Big 4 finance

Remember, networking is your best friend here!

“Deals” and “Transactions” are Big 4 language for any work around buying, selling, or valuing companies. Inside that, you have verticals:

• M&A Advisory: helping clients buy or sell businesses.
• Financial Due Diligence: confirming what they are actually buying.
• Valuations: figuring out what it’s worth.
• Corporate Finance: project managing or structuring the deal.
• Financial Modeling: building the numbers to support all of it.
  The titles differ by country, but the hierarchy is the same — analyst, associate, manager, senior manager, director. Understand the process, not just the terms. 

Hi there, 

Ian and Jenny already provided you with great definitions.

Here are some resources where you can learn more about the terms you mentioned:

• Book: Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers & Acquisitions by Rosenbaum & Pearl (great overview of all these topics).
• Courses:
  • Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) – “M&A Modeling” and “Valuation” courses (check directly on their website)
  • Coursera – M&A: Concepts and Theories by Università Bocconi (check directly on their website).
• Free resources:
  • Big 4 websites (EY, Deloitte, PwC, KPMG) → “Deals” or “Transaction Advisory” sections.
  • Investopedia: Search each term for short, clear definitions.

Once you understand how these pieces fit together, the Big 4 finance world becomes much clearer.

Best of luck!

In the Big 4, many of these terms describe types of work rather than official job titles. 

• Deals / Transactions / M&A / Corporate Finance – these usually refer to teams that help companies buy, sell, or restructure businesses
• Due Diligence (sometimes called DD) – analyzing a company’s financials, operations, and risks before a deal
• Valuations – estimating the value of a business or assets
• Financial Modeling – building Excel models to forecast financial performance or support decisions

Job titles are often “Analyst,” “Associate,” “Consultant,” or “Senior Consultant” in all of these teams.

AI could give you a decent answer on that one, so I would start from there.  

For extra layers, have a chat with people working in Big4 and use their on-the-job understanding to map each of these areas better.

Last but not least, don't feel like you need to understand all of them upfront. Lots of people enter these firms without a clear idea of how they even work (I have to admit, I was one of them) and there's no expectation that you should.

Best,
Cristian

Hey there :)

In the Big 4, all those terms sit under the umbrella of “Deals” or “Transaction Advisory,” which focuses on helping clients buy, sell, or invest in companies. Within that, you’ll find different teams: Due Diligence (analyzes a company’s financial health before a deal), Valuations (estimates company or asset value), Corporate Finance/M&A (advises clients on buying/selling businesses), and Financial Modeling (builds models to test deal scenarios). So, “Deals” is usually the broader division, and the others describe specific functions or specializations within it.

best, Alessa :)