mercer is the best at hc consulting wyman is damn good for international cases, but their true respect is from their financial services vertical-not necessarily their man. con. arm

 

It all depends on what you want to do. Look at the number of pretty high level PE people who came from Big 4 (accounting, etc.) and then look at the number that come from second/third tier consulting. I'm not saying that Big 4 is good or will make you really stand out in terms of exit opps, but it is more of a building block for something later. There is a bigger stigma with coming from lower-tier consulting compared to accounting.

That said, if you want to go to PE, etc. it is a long road. You have to do well in Big 4, and then transition elsewhere, go to b-school, and do well throughout. Obviously I'm no expert on Big 4 career paths, but based on what you find in PE profiles, Big 4 seems more common than 2nd/3rd tier consulting.

 
jneil:
PorcineAviation:
In my opinion, consultancy at the Big 4 is absolute wank. Dull projects, dull people. Houses with a renowned specialism, such as Mercer, OW, blow them out of the water, and the "2nd tier" such as OC&C etc. are far better too.

Worth noting this is EMEA perspective.

Surely I thought Deloitte consulting would stand somewhere.

Depends how fond you are of 'Shared Services Centres'.

 

i always thought the only reason firms hired big-4/deloitte consultants was coz they hired said company for accounting and then just wanted consultation without having to open their data banks and inside info to yet another firm - keep the knowledge to as few as possible. not a very good environment for promoting good, creative consulting, i'd say

"... then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."
 
Jodiggaman:

Clients cannot hire the same firm for audit and consulting services....

It depends. Immediately post Sarbanes Oxley, the Big 4 (except Deloitte) spun off their consulting practices because of restrictions (not prohibitions) the legislation placed on consulting and auditing for the same company. Recently, those firms and others have begun relaxing their policies and offering both audit/tax and consulting services to some client companies on a case-by-case basis.

 

Besides the traditional Big Four, I would highly recommend applying to Piper Jaffray Consulting LLC. It has a strong presence in South Dakota and will place you well into mega buyout funds such as Legg Mason and State Street. But personally I would take banking offers from Deloitte Capital and Wendy's Partners over any aforementioned consulting firms.

FYI, 7 out of 10 2nd year business analysts at PJC went to Princeton Business School last year.

 

Big 4 consulting and advisory are generally very well regarded. Kids in college that want to hate on accounting will tell you otherwise, but in my experience professionals respect the big 4.

"You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right." -Warren Buffett
 
Best Response

Too much funny here...

To set some things straight: - Big 4 is a term usually reserved for the largest public accounting firms (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG) in regards to their accounting (audit and tax) practices - Big 3 or, more commonly, MBB refers to the top consulting firms (McKinsey, BCG, and Bain) - "Second tier" consulting firms is a term open for discussion, but typically includes Booz, Oliver Wyman, AT Kearney, LEK, Accenture, some Big 4 firms (Deloitte and possibly PwC), and several others. Some of these are generalist/strategy firms; others have a relatively narrow focus. - Boutique consulting can refer to firms with small geographic footprints or well-defined functional niches. Examples are numerous and include Huron, ZS, Point B, and The Cambridge Group.

 

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