I have several ex-colleagues now at EY and I am thinking of joining them. There have been a few threads recently indicating EY BAS are in some trouble. Is this still the case?

There are no problems.Things are going very well and I am personally winning a lot of work.

And you are faster than a bullet Zbig :)

It's "okay" but it is very variable. There is a fair bit of attrition in some areas of the business that haven't taken off and have struggled to win good work. The culture is also variable but seems to be emerging along the lines of accenture. That is, project management skills and pushing clients through work are prized and rewarded in the business but indepth technical skills are not as yet. If this is you then you will do well here.This is of course just my opinion.

It's "okay" but it is very variable. There is a fair bit of attrition in some areas of the business that haven't taken off and have struggled to win good work. The culture is also variable but seems to be emerging along the lines of accenture. That is, project management skills and pushing clients through work are prized and rewarded in the business but indepth technical skills are not as yet. If this is you then you will do well here.This is of course just my opinion.

Thanks D - which parts of the business are doing well?

amazing how many people sprout rubbish on this forum without any proper knowledge of the firm.If you are thinking of joining BAS within FS, let me give you an informed view. BAS within FS is doing excellent and no its not project management type of work.There is a specific group called PAS (programme advisory services) within BAS who do all the programme/project management stuff.Other two strong groups within BAS are PI (Performance Improvement) which is the strongest group within BAS and F&PM (Finance and Performance Manangement).Within FS BAS..we are extremely strong in Insurance and I include London Markets as well......you can choose to believe me or not but the bottom line is we win some of the best projects in Insurace.Next best sector is Investment Management and we are very strong in Hedge Funds especially. Apart from that we have won a lot of work in Private Equity recently.Retail Banking is not as strong (for advisory that is, lot of work we do is tax and solvency related).Dont believe that nonsense about we dont have indepth technical skills...just a couple of examples, we have the strongest claims advisory and actuarial practice and credit modellingMy advice..talk to to your colleagues about what they like and what they dont like and make up your mind...I cant tell you about non FS BAS unfortunately as my information is limited..

Thanks Curious - the PI group is the one I am being pointed at and my background is in insurance change management. What is the typical package for an experienced hire at Managing Consultant / Director level with 10+ years in consulting?

I am a disco king. I like to boogie, pure and simple until the slowies come on, then I make my move.

PI is the strongest group within advisory and the salary level will be slightly higher than other parts of advisory.The different levels within FS advisory are - Executive, Manager, Senior Manager, Director & PartnerThe salary bands within Senior Manager and Director vary a lot depending on your experience.For Senior Manager - you can expect your salary to start from about 80-85k and the higher end of the scale will be closer to 120-125kDirector roles have sales targets - close to £2m and you are automatically put on partnership track. Salaries can go up close to £150k+ but like I said..a lot depends on how close you are to being made Partner or whether you are a 'newbie' Director. I am guessing here but for 'newbie' Director, I imagine you can expect to earn £120-£130k

I would again recommend you to talk to your ex-colleagues about culture, experiences (most of the PI bunch as far as I know are pretty honest) and make a decision

Sorry to butt in.Curious, any idea what they would bring someone in on after 18 months-2 yrs exp. in another big 4?

My take is that you would come in at an Executive levelThere is technically another level below Executive which is called Business Advisory Programme where graduates or recent graduates (without any consulting experience) are put through an 18 month programme where you get to work in different parts of advisory - PI, Risk & Reg, M & A etc and then you pick the one you like..But given that you already have big 4 experience..i would push for an Executive level entry

Zbigniew Brzezinski - Don't you have anything better to do than post idiotic messages on this site

Hang on...are you trying to say that 18 months at a big 4 gives you an 'executive' title? Either my understanding of 'executive' is dated or these 18 months at a big 4 is about some ground-breaking psychology!

Who said I was referring to FS BAS? I wasn't aware that we were talking about FS as it wasn't in the original question (apart from his/her name).FS BAS are indeed a long way ahead in terms of industry and technical knowledge and the culture is generally very good. I have worked with them on some engagements and they are good guys.They do not have a large change management / people related capability at present so your skills would likely be valued.Curious - nice attitude mate. Real advert for FS BAS. Thank goodness most aren't like you hey!

err..noExecutive is equivalent to a consultant at say Accenture (or maybe its called C1)That's why I said, if someone already has experience of consulting at another Big 4..they should not be looking at coming in at BAP level which is graduate level and the level above that i.e. Executive

Well, FS BAS is a part of BAS. So I rightly or wrongly assumed your comments reflected FS BAS which I didnt agree with.Just look through some of the negative posts about EY BAS on this forum (and there are a lot of them) and you will see where I am coming from. I am not saying you are one of them.

FS BAS is not part of BAS. They are in different service lines - FS BAS is in Financial Services and BAS is in "London" service line. They are still pretty distinct hence the differences in opinions on working for them. FS BAS has been around longer than BAS and is consequently much more stable in its culture and processes