Growth slowed at Orange County’s management consulting firms, but didn’t fall off a cliff like other industries because of the coronavirus shutdown.
Orange County management consulting firms increased local consultant count 3.1% to 1,570 and local employment by 4.6% to 4,014 as of May, according to the Business Journal’s annual list.
That compares with a 7.2% increase in consultants and 9% rise in employee count a year ago.
The top two firms exchanged places for the second straight year:
Dublin-based Accenture, which has an Irvine office, increased its headcount by 3.4% to 338, thus retaking the title. Its OC employee count was flat at 353.
New York-based Deloitte LLP, which has an office in Costa Mesa, fell 6.1% to 309 consultants, causing it to slip to No. 2. The New York-based firm can still claim the title of largest OC accounting firm (see list, page 19).
This week’s list ranks the 22 largest management consulting firms, with a cutoff of 10 consultants.
Irvine is clearly the city to be a consultant as 12 reported its offices here, followed by Newport Beach with three offices and Costa Mesa with two.
Eleven of the firms reported an increase in consultants while four had no change, three didn’t report sufficient data and four recorded drops.
Companywide firms grew 6.1% to 1.4 million workers.
Notable Changes
• The biggest increase by the number of employees was 18 to 103 consultants at the Irvine office of London-based Ernst & Young LLP, causing it to jump from No. 6 to No. 4. E&Y is also boosting its accounting staff.
• The Irvine office of New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC reported 123 consultants, a 7% increase.
• Irvine’s Squar Milner LLP boosted its consultants to 21 from eight a year ago.
• Blythe Global Advisors LLC reported its headcount fell 22% to 45 consultants, causing it to fall from No. 9 to No. 10. On last year’s list, it was up 38% to 58 consultants.
• Resources Global Professionals, also known as RGP, also cut its consulting staff by 14% to 90.
