The relaunch and rebadging of the Institute of Management Consultancy has already led to some friction with trade body Management Consultancies Association over who sets professional standards.

The IMC, through a series of mergers including its latest deal with the Institute of Business Advisers, is now known as the Institute of Business Consulting.

The IBC’s new chairman is KPMG consulting boss Alan Downey, who intends to grow the institute’s 7,000 membership base by raising its profile. He admits numbers have dropped through lapsed membership. The body focuses more on individual consultants and their qualifications compared to the MCA, which represents firms.

But his first discussions with the his opposite number Peter Hill left Downey with the impression that the MCA wants to be both trade body and standard-setter, with the IBC uninterested in being a trade body competitor.

‘Peter believes the MCA can be trade and professional institute ­ including standards,’ said Downey. ‘That [model] does exist elsewhere but we see it as helpful as drawing a distinction between the two bodies.’

The Institute of Management Consultancy was initially a spin-off from the MCA in 1961.

The move to raise the IBC’s profile, plus talks between the MCA and the Big Four over how the body represents them, comes against a backdrop of a growing market in terms of revenue and competition.

Figuring out who will represent, and regulate, this emerging field, looks like being an absorbing contest.