Difference between FO MO and BO

Can someone explain the difference between front office, middle office, and back office to me. I know its a newbie question

research fail.

It’s the pecking order of income generation for a company: FO: A position that makes money for the firm and generally has exposure to clients and/or immediate capital decisions. FO is kind of generic, but for finance most people classify FO roles as being IBD (M&A, DCM, ECM, etc…), Sales, Trading (Prop not execution), ER, and some other positions on the “buyside”. Your work directly corresponds to dollars that the firm brings in. Just because you work in PE or for a HF doesn’t automatically indicate that you’re in a FO role. MO: Support roles to the FO. Compliance, Risk, Trading(Execution), IT, Client Support, etc… Everyone in the MO dreams of a FO role. BO: 9-5 folks. Mostly operations and just supporting the day to day activities of the firm. HR, Payroll, Internal Audit, etc… Nobody in the BO makes it rain. There’s no perfect definition, but hopefully you’ll get the point. As you can imagine the FO provides the highest barrier for entry. Anyone that can chew gum and walk at the same time can be a BO monkey.

Chuckrox8 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It’s the pecking order of income generation for a > company: > > FO: A position that makes money for the firm and > generally has exposure to clients and/or immediate > capital decisions. FO is kind of generic, but for > finance most people classify FO roles as being IBD > (M&A, DCM, ECM, etc…), Sales, Trading (Prop not > execution), ER, and some other positions on the > “buyside”. Your work directly corresponds to > dollars that the firm brings in. Just because you > work in PE or for a HF doesn’t automatically > indicate that you’re in a FO role. > > MO: Support roles to the FO. Compliance, Risk, > Trading(Execution), IT, Client Support, etc… > Everyone in the MO dreams of a FO role. > > BO: 9-5 folks. Mostly operations and just > supporting the day to day activities of the firm. > HR, Payroll, Internal Audit, etc… Nobody in the > BO makes it rain. > > There’s no perfect definition, but hopefully > you’ll get the point. As you can imagine the FO > provides the highest barrier for entry. Anyone > that can chew gum and walk at the same time can be > a BO monkey. +1. What chuck said, except I respectfully disagree with the part about not being able to make it rain if you’re not in front office. As the head rainmaker in the back office of my local Banco Popular, my skills are unquestionable. No one organizes file folders, takes messages, and c-blocks profit centers with needless bureaucracy like me.

lol@ c-block profti centers!

in FO it rains, in MO it pours and in BO it hails

yeah, check the MO!

supersadface Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > As the head rainmaker in the back office of my local > Banco Popular. WIN!