Consulting firms as the basis of contemporary business

3rd of September, 2012

Today consulting firms are more needed than ever. In the developed market economy consulting firms provide a wide range of services for all categories of entrepreneurs. A highly competitive environment forces corporate executive officers to adjust to the market changes, as well as to the new trends in consumer preferences or innovations in legislation. This task is not that easy.

Continuous monitoring of technological innovations as well as the development of effective solutions aimed at adapting to the changing conditions of the business environment can only be done by a large company having a specialized department in its structure. However, keeping this department is not always profitable. Therefore, over the past few decades consulting firms in Western countries have become in high demand, in contrast to the post-Soviet countries, where economic and business development is not so high, and many entrepreneurs are used to solving issues “the same old way” and on their own. As a result, problems of business are growing like a snowball.

What services do consulting firms provide?

Consulting firms can be useful for business in a variety of situations:

when you need to work out an effective solution of an unexpected problem;
when new business development ideas are required;
when you need to establish high-quality financial or management accounting;
when a company has a conflict between managers or structural units;
for conducting current office work, etc.

Consulting services are requiredwhen a company is expanding or reorganizing. Many firms (and not always large ones) seek to expand the horizons of their activities and conquer foreign markets. When doing business abroad, the management may have a huge number of difficulties, starting with opening an account in a foreign bank and ending with concluding contracts with foreign partners. At all these stages the help of consulting firms is irreplaceable, as they provide specialists who are familiar with the nuances of foreign legislation. In addition, the services of consulting firms can reduce the risks accompanying capital transfer from one jurisdiction to another.

An important area international consulting firms’ services is investment consulting, which allows to increase the efficiency of free capital. Proper investment is a time consuming and high-risky process, and if you want to invest money abroad, you simply can’t do it without the expert help.

Big Four Consulting Firms

There are thousands of consulting firms all over the world but there are four largest firms whose names are known by almost everyone. PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte Touch and Ernst & Young – these firms work in the field of audit and consulting services for many years. During their work they have earned exceptional credibility and reputation becoming the largest consulting firms in the world with a staff of hundreds of thousands of employees in dozens of countries. These firms are engaged in all types of consulting providing services in the areas of taxation, corporate management, performingand supporting transactions, risk management, investment, etc. Three of them are formed by merging of the largest consulting firms, and some of them have their roots in as far as the nineteenth century.

All serious consulting firms tend to focus on the standards of this “Big Four”. Intelligent Solution Group is not an exception. Although it has a smaller scale of activity, it has managed to win its niche and positive reputation. For many years we help our clients solve financial, managerial or international issues, doing our work fast and efficiently.

By Aleksey Shilov