deals, you can leverage this experience as well.
Pre-FDD experience
Most FDD professionals either start in transaction advisory, transfer from another consulting role, or transfer from audit and advisory. Depending on the length of experience and type of job, the experience you had before working in FDD will likely impact the types of jobs that you can get when exiting.
Preparation
Finally, one of the most important factors impacting your ability to exit FDD is your willingness to prepare for the interview process. Candidates that prepare the hardest will generally have the most success.
What are the most prestigious FDD firms?
- Deloitte
- Alvarez & Marsal
- EY
- KPMG
- PWC
- Houlihan Lokey
What are the best financial due diligence exit opportunities?
There is a wide range of exit opportunities that you can get coming out of FDD, but the most common roles include:
FP&A – overseeing the budgeting and financing processes at that company. Specifically, the FP&A role tracks and plans the performance of a business over time.
Strategic Finance – Financial strategy roles focus on a business’ growth and long-term vision. In this role, a professional helps analyze and make key business decisions.
Investment banking – IB is a good career path for ex-FDD professionals. Investment banking will build upon your FDD experience, and will often offer a higher salary. This job is similar to FDD in many ways because it focuses on M&A in an advisory role.
Restructuring – Restructuring is an interesting exit opportunity from financial due diligence because it includes assisting failing business. As part of restructuring / turnaround consulting, firms can play a role in the divestment of non-viable business operations, business stabilization, and cash flow forecasting.
Corporate Development – Corp dev involves working on M&A, joint ventures, and other growth avenues for an established business.
Other FDD firms – Some professionals will stay within FDD, but transfer to a different, more higher paying group. Specifically, many people often move from big 4 FDD to Alvarez & Marsal.
Interviewing for FDD Jobs?
Practice makes perfect. The best way to prepare for an FDD interview is to practice. First, you will need to nail down your understanding of the process and goals of financial due diligence. Next, you will need to learn how to analyze a business with an eye toward identifying red flags and potential quality of earnings adjustments. Finally, you will need to work on your ability to present your findings in a clear, concise, and confident manner.
Leverage our free resources or complete financial due diligence interview guide to help you prepare for all of these items
Full interview guide
Learn how to master the interview process for for roles at big 4 and other elite FDD firms.
Free resources
Leverage our free resources to help you prepare for the FDD interview process.