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Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>

Big 4 - In-how switch, Tax to Advisory, realistic ?

Hello,

I’m new to the forum so please forgive me if I break any forum etiquette, I have searched the forum and had no luck finding the same query as mine.

I’m currently working as a tax associate at a big 4 firm through professional hires, and have been for about a year now. To be honest, I have no idea how I managed to land this job, I had no real tax experience but I guess impressed with my interview and my 5 prior year’s general accounting experience. It’s not something I always wanted to do but the opportunity was there, I needed something and I thought I’d give it a try and when I started hoped it would be something I could get into but it’s quite clear that it’s just not something I enjoy and not what I want to do. What I’ve always wanted to get into is Corporate Finance, specifically M&A advisory. I have an accounting qualification but I’m not a grad and have no CF experience so really struggling to get find an opportunity.

Do you think it’s worth me messaging some of the managers in the CF department directly to see if they are open to a temporary secondment, in hopes of turning permanent should I impress?

I know one guy in my department got the job through messaging my manager personally, but he moved from one side of tax to another so it’s a little different, plus he had experience engaging with the manager through an assignment, again, leverage I don’t have – but I do have a good relationship with my partner and can get a good reference, anybody on this forum have a success story or know of a success story in a similar situation?

Many Thanks
JOBO
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Avatar for M1011
M1011
19
Unless your big 4 firm is different to the one I worked at (unlikely), there must be a central HR process on the intranet somewhere that allows you to see internal job postings? I'd check that first and go through the official channels. That said, nothing wrong with contacting a few managers in CF to see if they're interested, but the flip side is if it gets fed back to your bosses in tax and the move doesn't go through, it might not be well received.

One question I'd really be asking yourself - why do you want to work in in M&A advisory? You may well have the best reasons in the world for all I know, but it does seem that so many people want to work in corporate finance that don't have a clue what it actually involves. Consider your motivations carefully, as you don't want to move again just to find you don't like it there either!

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