Investment Banking

• Investment Banking: the role at a glance
• How Investment Banking Compares to Other Finance Careers
• Compensation, Hours, and Lifestyle by Level
• Recruiting timeline: diversity programs, sophomore, and junior summer
• Investment Banking Product Groups
• Coverage Groups and Industry Expertise
• Choosing a Bank: Bulge Bracket, Elite Boutique, and Middle Market

The Process

• Application → HireVue → Superday: what each stage screens for
• Target vs non-target school dynamics

Timed Exercises

• Timed modeling tests (LBO / DCF build)
• Brainteasers and mental math
• Case interviews (mostly boutiques)

• Why Networking Decides Most Offers
• Building a Banking Resume
• Writing a Cover Letter That Isn't Generic
• Cold Outreach: Getting a Reply
• The Informational Interview
• Networking: informationals, coffee chats, and referrals

Overview

• What Technical Interviews in IB Recruiting Actually Test

Accounting

• Three Financial Statements
• Accrual vs cash basis; revenue and expense recognition
• Depreciation and amortization mechanics
• Building the cash flow statement (direct vs indirect)
• Working capital and its cash-flow effect
• The linkage walk-through (transaction to all three statements)
• Goodwill, intangibles, and impairment
• Deferred tax assets and liabilities
• Inventory Accounting: FIFO, LIFO, and the Choice in Between
• GAAP vs IFRS: The Differences That Actually Come Up

Enterprise Value & Equity Value

• Enterprise value vs equity value and the bridge
• Multiples: EV/EBITDA, P/E, and when each applies

Valuation

• When to use which valuation methodology
• Which method yields the highest/lowest value, and why
• WACC, CAPM cost of equity, and cost of debt
• Unlevered vs levered free cash flow
• Terminal value: Gordon growth vs exit multiple
• The master 'walk me through a DCF' answer
• Standard DCF follow-up attacks
• Sensitivity, scenario, and the mid-year convention
• Comparable companies analysis (trading comps)
• Precedent transactions analysis

LBO

• LBO concept and the five value-creation drivers
• Transaction Assumptions and Purchase Price
• Sources and Uses of Funds
• Leverage levels, debt capacity, and capital structure
• IRR vs MOIC and return math
• Exit strategies and return drivers
• Paper LBO walkthrough

M&A

• Why M&A Deals Happen
• The M&A deal-process timeline
• Cash vs stock vs mixed consideration
• Accretion/dilution analysis
• Revenue vs cost synergies and accretion from synergies
• Purchase price allocation and goodwill in M&A
• Fairness opinions and deal defense

Core Questions

• Tell me about yourself
• Why investment banking
• Why our bank / why this group
• Walk me through your resume

Story Questions

• Behavioral story bank (strengths, weaknesses, failure, teamwork)
• Deal discussion / tell me about a deal

Markets Questions

• Market knowledge: rates, deal environment, and macro context
• Stock pitch (occasionally asked)

Earning the Return Offer

• The Summer Internship and Return Offer
• Internship → return-offer mechanics

Getting Productive Fast

• Excel keyboard fluency and no-mouse speed
• Error-checking discipline and formula auditing

Live Modeling

• Building a full three-statement operating model
• Live comps and precedents with footnotes and scrubbing
• The live DCF (vs the interview version)

Research Tools

• FactSet, Capital IQ, Bloomberg, and deal data sources
• Industry and company screening, benchmarking

Building a Pitchbook

• Pitch deck structure and narrative arc
• The standard valuation and company-profile pages
• Banking-quality formatting standards

Live Deal Execution

• Live M&A / accretion-dilution merger model
• Live LBO model (sponsor coverage / sell-side)
• Confidential teasers and buyer-list build
• Due diligence: data rooms, VDRs, and document requests
• CIM and management presentations
• Deal documents: engagement letters, NDAs, purchase agreements

Professional Craft

• Attention to detail and the error culture
• Formatting as non-negotiable; how deviation is read
• Email norms: tone, brevity, and hierarchy
• Telling a story in a deck, not listing
• Verbal communication: check-ins, calls, and client-facing work
• Working with associates and VPs; anticipating needs
• Judgment under ambiguity; knowing what good looks like
• Workstream management, checklists, and process timelines
• Client interaction at the analyst level

Staffing and Evaluation

• Being the analyst people want on their deal
• Internal visibility; getting staffed vs sidelined
• How analysts are actually evaluated and bucketed
• Hours culture, protected time, face time, and endurance
• Staffing mechanics: allocation, who controls it, getting good deals
• Evaluation, ranking, bucketing, and timing
• Compensation process: cycle, stub years, and deferral structure
• Return offers, class structure, contract length, end-of-program
• Hours culture, protected time (and whether it holds), face time
• How people quietly fail or get sidelined

Licensing

• SIE (Securities Industry Essentials) exam
• Series 79 (Investment Banking Representative) exam
• Series 63 (Uniform Securities State Law) exam
• Licensing sequencing, sponsorship, and consequences of failure

Compliance

• Material non-public information and insider-trading rules
• Restricted/watch lists and wall-crossing
• Personal trading pre-clearance and holding periods
• Gift and entertainment limits
• Communication monitoring, retention, and personal devices
• Outside business activity approval

Firm Norms and Jargon

• Deal-process vocabulary
• Document types and what each one is
• Internal shorthand for people, processes, and outcomes
• Firm-specific modeling and formatting conventions

• Advancing in Banking and Common Exit Paths
• CFA in banking: who pursues it, when it's ignored
• The MBA → associate track