Deloitte and Bain top Forbes ranking of America's best consulting firms

Deloitte and Bain & Company tied for first in the Forbes 2024 America’s Best Management Consulting Firms list.

Forbes partnered with research firm Statista for the ninth consecutive year on the ranking, which conducted two surveys from November 2023 to January 2024. The first survey polled 1,100 partners and execs at management consultancies while the second survey polled 1,200 clients who had worked with consultancies in the last four years.

Both groups evaluated consultancies within their areas of expertise across 16 industries and 16 functional areas.

Responses were fed into a scoring model which also included last year’s results, though this year’s responses were more heavily weighted. Recommendations from management consultants were more heavily weighted than client recommendations.

The consultancies that received the most recommendations in each category were given a star rating, with five stars for “very frequently recommended,” four stars for “frequently recommended,” and three stars for “recommended.”

The final list had 190 management consulting firms.

For the third consecutive year, Deloitte and Bain had the most recommendations, with 32 star ratings each. Closely following them were Accenture, BCG, and McKinsey, with 31 star ratings each. Next up were PwC (29 star ratings), IBM (26), and EY (25).

There are more than 1 million management consultancies in the United States, with the vast majority being boutique firms with a handful of employees. The US management consulting market is expected to generate $370 billion in revenue this year, according to IbisWorld.