EY-Parthenon Experience Day - Financial Due Diligence

Hello!

Congrats on the EY-Parthenon Experience Day, expect it to be fast-paced and practical.

What the day typically includes:

• Individual case or financial exercise (often time-pressured)
• Group exercise testing collaboration and communication
• Potentially a short presentation or debrief of findings (especially to test public speaking in front of peers and partners)

Based on my experience (ex-Altman Solon, 15+ commercial and technical due diligence projects in TMT for PE clients like EQT), Financial DD interviews usually test the same things the job requires:

• Comfort with pressure and short deadlines
• Strong quantitative skills (quick math, scenario thinking, basic financial modeling logic)
• Solid finance understanding (cash flows, drivers, risks)
• Team behavior -> extremely important, as DD teams are small and hours are intense
• Clear, concise communication of insights, not just numbers

Key advice:

• Be structured and calm under time pressure
• Show you can do the math and sanity-check results
• Be visibly collaborative and supportive in group work — this is critical in DD environments

As a coach, I’m here to help you, we can simulate DD-style exercises, sharpen your financial intuition under pressure, and make sure you project the right mix of rigor, speed, and teamwork EY-Parthenon looks for in Financial DD.

Hi there,

Congrats on the invite — EY-Parthenon Experience Days are generally assessment-style but supportive, and they’re meant to see how you think and work rather than trip you up.

For Financial Due Diligence (FDD) specifically, you can typically expect a mix of the following:

What the day usually includes

• Individual case or analysis exercise: often a simplified FDD-style case focused on understanding historical financials, quality of earnings, cash flow, or key risks rather than a pure strategy case.
• Group exercise: working with other candidates to discuss findings, prioritize issues, and present conclusions. They’ll watch how you collaborate, structure discussion, and communicate under time pressure.
• Presentation element: either individually or as a group, you may be asked to present insights or recommendations to interviewers.
• Fit / motivation conversations: shorter, informal chats to assess interest in FDD, Parthenon, and deal work more broadly.

What they’re really assessing

• Financial intuition and comfort with numbers
• Ability to identify key value drivers and risks quickly
• Structured thinking and clear communication
• Teamwork and stakeholder-style interaction

How to prepare

• Refresh basic FDD concepts: QoE, revenue vs. EBITDA adjustments, working capital, cash vs. accruals.
• Practice pulling 2–3 key insights from financial tables rather than analyzing everything.
• Be ready to explain why something matters for a buyer, not just what the numbers say.
• In group settings, contribute early but don’t dominate — clarity and collaboration matter.

Overall, think practical, commercial, and deal-focused rather than theoretical. They’re looking for people who can grow into client-facing due diligence work.

Happy to help you prep , as I have direct experience with EYP.

Best,

Evelina

Congrats!

Typically it has a presentation element and a practical element. 

They would walk you through how they work, the practice, present some stories from consultants. 

Then they typically have a case study or exercise which you are meant to solve in smaller groups. Some of the groups will then present their result in front of all the event participants. Volunteer for this.

Then at the end they explain you more about the application process, key dates and give you tips on the process.

Best of luck with attending it! I've coached multiple candidates into EY so if you need any help, drop me a line.

Best,

Cristian

Congratulations on the invite; getting to the Experience Day is a very strong signal. Since you are interviewing for the FDD vertical, you need to pivot your preparation away from the standard market entry or profitability strategy cases. This day is designed to test technical rigor and fit, not just conceptual problem-solving.

Expect the day to be highly structured, often running 4-6 hours. You will almost certainly have a mix of assessments: a behavioral/fit interview, a group exercise (testing how you operate in a team environment under pressure), and the core technical challenge. That technical challenge will be your "case interview," but it won't be a classic case. It will likely involve a mini-CIM or a stripped-down financial data set where your job is to identify key adjustments to normalized EBITDA and assess Quality of Earnings (QoE). They are looking for your ability to spot non-recurring items or aggressive accounting practices.

Your best strategy is twofold. First, spend time reviewing the foundational concepts of FDD: what constitutes a normalized EBITDA adjustment, how to calculate debt-like items, and the typical items scrutinized in working capital analysis. Second, for the presentation component—whether group or individual—focus fiercely on synthesizing your findings simply. The biggest mistake is drowning the interviewers in data. Practice structuring your findings around the investment thesis: "Here are the top three red flags/green lights, and here is our revised adjusted valuation metric."

All the best!

Experience days at EY-Parthenon usually mix a few different things together. Since yours is for Financial Due Diligence specifically, it will probably be more technical and numbers-focused than a pure strategy role would be.

What you will probably see

There is almost always a case study or group exercise. For FDD, think analysing financial statements, spotting red flags in a company's numbers, or looking at quality of earnings for an acquisition target. Could be on your own or in a small group where they are watching how you work with others.

You might also have to present your findings to a panel. If that happens, lead with your conclusions, keep it structured, and be ready for them to push back and challenge your analysis.

There will be interviews too. Usually a mix of fit and technical. Fit is the usual stuff like why EY-Parthenon, why FDD, tell me about yourself. Technical might get into accounting concepts, how you would approach analysing a target company, or what you know about normalising earnings.

And don't forget the informal parts. Lunch, coffee chats, networking with consultants. These feel relaxed but they are still paying attention to how you come across.

How I would prepare

Brush up on your accounting and financial analysis basics. Make sure you understand quality of earnings, working capital adjustments, EBITDA normalisations, and the common red flags people look for in financials.

Practice talking through your analysis out loud. They care about how you think, not just what answer you land on.

Have a clear story ready for why FDD and why Parthenon specifically. What is it about due diligence work that excites you more than pure strategy?

And if there is a group exercise, be collaborative. They want to see how you work with people, not just whether you can take over the room.