Deloitte does around 30% strategy work (They claim the number would be higher if they used a looser definition of strategy that some of their competitors use...I don't know the validity of this). It varies by office too - I know around ~55% of Senior consultants aligned to Monitor Deloitte out of my office last year when they were promoted to Manager. That's the strategy arm of Deloitte. Also, Deloitte recently has been more focused M&A than ops, so I'd push back heavily against ops/implemention being the main project focus. In my office this summer, 6 interns had monitor Deloitte projects, 7 had M&A, 1 had supply chain, 2 had ops, and 1 had either BMT or finance (I forget which). Obviously it varies by office (Chicago will be more manufacturing ops for example, and NYC more finance).

The strategy projects were all pretty cool: growth strategies for life sciences, television channel, online retailer, and sports equipment firm...working directly with the c-suite and sometimes board of directors. Strategy might be for a business unit or the whole company. In general, for FT employees, the highest performers generally are the strategy projects, so you need to do a good job to get on them. I think the advantage of Deloitte is that, whereas at McKinsey if you're not a rockstar willing to kill yourself, you'll get up-and-outed...but at Deloitte you can choose a less intensive role like doing PMO if that suits you (and still possibly make partner).

Likewise, I know Accenture has had a lot of trouble selling Strategy work, and a lot of people in Accenture Strategy are either on the bench or on IT/implementation projects. There's a lot of people complaining about it on reddit's consulting forums.

Full-disclosure: I signed with Deloitte, so I'm biased. I definitely recommend getting more data points. Feel free to shoot me a PM though.

 

Honestly, I'd go with the prestige factor. Exit opportunities (and MBA programs) will care about where you did your work, and then what you did. Even if they don't care in that order, it's not hard to make your work projects sound amazing and strategy oriented (people get really good at fluffing things up), but you can't pull any jedi mind tricks when it comes to who your employer is.

And there's always the old adage that there's strategy in almost every project.....which I agree with on non-cynical days. As far as Deloitte vs Accenture.....I think the variance in the type of work you could end up doing at Accenture Strategy is wider.

Disclosure: I received offers from both firms, so there was a time when I was excited and seriously considering each of them.

 

1) "Better" is a highly subjective term, and it depends on what your goals in life are. If you want good advice, be more specific about what you're looking for. Rarely is one job objectively better than another across all dimensions of "goodness".

2) In this case though, you're probably better off taking Deloitte. Lol if you think you're going to be doing more strategy work at Accenture. You'll quickly learn that doing an IT strategy project for Accenture is not what most in the industry would call strategy work. You probably won't do much "pure" strategy work at Deloitte either, but whether a project falls under the ambiguous bucket of "strategy" isn't really the distinction you really want to make.

What you should be asking yourself is where the work will be more impactful, more intellectually stimulating, and better for your personal and professional development. The answer's probably Deloitte based on reputation.

 

According to my friend who works in Accenture strategy: 1. Strategy over hired vs. number of projects in the pipeline, so as mentioned above, some analysts are not getting staffed. 2. Analysts were fired few months into the job (even some of those who never got staffed). And I heard there was a hiring freeze (maybe only for interns), so I have no idea how you got an offer from them.

 
UENYC:

According to my friend who works in Accenture strategy:
1. Strategy over hired vs. number of projects in the pipeline, so as mentioned above, some analysts are not getting staffed.
2. Analysts were fired few months into the job (even some of those who never got staffed). And I heard there was a hiring freeze (maybe only for interns), so I have no idea how you got an offer from them.

Agree with the over hiring compared to available projects. I have also heard of "strategy" analysts being put on long tech implementation projects because they cannot get put on a strategy project.

 

I've heard Accenture Strategy isn't so hot, a glorified way to sell implementation projects as far as I know. They'd have a difficult time selling quality pure strategy projects against much more established firms in the industry. And Accenture has a huge share of HR, development, and QOL problems as it's a hulking monster of a firm that tends to compete on volume and price.

Despite the fact that Opsdude1 very frequently WAY oversells DS&O, it's a really good firm and both the "prestige" of the role and the quality of strategy projects you'll be exposed to will probably be a lot better than whatever you'd get at Accenture. Even if the strategy project mix and quality may be less than what you might find as a generalist at something like McK/BCG or at a pure strategy boutique like LEK, that's fairly dependent on how well you network and push for what kind of work you want. If you're talking DS&O vs. Accenture, discounting any number of other factors personal to you, you'll probably want to go DS&O.

 

Honestly, I think you are splitting hairs when it comes down to Deloitte/Accenture/EY. All are respectable names and firms you can really make a career with. I'd focus on the people you met and which culture was the best fit. You could go to a firm that looks better on "paper" but if the chemistry isn't there you won't get access to the best opportunities.

 
Managerette:

Honestly, I think you are splitting hairs when it comes down to Deloitte/Accenture/EY. All are respectable names and firms you can really make a career with. I'd focus on the people you met and which culture was the best fit. You could go to a firm that looks better on "paper" but if the chemistry isn't there you won't get access to the best opportunities.

Agree with this. Also, ask the people you've met to describe their work for very the last six months.

 
karl_pilkington:
Managerette:
Honestly, I think you are splitting hairs when it comes down to Deloitte/Accenture/EY. All are respectable names and firms you can really make a career with. I'd focus on the people you met and which culture was the best fit. You could go to a firm that looks better on "paper" but if the chemistry isn't there you won't get access to the best opportunities.

Agree with this. Also, ask the people you've met to describe their work for very the last six months.

Seriously? The difference between the firms is significant, it's not splitting hair. It's like saying the difference between Chicago Booth and UCLA and Emory is negligble since they're all not Harvard.

 

I think a more apt comparison set of b-schools is Kellogg/Tuck/Fuqua in this case. All great schools, not HSW, but will likely yield great opportunities and best to go where culture fit is best.

Similarly, with Acn and Deloitte, the same applies. You're going to have people across both firms who network like crazy, get on the best engagements, and exit to similar opps.

 
Best Response

Agree with Aura0505 here. Neither firm is MBB, but both are great firms that can get you to a good place down the line. My advice would be similar to above: Speak with people about what projects they are working on, figure out which firm's culture works best, etc.

There are a lot of Deloitte fan boys on here, (let the monkey shits fly!), if you are leaning more toward ACN, don't let that dissuade. No question Deloitte is a great firm, Accenture is really a small step down though and if you like the work and people better than go for that.

 

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