You Got an IB Offer — Now What? How to Prepare for Day 1

The Opportunity Most People Waste

You have your offer. The pressure is off. Most candidates spend the gap months (often 6-12 months between offer and start) relaxing, travelling, and doing nothing finance-related. That is understandable — but it is a missed opportunity.

The analysts who hit the ground running on day one are the ones who used this gap to build real skills. You do not need to spend every day studying. But investing 2-3 hours per week into targeted preparation will put you months ahead of your class.

What to Study

Financial Modelling (Priority 1)

You learned enough to pass the interview. Now learn enough to be useful on a live deal. Build a full 3-statement model from scratch. Build a DCF. Build an LBO. Do it without a guide — the struggle is where the learning happens. When you start, your VP will ask you to build a model. If you can produce a clean first draft without hand-holding, you will earn trust immediately.

Accounting (Priority 2)

Go deeper than interview-level accounting. Understand how deferred revenue works for SaaS companies. Understand lease accounting under IFRS 16. Understand how goodwill impairment flows through the statements. These are the real-world issues you will encounter on deals — not just the textbook scenarios.

Industry Knowledge (Priority 3)

If you know which group you are joining (TMT, healthcare, consumer, FIG), start reading about your sector. Follow the key players, understand the value drivers, learn the sector-specific multiples. An analyst who arrives knowing that SaaS companies trade on EV/Revenue while industrials trade on EV/EBITDA has a real advantage.

What to Read

• Financial Times — Lex column: Short, sharp financial commentary. Reading it daily builds commercial awareness faster than anything else.
• Deal announcements: Follow M&A activity in your future group's sector. When a deal is announced, try to understand the rationale, the multiple, and whether you think it makes sense.
• Bank research reports: If you can access them (some are publicly available during IPOs), read how analysts structure their arguments. This is the calibre of writing you will be expected to produce.

What to Do (Beyond Studying)

Get comfortable with Excel shortcuts: Alt-E-S-V (paste values), Ctrl-Shift-L (filters), F4 (toggle absolute references), Alt-= (autosum). Speed in Excel is the single biggest quality-of-life improvement for a first-year analyst. Practise until shortcuts are muscle memory.

Build your professional wardrobe: Two dark suits, 5-6 shirts, 2-3 ties, polished shoes. This sounds trivial — it is not. Looking professional on day one sets the right tone.

Rest properly: The job is a marathon. If you arrive already exhausted from months of partying, the first deal week will crush you. Get into a healthy routine before you start.

Take Your Preparation Further

Start tracking deals and markets weekly with our free Market Briefing Template. For all four model templates (DCF, LBO, 3-statement, merger), get the Complete Modelling Toolkit and start building from scratch.

Ready for personalised feedback? Book a 1-on-1 mentoring session with an experienced IB/PE professional.