What technical skills do you actually need for a TS role? Here is a clear-eyed breakdown of the hard skills that matter and how to build them.
Transaction Services is one of the most technically demanding entry points in M&A advisory. Before you can make a compelling case in an interview, you need to genuinely understand what the work involves and have the hard skills to do it. Here is a structured breakdown.
The foundation of all TS work. You need to be fluent — not just familiar — with:
At a minimum, you should be able to read management accounts and identify what is unusual, inconsistent, or unexplained.
This is the technical core of Quality of Earnings work. You need to understand:
The ability to walk through an EBITDA bridge verbally — explaining each line and its justification — is a standard interview test.
FDD working capital analysis involves more than calculating current assets minus current liabilities. You need to know:
Net debt in a transaction context is not the same as net debt in a credit analysis. Key concepts:
The operational tool of the trade. Required skills include:
Speed and accuracy in Excel under time pressure is consistently tested in TS case studies.
You do not need to be a technical accounting expert, but you should understand the basics of:
Accounting and financial statements: study through CFA Level 1 materials, accounting textbooks, or formal study programmes. Practice reading real statutory accounts.
EBITDA and QoE: the most efficient way is to work through structured case studies that mirror real transactions — not textbook exercises, but realistic data room scenarios with ambiguous information.
Excel: practice with real financial datasets. Build models from scratch rather than filling in templates.
Net debt: study examples of SPA schedules and get familiar with what items sit above and below the line.
Our programme is built around 8+ realistic case studies and 150+ EBITDA adjustment examples — the fastest way to build the hard skills that TS interviews test. Full access for a one-time payment of €119.99.
Hundreds of candidates prepared their interviews with this programme. Those who landed the role have one thing in common: they worked the cases before walking into the room.
