If you’re one of the many—more than half of prospective students in 2024—considering applying to business school to launch a career in consulting, you may already have an idea of the types of firms you would consider applying to.
There are the MBB—McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG)—the Big Four of EY, PwC, Deloitte, and KPMG; and a number of elite boutique firms such as Oliver Wyman and Kearney.
To help choose the firms that are most suitable, you can find various rankings available which offer information such as the top firms to work for according to employees, and the consultancies where staff earn the highest salaries.
But what if you’re looking to work for the consulting firms with the best reputations among their peers? The firms that come most recommended by clients?
Well, handily, Forbes has this covered. Each year, the media firm partners with data platform, Statista, to compile a ranking of the top consulting companies based on surveys of clients and consultants across the globe.
For its 2024 list, Forbes reviewed firms’ reputations within 13 different industries. For each industry it assigned a five star rating to those that were in the top 10% of firms receiving recommendations.
We’ve been through the list and picked the five star firms within three of the key industries where business school graduates often go to work after graduation. So, here’s our breakdown of the top consulting companies for tech, finance, and strategy.
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Top Consulting Companies: Banking & Finance
If you’re looking to combine a passion for finance with a career in consulting, there are a number of firms that come highly recommended as leaders within this field. In 2024, Forbes assigned five star ratings to six firms for their consulting work in the banking and finance sector.
Accenture, a multinational consultancy with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, has a reputation for excellence in tech-driven consulting work. It applies this approach when advising firms within the financial sector, focusing on cutting-edge technologies and data-driven solutions.
Boston Consulting Group is one of the world’s most prestigious consulting firms. Like all of the Big Three, BCG operates in a wide range of industries. Its work in banking and finance focuses on helping clients prepare for the future, including through digital integration and a focus on ESG.
Deloitte is headquartered in the UK and offers a wide range of services to clients. The firm’s finance operation is largely focused within banking and capital markets, and its solutions typically center on regulatory reform, competitive dynamics, and technology.
KPMG has offices across the globe, with headquarters in the Netherlands. It offers banking and finance consultancy services to clients in areas including banking and capital markets, insurance, asset management, and private equity.
McKinsey & Company, arguably the most prestigious of the Big Three, operates across an array of areas and provides consulting services to clients that include Fortune 500 companies and governments. When it comes to banking and finance, McKinsey often focuses on analytics and data-driven solutions, as well as tackling client firms’ climate readiness.
Alongside Deloitte and KPMG, PwC is one of the Big Four accounting and professional services firms. It operates across a range of areas, with its banking and finance services noted by participants in the Forbes survey as worthy of five stars. PwC’s solutions focus on navigating regulatory change and providing technology-based solutions.
Consulting Firms With The Best Reputation For Banking & Finance Services
Top Consulting Companies: Technology & Telecommunications
Forbes’ list of the top consulting companies offering services in the field of technology and telecommunications is populated by familiar names as those that lead the way in banking. In 2024, a total of seven firms were awarded five stars for their work in this crucial business area.
Again, Accenture features among the top consulting companies here. The firm provides clients with technology services focusing on solving critical enterprise challenges and using technological capabilities to bring innovative solutions.
Big Three firm, Ban & Company, also offers five star consulting services to clients in the realm of technology and communications, according to the Forbes list. Bain works on projects across a whole host of technology areas, including cloud computing, the internet of things, and semiconductors.
BCG advises a wide range of prestigious clients within the technology sector. The firm’s specialist areas include digital transformation through both talent and technological strategies, as well as advising on cutting-edge technological innovations such as metaverse services and artificial intelligence (AI).
For Deloitte, another firm to be listed as a leader in both finance and technology consulting, the company’s key focuses including enhancing the mindset of its clients when it comes to technology strategies, as well as supporting digital transformation in the customer experience and human resources.
A new entry on this list, Infosys is a technology specialist consulting firm headquartered in Bangalore, India. While active in various areas, the firm is a leader in tech-related consulting, with particular focuses on cloud computing and AI solutions.
Also offering five star service to clients in the technology sector, according to Forbes, is KPMG. The firm’s technology consulting team wields its expertise to advise clients on how to develop innovative solutions, become more agile and efficient, and drive large scale changes for the future.
The final firm on this list that has been awarded five stars for its technology consulting services in 2024 is McKinsey. When it comes to tech solution, McKinsey focuses on fundamental changes, helping clients use technology as a tool to modernize their platforms, build their capabilities, and improve operations and products.
Consulting Firms With The Best Reputation For Technology Services
Top Consulting Companies: Strategy
There are few surprises in Forbes’ list of the top consulting companies when it comes to strategy services. All but one of the six firms that received five stars in the 2024 list also ranked among the best consulting firms for technology or finance.
Accenture’s strategy consulting practice focuses on reinvention, helping firms build strategies to adapt to a whole host of complex challenges including technology innovation and ESG.
For Bain, the firm’s strategy consulting practice also focuses on helping firms navigate disruption. The firm prides itself on its tailored approach to strategic services, with a system comprising tactics including identifying the true definition of a client’s business, and focusing heavily on relationships with customers.
The perceived performance of BCG’s strategic consulting services among clients earn it five stars and a place among Forbes’ top consulting companies for strategy. BCG focuses on four key strategic areas: mission, vision, and ambition; corporate growth strategy; corporate portfolio strategy; and financial strategy.
Deloitte provides strategy consulting services to a wide range of clients, helping them to navigate the complex changes affecting all businesses. The firm’s specialist strategy areas range from advising on business model transformation, to financial strategies, and service operations.
EY is the only firm to rank among the top consulting companies for strategy but not feature at the top of either the finance or technology lists. One of the Big Four, the firm’s strategy consulting arm, EY Parthenon, delivers in-depth customer and competitor analysis as the basis of its services, helping firms tackle problems with an emphasis on growth strategies and value creation.
Finally, McKinsey earns five stars in strategy consulting to go alongside its reputation for excellence in finance and technology. When it comes to strategy, McKinsey’s approach is similar to many of the firms on this list, with the firm’s consultants focusing on developing an understanding of their clients’ corporate performance and value creation, as well as the impact of wider business trends.
Consulting Firms With The Best Reputation For Strategy Services
How To Become A Consultant?
Wondering what the best way is to launch your career with one of these renowned consulting firms? Enrolling at a top business school can offer you a tried and tested route into the industry.
In the US, firms hire summer interns each year who then have a great chance of returning in a full-time role after graduating from their second year. Top European schools also have well-established connections with leading consulting firms which help students recruit for full-time positions.
The generalist MBA curriculum is well suited to the career of a consultant, while if you aim to specialize in a particular area a specialized Master’s degree can also allow you to carve out a more technical career path.
So, whether you desire to be a technology consultant at Infosys or a more generalist strategy consultant at Deloitte or McKinsey, enrolling at business school is a good place to start.
For more info about what it’s like to work in consulting, the perks and salaries you could gain, and tips on how to successfully become a management consultant, download our BusinessBecause Consulting Guide
