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Since they mention "junior bankers", i'd say most of it is: - re-formatting presentations decks - re-formatting booklets - checking numbers - being available

Since they mention "junior bankers", i'd say most of it is: - re-formatting presentations decks - re-formatting booklets - checking numbers - being available The first two to three episodes of HBO's Industry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_(TV_series)) reflects this well, and darkly. It is also fairly accurate w/r/t what my banker friends experienced.

blaser-waffle 6y ago
Spot on. According to family who worked in finance: the reformatting has to do with any errors. If there is one small error, somewhere, then how do you know there aren't more? These banks are making million or billion dollar transactions, so a small rounding error can cost fantastic amounts of money. So start from square one and do it over, and make sure it's right. Additionally, they need a lot of collateral. Appendices of research, citations, crunching other numbers -- most of which will never be looked it. But if the customer does want to see them, they have them, they know they're right, and they're able to answer any questions johnny-on-the-spot style. Again, with billion-dollar deals at stake, you'll do the due diligence, even if it means no one will ever read that info -- the "just in case they ask" risk is high enough to justify it. That all translates into long, grinding hours for documents that no one may ever read.
- ForHackernews 6y ago
  Really surprised they can't automate that shit. It sounds like they need linters for their documents. I certainly would trust a well-tested piece of software to get the numbers right sooner than I'd trust a gaggle of overpaid sleep-deprived 22 year-old Princeton grads.
  - TuringNYC 6y ago
    Each company's analysis is a DAG of sorts with assumptions, each assumption based on other assumptions, and all of those based on tables of estimates and projections. That makes it all somewhat unique, at least beyond the industry level. Further, it is not like there are numerous IPOs, its not really done enough times to automate. Finally, there is a hazing and rite-of-passage component to all this. And it is paid very well, with even better prospects after the job, so people accept it.

blaser-waffle 6y ago

Spot on. According to family who worked in finance: the reformatting has to do with any errors. If there is one small error, somewhere, then how do you know there aren't more? These banks are making million or billion dollar transactions, so a small rounding error can cost fantastic amounts of money. So start from square one and do it over, and make sure it's right. Additionally, they need a lot of collateral. Appendices of research, citations, crunching other numbers -- most of which will never be looked it. But if the customer does want to see them, they have them, they know they're right, and they're able to answer any questions johnny-on-the-spot style. Again, with billion-dollar deals at stake, you'll do the due diligence, even if it means no one will ever read that info -- the "just in case they ask" risk is high enough to justify it. That all translates into long, grinding hours for documents that no one may ever read.

ForHackernews 6y ago
Really surprised they can't automate that shit. It sounds like they need linters for their documents. I certainly would trust a well-tested piece of software to get the numbers right sooner than I'd trust a gaggle of overpaid sleep-deprived 22 year-old Princeton grads.
- TuringNYC 6y ago
  Each company's analysis is a DAG of sorts with assumptions, each assumption based on other assumptions, and all of those based on tables of estimates and projections. That makes it all somewhat unique, at least beyond the industry level. Further, it is not like there are numerous IPOs, its not really done enough times to automate. Finally, there is a hazing and rite-of-passage component to all this. And it is paid very well, with even better prospects after the job, so people accept it.