Hi all, if you had the choice, which would you choose between corporate finance (ie M&A, Corp restructure) at Ernst & Young ( given that after 3 yrs you would be ACA qualified) or operating groups at ACN, if you eventually wanted to work at a strategy consultancy/and or do and MBA? Which do you think would give the best and most relevant experience and why? Cheers cody.

I would personally go to ACN and do an MBA at a later stage. Strategy is the cream of the consultancy and a very prestigious career to be in. Sorry I haven't got much time to explain all the reasons, so just gave you my view.

Hi there 'somebody'. You left quite a brief but intriguing response. I would love to hear the full reasons behind your answer if at some stage you have some more free time. Cheers cody.

Cody - these are two very different firms. Both will look good on your CV as and when you decide to move on, so from that perspective I&#39;m not sure your chances of making it into pure strategy consultancy would be influenced that much by the choice you make.<br><br>Accenture has a large IT & outsourcing business alongside its pure consultancy practice areas. Ernst & Young has the heritage of a Big Four accountancy. So I wouldn&#39;t say you are comparing apples with apples here.<br><br>An accounting qualification is more likely to help you get into a banking role rather than strategy consultancy, so I wouldn&#39;t see this as a huge differentiator for getting you into strategy work at a later date. Ultimately I would say either option will open lots of doors for you later in your career; my advice would be to make the decision based on how well you felt you &#39;fitted in&#39; with the people you met at each firm. You are going to be spending weeks on end on project assignments with these people, often living in hotels away from home. So the biggest determinant of your happiness two years from now is likely to be how well you fit in with the company culture and the team you will be surrounded with. In a buoyant market, moving to a different consulting role from either of these firms would be relatively easy.<br><br>Hope that helps & best of luck with your choice! Tony