Guidelines for Management Consultancy Services

Consultancies can change your business and make a big contribution to the economy... or they can be a financial black hole. How can you ensure the money you spend on consultancy fees doesn’t end up being spent on endless hours of nothing?

The management consultancy industry is big business, driving company behaviour and influencing government agendas and financial institutions, but it only works well when client and consultant are on the same page. Clarity and transparency are the key. A new ISO committee has taken on the challenge.

Management consultancy is a phenomenon of our time. From its humble beginnings in the late 1900s, the industry has ballooned most dramatically since the 1980s, with revenues growing to some USD 450 billion today, according to Plunkett Research. This growth has been accelerated by the increase in companies such as accounting and IT firms diversifying into offering management consultancy services. Not just the preserve of big business, government spending on consultants has increased 1000 % in recent years (IPSOS Mori, 2007) while small companies also form a significant part of the clientele. It is no wonder, then, that it is one of the most sought after career choices of top graduates.

Improving transparency through clear guidelines and best practice is at the heart of ISO standards, and thus the ISO project committee ISO/PC 280, Management consultancy, was born. Its aim is to improve transparency and understanding between management consultancy service providers and their clients, ultimately leading to better outcomes from consultancy work. In order to do this, the committee is moving full steam ahead with its first standard – ISO 20700 for management consultancies – due to be published early next year.

Based on the European standard EN 16114:2011, ISO 20700 will be the first International Standard of its kind. Its arrival is much anticipated. The experts working in the committee feel it is long overdue and believe it will make a significant mark on the consulting industry.