Corporate consultant vs investment banker

The differences between corporate consultants and investment bankers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a corporate consultant and an investment banker. Additionally, an investment banker has an average salary of $162,715, which is higher than the $127,275 average annual salary of a corporate consultant.

The top three skills for a corporate consultant include project management, powerpoint and financial statements. The most important skills for an investment banker are financial services, discounted cash flow, and capital markets.

Corporate consultant vs investment banker overview

	Corporate Consultant	Investment Banker
Yearly salary	$127,275	$162,715
Hourly rate	$61.19	$78.23
Growth rate	11%	10%
Number of jobs	68,248	28,460
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	44	43
Years of experience	4	4

What does a corporate consultant do?

A corporate consultant is a business expert; they provide advice, offer strategies to optimize operations, and solve business issues. They are responsible for conducting market research, conducting new market studies, gathering and assessing data from a business, and identifying the weaknesses and strengths of existing company programs. Through their research findings, a corporate consultant develops conclusions and recommendations to help companies make business decisions or achieve their goals.

What does an investment banker do?

An investment banker is responsible for selling and issuing securities and financial assets to the stock markets to generate money and raise capital for organizations and financial institutions. Investment bankers also work with private clients to advise them of investment options and financial transactions according to the market's condition and clients' interests. They handle the clients' investment portfolios and create propositions for acquisitions and company mergers. An investment banker must have excellent knowledge of the financial and stock industry, as well as having excellent analytical skills to review statistical data and determine the best financial strategies.

Corporate consultant vs investment banker salary

Corporate consultants and investment bankers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Corporate Consultant	Investment Banker
Average salary	$127,275	$162,715
Salary range	Between $97,000 And $165,000	Between $95,000 And $276,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	Alaska
Best paying company	FTI Consulting	Citi
Best paying industry	Professional	Real Estate

Differences between corporate consultant and investment banker education

There are a few differences between a corporate consultant and an investment banker in terms of educational background:

	Corporate Consultant	Investment Banker
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Corporate consultant vs investment banker demographics

Here are the differences between corporate consultants' and investment bankers' demographics:

	Corporate Consultant	Investment Banker
Average age	44	43
Gender ratio	Male, 54.3% Female, 45.7%	Male, 76.2% Female, 23.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 11.2% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	12%	6%

Differences between corporate consultant and investment banker duties and responsibilities

Corporate consultant example responsibilities.

Provide SharePoint development and administration, budget and financial reporting; manage invoicing; and develop training manuals and user guides.
Assist with and edit government PowerPoint presentations, speeches, official forms, and emails.
Chair leadership committee, develop detailed project plan, tag lines, creative, ROI, communications.
Conduct nutritional assessment audits, care plan audits, last progress note to ensure compliance and attend QA meetings monthly.
Analyze internal knowledge infrastructure and develop optimized information system/organization.
Analyze internal knowledge infrastructure and develop optimized information system/organization.

Investment banker example responsibilities.

Utilize Bloomberg system and company proprietary research to actively monitor portfolios and manage trading activities to achieve customers' goals.
Provide service for existing brokerage accounts, manage accounts, annuities, and securities-base lines of credit.
Attain NMLS identification number for mortgage origination.
Generate reporting data from Salesforce platform to facilitate growth and manage firm operations.
Manage customer portfolios, service relationships, and used profiling analysis tools to identify cross-selling opportunities.
Manage a variety of internal initiatives including merchandising, cross-selling, customer retention programs and promotional campaigns.

Corporate consultant vs investment banker skills

Common corporate consultant skills

Project Management, 14%
PowerPoint, 12%
Financial Statements, 9%
Business Processes, 6%
Real Estate, 6%
Business Development, 5%

Common investment banker skills

Financial Services, 6%
Discounted Cash Flow, 6%
Capital Markets, 6%
Financial Statements, 6%
Client Relationships, 4%
Securities, 4%

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Corporate Consultant
Corporate Consultant vs Investment Banker

Updated January 8, 2025

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