Orange County’s largest management consulting firms reported their growth is slowing after a gangbuster 2022.
The 24 largest firms on the Business Journal’s annual list reported a 5% increase in consultants to 2,215 and a 6% rise in OC employees to 5,494. A year ago, they reported an 18% increase in consultants and a 10% rise in OC employees.
Management consultant firms provide an array of specialists in information technology, operations, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions aimed at improving the performance of businesses.
This week’s Business Journal list ranks the largest management consulting firms, with a minimum cutoff of 10 area consultants. The list includes management consulting firms with headquarters in Orange County and others with operations here.
Irvine is clearly the city to be a consultant as 16 reported their offices here, followed by Newport Beach and Costa Mesa with two offices each.
Twelve of the firms reported an increase, including seven by more than 10%. On last year’s list, 13 of the firms reported an increase in consultants. Two reported declines while six had no change.
Companywide, these firms grew 9.4% to 2.2 million employees, below the 13% growth a year ago.
No. 1 Deloitte
Deloitte, which has an office in Costa Mesa, claimed the top spot this year, after reporting 1.9% increase to 368 consultants. A year ago, it reported consultant headcount had grown 30%.
“Our management consulting business continues to experience growth as our client’s needs for specialized services increases on a continuous basis,” Marshall Solomon, Deloitte’s Orange County managing partner, told the Business Journal.
“We continue to find that there is significant demand among our clients to procure our service to help them solve their most important business issues.”
The New York-based firm also claims the title of largest OC accounting firm (see story, page 26).
No. 2 Accenture, which has an Irvine office, didn’t report any change in its 347 employees.
Notables
• The biggest increase was the Irvine office of No. 11 Moss Adams, which reported its headcount almost tripled to 85.
“Consulting has nearly tripled over the past five years,” said Mark Steranka, Moss Adams’ consulting managing partner. “To fuel our organic growth, we have embraced hybrid and remote work environments to enable us to attract and retain talent located across the U.S.”
• Another large increase was 50% Irvine-based CliftonLarasonAllen LLP, which now has 45 consultants.
• The biggest increase in employees was 25% to 74 at No. 22 Crowe LLP, a Chicago-based firm with a Costa Mesa office.
• No. 6 Blythe Global Advisors LLC of Irvine continued its hiring spree, climbing 23% to 127 consultants. Its employee count also jumped 21% to 108.
• No. 9 Resources Global Professionals, also known as RGP (Nasdaq: RGP), also saw growth slowing as its local headcount climbed 4.4% to 94.
• The biggest decline was 55% to 29 at Irvine-based Tevora, which also trimmed its employee count by 44% to 63. Tevora, a provider of internet security services, fell from No. 11 to No. 16.
