Valuation Career Path

Create your own future.

You’ve decided to pursue a career in financial services. But what makes you different from all the other graduates who are breaking into this career path? What financial service lines give you the best shot at being noticed early, at building a future that looks like you want it to look?

For a select few, the answer to this question is valuation services. Valuation services is a growing service line in international public accounting firms that operates at the nexus of finance and accounting to affect business decision making on everything from strategy and acquisitions to asset management, restructurings and divestitures. Traditionally, firms have hired more experienced professionals to provide these services to clients. That’s about to change. And that’s where you come in.

Public accounting firms are actively seeking to hire intellectually skilled, interpersonally savvy recent graduates into entry-level professional positions within their valuation service lines. These opportunities are highly selective and highly specialized. And with a Vanderbilt MAcc Valuation degree, these opportunities are available to you.

Your future awaits.

The Vanderbilt MAcc Valuation program prepares students from a diverse mix of quantitative-based educational disciplines for a unique, exciting career in the valuation service lines of international public accounting firms. You’ll balance technical competence in finance and accounting with client-facing leadership skill development. Your intellectual curiosity and intellectual horsepower will be stoked. You will be challenged to learn from your experiences in new and innovative ways. 

For those who are ambitious, focused and committed to a career in valuation services, international public accounting firms offer an abundance of opportunities for career growth, recognition, and financial rewards. The most successful valuation services professionals are flexible about specific career plans and open to unforeseen opportunities that may progress them toward their individual goals—including willingness to relocate to major markets in which such opportunities may be located.

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Are you a good fit for valuation services?

Entering students need to have demonstrated strong academic performance in prior university studies, with significant, proven quantitative experience and aptitude.  Students will also have demonstrated the ability to solve abstract, ambiguous problems in creative ways, and the perseverance to drive for results.  Our students have a demonstrated history of making high-quality decisions with integrity, and carry themselves with professional composure and a mature professional presence.  Our students are exceptional communicators with keen interpersonal savvy and sensitivity to multiple stakeholder perspectives.  They are ambitious, focused, and committed to learning from experience and pursuing continuous development.

Career Support

The Vanderbilt MAcc program is deeply committed to your success. We will provide personalized consultation to you throughout the program, including helping prepare you to succeed in interviews for internship placement. We also facilitate several firm and school-sponsored events to help you learn more about the public accounting profession and career opportunities in this field.

Your individualized support includes:

• Questions about placement policies and firm involvement
• Resume critiques
• Help with networking and corresponding with partner firms and alumni
• Interview preparation and mock interviews
• Scheduling interviews with firms
• Scheduling when to attend firm socials and information sessions
• Answering your questions about CFA and CPA requirements and exam sign-up process
• Answering your questions about the Schweser CFA and Becker CPA review courses

Immersion Week

Taking place between Mods 1 and 2, Immersion Week is jam-packed with both academic and recruiting activities. During the Seminar in Advanced Audit Topics class, guest speakers from each of the partner firms will lead discussions about a variety of audit subjects, such as legal liability, audit committees, financial statement fraud and the code of conduct for CPAs. You will also take a course on the Essentials of Project Management, preparing you for the duties of your internship.  Beyond the classroom, you will have formal interviews during the day and social events at night with each of the partner firms. These events offer unparalleled access to representatives from Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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