Hi,I have a few questions. Can a person joining ACN move from solutions to consulting if they are a high performer (top 5%)?Is being part of soultions seen as a red mark on your CV?If joining solutions workforce could an individual change career paths and get into management consulting if they are CIMA qualified?thanks for any advice on the above.

In a word "yes" you can move from solutions to consulting. A friend of mine did just that but it was a painful, time consuming task. He had excellent ratings and backing from a Consulting Senior Exec which helped. So, if you are keen push ahead with it...it can be done if you are a strong performer.

It is possible (but not easy) to move to Consulting if you are a strong performer and have been in the company a while, but it would almost certainly be to SI&T - not management consulting.Having Accenture on your CV will never be a black mark. Most companies see Accenture as Accenture, and which part of the company is usually not understood or, frankly, relevant. If you have the experience needed, you have the experience needed. That said, I have heard of Deloitte recruitment understanding the difference before. Whether they cared, I did not hear.

One other thing... others may correct me on this, but I suspect a CIMA qualification is of much less value to ACN than it is to a big four audit firm, because it is an accounting qualification, and ACN isn't an accountant any more - not since that unfortunate document shredding incident.

CIMA is useful if you're targeting performance management or any similar finance "function effectiveness" consulting.The qualification's not as powerful on your CV if you're aiming at other specialties, but the content is still relevant to most management consulting as it focuses on management accounting for decision-making (so a similar analytical basis to a lot of consulting projects). It doesn't have a huge amount of financial accounting content so, if you're interested in audit or investment management-type work, you'd be better to go for ACCA or ACA or even CFA.

thanks for the advice, its appreciated!