OC’s largest management consultant firms have been tapping the brakes on local hiring.
Of the 21 firms surveyed and estimated by the Business Journal for this year’s list, the total number of OC management consultants dipped 1% to 2,142 as of last month.
That includes some notable headcount changes at the top firms.
No. 1 Deloitte in Costa Mesa decreased to 361 management consultants last month from 368 a year earlier.
PwC at the No. 3 position reduced its local headcount of management consultants by 7% to 166, while No. 4 KPMG LLP went down 15% to 163. Accenture stayed in the No. 2 position with an estimated 347 OC management consultants. All three firms are in Irvine.
While the number of OC management consultants declined slightly in May compared with the year before, the local employee total at the 21 firms rose 1.6% to 5,153.
Companywide, these firms increased headcounts by 5.5% to 2.3 million employees.
Blythe Global
The largest OC-based company on this list was No. 6 Blythe Global Advisors LLC, while its OC consultant numbers dipped by two people to 125. Irvine-based Blythe is a financial services consulting firm.
“We fill the gap that exists between the audit firms that need to remain independent and their clients that often need help meeting their accounting and financial reporting obligations,” Marc Blythe, the firm’s founder and president, told the Business Journal on June 12.
He added: “Last year we were coming off a significant spike in business that was driven by the SPAC bubble. We were assisting a number of companies that were being acquired by SPACs that did not have enough accounting and finance talent necessary to exist in a public environment.”
Several of the firms on this year’s list—for example Deloitte, PwC and KPMG LLP—are also top-level accounting firms.
Headcount Shifts
Some other changes in the ranks of OC management consultants (all below are in Irvine, with exception of Talley in Orange):
• RSM US LLP, a Chicago-based firm with an Irvine office, reported the highest growth, 26% to 103 consultants; it climbed from No. 12 to No. 9.
• Resources Global Professionals remained steady with an estimated 94 to come in at No. 10.
• Tevora moved up two notches to No. 14, as its headcount grew to 34 from 29.
• RJI CPAs moved up one spot to No. 18, as its ranks were steady at 24.
• Talley LLP was No. 19 as its headcount moved up by two people to 20.
