Tell me how I sound arrogant relative to you frank? And wheres the stupidity. I never said Id be a rainmaker or expect to be, but you certainly wont be buying your wallstreet prep courses
I’m just kidding with you. get a grip. this is just a forum to burn some down time.
storko Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I met a guy in transfer pricing, he worked for one > of the big accounting firms. > He was a loser and was so arrogant for some > reason. He had his hair gelled over from one side, > probably hairsprayed it with some old school brand > like alberto or something like that. He just > bugged me. He wore Khakis and tassled loafers, and > he was like 23. What a nerdy loser. Easy there Holden Caulfield. Not everyone’s a phony sonofabitch.
When I was coming out of school. I interviewed for a TP analyst position at one of the top firms worldwide. Met Associate and Director types. TP is a very unique area that is mixed between tax consulting, financial consulting and economics. One Associate I met had a CFA he said it really helps when hes doing the financial modeling and equity research aspects which you need to do for 2-3 sections of the overall 8 or so to prepare a correct litigation report. To prove that transfer price is appropriate you need to do the correct industry research on trends, growth and other things to use the various methods to find other cases to prove that price. Likewise you need to do financial modeling and analysis of financial statements to find trends and other things similar to work of a credit analyst. If you go to a top firm, early on in your career you can move to corp finance, consulting or transcation roles based on what i heard from this guy. As you move further up you are really specialized and capped, “golden handcuffs”. Then again TP Managers at top firms make quite a shiny penny and work 50-60 hours max.
nequity, adehbone, and others, What you have provided is quite helpful. I have been interested in breaking into TP. I hold a graduate degree in Financial Economics. TP is supposed to be one of the areas that value my skillset on the same level or higher than an MBA. Do any of you know of firms that would hire an entry- or low-level TP analyst in the Denver metro area? I’ve found that the problem with tracking job openings in this field is that the area firms seem to seek only mid- to senior-level positions. I suspect that the top tier firms bring their new hires on board only at the flagship offices to cut their teeth. It’s very likely that the position I seek is only available in the NYC through Boston area. What are your thoughts?
adehbone: I see a lot of transferable skills from TP to a lot of areas of finance. Its unfortunate that one gets ‘stuck’ in it down the road. Although I’d be happy to stay in it, it would be nice a couple of years down the track to be able to transition into something like transaction services, but I guess thats how it goes. Ive got 1.5 yrs exp in TP and moving over to another big 4 now, where I hope to stay atleast 2 years. By then I’ll be 30 and presumably stuck, but could be in worse places. Libertyswan: Unfortunately I dont know much about Denver or even that much about US. But whenever we have to dow ork with our offices in the US its almost always through NY. I just did a search on google though and found theres a TP analyst position at Duff & Phelps in Denver. Quite junior with only a year exp required.
Thank you for the Duff & Phelps tip. I don’t think that anyone should think that they are stuck at the age of 30. I left a 12+ year engineering career in my mid-30’s to pursue grad school, and now I am trying for CFA Lvl 2. All along the path that you aspire to, there’ll be some folks who seem to have whipped by you while you were standing still, while there are also many others trailing behind you who have yet to venture out from the straight-jacket of their existence to pursue a dream…any dream. If you want to use your TP work as a stepping stone, be looking to move when the economy is on the rise. It’s depressing for many to think long term like that, but if you use your next 2 years to become knowledgeable in the skills & in the software, build a contacts network, etc. in the field that you’d like to move into, you are best positioned to make your move when the supply in that field is low and the demand is high. You’ll also be best positioned if you are not a greenie to the skills that are required for a transaction services role.
cheers, liberyswan. i guess only time will tell.
i’m working in TP and taking CFA - both are very interesting things…i don’t see why some of the CFA skills can’t be used in TP. valuation methods and equity/fixed income parts of the CFA contributes to my job. But another popular argument is that Tax master/Econ phd degrees are better for a TP career. overall i like my job a lot. what’s your email, nequity? where do you work?
im working for a big 4 over in europe. email is khosanman (at) hotmail.com Hit me up, let me know where you work etc…
i’m in US but i’ll shoot you an email. i have a friend who worked in big 4 TP in Netherlands, from whom i heard about the spacious working offices environment there…which can’t be compared with the big 4 here…
My friend has an interview for transfer pricing at a big 4. Can anyone elaborate on the questions asked and stuff like that? Thanks
It will most probably be about fit, however I guess its quite different in different countries. If I were him I’d try and know the basics, because really most of it is very much learnt on the job. Tell him to read the OECD guidelines on transfer pricing for multi-nationals, it’s for the most part easy to read and understand. Maybe important to know the 5 common TP pricing methods and when best to apply them, Comparable uncontrolled price, resale price method, cost plus method, transactional net margin method and profit split method. Maybe ther eis some info on the website www.transferpricingreview.com . Its a site I tried to put togther in the niche to make some money, but never got round to finishing it or promoting it.