What's the perception of accountants in the consulting world? They say the big4 prepares you well to be a business professional, but do top consulting (strategy) firms hire accountants? If not, why??

In my experience it is very rare for the top strategy consultancies to hire ex-accountants into their ranks. Indeed it is pretty rare for them to hire people into their ranks who are not being brought in from i) another strategy consultancy, ii) a top business school or iii) a strategic role in a major blue-chip.This has nothing to do with the perception of accountants, who I would say are highly regarded and respected by consultants. But this kind of transition is pretty rare and probably your best route for making such a switch would be to do an MBA at INSEAD or somewhere similar as a stepping stone to this new career.Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

Does the same count for big4-people working with It-audit and would like to make a transition to more strategy oriented IT work?

Perception and reality of accountants is in my experience is that they are well educated in their field, last to put their hand in their pockets in the pub and let's be honest here.....not the most interesting of people to spend more than 10 mins of your time with