How is management consulting so profitable? It seems like a running joke that the big firms over-charge for some nice looking charts and slide decks. Why do clients keep hiring them? Genuinely asking as someone who just got hired at a firm.

likefunny
Posting as :
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you severely overestimate the capabilities of in house teams and that’s just the honest fact. it’s a running joke bc even we know how dumb it is. our jokes are value add to them. funny, right?

likefunny

Management consulting is useful to corporate clients in a lot of ways, but these are my top 5 as a former CFO.

1. Quickly brainstorm solutions to problems the leadership team hasn’t been able to solve/doesn’t have the expertise to fully understand
2. Implement solutions when a team is unable to dedicate resources (maybe a team is understaffed or the company needs to make a big change that requires extra work. The accountant can’t stop closing the books just because the company wants to start using standard costs etc)
3. Provide temporary staffing in key roles
4. Document our work and be someone the company can later blame if the solution doesn’t hold
5. Provide an unbiased valuation/assessment before a transaction etc.

Consultants are expensive but they’re also easily put “below the line” and don’t negatively impact EBITDA.

likehelpfulsmart

Treating it as a capex and amortizing over 5 years

The cross-industry view for leading practices we can provide is genuinely valuable information that they can't get ahold of themselves.

"Yeah, you are falling behind your peers but not the worst"..... Or "yeah you are ahead of most of your peers but if you do xyz you'll be best in class "

likesmart

Many teams in industry have very specific niches on top secret info that is definitely not readily available - only informally available relationally. Think regulatory topics, like stress testing as a big example.

Source: worked for big 4 bank for a decade and was a buyer of $MM of consultants at 5 consulting firms

likehelpful

Biggest thing I see is that clients basically already know what they want to do but need consultants to mobilize past the company politics and present validated options to their boss or their bosses boss

likesmart

There's more than slides and charts. You'll learn that eventually.

Literally anything can be played down from what it is. I mean, there's people that take a stab at those guys (professional footb players) getting paid £250k per week for kicking around a ball. Yet many see the value in their expertise and team owners are willing to pay top bucks to have them in their roster. Same for what other professions do. People don't see the value until they need those services.

likesmart

This is a great answer, thank you

like

We are smarter and more hardworking than them.

likefunny

https://www.amazon.com/Humble-Consulting-Provide-Real-Faster/dp/1626567204

There is more to consulting than you think. For instance, aligning boxes on a slide.

likefunny

The value consulting firms and other professional services bring to clients is their ability to generate greater revenue, bring in more clients, optimize spend, manage risk better through resources, and/or operate more efficiently. Usually some combination of the above within a specialized context.

It’s not expensive to spend $8M on a year long engagement vs the $10M you would have spent internally anyway to wade through the problem, maybe not getting anywhere, over 5 years without the consultants.

$8M is also not expensive if it allows you to make $50M more than you would today over the next 10 years as just 2 examples.

I’m a consultant but have been in advisory roles to senior company execs in industry and this is how they — wisely — think. Time and competitive advantage in a dynamic landscape are invaluable in a world that doesn’t know how to prioritize what’s critical to outcomes and what’s not.

likesmart

Honestly I thought consulting was a joke but these projects have proven that organizations are just winging it… They do need consultants

like

Depends which firm you're at

Saving all these answers for the next time someone asks me “so what do you actually do?”

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