The latest annual ranking of leading consulting groups and companies, prepared by the RAEX agency ("Expert RA"), shows that this market has moved from contraction to stagnation. He was supported by orders from government agencies, state-owned companies and defense industry enterprises.
At the end of 2016, the increase in the total revenue of the largest consulting groups participating in the current, already eighteenth ranking, amounted to 5% (hereinafter, the rates calculated based on comparable data of participants in the current ranking are given, including due to changes in the approaches of the ranking organizer since 2017 consolidation of data from audit groups - Ed.), and its volume reached 97.5 billion rubles. If we adjust for inflation (5.4% according to Rosstat), we can state that this market has exited the negative zone. Indeed, in past years, formally large growth rates did not actually keep pace with rising prices (in 2015, the revenue growth of the rating participants was 7% with inflation of 12.9%; in 2014 - 9% and 11.4%, respectively).
Ranking participants earned 8.6 billion rubles from financial consulting (an increase of 7%)
The reason for the protracted failures is obvious: demand in this market is directly and closely dependent on the general economic situation. Companies begin to save money on third-party advice first. Competition also makes its contribution, which inevitably intensifies in a shrinking market, and this is a direct road to dumping. According to Irina Vishnevskaya, CEO of Berkshire Advisory Group, the average bill for consulting services has been steadily declining. “More and more companies are switching to procurement in accordance with 223-FZ on government procurement, where the price of services remains a key criterion.” Nevertheless, breaking even after two years of decline is quite a worthy reason for optimism.
Play for a long time
As has been the case for many years in a row, the largest amount of revenue of the ranking participants comes from IT consulting. In 2016, its share accounted for as much as 64%: in total, public and private customers provided groups and companies in the ranking with 53.27 billion rubles: 13.64 billion rubles - management consulting (an increase of 3%) and 39.63 billion rubles - consulting within development and system integration (2% growth). In general, the IT consulting segment last year amounted to 3%.
The ranking leaders continue to implement complex and comprehensive megaprojects for business and the state. “We are talking about the implementation of solutions for automation of design and technological preparation of production at the enterprises of the United Engine Corporation, the Russian Helicopters holding company, etc. Also last year, specialists from our group implemented business process automation systems at Sberbank of Russia, as well as anti-skimming protection systems for ATM networks of large banks, participated in the construction and equipment of data processing centers for telecommunications companies for the World Cup. Consulting services are an integral part of all these projects," says Vladimir Gribov, vice president and executive director of LANIT.
The Technoserv group spoke about the tangible positive dynamics of projects for the financial and transport sectors, where customer loyalty is extremely important for business. “From a technological point of view, the drivers were projects in the field of Big Data and iBanking. For example, the project to implement a dynamic segmentation system based on Big Data technologies at Aeroflot. Such a system helps the air carrier actively develop online sales and increase the number of new passengers for the airline. As for iBanking, it is a comprehensive system of remote banking services. Projects using this technology have been implemented for several of the largest Russian banks," explains Sergey Korneev, president of the Technoserv group of companies.
According to segment leaders, the vast majority of customers in the current economic conditions want to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of the IT infrastructure and its development at minimal cost. "In this regard, a comprehensive survey and audit of computing power is in demand, which allows us to understand how the performance of databases and applications can be increased without increasing the server base. The recommendations received enable customers to optimize the costs of maintaining the IT infrastructure and plan investments so as to fully utilize the potential inherent in equipment and software with a horizon of up to three years,” Stepan Tomlyanovich, General Director of the company FORS - Development Center (FORS Group), shares his experience.
As for the slowdown in the dynamics in the IT consulting segment, it can be explained, among other things, by an increase in the share of projects lasting more than a year. In projects, more and more tasks arise related to the transformation of the business as a whole (for example, the creation of shared service centers), rather than individual business processes. There are no clearly defined industry specifics here. “In our current portfolio, the share of such “long” projects is approximately 2/3,” explains Igor Zimnenko, deputy general director of I-Teco and head of Witte Consulting (I-Teco Group).
Small business practice
Financial management and evaluation. The volume of revenue from financial consulting and valuation activities in 2016 amounted to 13.42 billion rubles, an increase of 8% over the year. The ranking participants earned 8.6 billion rubles (an increase of 7%) from financial consulting, and 4.82 billion rubles (an increase of 8%) from valuations.
“Now the place of initiative or investment valuation has been taken by mandatory valuation, primarily by order of government agencies and state corporations. There is a demand for valuation of state property and shareholdings for various purposes (rent, purchase and sale, privatization, contribution to the authorized capital). There is also a growing demand for valuation and judicial cost examination in processes of forced seizure of property,” says Kirill Kulakov, first deputy general director of Center for Independent Expertise of Property LLC.
Orders for appraisals are also growing due to B2C. “It was in 2016, when the regions switched to a new system for calculating property taxes, not only legal entities, but also individuals began to actively seek the opportunity to challenge what they considered to be an inflated cadastral value,” says Irina Vishnevskaya.
Legal and tax consulting. The total turnover in the legal services sector in 2016 amounted to 3.69 billion rubles (an increase of 26%).
Another 2.77 billion rubles from the revenue of the ranking participants comes from tax consulting services minus 8% per year. Apparently, the crisis factors were also influenced by the consequences of the stabilization promised by the authorities in the field of taxation, as well as the steady improvement of administration in this area.
Total revenue in the sectors of strategic planning and consulting in the field of marketing and PR at the end of 2016 amounted to 3.74 billion rubles (growth rate of 4%). In 2016, the attention of the domestic industry, including the defense industry, to the creation and launch of civilian products on the market increased significantly. This desire has led to a significant increase in demand for services in the field of strategic marketing and the development of strategies for “civil diversification” of the product portfolio of industrial enterprises,” explains Alena Fomina, General Director of the Central Research Institute “Electronics”.
Moisei Furshchik, managing partner of the company FOK (Financial and Organizational Consulting), also points to the increased demand for strategic consulting in the public sector from regions, municipalities and state-owned companies: “Federal Law No. 172 on strategic planning makes it mandatory to develop a strategy at the regional level ", and at the municipal level this is of a recommendatory nature. Therefore, if previously strategies were ordered only by the largest or "oil and gas" cities that did not lack funds, now orders have also begun to appear from problematic municipalities that are trying to formulate a long-term plan to overcome the crisis." .
Consulting in the field of personnel management brought the ranking participants 1.4 billion rubles in 2016 (minus 2% for the year). The sector is kept afloat by large customers. "IN oil industry, electric power industry, metallurgy, banks and trade. The stage of initial process automation has already been passed, and we see a transition to new technological platforms - cloud technologies. “Clouds” in the future will provide analytics, “big data” (Big Data) and, most importantly, “smart data” (Smart Data),” notes Mikhail Panchenko, CEO of MOLGA Consulting.
The Talen Q company also talks about the demand for HR consulting from businesses: “One of the most important trends in 2016 is an integrated approach to personnel assessment. We also feel the growing popularity of remote assessment tools. Sales of adaptive ability tests have increased by more than 30%, personality and motivational-value questionnaires, ability tests and competency questionnaires, as well as solutions for assessment using the 360-degree method. We also provided consulting services on the formation of competency models, drawing up individual development plans, developing “success profiles” for specific positions based on HR- analytics and so on,” Elena Kadyrova, CEO of Talent Q, spoke about trends in the field of personnel management.
Interview
- Please characterize the current state of the consulting services market. What factors do you think continue to slow down the market? And what, on the contrary, favors the development of consulting practices?
Yuliy Somsikov, Managing Partner of Swiss Consulting Partners: The crisis has had a multidirectional impact on the consulting market. As expected, some customers followed the trend of reducing costs by refusing some services, in this case consulting, while others, on the contrary, began to turn to consultants to help optimize their business. There is a need for consulting, but the demand for it is not so great. They are saving money on it, but its revenue is gradually growing.
Yuliy Somsikov, managing partner of Swiss Consulting Partners
The slowdown and uncertainty in the economy remain the main factors negatively affecting the consulting market. However, both private and state companies real sector remain active customers of consulting services.
The speed of change is why the Russian consulting market is lagging behind. As a business, it appeared in Russia relatively recently, and its young age means that experience based on the use of the most effective approaches, with rare exceptions, is characteristic only of international companies. Naturally, both clients and consultants may feel that now is not the right time for innovation and experimentation and that it is best to use a “conservative” business plan. This judgment is quite fair, however, as practice shows, in a crisis there will always be some new idea, which can "shoot".
In the 21st century, the consulting market faces more than just economic challenges. It is no secret that nowadays almost any information can be found on the Internet, and in the near future there will be more and more data on the Internet. This is where a potential client develops a huge misconception: “Why should I contact a consultant and pay him for help in business planning if there is Google?” But it is important not only to have access to the ocean, but also to be able to swim in order to stay on the water, not drown and move in the right direction. For consultants, the main task is to be able to analyze large volumes of information, accumulate the experience of best practices and find the most effective solution for the client as quickly and accurately as possible.
Yes, there is actually a lot of useful and accurate information on the World Wide Web, but for the client the risk of stumbling upon unverified, outdated and publicly available data is, of course, very high. Therefore, a “live” consultant who is able to organize work with an individual approach will be much better than clicking on a result in a search engine.
What are the prospects for the development of consulting in the current economic situation? In your opinion, is there increased competition between market players?
Yuliy Somsikov: Firstly, the number of customers representing small and medium-sized businesses will continue to grow. Secondly, as last year, the service for examining operational improvements will attract more new clients in the near future - it does not put a strain on companies’ budgets and is implemented in the shortest possible time.
We are also seeing an increase in interest in consulting services from government customers: they require advice in the field of content and maintenance of innovation and industrial policies, investment, and regulatory impact assessments.
In general, the difficulties in the consulting market cannot be called neglected: Russian consultants are doing their best to respond to the challenges of both the economy of our day and, in general, the time in which they exist.
There is always competition between market participants. And it is absolutely true that during a crisis it only gets worse. At the same time, the winners in the competition between consulting companies are not only those who offer the best price for their services, but also those who have a unique approach to the customer, a high level of work performance and access to international competencies.
With what, for Last year and now, is there a demand for marketing and strategic planning services? Which areas of work from these areas are most in demand from customers and why? Are current customer needs different from those of the past?
Yuliy Somsikov: If we talk about marketing and strategic consulting, we again come up against the topic of crisis. During such a period, these services can be the best way to take the company to the next level. The most popular area is the comprehensive development of the project. Customers understand that it will not be possible to implement any specific functional strategy in isolation from the development strategy of their company as a whole.
It cannot be said that other areas of consultant activity are becoming less in demand. On the contrary, there is a demand for management and financial consulting: in particular, for the development of feasibility studies of investment projects, assessment of their investment attractiveness, business planning, etc. They are not inferior to, for example, cost consulting, assistance in asset management and risk analysis.
As for past trends, IT consulting services have been popular, and this is again directly related to the macroeconomic environment. In conditions of austerity, many companies are striving to automate some business processes, and for this they need to implement new IT solutions.
Your group occupies a fairly strong position in the consulting market. What advantages of your business could you identify?
Yuliy Somsikov: A prerequisite for a consulting company to have a worthy position in the market is its readiness for transformation. The main concept of our work today can be called the principle: “If today the market is just thinking that something needs to be improved, then the consulting company should offer the market a new product or solution tomorrow morning.” A good consultant must inspire and lead the client, so you always need to be half a step ahead of the market.
No less important for Swiss Consulting Partners is the issue of creating an effective team: we have created a team that thinks quickly, we are revising it in favor of more experienced and multifunctional employees, we are attracting specialists who are well versed in the latest technologies, both in their technical and information components.
The Agile principle, which emerged at the beginning of the century, is gradually being introduced into today's consulting. Essentially, it is an integral part of customer centricity and lies in the flexibility of work. In other words, a company that works with a client according to this principle always puts his opinion as a priority and pays great attention to changes in the situation, instead of strictly following the plan. Swiss Consulting Partners is committed to supporting this approach.
The UNIPRAVEX company invites companies providing consulting services to participate in the CONSULTING RESEARCH program. It represents a single set of actions aimed at creating an extensive and stable client base of consumers of consulting services in all sectors of the national economy and sectors of the economy. One of the important factors in attracting the attention of customers to the services of consultants is their positioning in the business services market. For this purpose, an integrated rating of consulting companies by federal district is being carried out Russian Federation. The results of the rating will help Russian entrepreneurs - executives, managers - choose the most professional, stable consulting teams with an impeccable business reputation as business partners.
The three-dimensional rating matrix, developed by the Information Rating Agency (IRA) of the expert analytical company UNIPRAVEX, contains integrated basic indicators reflected in the rating index: quantitative and quality characteristics, assessment of internal and external corporate resources, comparative analysis of competitive advantages. Market leaders, whose activities have a particularly noticeable impact on the state of the consulting services industry, are grouped into separate corporate categories (A, B, C). The Index is determined based on special indicators Uni(Con), comprehensively reflecting the positive (+) or negative (-) dynamics of the appraisal services market and the forecast for the development of the industry. The set of rating indices calculated for each company, in combination with other industry indicators, is the most reliable leading indicator of the consulting services market.
The UNIPRAVEX rating is not based on a mechanical ranking of revenue (a parameter that changes from quarter to quarter). And on a stable comprehensive analysis of corporate resources, features of geographical and industry coverage and a purely individual approach.
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Company name/corporate brand |
Main type of activity (specialization by types of consulting services) |
Number of years in the market |
Staff |
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International consulting companies/ groups |
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(formerly KPMG Consulting) |
Moscow - Frankfurt (Germany) - McLean (USA) |
Consulting, development and improvement of business organization, construction of management information systems |
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A.T. Carney/A.T. Kearney |
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Consulting companies of the CIS countries |
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Law Finance Consulting |
Legal and financial consulting, tax planning |
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Art Capital |
Securities, investments |
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Seminars, consultations |
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Consulting companies of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION Moscow |
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Consulting companies, received licenses from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation to carry out auditing activities and from the Ministry of Property Relations of the Russian Federation to carry out appraisal activities |
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INEC Group |
Comprehensive consulting |
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Demb and partners. CONSAUDIT |
Comprehensive consulting |
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Auditing and consulting group "RSM Top-Audit" |
Auditing and consulting services, including valuation activities |
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United Consultants "FDP"/AF "Aval" |
Consulting, audit, assessment, information technology |
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Audit and Consulting Group "BalEN" (LLC "Balance LTD" / CJSC "ENPI Consult") |
Audit, assessment |
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Audit, consulting |
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Gorislavtsev and K. Group of companies |
Auditing and consulting, assessment |
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Intercom-Audit |
Audit, consulting, assessment. |
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2K Audit - Business Consulting Independent Consulting Group |
Audit, assessment, accounting automation, tax consulting |
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Auditing company HOLD-INVEST-AUDIT |
Audit and consulting services |
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FinExpertiza |
Audit, consulting |
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Audit and consulting firm Modern business technologies |
Management consulting |
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Central Financial Appraisal Company |
Financial and tax consulting |
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OPTIMA-AUDIT |
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Consulting companies, received a license from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation to carry out auditing activities |
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Audit and consulting |
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COSMOS-AUDIT (old name Rollover) |
Audit, consulting |
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International Audit and Consulting Company (MACC) |
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Auditing firm "Remida Audit" |
Audit and consulting |
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Consulting group "Mikhailov and partners" |
Consulting and audit |
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Pacioli. Auditing Company |
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Scott, Riggs & Fletcher (audit) |
Audit, consulting |
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SV-Audit, AKG |
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Consulting group EXPERT |
Consulting, assessment, audit, legal services |
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Y.N.S. Audit |
Legal, legal consulting, audit |
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Consulting companies, received a license from the Ministry of Property Relations of the Russian Federation for carrying out appraisal activities |
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GERMA-CONSULT company |
Assessment, consulting |
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ABM Partner |
Assessment, consulting |
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ACC Department of Professional Assessment |
Assessment, consulting |
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Legal, tax consulting, arbitration |
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Legal consulting |
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Law Firm "VEGAS-LEX" |
Legal consulting in the field of commercial law, |
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Legal agency “YURKON” |
Consulting services, legal services, anti-crisis enterprise management, assessment activities |
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Tax Consulting U.K. |
Tax and legal consulting |
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OPTIMA-AUDIT |
Legal, tax consulting, arbitration, assessment, audit, marketing, management consulting, IT consulting |
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Management consulting, IT consulting |
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Galaxy Corporation |
Development of a comprehensive enterprise management system “Galaktika”, performance of work and services for its implementation and support |
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System integration and consulting |
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Consulting, system integration, development of High-tech products, training of specialists and managers |
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ICT-CONSULT |
Consulting |
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Consulting and information technology |
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CROC Incorporated |
System integration, IT consulting |
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Sterling Group |
IT consulting: comprehensive solutions to managerial, financial, analytical, personnel problems |
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OPTIMA-AUDIT |
Legal, tax consulting, arbitration, assessment, audit, marketing, management consulting, IT consulting |
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Consulting |
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Engineering and technical center "UNITY" |
Consulting |
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Pro-Invest Consulting |
Strategic consulting, corporate finance |
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Consulting - Center "Step" |
Consulting |
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Management consulting (optimization of company management) |
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Investment and consulting group "ROEL Consulting" |
Management and investment consulting |
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Center for Economic and Financial Expertise |
Financial management, consulting |
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"Pioneer" Professional audit company |
Consulting services |
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Consulting group "What to do Consult" |
Financial consulting (analysis of financial and economic activities, development of a strategic financial plan) |
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Group of companies "Top Management Consult" |
Strategic and operational consulting |
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Veles Capital |
Investments, consulting, stock market |
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IF-Consult |
Financial and economic research and assessment, investment planning |
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SHERP-Consult |
Consulting |
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Investor Relations (IR), Consulting |
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OPTIMA-AUDIT |
Legal, tax consulting, arbitration, assessment, audit, marketing, management consulting, IT consulting |
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Saint Petersburg |
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Research and consulting company ALT |
Saint Petersburg |
Management consulting |
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Saint Petersburg |
Management consulting |
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Auditing and consulting group "Prime Advice" |
Saint Petersburg |
Audit, consulting |
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Lenstroy-investment management |
Saint Petersburg |
Consulting (financial, legal, valuation activities) |
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Lenekspertiza |
Saint Petersburg |
Audit, consulting |
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Central Federal District (without Moscow) |
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Moscow region |
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Market Research and Consulting Agency "Market" |
Marketing and sociological research |
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Smolensk region |
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Audit firm "Auditstroyindustriya" |
Smolensk |
Audit (consulting, assessment) |
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Tver region |
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Tver Enterprise Support Center |
Management consulting |
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Northwestern Federal District (without St. Petersburg) |
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Republic of Karelia |
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Neosystems North-West |
Petrozavodsk |
Creation of Automated Enterprise Management Systems on the 1C platform, software development for forestry enterprises, 1C, IT consulting |
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Vologda Region |
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Regional information center |
Cherepovets |
Consulting and information services |
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Pskov region |
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Psychology and Business |
Consulting and psychological services for organizational development and personnel management, training, selection and certification of personnel |
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Southern Federal District |
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Krasnodar region |
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Audit Alliance |
Krasnodar |
Consulting, audit |
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Volgograd region |
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Kulagin and partners |
Volgograd |
Management consulting |
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Volga Federal District |
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Republic of Tatarstan |
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Volga Region Anti-Crisis Institute |
Consulting services in the field of crisis management and real estate management |
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Udmurt republic |
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Izh-engineering |
Audit, tax consulting |
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Nizhny Novgorod Region |
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T.M. Service |
Nizhny Novgorod |
Legal consulting |
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Orenburg region |
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Promotional rating |
Orenburg |
Assessment, consulting |
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Perm region |
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Consulting group "ER-Capital" |
Consulting |
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Inform-Consulting |
IT consulting |
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Saratov region |
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AFinA consulting |
Audit and due diligence |
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Ural federal district |
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Sverdlovsk region |
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Association "Taxes of Russia" |
Ekaterinburg |
Audit, consulting, arbitration, valuation |
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Center for Mechanical Engineering Economics |
Ekaterinburg |
Consulting |
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FINEX Consulting |
Ekaterinburg |
Management consulting |
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Audit Group "Capital" |
Ekaterinburg |
Auditing services |
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Tyumen region |
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CONSULTING GROUP "LEX" |
Legal, management, tax, financial consulting, assessment, audit, crisis management |
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Chelyabinsk region |
|||||
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Nilan-Audit |
Chelyabinsk |
Auditing services |
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Audit-Classic Auditing firm |
Chelyabinsk |
Audit, consulting, assessment |
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Siberian Federal District |
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Altai region |
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Valuation and Consulting |
Valuation and Consulting |
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Irkutsk region |
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VostSibAudit |
Audit, assessment, consulting |
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Novosibirsk region |
|||||
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Research design center AVIAMENEZHER |
Novosibirsk |
Research and design activities, management consulting, educational activities |
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Novosibirsk |
Sales of software and computer equipment, software implementation services, consulting services |
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Group of companies Siberian Society |
Novosibirsk |
Audit, assessment, legal services, consulting |
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Consulting group "BALANCE" |
Novosibirsk |
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Saybikon company |
Novosibirsk |
Audit, tax consulting, support of share capital, valuation, legal services, arbitration management |
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Far Eastern Federal District |
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Our top 10 consulting companies in the world will tell you about a dozen well-known agencies and companies that provide consulting. 10 Manning Selvage & LeeManning Selvage & Lee was founded in 1938. The headquarters of this company is located in the USA. Manning Selvage & Lee has representative offices in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. 9 Ketchum Ketchum was founded in 1923. At first, this company was engaged in advertising, and then changed the direction of its activities to public relations. The headquarters of this company is located in New York, USA. Ketchum is a global public relations firm. It provides services in five areas, namely brand marketing; corporate communications; healthcare; food and nutrition; technologies. The company includes 23 offices, 46 branches and associations, which are located in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Asian region and the Western Pacific Ocean. 8 The Hoffman Agency The Hoffman Agency was founded in 1987. The headquarters of this company is located in San Jose, California, USA. The Hoffman Agency is a global public relations firm. The company includes 9 offices located in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the USA. 7 Porter Novelli Porter Novelli was founded in 1972. The headquarters of this company is located in New York, USA. The company's activities are focused on public relations. Porter Novelli has approximately 100 offices located in 60 countries. 6 Waggener Edstrom Waggener Edstrom was founded in 1983. The headquarters of this company is located in Bellevue, Washington State, USA. The company's activities are focused on public relations. Waggener Edstrom has offices in many cities, including New York, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Ora, Austin, Texas, London and Munich. 5 Hill & Knowlton The Hill & Knowlton agency, located in the USA, was founded in 1927. The activities of this company include services in the field of corporate and financial communications. Basically, the Hill & Knowlton agency provides services to companies that specialize in pharmacology and healthcare, as well as on-line communications. This company includes 86 offices located in 46 countries. 4 Burson-Marsteller Burson-Marsteller was founded in 1953. The company's headquarters is located in the USA. The global company's activities focus on public relations and communications. Burson-Marsteller includes 77 offices and 85 branches located in 110 countries. 3 Edelman Edelman was founded in 1952. Its founder was Daniel Edelman, in whose honor the company got its name. The company's headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This consulting firm provides services to the public relations and marketing industry. The company's representative offices are located in various cities of the USA (Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, Silicon Valley), and there are also representative offices in other countries of North America and South America , Europe and Africa. 2 Weber Shandwick Weber Shandwick was founded in 2001. Its foundation was the result of the merger of three companies: Weber Group, Shandwick International and BSMG. Weber Shandwick's headquarters are located in New York, USA. The company's activities are focused on public relations. Weber Shandwick has experience in the following areas: journalism, law, healthcare, technology, etc. The company has representative offices in 82 cities around the world. 1 Fleishman-Hillard Fleishman-Hillard was founded in 1946. The company's headquarters is located in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Fleishman-Hillard is an agency that provides services in two industries: public relations and marketing. The company's representative offices are located in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Consulting is often a necessary service for those who want to run a successful business. For this reason, there are a huge number of consulting companies in the world. By turning to a consulting company, you pay professionals for advice, knowledge and experience that you and your employees do not have. And also for looking from the outside and identifying problems that are difficult to see and evaluate from the inside. Today you can get advice on almost any issue: increasing sales, optimizing taxes, automating business processes, implementing a quality management system, personnel management and much more. If you hire competent consultants, this will help you achieve your goal at lower costs and avoid many mistakes. Example 1 The business owner is concerned about the lack of money in the company. Each individual transaction is profitable, but for some reason there is not enough money. We invited consultants who analyzed the business and found that the company lacked management accounting and cash flow management. Clients are given a deferment, and suppliers work on prepayment. As a result, all the money gets stuck in accounts receivable and cash gaps form. The consultants advised to re-negotiate with clients and suppliers, as well as sell unnecessary stock from the warehouse, so that the money would be not only on paper, but also “in the pocket” of the company. Example 2 The organization is being “strangled” by taxes. Tax consultants were invited who proposed a number of measures: to challenge the inflated cadastral value of property in order to reduce property tax, to outsource some functions in order to save on insurance premiums, and to apply a depreciation bonus to reduce income tax. Example 3 The company's employees cannot cope with the volume of work and there is a growing need to expand the staff. But the organization cannot afford to hire more employees, pay salaries, taxes and insurance premiums. The management decided to engage a consulting company to find a way out of this situation. The consultants analyzed the work of employees, proposed to automate a number of tasks, and also eliminate some internal bureaucratic procedures that take up a lot of time from employees, but are meaningless and not useful. With almost any problem or task, you can turn to consultants and solve it. A consulting firm can not only offer a solution, but also help implement it. Professional consulting companies can save clients millions and billions of rubles, but in order for spending on consultants to be worthwhile, you need to be smart about choosing a contractor to solve a business problem. Companies with multi-million dollar budgets can afford to hire world-renowned consultants. For example, from among the Big Four. They work with big businesses and are rightfully considered the best consulting companies in the world. But not everyone can afford to hire expensive and famous specialists. And this is not always advisable, because the customer company simply may not have the resources to bring to life the expensive ideas of famous consultants. We should not forget about the so-called consulting fraud, when, having paid a lot of money, under the guise of an expert opinion, the client receives a set of general phrases in the style of “to earn more, you need to work more,” or even copy-paste from laws, codes, articles from Internet or marketing textbooks. This problem has become aggravated with the development of the information business, when, having completed a crash course and made loud advertising, newly minted entrepreneurs begin to “make money” from consulting. In fact, they have neither the appropriate education nor relevant experience behind them, but only the desire to earn money. They often know less than their clients and have little to teach. Therefore, to get the most out of your money, you should not choose a consulting firm at random. Rating of consulting companiesThe list of the largest consulting companies in Russia is posted on the website of the rating agency RAEX (Expert RA). This is the largest in Russia rating agency with a 20-year history. Engaged in assigning ratings, as well as research and communication activities. Rankings based on the results of 2018 in the following areas are now available on the website:
A ranking differs from a rating in that it does not contain an assessment; it is built on the basis of a clearly defined criterion, in this case revenue. It will show you the leading players - the largest consulting companies on the Russian market, but it cannot be concluded that the first company on the list provides better services than the second, third, etc. Large consulting companies at the end of 2018This is what the top consulting companies in the field of accounting outsourcing look like according to the RAEX agency at the end of 2018:
Over the course of the year, 1C-WiseAdvice rose from eighth to fourth place in the ranking of the largest groups and companies in the field of outsourcing accounting functions. The company showed the highest rate of revenue growth among market leaders and the largest increase in the number of specialists. The ranking results are based on the total revenue that the company received from services for regular provision and support of business processes related to accounting and tax accounting, payroll and personnel records, preparation of accounting and tax reporting according to domestic and international standards, etc. The general list of the largest consulting groups and companies has been headed by the LANIT group of companies, specializing in IT consulting, for several years now. The company 1C-WiseAdvice rose in the general list by 10 positions - from 34th to 24th place. Of the largest international consulting companies in Russia, the best known are the so-called “Big Four” companies that provide audit and consulting services:
These same companies also top the Russian list of largest audit organizations based on the results of 2018. The clients of these foreign consulting companies are large organizations with multimillion-dollar turnover that need audit reports from world market leaders with a high level of trust among reporting users. Other leading consulting companies in the world known in their field include:
If a company operates in international markets, foreign experts can provide more competent assistance than those who work exclusively within Russia. How to choose a consulting companyIn any city there will be several consulting firms that will vie with each other to offer their services and promise excellent results. We will give some recommendations on how not to waste money on consulting. Assess employee qualificationsThere is a joke that only those who cannot do anything themselves become consultants. The joke was born thanks to would-be consultants who pour from empty to empty and do not give the client measurable results. To avoid running into such people, do not hesitate to ask the consulting company for information about the experience and qualifications of its employees. It’s good if the staff includes graduates of reputable universities and former top managers of large companies, that is, practitioners, not theorists. It’s bad if the consulting company’s staff has only a few universal specialists without a narrow focus who take on any task for any client. You run the risk of receiving unsubscribes and not practical advice. It may happen that the company does not have specialists of the required profile at all, and they are brought in from outside. It is better to know in advance who will be involved in your project, and what experience and merits give him such a right. Rate cases and find real reviewsProfessional consulting companies will always be able to show completed projects and talk about their role in successfully solving client problems. Pay attention to the presence of clients from among well-known and large companies. If the company has nothing to brag about yet, consider whether it is worth being a “guinea pig.” The longer a company is on the market, the better for you. At the same time, not a single company will publish negative cases and talk about a failed project when the client spent money but did not feel the benefit. Therefore, it is always useful to find real reviews from past clients. You can contact clients listed on the company's website and ask about their experience working with consultants. At the same time, you will find out whether the reviews are real or fictitious. Among 1C-WiseAdvice clients companies of small, medium and large businesses, including such well-known brands as Megafon, TVOE, SELA, etc. We have posted letters of recommendation on the website and provide client contacts if you would like to receive first-person feedback about working with us. Set specific goalsThe more clearly you define the task, the more likely you are to get a specific result. For example, if you increase sales, then by how much and for what period. A clearly defined problem is already halfway to solving it. This also works in the case of consulting. In addition, without a strictly formulated task, it will be difficult for you to make claims to the contractor if the result does not suit you. Write down the tasks and deadlines for their completion in the contract. Also decide in advance whether you only need ideas or help in implementing them. The budget and timing will depend on this. Don't go for cheapGood specialists know their worth and are expensive. Keep this in mind when choosing a performer. If a company charges inexpensively, it means it pays its employees little, and this is a reason to wonder why. At the same time, it is better to decide in advance how much you are willing to spend on consulting. This will keep performers within limits and will not allow them to inflate the budget and impose additional services. Don't believe the promises of mountains of goldThere are no miracles. Even the best consulting company will not solve all your problems for you. She is more likely to find the causes of these problems and suggest solutions. But the main work is yours. There will be no changes without your participation. You may have to face resistance and sabotage from employees who will not want to rebuild and accept new things. If a consulting firm promises you mountains of gold at the first meeting, without even studying the company’s business processes, this should alert you. Competent consultants will first look at how things are going with the customer, and only then decide what can be done about it. Don't wait until the last minuteIf the ship of your business is already sinking, it may be too late to hire a consulting firm, or you will have to pay a lot of money for the urgency and complexity. Don’t delay contacting consultants - call specialists as soon as you see that problems are brewing. Let's summarize. A consulting company can help solve the problem if it has qualified specialists with relevant experience, and you describe the problem in detail. Order service The Vault website has released a ranking of the most prestigious consulting firms. A bit like the Oscars in the film industry, the rankings are based on a survey of consultants who rate their peers and competitors. Vault conducted its study over six weeks in March and April and collected votes from 9,000 consultants from 65 US firms. For the prestige of the ranking, consultants were not allowed to vote for their own firms, but were asked to rate only those consulting firms with which they were familiar. The consulting company is rated on a scale from 1 (least prestigious) to 10. The rating has been compiled for 14 years in a row, and every year McKinsey comes out on top. In fact, the top four spots are unchanged from last year: McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bane and Deloitte Consulting. Fifth place has moved up this year. In 2014, Booz & Company was in this place, but last spring, PricewaterhouseCoopers bought it and gave it the unfortunate name “Strategy&.” Suddenly the firm lost its name, although Booz's history was complicated even before the acquisition. Booz & Company was founded in 1914 and grew into the government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton (where Edward Snowden worked under contract with the NSA before he leaked classified information). In 2008, Booz & Company, a corporate business consulting firm, spun off and was acquired by the Carlyle Group in 2008. Are you confused yet? In fifth place this year: Booz Allen Hamilton, up from sixth last year. Strategy& dropped to 19th place. Why is prestige so important in the consulting business? For job seekers submitting their resumes to McKinsey or Boston Consulting, it can open up new opportunities, like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal for a journalist. Also people just care about prestige. For many people, it defines their career. They want to work for the most prestigious consulting firms. The ranking of consulting companies is dominated by huge firms with several thousand employees and several offices. Exception: Bridgespan Group, which is located in Boston's Copley Place. The company has 158 employees and is focused on the non-profit sector. It spun off from Bain in 1999 but retained its ties to the firm. Bain consultants can take time off to work for Bridgespan for six to 12 months. Top 10 most prestigious consulting firms:1. McKinsey & Company 2. The Boston Consulting Group 3. Bain & Company 4. Deloitte Consulting 5. Booz Allen Hamilton 6. PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services LLC 7. EY LLP Consulting Practice 9. KPMG LLG (Consulting Practice) 10. IBM Global Business Services | |||||