The corporate environment has developed a lot in recent years, with some firms reporting billion in revenues. The reason for this boom is that these firms provide services that are required by practically all firms.
McKinsey and Accenture are some of these firms and are both Fortune 500 companies.
Key Takeaways
- McKinsey focuses more on strategy consulting than Accenture, which provides various management consulting services.
- Accenture is larger than McKinsey, offering a broader range of services, including technology and outsourcing.
- McKinsey has a more prestigious reputation in the consulting industry, while Accenture is known for its technical expertise.
McKinsey vs Accenture
McKinsey, is a management consulting firm. It offers a range of services, including strategy consulting, digital transformation, implementation, organizational design, etc. Accenture, is a professional services company that provides consulting, technology, and outsourcing services.
McKinsey is the largest consulting firm in the world and is also the most prestigious. It is counted among the “Big Three”, which refer to the most prestigious consulting firms or the top three in the world.
It was founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey, to advise firms and other parties such as the government on market strategy and management strategy.
Accenture is a global company that specializes in IT services and consulting. It is based in Ireland. It was earlier associated with Arthur Anderson LLP but separated from it in 1989.
It is part of the Fortune 500 companies and its clients also comprise the majority of the Fortune 500 companies. Technology, consulting, operations, and strategy are the fields in which Accenture provides services.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | McKinsey | Accenture |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | It was founded in 1926 by the University of Chicago’s Professor James O. McKinsey. | It was founded in 1989 but acquired its current name in 2000. |
| Revenue | It recorded a revenue of a whopping 10.3 Billion US Dollars in 2019. | It recorded, in the same year, an even larger 43.2 Billion US Dollars worth of revenue. |
| Rating | McKinsey is rated much higher than other companies and occupies first place among management consultancy firms. | Accenture is a global giant and has good ratings but it pales in comparison to McKinsey. |
| Flexibility | McKinsey is a pure consultancy firm with high standards therefore there is not much flexibility. | Accenture provides a multitude of services among various streams |
| Work-Life Balance | McKinsey has a poor work-life balance as reported by its employees. | Accenture has a much better work-life balance according to its employees. |
What is McKinsey?
McKinsey is a management consulting firm that is the top-ranked consulting firm in the world. It provides advice regarding business management to other companies, clients, and the government.
It is considered the top brass of the corporate world. McKinsey ensures this quality and maintains its reputation by employing a very rigorous and tough selection process for its workers.
As of 2019, it has 30,000 employees spread across various branches in the world. McKinsey also publishes McKinsey quarterly, a business-themed magazine.
McKinsey is a private company and it replicates a partnership firm but is not legally a partnership firm. The managing director is elected by senior directors and can serve up to 3 terms that are each 3 years long.
The employees are called partners but are not partners legally. It also has several committees that help in the management of the firm.
McKinsey helps firms in recruiting, culture, restructuring sales, and developing a better management system.
It also finds itself surrounded by a lot of controversies and is a subject of criticism because it charges about 25 percent more than other competing firms providing similar services.
McKinsey is not opposed to working together for competing companies, as it is only a helper and supports clients without any discrimination.
What is Accenture?
Accenture is an Information Technology and consulting firm, which although isn’t as renowned as McKinsey, records much higher revenue because of its highly diversified nature and large shares in many fields.
It works mainly in 5 fields namely Strategy, marketing, consulting, technology and operations. The new slogan of Accenture is “High Performance. Delivered.”, and focuses on result-based advertisements.
Accenture is consistently rated as one of the top firms and a part of the Fortune 500 companies. Its top clients include names such as Hewlett Packard, Dropbox, Brandwatch, Bitly, etc.
Accenture has been able to maintain this top clientele as its mission statement is to provide the most superior experiences along with the best business outcomes.
Accenture has received many awards and accolades regarding its performance.
They include FORTUNE World’s most admired IT Company consecutively for 8 years, 20 consecutive years on the FORTUNE Global 500 companies, and also FORTUNE Blue Ribbon companies.
Accenture has had its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland since 2009 but has its offices in more than 200 cities and 50 countries across the world.
Tiger Woods used to be the ambassador for Accenture but he was removed from this stature after some questionable allegations were raised against him and Accenture has had no global brand ambassador since.
Main Differences Between McKinsey and Accenture
- Accenture is a relatively new company that started in 1989 whereas McKinsey is much older and was started in 1926.
- Accenture is a diversified group and is mainly an IT services company whereas McKinsey offers only consulting services.
- McKinsey holds the top spot in consulting services ratings whereas Accenture, although having a larger market share, isn’t counted among the top companies.
- Accenture has a much higher Net Promoter score than McKinsey and Company, meaning that it holds a larger network of clients.
- Accenture is a public company, meaning that its shares are listed on the stock exchange for the public to buy, whereas McKinsey is a private corporation whose shares are owned only by its employees.
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RrSTRTcdS4kC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=mckinsey&ots=a5FBMFypfq&sig=2xM2115wuUJZ–2jN__y-KTShUA
- https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/ame.2005.16963096
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Chara Yadav holds MBA in Finance. Her goal is to simplify finance-related topics. She has worked in finance for about 25 years. She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities. Read more at her bio page.
