I’m looking to intern in EY or other big 4 but realized there’re two different advisory, namely Advisory and Transaction Advisory Service. What are the main differences and which one opens a better path for me, as a freshie later?

Son, if you want to join the professional services line, or any line in fact, being resourceful is a skill you need especially with information at our fingertips.

You could've easily google-ed it online instead of asking such lazy question here, and waiting for answers.

I'm not trying to berate you, just perhaps sharing little wisdom that I have.

Good luck young hustler!

This post has been edited by Financier: Mar 8 2020, 10:25 PM

advisory is like mgmt consulting. company wan expand oversea but need more data from everything to headcount to thruput to money, to make decision they hire u to consult them.

tas is more finance n accounting company wan acquire another comp. they hire u to do due diligence to check fin records n docs, etc before make decision.

both pay high n lots of competition. difficult masuk.

msia finance industry quite small not many position. esp for tas will be cable n experenced hire. advisory more space more chance get in if u got grades.

I have worked in both departments so I think I can give you something slightly more comprehensive. I have personally worked in Risk and Performance Improvement and subsequently moved to TAS and did the full-suite of services before I decided to specialise in Financial Modelling. I am now based overseas specializing in building financial models for fintechs and work with investment bankers to help them raise funds in this sector.

Like someone already mentioned, Advisory covers a wider scope (IT Goverance, Risk, Performance Improvement) where as TAS covers the corporate finance side of things (Due Diligence, Valuation and Business Modelling, M&A, Restructuring and perhaps, Infrastructure advisory).

If i have to make a strong distinction between the 2, I would say TAS is more investment banking-like and numbers oriented whereas advisory is more management-consulting oriented. Perhaps not entirely representative, but within each sub-divisions the skillsets required can be quite different too. E.g., people from Risk have stronger internal control awareness and operational knowledge of the different business functions where as PI people is generally stronger in presentation skills (like management consultants). On the TAS side, you may find the M&A people share some similarities with people from PI except more sales oriented and more numbers savvy. People from the valuations and modelling team are the most numbers and technical savvy bunch (though not necessarily commercial oriented, which is different from being numbers savvy). People from Due Diligence are more accounting savvy and it is no surprise most of them come from audit.

I guess it is hard describe each of them in detail in this post but if you can provide more context about your career aspirations or what do you intend to achieve, then perhaps I can provide you with more specific feedback.

This post has been edited by Justin Wong: Mar 25 2020, 01:20 PM

Thanks for taking your time to reply , Justin. I have applied for the big4 firms and got rejected by two of them. Guess im not good enough for the position. Any advice from you so that i could better prepare next time?

Getting into Advisory and Transaction Advisory is competitive - because there is perception that the work is 'sexier' and more interesting although it may not necessarily be so. Another reason for higher rejection is also because these departments generally look for experienced candidates or candidates from top-tier universities or with distinctive profiles. Besides, during my time perhaps the competition was not as intense as it is today so luck also plays some part as well - I really don't have any substantive recommendation for you to increase your odds.

I suppose in the worst case scenario, you can join audit or tax first (if you are willing to bear with it) and spend 2-3 years there first before you apply to them. (This is what I did, I initially wanted to go straight into transactions team couldn't because of the my suspected reasons above. So I did my time in audit for a year and then moved to Advisory before I reapply again to Transactions. Perhaps I got in by luck as well - note that I am a local private college grad competing with fancy overseas grad but my grades were good so it probably helped).

One potential longer-term preparation that you can do which I haven't seen many people did it (In Msia at at least) is to create and showcase your own projects to interviewers (like how software developers do). In my example, when I moved from Singapore to UK (Now I am in AU), I wanted to do financial modelling (FM) but i didn't really have strong credentials in financial modelling although I already have transaction advisory experience working in Malaysia and then Singapore (Note: the standards for financial modelling in the UK and AU generally are higher compared to Malaysia or even Singapore or US so having 'general' experience in financial modelling even from Transactions is not good enough, the economic rationale behind this phenomenon is yet another story). I have always been passionate about FM so I did a lot FM in my own free time and I showed one of my personal FM project to the interviewer in UK and I got the job (of course my transactions experience helped). There are other examples about candidates showing their personal valuation/equity analysis projects but you get the idea - Demonstrate your passion and show that you are already equipped with the relevant basic skills and knowledge to do the work.

It really depends on how much do you really want it and if you really want it you will find ways to get it.


Best of Luck.

Were you part of EY? Only heard of EY having a PI department.

Man I dont get why UK/AU put down staff from other SEA countries. I was blessed enough to have worked in HK before moving AUS and didnt get put down in anyway. But heard from other staff members from SG that they got put down a whole level for more then a year. But funny thing is now im trying to get back into the MY and im getting offered positions lower then what im currently at. Dont get why everyone is so out of sync.

Going back to the question asked by TS. I think going down the audit path before moving within the same firm would be your best bet. If you are really set on getting into those departments straight out of uni then only way is to network hard. Ive seen people with basic qualifications get into CF/IB just from connections. Another thing the big4 like is that you are active in extracurricular activities in your Uni like the finance club or etc. Helped in a few grad interview processes and man any edge you have over the other applicants is a plus.

Yeah I was from EY but I have worked in PwC and DTT as well. Are/were you in transactions/advisory in HK/AU?

For me yes I was offered a lower level when I moved to UK but then again maybe that is because I am moving to a new division (FM) so i don't have the experience to hit the ground running. It is true that many others have faced similar situations where they accepted lower roles when they moved overseas but I believe this is mostly because they choose to do so in order to secure the job out of desperation. It really depends on how good are you in negotiation and how confident you present yourself - I think 'hard' negotiation is not a culture in Msia/Singapore so people generally avoid it so that they won't be perceived as 'playing hardball' if you will (at least not common at entry to mid-level roles) whereas in UK/AU, it is part of the process so the employer will always provide a 'lower' offer and then it is up to you to negotiate your way up and you as a candidate is expected to do so, yet we don't. Put in bluntly, in UK/AU, if you don't ask, you won't get it whereas in Asian countries generally, you don't need to ask (for certain things) as it is implied that you should get it.

In your situation where you were offered a lower level when you are trying to move back to Msia, I am not too surprise assuming you are asking for exec/higher level position as this is quite common - I don't have much context what roles are you asking but if you do not bring in network or sales at the higher level position, employers anywhere in the world are generally reluctant to take you in. Technical knowledge and experience comes secondary at higher level roles but then again, this is just my point of view.

Agreed with the networking approach but didn't put forward that suggestion because it is a long-term effort and it may or may not work - you can't build genuine network over short period of time and most of the time, useful networks exist within close-knitted/elite circles. Notwithstanding, start early and be genuine if you want to take this route.