The consulting industry
Global consulting industry revenues (including HR, IT, strategy, operations, management and business advisory services) will be about $449 billion in 2015, according to Plunkett Research estimates. This represents reasonable growth from $415 billion during the previous year.
In the U.S., consulting of all types, including management, scientific and technical, generated $191.4 billion during 2014, up from $180.0 billion the previous year. Accounting and related services (such as tax return preparation) generated an additional $152.0 billion in 2014, up from about $136.5 billion during 2013, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
Consulting is a somewhat cyclical industry. The years 2008-09 marked a challenging period throughout the world of business, in light of the global economic slowdown and shrinking corporate budgets. In general, major consulting companies, including leading firms in management consulting and HR consulting, along with other advisories such as accounting firms, found themselves with substantial drops in business during 2009. India’s largest outsourced business and technology consulting firms were complaining that clients were delaying or cancelling projects as 2009 began.
However, in recent years, corporate profits in general grew dramatically, meaning that executives are now more willing to authorize new consulting projects as long as they see the potential for a good return on the cost. For example, India’s leading consultancies have recently enjoyed substantial growth in employee count and revenues, as have most of the global consulting firms based in the U.S. and EU.
While corporate profits have been growing, government budgets in the U.S. and much of Europe have been under tremendous pressure at the national, state and local levels. At many governmental units, tax revenues were down significantly during the recent recession, although 2012 through mid-2015 saw a rebound. Meanwhile, governments and their agencies have been under intense budgetary scrutiny. Spending and debt have been called in question, and in some cases curtailed. This has been particularly hard on some consulting firms, since governmental agencies are prime clients for consultancies.
