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September 26, 2023

Vault 50: Only One Big 4 Firm’s Consulting Arm Made the Top 10 (2022)

Do the colors of the image give it away?

Whether you care about this or not (and most of you probably don’t), Vault recently came out with its ranking of the top 50 best consulting firms to work for in the US. The usual consulting powerhouses occupy the top three of the 2022 Vault Consulting 50—Bain, McKinsey, and Boston Consulting Group—but what is a surprise is the lack of Big 4 representation in the top 10 this year.

In 2019, 2020, and 2021, Vault included Deloitte Consulting, EY-Parthenon, and PwC Advisory Services in the top 10 based on a weighted formula Vault uses to compile its annual ranking:

  • 30% prestige
  • 15% firm culture
  • 15% satisfaction
  • 10% compensation
  • 10% work/life balance
  • 10% level of challenge
  • 5% overall business outlook
  • 5% promotion policies

But in 2022, only one of those three made the top 10. Among the other two, one is on the outside looking in and the other didn’t even make the top 50. Here are the top 10 consulting firms for 2022:

  1. Bain & Co.
  2. McKinsey & Co.
  3. Boston Consulting Group
  4. The Bridgespan Group
  5. EY-Parthenon
  6. Booz Allen Hamilton
  7. Oliver Wyman
  8. Kearney
  9. L.E.K. Consulting
  10. Putnam

For the second-straight year, EY-P has come in at No. 5, which is the highest among the Big 4 firms’ consulting practices. Deloitte Consulting—which is shelling out nearly $5 million to settle lawsuits for building leaky state unemployment websites in Colorado, Illinois, and Ohio—dropped from fourth in 2019 and 2020 (tops among the Big 4) to eighth in 2021 and to 11th in 2022. KPMG sits 20th in 2022 after finishing 16th in 2021, 14th in 2020, and 12th in 2019. Then there’s PwC Advisory Services and Strategy&, which dropped out of the top 50 altogether.

We’ll take a look tomorrow at how the Big 4 did in Vault’s 2022 ranking of the most prestigious consulting firms. Until then, have fun ridiculing this awful song about EY from 2016:

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1 Comment

  1. Well, the difference is, EYP is a highly concentrated group (strategy and part of EY’s deal’s practice) whereas Deloitte Consulting spans their Business, Tech, and Strategy consulting sub-service lines. If EYP were diluted and included EY’s Consulting service line, I bet they would fall quite a bit in the rankings.

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