Accenture Strategy vs. Deloitte BTA vs. EY TAP
I've received offers for Deloitte BTA, EY TAP, and Accenture Strategy. Because I wasn't sure what type of consulting I wanted to do and was under the impression that Technology Consulting would be heavier on data analytics than Strategy, I applied to a mix of the two and ended with this selection. I am strongly leaning towards one of the options but I would like some unbiased opinions on each of these options. I'm aware there are a few existing posts that are similar but due to Accenture Strategy's growth in the past few years as well as their acquisition of Kurt Salmon, I'd like some fresh opinions.
Evaluation criteria: salary/bonuses/benefits/opportunities for promotion, culture, % travel/work life balance, MBA sponsorship
Deloitte BTA/EY TAP: Personally, I'm not very excited about tech consulting if most of what I'll be doing is implementation. I believe that each of these options have an analytics branch within tech consulting. However, I'm not sure how much say you get in the selection of working in that branch. I've also read that it's possible to network into Deloitte S&O projects. In terms of company name, Deloitte seems to be more prestigious and I'm wondering if that'll help MBA admissions or exit opportunities. I'm not sure what options you have within EY but really enjoyed their culture.
Accenture: The type of work is definitely more interesting to me. With the regional model, I'm hoping to balance out the amount of travel I'll be doing. I have also heard there's a heavier emphasis on using analytics within Strategy. However, I've heard that some strategy projects are set up to hand off to Accenture MC/SI for implementation. Additionally, I've heard that Accenture pigeonholes you because of its strong emphasis on IT. For some reason, Accenture also has received very negative opinions on the consulting subreddit. In terms of exit opportunities and prestige, I am a little worried based on what I've heard.
In terms of salary, Accenture pays a little more than Deloitte and EY pay is over 10k under Accenture.
I would like opinions on culture, exit opportunities, career development, graduate school reimbursement, etc.
Additionally, does anyone know if any of the 3 negotiate starting salary?
Thank you!
When did you get your TAP offer? Did you attend the EY mega day in Dallas this week?
I received it yesterday over the phone and yep, I was in Dallas. I informed them Deloitte's offer deadline was very soon so I think that's why they got back to me so quickly.
Nice, congrats on the offer. Still waiting for my call getting pretty anxious. Do you know if others have heard back yet?
Back to your question:
I interned at Deloitte Consulting over summer in a back office finance role, but can definitely give some insight as I tried to wiggle my way into S&O and had a ton of friends in BTA.
BTA is super techy. Idk shit about tech but i know its mostly implementation. If that's not what youre excited about, go with ACN Strat.
Dont go to Deloitte counting on getting staffed on S&O projects, or moving to the practice in general. Half of the reason I'm re-recruiting is because I realized the jump to S&O is just not possible. During my internship, I was on 3 networking calls/coffee chats per week trying to make it happen.
Accenture strat easily. Download Fishbowl and post there - you'll get better answers.
Thank you! Will do
FWIW, I have several friends in ACN strategy and the "regional staffing model" does not always (or even usually) hold true. Have friends from the NY/BOS offices frequently getting staffed in LA/SF/CHI/TX. The engagements are only 6 weeks, so I guess that's a positive in the sense that if you end up far from home it's only temporary. They all seem very engaged and happy with their work, though, and strategy is well respected within ACN.
Thanks! Although some may be far, I'm ok with traveling further if it's only a short engagement.
Based on the preferences that you stated, it should be Accenture Strategy without a doubt. I worked there for 4 years before getting my MBA at a top 5 school and am now at MBB. Don't think the IT thing should be a concern as most all of my projects were oriented around growth strategy and I was certainly not unique. I definitely enjoyed my time there as did most of my peers.
Thank you for the reassurance, I really appreciate your answer. I'm also glad that people aren't putting on a show for recruiting.
I am currently at Accenture Strategy and also received EY TAP offer. Perhaps I am biased, but in my view this is a no brainer.
Acn Strategy of course does some IT Strategy and Digital Strategy work (like the other relevant strategy shops do), but that does not constitute the majority of projects. Additionally, the risk of being pigeonholed in tech would be far worse if you do Deloitte BTA or EY TAP than if you do Accenture Strategy.
On top of that, your exit opps, MBA prospects (sponsored through Strategy Scholars program if you so desire), and pay would be far better.
If you have any questions about Accenture Strategy or the ASADP feel free to PM me.
Thanks! Just PM'ed
I've worked for both organizations.
On 3 of my project engagements at Accenture (I was part of Accenture Technology Consulting), the Accenture Strategy teams came in to do process documentation work. This involved authoring and documenting use cases, business process flows, and identifying any process gaps/inefficiencies. The work was operational in nature and quite frankly could have been done by the Technology consultants with better detail. After numerous conversations and interactions with the ACN Strategy consultants, what I got out of it was that close to 80% of the work is very tech heavy in terms of doing early on process/operations analysis for large tech implementations (Oracle/SAP/Salesforce), and 20% of the work is closer to a more pure-play strategy engagement. At the more junior levels of analyst and consultant, it's fairly difficult to get staffed on a pure play strategy project.
At Deloitte, my experience thus far has been it's fairly easy to switch to a different line of work. I personally know 4 BTAs that landed M&A projects with the former S&O practice. 2 of them switched service lines, whereas the other 2 realized they don't like the work and switched back to more pure 'tech' implementations. I'm aligned to Deloitte Tech Consulting but currently working on a M&A project. What I love about Deloitte is how inter-connected the Tech, Strategy, and Human Capital teams are. Cross-functional team deployments maximize learning opportunities and experiences, leading to greater overall objectivity and analytical problem solving. At Accenture, at least my personal experience was that teams were very silo-ed.
Let's focus on other factors:
MBA Admission
~250 Deloitte Consulting Analysts, Consultants, and Senior Consultants got admitted to GSAP. Of these, slightly greater than 1/2 were former S&O. The rest were Tech and Human Capital. Self-selection plays an important part in the slightly less GSAP program applications, however anyone who meets the criteria, has a good GMAT score, and has the local office support/practice support gets in.
Accenture selects around a dozen people to sponsor MBA. That's in all of North America. Not sure if this has changed since
Benefits
Deloitte offers a 500 dollar yearly fitness subsidy. Accenture does not
Deloitte Consulting has a much more favorable expense policy when traveling on projects. Accenture uses per diem - and even 60-70 dollars in expensive cities is not enough. At Deloitte, there's no daily expense limit, although there are 'guidelines'.
At Deloitte, analysts receive fully paid for iPhones or Android, with an unlimited data plan. This includes a personal hotspot. These come in clutch when you're traveling and need to send out an updated PPT from your Uber.
Deloitte has Deloitte University (DU). DU completely shits on Accenture's Q Center. The rooms are bigger. The location and amenities are much nicer. Feels almost like a fully paid for resort, with lots of great food and drinks.
Deloitte has 10K tuition reimbursement for all employees, irrespective of levels. If you don't plan to go back to full time grad school, you can use the 10k tuition reimbursement to work towards a part time masters
It's cool that you are a cheerleader for Deloitte (which is a great firm) but at least try to be objective. I'll do my best to clear up a few myths.
First, Accenture Non-Tech Strategists typically do not have enough knowledge of systems/solutions to be able to effectively do any semblance of process/operations documentation/analysis for tech implementations. However, that kind of work is probably something that Accenture Tech Strategists may do (hence the potential confusion) but that group is operated as a separate DTE.
Second, most pure play strategy projects (at both Accenture and my MBB) are comprised of small teams for 8 to 12 weeks and would never require cross-functional teams of Tech, Strategy, and Human Capital per the scope of the work itself. If that's your thing, then great but it's most likely implementation and not strategy work.
Last, as you mentioned Accenture Strategy used to only sponsor a few handpicked highest performers for MBA tuition reimbursement. However, several years ago they started up the Strategy Scholars program which is basically available for anyone who gets into a top 10ish school so it is much more inclusive now.
Like I said, I have a lot of respect for Deloitte but you come off as someone who is super biased. All in all, I question the wisdom of advising someone who doesn't want to do tech consulting to join a technology consulting group at Deloitte vs. a generalist strategy development program at Accenture.
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