Consulting Background Checks

I'm just about to finish my Masters and have been interviewing with a few consulting firms (BAH, Accenture and LMI). What does the background check entail? I'm asking this for both me and a friend of mine.

Neither of us are going for TS or security checks yet, so I'm more concerned about the background checks. He has a misdemeanor in his past and some credit issues. Mine are just credit issues.

Specifically, I have a few charge offs on my credit report for a total of about $3000 that are 3 to 5 years old. Additionally, during grad school I've pretty much maxed my credit cards. I am trying to get in touch with the creditors to pay off what I can, but i don't know if my credit report will reflect what i am able to take care of between now and then.

Should I be overly concerned about these things? Are they doing these background checks to make sure I am who I say I am and not an axe murderer or is my crappy finanical management going to screw me out of a job?

Thanks.