Every consultant would have gone through this training program at some point in time early during their career. Large consulting organizations invest heavily in their resources. The commitment that consulting organizations show towards training and continuous learning is truly inspiring. One such effort is the consulting readiness program.

What do they teach at consulting readiness program?

While a consulting profile requires many attributes, the consulting readiness program focuses on specific training areas that are considered key for consulting. Do keep in mind, that consulting readiness programs are not focused on grooming you into a consultant from scratch. These programs are meant for individuals who already have some industry experience and knowledge and would like to leverage those in the world of consulting. Now let us look at a few key attributes from a consulting readiness program.

a) Mind Mapping – Mind mapping is a popular exercise taught in consulting. Mind mapping is the process by which you map various tasks and activities of an idea in a visual structured form. Usually when mind mapping is completed, the resulting diagram looks like a big banyan tress with tons of roots hanging down. More often in consulting, you are always dumped with information. This exercise will effectively allow yo to filter the right information, map them to the basic idea / concept or business problem. It is intended to better structure a consultant’s thoughts and represent it.

b) Problem definition / Defining a problem statement – Another key area of consulting is understand a problem. Usually in consulting projects, you may be faced with situations where, you are thrown to the client and are required to identify their problems. These problems often tend to become independent consulting opportunities for the firm. So it is critical that when presented with a set of statements in a given business situation, a consultant is able to understand and identify the core problem (s) that the client is facing. This exercise is as close as it can get to consulting world.

c) Problem solving through case studies – Now a lot of us might think, this is a pain. But case studies are often a wealth of information and learning. I wouldn’t think there could be a consulting readiness program without case studies. Again depending on what you are being trained for, the cases studies would differ. As always you are dumped with a wealth of information in these case studies and as a consultant or an analyst you are expected to identify and understand business problem to come up with potential solutions. If you do not like case studies, then you may not like consulting

d) Communication skills – As I have always emphasized communication plays a vital role in consulting. As a part of the consulting readiness training program, you could very well expect role plays and case studies that focus exclusively on testing and developing your communication skills.

e) Power point skills – Thanks to Microsoft, the life of a consultant revolves around power point presentations. In consulting, like case studies, there is no escape from power point presentations. There are plenty of articles and options on presentations. In fact, there are some cool tips and tricks that one could learn in effectively using power point in the world of consulting through this program. Of course, some organizations have skill development exercises exclusively focused on power point skills. These may help you better.

All the attributes above belong to a mother characteristic of structured thinking and problem solving. So key is to develop structured thinking and problem solving capabilities in consulting. You can also expect to have other activities like team building, role play decision-making etc that may get added to the exercise depending on the day and the sessions post lunch.

Do consulting readiness program really live up to expectations?

Like every other learning program, the effectiveness of consulting readiness programs varies with participants. The focus of these programs are provide you with elementary direction on how to proceed and tune your thoughts to the world of consulting. If your expectation is that these programs stand-alone would help you become an exceptional consultant, then you may be in for a disappointment. Consulting readiness programs are enablers that allow a candidate to learn and shape their consulting careers better. The key word being “better”. This means, you already need to be good in certain aspects of consulting and this program would help you become better consultants

If you are entering the world of consulting then you may find these programs to be of great interest. But like every other walk of life, irrespective of what you learn, unless you are willing to apply them in your area of work or life, the skill set would die with time. So good luck. Ensure you learn as much as you can and apply them in all walks of life and work. Happy consulting!

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In this article we will briefly discuss the Top 7 Ways in which You may Save Money by utilizing Virtual Consulting, Virtual Consultants and a Virtual Consulting Firm to help you satisfy of your business needs, OK?

The first three (3) Money Saving items, below, are ways in which You may Save Money by utilizing Virtual Consulting and Virtual Consultants relative to the costs of utilizing “traditional” consultants that you or they require that they work at your site/facilities. You should be able to realize these Significant Money Savings whether utilizing independent Virtual Consultants and/or Virtual Consultants from a Virtual Consulting Firm, namely:

1) You Save Money on Travel and Living Expenses

By utilizing Virtual Consultants who work remotely/virtually from wherever in the world they happen to be, you don’t have to pay all of the travel and living expenses generally if you or the consultant requires that they work at your site/facilities, you know?

These travel and living expenses, you save by utilizing Virtual Consultants, may include any to all of the following:

* Airfare

* Rental cars

* Hotels

* Meals

* Per Diems

* Etc.

And some “traditional consultants” will even bill you for all of the time they spend traveling to/from your site and their “home/base”, you know?

All of these travel and living expenses can really mount up when you have to fly each consultant in and out to your site(s) every week for potentially months on end!, you know?

Virtual Consultants provide you their consulting services remotely/virtually. This means you don’t incur any of these types of travel and living expenses by utilizing Virtual Consulting, you see?

So …

How much money would it immediately save you if you didn’t have to pay all of these travel and living expenses for each/all of the consultants you may wish to engage to help you satisfy your business needs?

2) You Save Money on Facilities

Virtual Consultants work from their own offices, homes and/or wherever they happen to be.

Therefore, you do not have to provide facilities, e.g. offices, conference rooms, telephones, etc. for any of the Virtual Consultants you utilize, you know?

How much money might you save by not having to provide the facilities for each/all of the consultants you may engage to help you satisfy your business needs?

3) You Save Money on Computer and Office Equipment

Virtual Consultants use their own computers and office equipment to perform their consulting services for you.

Therefore, you do not have to provide additional computer or office equipment for any of the Virtual Consultants you utilize to use, which a traditional consultant would likely need to use while working at your site. Further, none of your staff has to spend their time setting up, configuring and/or cleaning up computers and/or networks just for your consultants to use at your site, you know?

How much money would you also save by not having to provide and manage all of the additional computers, networks and office equipment for each/all of the consultants you may engage to help you satisfy all of your consulting needs?

The next two (2) Money Saving items, below, are additional ways in which You may Save More Money by utilizing Virtual Consulting and Virtual Consultants versus having to recruit, hire, employ and your own employees to provide these services, complete these projects and/or tasks to satisfy your same business needs, namely:

4) You Save Money on your Human Resources

Why have to carry employees on your payroll all the time, when you may only need their particular skills, talents, and/or experience for particular tasks, projects and/or part of the time?

Why not just pay for the resources with the skills, talents, and/or experiences you need just when you need them, e.g. to complete a particular task or project?

Virtual Consulting provides you with with access to a “Just In Time (JIT)” flexible workforce. You can engage just the Virtual Consultants that you need and just when you need them to complete your particular tasks and projects. These resources then don’t cost you anything when you aren’t using / don’t need them!, you know?

Further, by utilizing Virtual Consultants, you don’t have to pay all of costs associated with providing all of the benefits that you would have to when employing your own full time employees, you know?

So …

How much money would you also save by utilizing Virtual Consultants and not having to carry all of the employees on your payroll all the time, from whom you may only need their particular skills, talents, and/or experience for particular tasks, projects and/or part of the time?

5) You Save Money on Recruiting and Hiring

Having access to this type of flexible workforce of Virtual Consultants also allows your business to Save Money by being able to more efficiently and effectively “ramp up” or “scale back” your human resources with all of the “ebbs” and “flows” of your business, you know?

You don’t have to incure all of the additional costs of posting jobs, recruiting candidates, hiring and training new employees to address seasonal variations in your business, new projects and/or unexpected increases in your business that may not last forever, right?

You may quickly and easily engage all of the Virtual Consultants to more efficiently and effectively match your human resources with your business needs at any time! and Save Money in the process, you know?

The final, for now, two (2) Money Saving items, below, are additional ways in which You may Save even More Money by engaging a Virtual Consulting Firm who provides all of the Virtual Consultants and Virtual Consulting services to satisfy your business needs, versus having to recruit, hire, employ and your own employees to provide these services and satisfy these same business needs, namely:

6) You Save Money finding the Right Resource for the “Job”

Do you realize how much time, effort and money it costs you to find the right person to successfully perform a particular “job” / complete a particular project or task?

It has been my experience as both a corporate hiring manager and as the Principal of a consulting firm, that the Pareto principle, more commonly known as the 80/20 Rule, applies in these situations as well! This means that for every position for which you are trying to hire an employee or find the right consultant, and in each phase of this process, only 20% of the people you interview or hire/engage will be the right person for that job or task. That means that you are likely to hire/engage up to five (5) different people before you find the right/best person for that job or task. Spending all of this time and effort to find this one (1) right person may be very time consuming and very costly!, you know? And you have to start all over with this whole process each time you need to replace someone for whatever reason, you know?

You may avoid all of this lost time, effort and these costs by employing a Virtual Consulting Firm that takes care of all of that for you! A good Virtual Consulting Firm will find the right person for each job, task or project for you! Further, a good Virtual Consulting Firm will replace any consultants as needed, for whatever reason, completely transparently to you!

So …

How much more time, effort and Money will this Save You by engaging a Virtual Consulting Firm to provide you with the right person for each job, task or project you need for your business?

7) You may Save Significant amounts of Money on Consulting Rates

Even many independent Virtual Consultants may offer you significantly lower rates for their consulting services if they are able to remotely/virtually simple due to the benefits of Virtual Consulting to them and their strong preference to be able to work from wherever they want, you know?

A good Virtual Consulting Firm may further be able to offer you lower rates for the specific consulting services you need to satisfy your specific business needs. They are able to offer you these better rates by having access to many Virtual Consultants of various levels, skills and experiences such that they may match the right consultants with the best rates for your specific requirements and business needs, you see?

Further, a Virtual Consulting Firm is itself typically a virtual organization, they generally don’t have the traditional overhead of facilities, etc. and are able to capitalize on all of the aforementioned Money Saving benefits. Therefore, they are able to pass these savings on to you in the form of lower consulting rates, and you ultimately Save More Money!, you see?

So …

Given all of these ways, discussed herein, in which you may Save Money by utilizing Virtual Consulting, Virtual Consultants and a Virtual Consulting Firm, Just think of all of the Money You may Save by starting to utilize Virtual Consulting, Virtual Consultants and a Virtual Consulting Firm to help you satisfy your business needs Today!

and …

2) Ability to view your technological advancement from a scientific perspective to maximize your SR&ED claim. (Consultants find more qualifying work by viewing your technology from different angles including projects and supporting activities to Maximize the dollar value of your SR&ED claim).

3) Ability to communicate the process effectively. (SR&ED consultants typically have a key turning process that is streamlined to ensure a smooth process and save you time to focus on other business operations or product development. The ability to communicate the process in a methodical manner facilitates the process and makes sure that everyone is on the same page from the start).

4) Defence of your SR&ED claim: Fully supporting you in the event of an audit; reducing the possibility of a rejection. (Some SR&ED consultants will communicate with CRA auditors on your behalf to protect your SR&ED claim and provide supporting arguments if the SR&ED submission were to be challenged.)

5) Proper record keeping to support your claim. (Consultants guide you in preparing the correct supporting documentation and help you structure your SR&ED claim accordingly).

6) Proactive Time Tracking Assistance – Assisting your company with time / project management. (SR&ED consultants possess proprietary enhanced software to process your SR&ED tax credit claims, other software includes project management / time tracking software that is used to package your SR&ED submission in an efficient manner.

7) SR&ED consultants use a proven streamlined process for success and time saving. (SR&ED Consulting firms have designated staff responsible for certain tasks and milestones in the process. This is an internal systematized approach that is precise and time stamped to verify that there are not any steps missing and that the correct parties were followed up with.)

Industry experts that are senior SR&ED specialists can complete the technical write-up concisely and put it down on paper in a way that is consistent with the programs criteria. (CRA has reduced the character amount to ensure that only key technological advancement are included).

9) SR&ED Consultants understand the SR&ED program requirements inside – out. Some consultants have both financial and technical backgrounds. (The SR&ED is a convoluted program that involved documentation collection, a technical write-up with strong supporting arguments and a financial portion. SR&ED consultants prepare the claim for your accountant to file with your taxes).

10) Aware of all CRA SR&ED claim guidelines (It is crucial to understand the SR&ED rules and include supporting arguments that would be relevant to the advancement of technology or improvement of a process. A write-up that is irrelevant to the SR&ED criteria, for example: Business, marketing, sales advancements will most likely trigger an audit to review the whole claim as it does not focus on technology or scientific advancement. Additionally, smaller firms will follow up with CRA to facilitate the refunds).

11) Technical expertise to match your business niche. (When selecting the right SR&ED consultant for your company, you want to make sure that they specialize in your business niche and that they possess industry knowledge and experience to fully support your SR&ED claim. Assigning juniors or consultants that do not have industry knowledge/experience is detrimental to your SR&ED claim, as they may not use the correct industry jargon and be as effective at defending or providing supporting arguments).

12) Understand the language of the SR&ED program including schedule deadlines, terminology and which tax forms to use. (As with any other business, you need to understand the business and industry to be successful. It is important to interview your consultant/SR&ED service provider before choosing to file your claim. Always ask for references/testimonials and select a firm/consultant that has a proven track record.)

13) If you do not qualify for an SR&ED claim initially. Some consultants will guide you and provide advice on how to effectively prepare yourself. Furthermore, because consultation firms are connected to industry networks, they may have important strategic relationships that would help grow your business. Such insights can be provided to you as part of the service.

14) Training for your next SRED claim. (Some SR&ED consultants offer hands on training for SR&ED tax credit preparation. This includes educating your team to understand which areas are important for SR&ED and specific record keeping habits.)

15) The SR&ED program can be ambiguous with many gray areas. SR&ED consultants are focused and understand how it is applicable to your development. (The SR&ED program is not black and white. There are many unclear activities that can be considered as eligible SR&ED expenses. These are typically supporting activities to the core R&D, that you cannot do without one another.)

16) Consultants save you time to focus on product development / business operations (The amount of time you would allocate to educate your internal resources on the complexity of the program would be generally be greater than the dollar amount spent for hiring an SR&ED expert).

17) Spend less time and get larger return while freeing up internal resources. (Your development team can focus on what they do best, which is product development and maintaining their momentum is efficient as oppose to boring them with mundane, convoluted tasks, which in turn can work against you and raise flags, if completed incorrectly).

18) Preparing an SR&ED claim yourself may be inadequate or inconsistent. In most cases you are leaving money on the table and risk triggering an audit or getting flagged- SR&ED consultants provide focused results. (Relative to the point above, SR&ED consultants will not place your company in a position that would hinder your claim. In most cases – SR&ED consultants operate on contingency basis, which ultimately means that they partner up with you and are only compensated once you receive the refund. If the refund dollar amount is decreased, so would their compensation for the SR&ED preparation service.)

19) SR&ED experts avoid common mistakes such as writing technical reports that are heavily focused on new features and benefits that a new product brings to the company and is presented as a business project rather than a SR&ED project. (These mistakes cause audits & red flags with CRA) (It is crucial to only focus on technological advancements/challenges rather than business/marketing/sales or other unrelated activities).

20) Inadequate correlation between the technical reports and financial reports could also initiate a CRA review. (The financial report should be a reflection of your technical report and remain consistent in supporting your SR&ED claim).

21) Changes to SR&ED are constant – SR&ED consultants are in the loop and keep up with recent changes to the program. (CRA’s legislative changes from time to time and it is important to keep informed so that your claim reflects these changes).

22) SR&ED consultants generally use contingency fees for success and take the risk. (If your SR&ED consulting firm is unable to recoup your development costs for whichever reason(s), there is not a penny that would come out of your pocket. This protects clients and motivates the consultant(s) to work diligently).

23) Consulting firms often package your personal / corporate taxes, business consulting and other financial services as part of the SR&ED service. (Your company may find it convenient to combine financial services that includes your SR&ED claim preparation into one service provider. Some SR&ED consultants are able to provide you with a package deal which ultimately would reduce your SR&ED rate.

24) Empowerment through education – Some tax credit firms that offer SR&ED services posses a network of resources and extend education/training on how to grow/market your business/product.

25) Program is convoluted – over 70 documents, dozens of tax court of Canada rulings, unclear process (There are tons of documents to sift through to get a basic understanding of the SR&ED program.

26) Mobile: Consultants generally drive to your location for meetings (This is helpful when you are engaged in time sensitive projects. SR&ED Consultants generally make an effort to work around your schedule and some even meet after business hours).

27) Can work remotely. (The convenience of completing tasks remotely is always an advantage. Some SR&ED consultants have streamlined their process to operate remotely. This includes Skype meetings, exchanging e-mails and general conference calls for operational purposes).

28) Proven track record of successful SR&ED claims (When selecting the right SR&ED consultants to work with you, be sure to verify their credentials. This includes, testimonials and a proven track record for your industry/business niche.)

29) Presentation and overview of R&D program to your team. (SR&ED consultants will present the SR&ED program to your team so that they are aware of the process. This can be achieved prior to the work completed and is usually done during a preliminary meeting.

30) Assessment of eligible expenditures and projected SR&ED dollar amount of refund (In addition to identifying eligible SR&ED expenses, SR&ED consultants can provide a projected estimate of the dollar value of your submission, so you know the refundable amount that you can expect to receive in a form of a cheque.)

31) Preparation of tax schedules to attach to your corporate tax return (SR&ED consultants correspond your accountant(s) and will provide you with applicable tax forms. Some consultants will assist you with populating the correct fields when filing with your corporate tax returns. Other SR&ED firms file the claim for you, they have the software and submit it to CRA. )

32) Advice on the eligibility of your future projects. (Examining the potential for future projects prior to the R&D work is beneficial. SR&ED consultants can assist with structuring your claim in an organized fashion, so when it comes to filing for your SR&ED submission, the process will be streamlined and smooth).

33) Protection of confidentiality – Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA). (In the SR&ED business, it is common for SR&ED consulting firms to sign a confidentiality agreement to protect your intellectual property. Some firms even include a section in the service agreement that will automatically protect clients).

34) Introduce to other tax credits, grants and financing for some businesses – other types of government assistance. (Some clients that take advantage of government incentive programs such as SR&ED will also inquire about IRAP or other grants that will propel them to the next development phase. Make sure to inquire about other types of government assistant programs that are available. However, keep in mind that if you do acquire government assistance, the dollar amount would be deducted from your SR&ED submission).

35) Smaller SR&ED consulting firms tend to invest more in relationships and provide a hands on approach. (Larger accounting firms have a large number of clients to deal with on a daily basis. The notion of feeling like a number can be prevalent).

36) Milestone meetings – Quarterly reviews (Your SR&ED consulting firm may meet with you prior to the SR&ED submission, to help you structure your claim effectively and provide quality control in preparation to your claim. This can be extended to your company at no additional cost and as part of the service provided to you).

37) Help finding qualified projects that have failed (This is the only time of the year where you get to brag about your project failures. Failed R&D projects can certainly be claimed as part of SR&ED, so even if you were unable to overcome a technological hurdle; associated costs can be included in your SR&ED claim).

38) conduct financial and technical review to ensure that there aren’t any important factors which are missed. (Quality control of both the financial and technical write-up is conducted prior to submission. This is done to ensure that there are no red flags and that information presented is consistent with the SR&ED program criteria and your business).

39) Inform you of government deadlines (It is known that companies are overwhelmed with product development and business operations that they forget about the hard government deadline for SR&ED. Your SR&ED consultant will inform you a head of time so that you do not miss the deadline and lose out on a whole year of development.)

40) Process improvement – achieved through the optimization of SR&ED tax credit applications yields economic benefits for the industry as a whole. ( SR&ED consultants are also industry experts and are aware of efficient processes in the industry. Some consultants will provide guidance and solutions to improve business operations).

41).) Evaluation of eligibility of your projects prior to submission. (

When you brainstorm to make a career change to consulting, what you need to understand is not only its definition, but also the responsibilities a consultant has.

Being a consultant, you are expected to offer your skills to other people or businesses. You would be required to give suggestions, solve problems, make recommendations and provide specialized work so as to streamline the process you provide consultation for.

If you think that anyone who knows a thing or two about a certain process would be able to provide consultation, with all due respect, you are wrong.

Actually, what separates a good consultant from a bad one are passion, knowledge and drive for excellence. A person who has in-depth knowledge about the subject can only be able to provide insight into a certain process.

This is the difference, isn’t?

If you are transitioning to consulting, first you need to understand the things you should consider prior to making your first move towards your goal.

What licensing and certifications will I need?

Depending upon your expertise and profession, you may need specific certification or a license before you start providing your services. Let’s say, if you long for consulting for manufacturing and distribution companies, you need to have a license from a trusted organization or a consultant licensing platform.

Am I qualified enough to be a consultant?

Before approaching one of the consulting groups for small and medium size enterprises for license or training, what you need to do is a self-analysis. This would help you ascertain whether you hold the traits that a consultant needs to succeed or are able to provide error-free deliverables.

Do I have my long-term and short-term goals in place?

If your goals do not align with the time, energy and expertise it takes to start and maintain a consulting business, your chances get significantly lowered to make it big. Approach a consultant providing expert consulting for manufacturing and distribution companies to understand what goals you should strive for.

Here are some fields a consultant can join

Lean manufacturing

To become a lean manufacturing consultant, you need to become at home on all areas related to lean manufacturing process – a process incorporated into a production process to eliminate waste, thereby ensuring efficiency.

A lean manufacturing consultant is expected to provide a good piece of advice to key decision makers in large corporations and non-profit organizations on how they can minimize or eliminate waste to attain maximum production. You can approach one of the well-known consulting groups for small and medium size enterprises to understand the nitty-gritty and get a license to start your own consulting firm.

Human resources

As long as businesses need workforce, a human resource consultant will be high in demand. A human resource consultant would help a business – for example a software development company – to create essential department and hire qualified candidates as well.

Marketing

A marketing consultant needs to chalk out an efficient marketing plan to help a business reach out to its targeted audience. In order to churn out such a plan, you need to be efficient enough to understand a business’ product, target audience and how an advertisement campaign of the same would be executed.

Along with this, there are a wide range of professions you can choose from to be a consultant for.

Listed below are the reasons why a company hires a consultant

A business of any size and nature needs to be backed by a consultant in order to execute every business operation in such a way that it generates positive returns.

We are providing you some of those reasons why a consultant is important to any business.

A consultant is valued for:

Expertise over the subject matter
Ability to identify the problem and rectify the same
Ability to act as a catalyst
Ability to provide much-needed objectivity

Consultants Should Do No Harm

In management consulting, executives and consultants are primarily responsible for creating value and safeguarding the interests of their clients, however they should also protect society by pursuing their goals in an ethical manner. Of course, they focus on their clients’ businesses making sound profit, shareholder equity and continuous growth, but it is also their responsibility to align the interests of their clients with the general good.

They have an obligation to recognize that there are multiple stakeholders, customers, employees, society and the environment, not just shareholders and management. They should act with the utmost integrity, and serve the greater good, with an enhanced sense of joint accountability. It is vital to realize that their actions have profound consequences for everyone, inside and outside the organization, now and in the long run. Consulting companies, should focus more on ethical guidance, as they hold significant influence over many companies’ strategy and plans.

Consulting companies (strategy, management, accounting, etc.) have an obligation to advise their clients on how to build their successful enterprises on a solid foundations, and to help them achieve sustainable economic, social, and environmental prosperity. It is their responsibility to not distort or hide the truth behind facts, but to explain the truth and promote transparency. They must also demonstrate to their client’s ethical ways to achieve their goals. But is this what is happening today?

Double-dealing, Fraud, Corruption, Insider trading and that’s just the tip of the iceberg

If we take a close look at incidents that have occurred in the recent past, we find a rotten record of behaviors in the management consulting industry. Numerous examples exist of partners and employees of major management consulting firms being involved in illegal and unethical scandals, in efforts to retain clients and to harvest personal gains. This is a common among people who put their profits before customers.

An example of the crisis we face in consulting is that of a former partner of a global consulting firm, who was sentenced to prison for 21 months because of his involvement in insider trading. This executive was a liaison between the consulting firm’s auditors and the audit team of the clients. He had access to non- public information, such as planned or potential acquisitions, quarterly earnings, etc. From 2006-2008 he illegally used inside information for personal and family market gains. Finally, after the scandal was revealed, the SEC brought charges and the firm sued him. He ended up paying significant penalties and being sentenced to prison time. Shouldn’t the consulting firm have been aware of its employees’ actions, and made an effort to instill ethics in them?

Going forward, we highlight another significant scandal that shook the consulting world in 2008. A former executive of a huge consulting firm, also a director at another global operating company, was found guilty of insider trading, sentenced to two years prison time, and ordered to pay a fine of $5 million, for trading on information obtained at a company board meeting. This information concerned the approval of a $5 billion investment during the economic session of 2008. The person that received the information purchased stock in the company and recognized immediate gains. The company was already being investigated by the FBI, and when the culprit was discovered discussing non-public information with the executive, the scheme was revealed. This was a significant hit for the consulting firm, which to that point had publicly promoted the ethics that we espouse. The firm took another hit when it was involved in an accounting scandal for a different client. The client, a large and international company, hired and paid the consulting firm $10 million per year for advisory fees concerning strategy and operations. The consulting company provided consultancy during the client’s transformation, from an emphasis on natural gas to a wide range of interests in water, timber, and high speed internet. During this period of consulting, the client company experienced several cases of accounting fraud, and a multitude of financial irregularities involving their balance sheet and income statements. It also led to massive layoffs and a ruthless HR policy. Ultimately, the company filed for bankruptcy, and the consulting firm still bears the negative mark of the scandals. The consulting firm cannot be accused directly, but how can it claim innocence when it was the strategy adviser of the company? Is it possible that they knew the truth and did not speak up, for fear of losing the client?

The last example of corruption is the case of a managing director of a global beer company, who hired a consulting firm to develop a strategic plan for the company. However, he also had an ulterior motive to unseat his deputy chairman. During the two years that the consulting firm advised the company, it sold off 150 companies, and its profits increased by six times. This increase was primarily due their strategic diversification into the hard liquor industry and their purchase of several other firms. However, the beer firm was thought to have purchased its own stock to falsely inflate its stock price, and using fraudulent and deceitful means of beating competitors’ bids for a company that it purchased. The consulting firm denied involvement in the illegal actions, but its vice president was the main advisor of the director of the beer company.

These examples represent a small part of the dishonest and unethical situation that has plagued the consulting industry. Who would expect large consulting companies, known for their ethics and transparent operations, to be involved in significant fraud or unethical actions and decisions? Is this the business world in which we want to live? Consulting firms have great responsibility, because they are responsible for building and delivering the strategies of their clients, influencing them, and working closely with their leaders. They are supposed to enhance the value of organizations and society in general, using all available resources.

Consulting Industry Ethics Revolution

The dishonest and illegal actions of consulting firms must stop. Leaders from all consulting organizations have to set an example and establish and promote new business ethics that will entail honesty, trust, and hard work, and that will be followed by everyone within their organizations. This ethical environment must be fostered by management, and become an integral part of the strategies and operations of consulting firms. The time has come for consulting firms to become leaders in promoting ethics and good business practices. The public must regain its trust in businesses, both consulting firms and their clients. This trust has been shaken by the high number of business scandals in the recent past. While it seems clear that some government regulation is needed to enforce honesty and adherence to the law, this regulation will fail to solve the problem if the leaders of the consulting industry are not willing to lead this change.

Ethics are particularly important in the consulting industry, due to the influence that these firms hold over a large number and wide variety of global companies. Consulting firms are hired to assist clients in a variety of important endeavors, and to develop strategies that promote growth and success. Because they specialize in helping businesses to succeed, their advice hold great sway over company’s decisions. It is therefore logical to assume that an ethical consulting firm, that promotes legal and honest business practices, will promote these ethical practices in the firms that it consults. Conversely, a firm that promotes the ethos of success at any cost, with a lack of regard for ethical practices, will promote this type of behavior in its clients. It must be the obligation of consulting firms to demonstrate to clients that ethical behavior can lead to success for the company, its employees, its clients, and society as a whole. The leadership and behavior of the leaders of consulting firms not only affect the behavior of their own employees, but also the management and employees of all of the companies for which they consult.

The large number of high-publicity business scandals that have occurred in the near past have caused significant harm to the public’s perception of and trust in the business community. The financial crisis of 2008 was also a significant contributor to this decreasing level of trust, as the irresponsible, and sometimes illegal, strategies and practices of many businesses were revealed. This demonstrates the effect that unethical business practices can have on society as a whole. The financial crisis was partially caused by unethical behavior in the financial industry. This caused businesses to collapse, unemployment to skyrocket, and a general decrease in the trust that people had for business culture. For this trust to be regained, a dedication to ethical behavior must be espoused.

Ethics drive action and decision-making, and also define how companies are perceived by their employees, their customers, and the public. A successful and sustainable business must have a culture that promotes good behavior and ethical practices. As we have seen in several real life examples, there are numerous cases of businesses losing clients and money, and employees losing their jobs and facing criminal consequences, because of unethical behavior. Acting unethically does not lead to success in the long run. Companies that succeed long term are those that act with honesty, integrity and solid morale.

Consultants Oath

Consulting firms influence their clients and help to develop strategies that lead to business success. Ethical behavior is an imperative part of success. It is therefore necessary for consulting companies to have an ethical code, like the medical profession has The Hippocratic Oath. Ethical behavior must be encouraged in the consulting industry, so that it can be passed on to the other industries that it influences. Managers and employees must believe in this positive behavior, and understand its importance.

Consultants have the opportunity to be leaders in encouraging ethical business practices. This opportunity can help to bring success to their clients while at the same time benefiting society as a whole. Enough examples of negative behavior have occurred in the consulting industry and in business in general. It is time to lead by example, and to promote success with ethical behavior. This is an important opportunity for our industry, and it is important that it is not wasted. Time is of essence, so let’s create today a future as we envision it.