MC league table - Andersens outguns PwC
Information technology helps Andersen Consulting overtake PwC
Andersen Consulting has taken the top slot as the biggest consultancy in the country, pushing PricewaterhouseCoopers into second place, according to the annual consultancy league table published this week in Accountancy Age’s sister publication Management Consultancy. Andersen takes the lead position, rising from fourth place last year, with fee income for 1999 of #609m while PwC registered #540m. KPMG occupies third place with #282m and Cap Gemini slips to fourth from third with #276m. Andersen’s sudden rise comes as income from IT projects is included in the survey for the first time and reflects the increasing integration of new technology into the core business of management consultants. The total fees for the top 100 consultants have risen by a phenomenal #600m to #4.3bn, an increase which represents increases in their workforce of between 4,500 and 5,000.
The consulting arms of accountancy firms fare well in the table with Deloittes taking ninth place with income of #161.8m while Ernst & Young, in its last accounts before its consulting arm becomes part of Cap Gemini, took eighth place with #173.5m. The merged company can expect to be higher up the rankings next year.
Growth among the firms did not necessarily come from an increase in demand for consultancy. Higher charge rates seems to have accounted for a large portion with medium and larger firms indicating their rates had risen by five to 10%.
The financial services sector remains the largest fee earner with figures showing it accounts for one third of the total fees of all firms.
Manufacturing was the next most important accounting for 10% of fees with central and local government, and the utilities, taking third and fourth spots.
Marc Brenner, editor of Management Consultancy, said: ‘Having, for the first time, included all IT revenues in the league tables, we’ve seen a real shift in the balance of power. IT and associated e-business revenue streams throughout the consultancies’ practice. You cannot accurately audit success without taking the importance of IT into consideration.’