Studied Computer Science at Warwick to join EY Graduate Programme
My career journey has been shaped by three key moves, each driven by practical considerations and personal interests:
Firstly, my A-level subjects - Maths, Computer Science, Physics, and AS Further Maths - set me on the path to studying Computer Science at Warwick. This course teaches you how to problem-solve whilst being exposed to projects that had real-world applications. The finance society at Warwick was also invaluable, providing insights into internships and graduate schemes.
Secondly, I realised the importance of activities outside academia. Getting involved in networking and extracurriculars (such as sports and being on the executive team for university societies) not only helps make you a more well-rounded person but it also opens up doors to opportunities you may not have even been aware of.
Lastly, being selected for the EY Strategy and Transactions (SaT) Internship and receiving a return offer was a significant moment as this provided me with the opportunity to work at the intersection of finance and technology.
Analyst specialising in FDD and Data Analytics for M&A transactions
We perform Financial Due Diligence (FDD) using Data Analytics (DA), primarily in the context of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions. Our clients usually comprise Private Equity firms and Corporate entities.
In essence, the goal of FDD is to examine a company's financial statements to assess the accuracy, identify potential risks and opportunities, and produce analyses that provide key insights. Data Analytics is instrumental in this process, contributing to enhanced efficiency through tasks like data validation, historical financial analysis, and visually impactful presentation of insights. The outcome often manifests as a comprehensive report or a Power BI dashboard complemented by an Excel databook.
Our work empowers stakeholders in transactions, enabling well-informed decision-making by providing a clear picture of the target company's financial situation.
The amount of responsibility and mentorship we receive.
In my current position, what I find most fulfilling is the perfect balance between the responsibility I am entrusted with and the invaluable mentorship I receive.
Whenever I request for more responsibility, the team responds by allowing me to take ownership of specific areas. This not only challenges me to grow professionally and technically, but it also fosters a sense of accomplishment as I feel I had a greater contribution to the team's success.
Equally important is the mentorship I receive, which has been instrumental in my continuous learning and career advancement. Strategy and Transactions at EY has a very flat organisational structure, enabling us to work alongside very experienced individuals. This provides the opportunity to to take in years of experience through just a few conversations.
The combination of responsibility and mentorship creates a dynamic and supportive work environment, encouraging both personal and professional growth.
Keep learning, network, and read.
You must embrace continuous learning as it ensures relevance in a rapidly evolving work landscape. This will allow you to increase your technical expertise and commercial awareness - both pivot to success. By improving your technical expertise, your work will be seen as more accurate and reliable. By increasing your commercial expertise, you will be able to take that one step further and decide which analyses to do at what time and what the output of an analysis actually means for a business.
Networking is also extremely useful. There are so many things we don't know we don't know, but just a simple conversation with an experienced individuals can save you years of mistakes. They can provide guidance and deliver a roadmap as they can see the path you need to take when you aren't even aware of the next step. Similarly, reading and taking courses are very powerful as this allows you to consume decades of knowledge in just a few hours...
Being featured in the Transaction Diligence Handbook in my 1st year.
During my first year, my team provided me with the opportunity to perform a specific analysis and subsequently transform it into a data analytics enabler - this is when you generalise an analysis, making it adaptable, portable, and usable across multiple projects without the need to start from scratch each time. I am very grateful to my team for that opportunity as it required them to trust the work I did. The output was then featured in our Transaction Diligence (TD) Handbook which spotlights key moments in our TD practice over the year, and now further iterations are in development.
