The complete TS career guide · 2026
The complete 2026 guide to TS at the Big 4 — definition, day in the life, salaries by region, career path, key technical concepts and interview prep. Written by practising senior analysts.
Julien N.· 5mo ago
Landed the job at EY Transaction Services
The case studies are clear, realistic, and built real confidence. I genuinely feel the training played a key role in helping me land the job.
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Definition
Buy-side FDD
The buyer commissions the TS team to protect their purchase price. The report identifies adjustments to reported numbers (one-offs, IFRS 16, accounting policies) and surfaces hidden risks: debt-like items, working-capital seasonality, customer concentration, litigation.
Sell-side / Vendor DD
The seller commissions a pre-emptive TS report to defend their asking price. The deliverable anticipates buyer pushback by normalising EBITDA upfront and documenting management adjustments — giving the seller negotiating leverage in the SPA.
Same function, different brand names
The 4 core deliverables of every engagement
Reconciles reported EBITDA to normalised EBITDA — the version of profit a buyer accepts to value the company.
Sets the target NWC peg in the SPA — directly impacts the closing price the buyer pays day one.
Identifies debt-like items (earn-outs, dilapidations) and cash-like items missed by the standard balance sheet.
Stress-tests the business plan and management assumptions: customer concentration, pricing, contract risks.
The Job
Engagements run 4 to 8 weeks. The junior analyst is the backbone of the deliverable — they own the data, the reconciliations, and the granular Excel work. A representative mid-market deal day:
| Time | Activity | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| 08:30 | Stand-up with manager: review yesterday's findings, set today's priorities. | — |
| 09:00 | Open the target's management accounts (Excel), reconcile to statutory financials. | Reconciliation tab |
| 10:30 | Identify EBITDA adjustments: one-offs, shareholder costs, IFRS 16, share-based payments. | Bridge EBITDA file |
| 13:00 | Working session with senior on net debt bridge — debt-like vs cash-like items. | Net Debt tab |
| 15:00 | Q&A call with management: 12 information requests to challenge the run-rate. | Q&A tracker update |
| 17:00 | Draft the QoE section narrative. 6 paragraphs explaining the 8 main adjustments. | Report draft v0.4 |
| 20:00 | Manager review: revise adjustments, add a sensitivity, push back to senior. | Final tab + commentary |
Comparison
| Dimension | Audit | Transaction Services | M&A / IB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question answered | Are the accounts true and fair? | Is reported EBITDA defensible? What's the real economic picture? | How much is the company worth? How should the deal be structured? |
| Deliverable | Audit opinion | QoE + NWC + Net Debt + Commercial review | Pitch book, valuation, deal memo, SPA negotiation support |
| Engagement length | 1-2 weeks per phase, recurring annually | 4-8 weeks per deal | 3-12 months per deal |
| Typical hours/week | 40-55h | 50-70h on deals, 40h between | 70-90h on a live deal |
| Salary (Senior Analyst EU) | €45-55k | €55-70k | €80-110k + bonus |
| Exit options | Industry finance, TS, internal audit | PE, corp dev, M&A advisory, FP&A senior | PE, hedge funds, corp dev, CFO track |
Pilots a deal: scoping, staffing, partner liaison, client meetings, sign-off on the report quality. Begins partial commercial responsibility (small originations). The promotion to Manager is the hardest one — many leave at year 5.
Owns multiple deals in parallel, manages a portfolio of clients, plays an active commercial role (cross-selling, originations). The role is 50% deal execution, 50% business development.
Owns a P&L, brings in deals, signs off on every report leaving the team. ~20% of Senior Managers make it. Compensation jumps from €150-200k base to €400k-1M+ all-in.
Common exits after 3-6 years
Exit · Year 3-4
Join the in-house M&A team of a corporate. Same skills, slower pace, better hours, fewer deals per year.
Exit · Year 3-5
Operating or portfolio team at a PE firm. The most coveted exit — pays significantly more than the Big 4.
Exit · Year 2-4
Lateral move to Eight Advisory, Accuracy, A&M. 20-40% more base pay, smaller teams, deeper specialism.
The Landscape
Big 4 · Deloitte
Largest TS practice globally. Strong mid-market + large-cap deal flow. Sectorised teams (Consumer, TMT, Industrials, FS). Best for candidates who want maximum deal volume in the first 2 years.
Big 4 · KPMG
Strong in mid-market private equity transactions. KPMG calls the team 'Deal Advisory', which encompasses TS + M&A + Valuation. Good rotation programmes between sub-functions.
Big 4 · EY
TAS umbrella spans TS, valuation, M&A, restructuring. The TS team has the strongest cross-border footprint of the four. Many candidates rotate from audit to TAS internally.
Big 4 · PwC
PwC's 'Deals' team covers TS, M&A advisory, valuation, and forensic. Strong sectorisation (FS, energy, infrastructure). Pays slightly above the other Big 4 in France.
Boutique · TS-focused
Specialised TS firms with deeper technical work, smaller teams, and higher pay (~20-40% over Big 4 base). Eight Advisory is the leading European boutique. Best lateral move after 2-4 years at the Big 4.
Tier 2 · Mid-market
Mid-market focus, smaller deal sizes (typically €5-100m EV). Less brand-name pull but earlier responsibility — analysts touch the whole report by year 2. Often better hours.
Technical Foundations
The structured reconciliation between reported EBITDA and 'normalised' EBITDA — the version of profit a buyer accepts. Adjustments cover one-offs, accounting policy changes, run-rate impacts, and IFRS 16. QoE is the single most-asked topic at TS interviews.
Read the glossary entry →The cash trapped in operations (receivables + inventory - payables). TS analyses the seasonality and the 12-month average to set the 'target NWC' in the SPA, which directly impacts the closing price. Subtle errors here cost the buyer real cash on day 1.
Read the glossary entry →The catalogue of normalisations applied to reported EBITDA: shareholder costs, restructuring, IFRS 16 leases, share-based payments, sale-and-leaseback, intra-group transactions, one-off contracts. 150+ adjustments are covered in the course with their commercial logic.
Read the glossary entry →The reconciliation from cash and gross debt to 'enterprise-value-relevant' net debt. Includes debt-like items (earn-outs, dilapidations, factoring with recourse, pensions deficit) and cash-like items (restricted cash, customer deposits). A missed earn-out can cost the buyer 5-10% of the purchase price.
Read the glossary entry →Projecting the next 12 months of trading from current LTM data, adjusted for known disruptions (lost contracts, gained customers, regulatory changes). Run-rate often diverges from LTM by ±15-20% in growing or volatile businesses.
Reading the Share Purchase Agreement to understand how price flows: locked-box vs completion accounts, working capital peg, leakage definitions, earn-out triggers. TS doesn't write the SPA, but it provides the numbers the lawyer plugs in.
Compensation
Big 4 base + variable bonus (10-25% at Senior Analyst, 25-50% at Senior Manager). Boutiques pay 20-40% above Big 4 base.
| Region | Analyst | Senior Analyst | Manager | Senior Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France (Paris) | €42-50k | €55-70k | €75-95k | €110-160k |
| United Kingdom (London) | £45-55k | £60-80k | £90-120k | £140-200k |
| Singapore / Hong Kong | S$72-90k | S$110-145k | S$180-240k | S$280-400k |
| United States (NYC) | $80-100k | $110-145k | $160-220k | $250-380k |
Sources: 2026 Big 4 compensation grids (anonymised internal data), Robert Walters TS salary guide, Hays UK Finance. Boutique numbers based on industry interviews — high variance by firm.
Application
1 page, 3 bullets per role focused on quantifiable impact (NOT responsibility). At least one bullet should reference Excel, accounting policies, or financial modelling.
90 minutes, P&L + balance sheet + management commentary. Walk through 8-12 adjustments out loud, build a quick NWC reconciliation, defend the output. The course covers 8 real cases.
30-45 min, mix of fit + technical. Know your CV cold. Prepare 3 stories that show ownership, technical depth, and commercial curiosity. Read the firm's recent deal announcements.
Training
5 sequenced modules, 8+ real case studies with corrections, 150+ EBITDA adjustments catalogued, 4+ Excel templates, 1-on-1 mock interview. Self-paced. Lifetime access. 14-day money-back guarantee.
500+ candidates prepared, 100% in internship or full-time role. Transaction Services Training is a proven method.
FAQ
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.
