When I was at Goldman Sachs, the background check would take from 5 to 7 business days. The firm can expedite background checks in urgent cases and get a preliminary approval sooner if need be.One way to help expedite your background check is to prsupporting documents that will verify your prior employment (offer letters and last paychecks), college degrees (transcripts) and wages (pay stubs and W2). These pieces to the background check will take longer and with these supporting documents can give confidence to clear you quicker.Some reasons I have seen for delays in background checks include: 1) issues with credit report, 2) Issues with the criminal report, 3) misrepresentation on your background check document as compared to your resume and 4) difficulty verifying your prior employment, compensation and college degrees.The background check at Goldman Sachs is quite rigorous. I highly recommend that you are thorough and detailed in completing your background check when applying to Goldman Sachs. Don't lie on the background or even fudge a date or a past salary. If you have a gap in your employment, you must note it with the reason. Additionally, your resume must match exactly. Make sure you submit your resume directly to your recruiter as the official document. Sometimes when you are working with an agency or vendor, they may collapse your employment or rework your resume to make it look better. This can cause issues with verification and possibly cause you to fail the background check.If you are at the background check stage, you have already landed the job. Don't lose it because you were sloppy filling out a form or left out a gap in your employment or over estimated your compensation or didn't actually graduate from college. It is worth noting that the background check company does not care that you took time off or what you got paid. They care that you completed the documents with integrity and that it is a true reflection of your past experiences.