M&A and Corporate Finance Associate CV example

Career switcher · UK CV · set in the Modern template

Moving from audit or transaction services into M&A is one of the most common routes into advisory, and the CV has to translate. A reader at a boutique wants to see deals, not engagements, and judgement about value, not only about numbers being right.

Daniel Mercer

ACA chartered accountant · Transaction Services to M&A

London, UK · +44 7700 900456 · daniel.mercer@example.com · linkedin.com/in/daniel-mercer

Profile

Chartered accountant with four years in transaction services, working on 14 sell-side and buy-side deals between £20m and £400m. Moving into M&A advisory to work on the whole transaction, from valuation through to completion.

Experience

Calder Partners LLP: Assistant Manager, Transaction ServicesLondon, UK · Sep 2023 - Present

Led the quality-of-earnings workstream on the £120m sale of a logistics group, adjusting EBITDA by £3.4m and informing the final price
Drafted the financial due diligence report for 6 buy-side mandates, presenting key findings to private equity clients alongside the partner
Built the net debt and working capital analysis for a £400m carve-out, identifying a £9m normalisation adjustment adopted in the SPA
Supervised 3 associates across 2 concurrent deals, reviewing every schedule before it reached the client

Calder Partners LLP: Associate, AuditLondon, UK · Sep 2021 - Aug 2023

Audited 9 mid-market clients in industrials and consumer, with revenues from £30m to £250m
Seconded for 6 months to transaction services, working on 3 vendor due diligence reports

Education

ICAEW: ACA, Chartered AccountantSep 2021 - Aug 2024

First-time passes in all 15 papers.

University of Bristol: BSc Accounting and Finance, First ClassSep 2018 - Jul 2021

Skills

Technical: Excel (three-statement, DCF and LBO modelling), PowerPoint, Alteryx

Data: Capital IQ, PitchBook, Mergermarket

Qualifications: ACA; CFA Level I candidate (Feb 2027)

Interests

Treasurer of a 120-member rowing club; London Marathon 2025.

A sample person: the name, employers and figures are invented. A chartered accountant from a Big Four transaction services team moving into a boutique M&A advisory role.

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What the seat screens for

Deal exposure. The transactions you worked on, their size and sector, and your part in them. Due diligence on a live sale is deal work; say which side you were on.
Valuation and modelling. Quality-of-earnings work is close to valuation. Show where it fed a price, a bridge or a structure.
Client and team. Reporting to partners, presenting findings, running a workstream. Advisory is a client business and the reader is hiring for that.
The qualification. ACA, ACCA or CFA tell the reader the technical base is sound. Put it in the headline and in education.

The order, and why

A short profile that states the move in one line; experience first, because the experience is the case; then qualifications and education; then skills.

Weak bullets, made strong

Weak: Performed financial due diligence on client engagements

Strong: Led the quality-of-earnings workstream on the £120m sale of a logistics group, adjusting EBITDA by £3.4m and informing the final price

It names the deal and the side, the size, the finding and what it changed.

Weak: Prepared reports for partners

Strong: Drafted the financial due diligence report for 6 buy-side mandates, presenting key findings to private equity clients alongside the partner

It counts the mandates, names the client type and shows client contact.

Mistakes to avoid

Writing in audit language ("tested controls", "sampled transactions") where a deal reader wants outcomes.
Hiding the qualification at the bottom of the page.
Listing every engagement. Choose the five or six deals closest to the role.

UK CV or US resume

UK advisory CVs are typically two pages at this level, but one is welcome and easier to read. In the US the switch reads better as one page with the CPA, if held, in the headline.

Live m&a and corporate finance roles

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