Consulting - Financial

Financial consultants can work for a large consultancy or operate independently. The top financial consulting firms, according to Vault’s 2009 rankings, include McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, Booz & Company, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, or KPMG. All of these companies have other practices besides their financial services units.

Financial consultants should have a bachelor’s degree in economics, finance, marketing, business administration, statistics, or math. Many large consulting firms like McKinsey require a masters and/or Ph.D. in risk management or actuarial science. Consultants must also have experience with financial modeling and analysis, and they must be knowledgeable of modeling software programs to produce complex spreadsheets involving statistical formulas and complex macros. Current salary figures have financial consultants making on average $82,000 a year.

Although the current economic climate has been tough on financial consulting in particular, there are a few rays of light. According to Consulting magazine some financial consultants are getting work from the government to help manage the bailout funds, while others are focusing on mergers and acquisitions, a practice that is only going to increase throughout 2009. Other hot financial niches reportedly are consolidation consulting, helping banks consolidate their holdings; bankruptcy consulting, assisting banks with bankrupt clients and disintegrating deals; and actuarial consulting that helps firms with the calculations required to write down the complex and toxic assets on their balance sheets.