Can consulting firm cancel its offer due to recent financial crisis?I got an offer from Management Consulting firm in the mid-september before the economic turmoil started and need to decide by end of October. Can the firm cancel the offer ?

yes

.. and after I will accept the offer? Can the firm still walk away" ?

yes

Bern there is still room for being selective, but a port in a storm is better than none, so don't delays the decision. Yes they can rescind the offer due to economic conditions, although it's a legal minefield to do so after you have formally accepted.

Any historic precedents of Tier-1 firms cancelling offers they issued? I read that Mck for example never did it, even in 2001 with exceptionallly high accept rate..

once an offer has been accepted and legal relations are intended there is a contract and any cancellation could mean a breach

Whose been reading contract law then?

Either side can end the contract at any time. There may be a notice period in there (though it's questionable whether that applies before the employment start date). However, even this is a moot point - if your start date hasn't commenced (the employer can move the start date unilaterally) and you've not done any work then you're not being paid in that period.

Actually the below info is wrong:Or above...Once an offer and an acceptance has been made there is no breach unless money has changed hands (in some countries including Scotland). In england you have to prove that you were materially affected and only that amount that you have been affected by would be paid.If I were shagemnflogem plc id say, bye, and youd sue me.Then I would say that youd most likeley not be here after say 6 months or the period it takes you to get another job and the difference financially between the two over the six months.Basically id pay about £6k rather than the average £30k salary of some bovril whod be quite useless for the first two years.I also want to see more Blackadder quotes on this board!

George: Smithy, you haven't seen any suspicious characters hanging around have you, who might be German companies rescinding offers?Smithy: NeinGeorge: Nine! Well, the grads have got their work cut out.

Blackadder: Get me a chisel and some marble, will you, Baldrick? George: Oh, you're taking up sculpture now, sir? Blackadder: No, I thought I'd get my headstone done. George: What are you going to put on it? Blackadder: Here lies Edmund Blackadder and he's bloody unemployed!

If it is correct that they would only have to pay you earnings you would have lost / missed out on, then as someone entering a graduate scheme, you could quite plausibly argue that you will be out of work for a year - until the next round of graduate jobs start.Could be a nice way of funding a year abroad!

Blackadder: Tell me young crone, is this HR?Young Crone: That it be; that it be!Blackadder: “Yes it is”, not “that it be”. You don’t have to talk in that stupid voice to me: I’m not an IT Consultant. I seek information about a wise Hiring Manager.Young Crone: The wise hiring manager! The wise hiring manager!Blackadder: Yes, the wise hiring manager?Young Crone: Two things, my lord, must ye know of the wise hiring manager.Blackadder: Yes?Young Crone: First, she is … responsible for hiring! And second, she is …Blackadder: A Manager?Young Crone: [in normal voice] You do know ‘er then?Blackadder: No, just a wild stab in the dark, which is incidentally what you’ll be getting if you don’t start being a bit more helpful. Do you know where she lives?Young Crone: ‘Course.Blackadder: Where?Young Crone: ‘ere. Do you ‘ave an appointment?Blackadder: No.Young Crone: Well – you can go in anyway.Blackadder: Thank you young crone. Here is a generous redundancy payment – which I’m not going to give to you.

leave it Mars

Blame Taxman No.

That brightened my day up no end, well that and speaking to some nut on the phone who essentially wanted what he already had, and we had to work out how to charge him for it again.