Currently I work for the management consulting arm at a big4 and have been interested in moving into transaction services (within commercial and operational due diligence, post-merger integration etc.). I have always been interested in transactions and M&A strategy but thought it would have been better to start out with experiences within management consulting first. Another reason for moving into transactions and due diligences is that I would like to be a little more focused rather than having a generalist background. Another option I have considered is to move to tier 2 strat house.Please give me some input on my thoughts. Has anyone made a similar move? Anyone working within transaction services? commercial vs. operational?

Hey Puccini,What kind of management consulting work experience do you have? You'll have to keep in mind that the work is fundamentally different- much less client contact as you do a lot of desk/phone research and projects last weeks instead of months/years so you'll need to be very fast and structured in getting data.From what I've seen an internal move is possible but you have to go trough the same application process as people who came in externally. This also applies for people who have many years of experience at the same big 4 office. This is somewhat of a risk as it could lead to reputation (or job?) loss should the application fail.The way I would/have approached it is to try and get into a project at the TS department by networking first. Leave a good and eager impression but don't ask for a job straight away. After that brief stint, keep in toch with the folks you worked with and get a feeling what they look for in candidates so you can tailor your resumé. If they like you they'll start asking for it themselves at some point. Getting in usually involves case interviews. Make sure you can ace those before starting the process. Try and get them to help you practice before you apply. Even better, make sure you can ace a case before you practice with them. If you leave a good impression during practice cases they'll be much more relaxed with you doing an official procedure.You could also apply at the CDD group of another Big-4 to practice the application process and try your chances elsewhere. Generally the CDD groups are very critical however.Strat 2 house would be better than Big-4 CDD as the pay is better and not as much bonus & deal driven (lots of uncertainties) but I'd say much harder to get into from big-4. You'll get an interview post-MBA no doubt but thats a long expensive route. Nothing stops you from applying however. I've seen some people move from big-4 CDD to tier1/2 strat btw. Bain, OC&C, ADL and some others are quite heavy on CDD work.Many of the big-4 strategy practises do both ODD and CDD mixed. It's all about getting maximum value from deals either way.

Chipzilla, Have only been working for 1,5 years within MC-division. From what I've understood, there shouldnt be any major problem to be a part of a project within TS as long as you dont have any external projects. However, there is a problem of timing since TS projects are short and is difficult to plan compared to a MC project. Obviously, beeing part of a TS project is the best way to find out if you enjoy that environment. Even though I havent tried a transaction related project I find deal environment and the commercial/operational questions interesting. What are your experiences from TS and MC at big4? major differences? exit options between them? What are your thoughts of moving to KPMG SCI? what background do you have?

Pucini,I'm somewhat confused as to your objectives. Are you wondering about:* whether you SHOULD break into CDD?* or whether you CAN break into CDD?As for my experiences and thoughts, you'll find that I've posted most of them in a previous thread you've also participated in. I'm currently an intern (grad) at a Big-4 (advisory, not TS) and have a broad engineering plus general management background. The internship provided me with the opportunity to look around at multiple parts of the organizations.I think in terms of prestige, fast-paced deal exposure and financial rewards SCI is a great place to be and appears to be one of KPMG's most prestigious advisory services, together with Corporate Finance. I do however think that other departments such as BE have the advantage of longer engagements with more clients contact and thus networking and lower time pressure. Exit options between the Big-4 don't vary much, it's what you make of it. Between SCI/TS and general Advisory I'd say that SCI/TS is more likely to get you into corporate strategy whereas general Advisory moves you towards exits in operations, COO/CRO/CIO roles etc. But again it's how you leverage your skills and network.If you want an objective look at exit opps of SCI/Advisory, do a linkedin search using the "past not current" filter on both company name and job title for you country. This shows you what typical career path you can expect.

Wondering how this turned out as well!

After having discussed with my manager, It shouldnt be any problem to join a TS-project to broaden my experiences and knowledge. Then it will probaly be easier to decide whether I want to continue within mgt. consulting or move to transaction.It would have been interesting to further discuss the topic if you have an e-mail I could mail to instead of continue writing in this thread.

Sounds good, already tried getting into a project?Try my nickname minus one L at gmail.