Hey! There is always some mentioning of Investment Banking in this forum with people debating over a switch into the banking sector; could someone tell me what are the differences between both sectors? I know the work environment is more demanding and the salaries are higher...but in terms of the work you actually do...how does it differ?

Based on my time as a consultant and the friends I have in IB I would say that the work you actually do is totally different, at least for all but the head honchos in both types of organisations...Consulting is very client-facing, it's all about getting results through interaction with people (client staff + senior management); managing relationships and projects; thinking strategically or operationally; selling ideas and rallying support around a common goal. Plus of course there is invariably some research and some spreadsheet crunching involved.IB by contrast is MUCH more research and spreadsheet-crunching oriented; much more focused on business-modeling and risk-modeling. Certainly less time spent working with executives from FTSE businesses.However, for a given intake of quality graduates, IBs tend to make far more profit than consulting firms - so there's a bigger profit pool to share out and hence greater remuneration. A Sunday Times article this last weekend quoted the average City worker as being 31 and earning £110k. Well you'll be on more like £80k - £90k at the same age in consulting - and may well need to have taken a career break to do an MBA by that stage too.Hope that helpsTony RestellTop-Consultant.com

.... dont forget that IBers also recieve 80-120% of thier salary in an additional bonus every year... ( as far as top botiques, and bulge brackets go)I think Tonys estimates are slightly askewed. At 31 in IB, one would be VP / Director level. At this level, salaries are ( including bonus) between the 350k to 700k mark. Take the analyst positions for exampleAn A1 analyst at Accenture will start on 28,500 plus 6 sign on. His counterpart at a 'tier 2 IB' - CSFB, ABN, DB - will start on 6k sign on, 35k basic PLUS 30-35k end of year bonus. The salaries are VERY different. I am a consultant at a big 4, and am on 47k with 3 years experience. My friend, at the red umbrella, graduated same year as I did, is on 55k plus 60. Thats almost 3 times. A consideration that has to be made is LIFE work balance. IBers tend to work every day from 930 to 11pm at the earliest, often doing 100+ hours a week - with very littlevacation. This argument could go on for hours. The money in IB is brilliant - personally I believe the mental stimuli in consulting to be far greater, but this again depends on the firm and type of consulting pursued.

Hey Tony!Does that mean application of 'financial knowledge' is far more, as in mathematical modelling and anaylsis, etc? And would that imply that you would mostly find real eccentric people who were labeled 'nerds' in their school days? :-PThanks for your input.