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This paper responds to concerns raised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and scholars over the rapid growth of Big 4 consulting practices. This paper aims to explores the question: Does the regrowth of sizable consulting practices by the Big 4 influence audit reporting lag and restatement rates?

A population of the SEC-registered US audit clients of the Big 4 was used in this study. Longitudinal data on Big 4 audit clients from 2000 through 2009 were analyzed to determine the impact of consulting practice size on the clients’ audit reporting lag and restatement rate.

This paper finds that consulting practice size has a positive and statistically significant influence on audit reporting lag and restatement rate. The results are robust to alternative specifications of the sample and controlling for the level of non-audit services provided to audit clients.

The findings contribute to the discussion of the scope-of-services issue. They provide empirical support for Zeff’s (2003) and Wyatt’s (2004) intuition that the loss of Big 4 professional focus – not simply conflicts of interests – is a major factor affecting the audit quality.

The uniqueness of this paper is in how it counts restatements. Each year this paper counts that annual financial statements are restated as opposed to each disclosure of a restatement. This paper’s contribution is to examine the association between the regrowth of Big 4 accounting firm consulting practices with audit reporting lag and restatements.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the human resource management (HRM) policies and practices in consulting firms. The paper specifically investigates whether or not the HRM approaches in these firms mirror the two organisational archetypes of professional partnerships (P2) and manage professional businesses (MPB) found in the professional services sector.

The paper draws on interviews with experienced consultants from a sample of 28 large and medium‐sized consulting firms with a presence in Germany and Switzerland. The paper uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the data.

The findings in the paper show that P2‐type consulting firms take fundamentally different approaches to HRM from MPB‐type firms. In P2‐type consulting firms, HRM is an integral part of the organisational system and is run in practice by consultants, rather than by specialised HR staff. P2‐type firms emphasise the notion of membership of individuals in an organisation tied together by extended socialisation processes and adherence to common values. In contrast, MPB‐type firms exhibit HRM systems with “corporate” features widely used in other large‐scale service organisations.

The paper shows that the organisational archetypes prevalent in professional service firms have significant implications for their HRM systems. Consulting firms' HRM practices and policies should be interpreted in the light of their respective organisational archetype.

The paper concludes that consulting firms should use HRM practices that fit the organisational archetype they embody.

The paper provides systematic evidence on the HRM policies and practices in an important yet under‐researched sector.

At the pinnacle of the knowledge management hype, international consulting firms were widely viewed as the undisputed champions of the discipline. They were the ones that pioneered the development of innovative knowledge management systems, they were at the forefront of creating knowledge management cultures and they recognized the productive potential of knowledge workers. While knowledge continues to be prominent on the strategic agenda of leading consulting firms, several knowledge management challenges remain unsolved. To shed light on this matter the paper aims to investigate how knowledge management is really embedded in their organizations and with which critical issues these firms still struggle .

The paper presents a qualitative empirical study based on 37 in‐depth interviews with representatives from international consulting firms in different locations around the world.

It is found that the promise of knowledge management can only be realized if people are open to changing business processes and adopt new ways of thinking.

The study sheds fresh light on the knowledge management practices that have emerged in the consulting industry, and provides insights into the interplay of people and systems, the structuring of knowledge management, the divide between knowledge generalists and specialists, and the knowledge management strategy.

The paper presents a general approach to embedding knowledge management along the dimensions of people, systems and business processes and develops an integrative framework that links knowledge management strategies to a typical consulting project cycle. In addition, it sheds light on individual perceptions on the benefits from knowledge management.

Strategy consultants have much to offer a top executive in terms of improving the bottom line. Yet little is known about the strategy consulting industry, because the firms and their clients are often reluctant to disclose details of their activities. This article surveys the leading strategy consulting firms and explores trends affecting the future of the industry.

Managers are increasingly using external consultants for the provision of a wide range of professional management services. The article discusses the structure of the consulting industry, addresses the question of whether consultants “add value” for their clients, and describes how to identify, select and use relevant consultants.

The purpose of this paper is to study the process in which dynamic capabilities renewed operational capabilities to sustain competitive advantage in management consulting firms of Iran during a period of drastic environmental changes.

Using a grounded theory building approach, comparative longitudinal case analyses were conducted in consultancies of Iran. The research was based on a deep study of documents, observations and interviews with managers and employees of 14 consulting firms.

It was found that during a period of environmental changes there was a relationship between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage, but this relationship was mediated by the role of marketing and technological capabilities of a firm. It was also found that trust-building capabilities of the consulting firms moderate the relationship between dynamic and operational capabilities. The research explores homogeneity and heterogeneity of dynamic capabilities among consultancies too.

This research shows that under changing environmental conditions, dynamic capabilities of consultancies can become a source of competitive advantage. Moreover, it discusses whether dynamic capabilities are idiosyncratic or are best practices. It also explains the role of trust-building capabilities of consulting firms in moderating the relationship between dynamic and operational capabilities in the particular environment of Iran.

The consulting industry is facing an inflection point as it shifts to being more populated by publicly traded entities than by private firms. Associated career patterns are affected in ways that have not yet been explored.

In this paper we describe the industry shift to public ownership and resulting changes in consulting careers from a psychological contract perspective. We conclude by discussing the impact of emerging career dynamics that could impact the future effectiveness of the consulting industry.

There are dramatic transitions underway regarding career dynamics of professionals in major consultancies. We foresee a troublesome picture in some respects and a promising outlook in other respects for individuals and their firms in the consulting profession.

Aspiring consultants will find this paper informative as a way to assess fit with career models offered by consulting firms. Firms can use points in the paper to understand their potential shortcomings associated with their current and evolving career models to manage career transitions and negative consequences.

This conceptual paper draws attention to the potentially negative consequences of inappropriate career models for consultancies in general, and with different firm strategies. It is a first look at career changes in consulting due to the drastic shift of the industry to public entities.

This study investigates the characteristics of business and management consulting firms (firm size, international affiliation and scope of operation) affecting the adoption rate (i.e. recency of adopting big data analytics (BDA) as a new idea) and usage level of BDA. Ten critical areas of BDA application to business and management consulting were investigated, (1) Human Resource Management; (2) Risk Management; (3) Financial Advisory Services; (4) Innovation and Strategy; (5) Brand Building and Product Positioning; (6) Market Research/Diagnostic Studies; (7) Scenario-Based Planning/Business Simulation; (8) Information Technology; (9) Internal Control/Internal Audit; and (10) Taxation and Tax Management.

Survey data was obtained through a structured questionnaire from one hundred and eighteen (118) consultants in Nigeria from diverse consulting firm settings in terms of size, international affiliation and scope of operation (Big 4/non-Big 4 firms). Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), multivariate discriminant analysis and multivariable logistic regression.

Whereas organizational characteristics such as firm size, international affiliation and scope of operation significantly determine the adoption rate of BDA, two attributes (international affiliation and scope of operation) significantly explain BDA usage level. Internationally affiliated consulting firms are more likely to record higher usage level of BDA than local firms. Also, the usage level of BDA by the Big 4 accounting/consulting firms is expected to be higher in comparison to non-Big 4 firms.

Contrary to common knowledge that firm size is positively associated with the adoption of an innovation, the study found no evidence to support this claim in respect of the diffusion of BDA. Overall, it appears that the scope of operation is the strongest organizational factor affecting the diffusion of BDA among consulting firms.

The study contributes to knowledge by exposing the factors promoting the uptake of BDA in a developing country. The originality of the current study stems from the consideration that it is the first, to the researchers' knowledge, to investigate the application of BDA by consulting firms in the Nigerian context. The study adds to literature on management accounting in the digital economy.

To propose a framework with which to study the efficacy of strategic alliances of small firms in knowledge industries, with an emphasis on research design to examine the issues surrounding the phenomena.

A framework is developed that consists of four constructs, namely conditions, roles and contributions, learning, and efficacy. Details of the constructs are explained.

Management consulting industry proves to be a fertile research ground to study strategic alliances with regard to firm size. Through an illustration, it is shown that the proposed framework can be put into practice to investigate relevant research questions.

The framework has limited generalizability to situations where the clients of the knowledge‐intensive service are not clearly defined up front.

Knowledge industries will benefit from developing taxonomy of expertise. Client firms may benefit from encouraging small firm to form strategic alliances.

The contribution is threefold; identification of the interplay of firm size and the practice of alliance formation in knowledge industries as a viable research topic; a framework with which to examine the efficacy of strategic alliances of small firms in knowledge industries; and proposing to expand the knowledge management research beyond intra‐firm learning.

This study seeks to investigate causal relationships between sales management programs designed to build customer relationships by solving customer problems and selling firm performance.

Hypotheses were developed and supported based on theories developed from the market orientation and sales management literature. Using survey results from sales managers and reported profitability data, those hypotheses were tested using multiple regression.

Results indicate that consulting‐oriented post‐sales training and consulting‐oriented evaluation are significant influences on salesforce efficiency. Consulting‐oriented evaluation is a significant influence on customer retention. The strongest influences on profit growth are initial sales training and post‐sales training learning, but a composite variable of all elements of the consulting‐oriented sales management program is a significant influence on profit growth.

The sampling frame of this study was limited to medium to large industrial manufacturing firms; therefore any conclusions drawn from this study cannot be generalized beyond these types of firms. Future consulting‐oriented sales management research should expand the types of firms studied. Future research should also measure the relationships between consulting‐oriented sales management programs, firm market and learning orientation, adaptive selling, and salesperson customer orientation.

In industries where relationship building and partnering are considered mutually beneficial and important by buyers and sellers there should be greater emphasis on: listening skills, diagnostic skills, and problem solving skills in sales training; sharing effective strategies to build customer relationships and sharing of effective customer problem‐solving strategies in post‐sales training learning; measuring customer cost savings and obtaining customer satisfaction feedback in evaluation systems; and compensating salespeople for customer retention, positive customer feedback, and increased sales from current customers.

This study fills a gap in the literature for firm level research on the consequences of sales management programs, particularly programs that encourage sales consulting. This study makes a contribution to the literature by determining whether industry conditions encourage those programs or moderate their relationship to performance.