Which firm has a better reputation for Government consulting assignments?If you were joining one, which one would you choose? And why?

Both have good reputations for government consulting and have genuine strengths in the area (rather than just resorting to it when the private sector market dips).Which is better for you depends on exactly what kind of work you are interested in.PwC is stronger on "financial" consulting for PFI/PPP deals and has a well known brand because of many years doing big public sector audits.PA is stronger on "management" consulting and has done a lot of work on the more innovative government projects.PwC probably has larger total government revenues due to sheer size of audits. PA probably has the wider base of clients in the public sector and is able to take on more diverse consulting projects due to having a full-service firm to call on.

A good summary above. Only question would be at what level?At PA the 3 bottom levels (Analyst, Consultant Analyst and Consultant) work from a global bonus pool and will get good bonuses but not exceptional.Anything from Principal Consultant above is in the practice pool and is very lucrative as the government practices at PA make big bucks.

In the September issue of Management Consultancy magazine, there is a table of consultants to central government. PA Consulting is second with £79.2m fee income in 2005. PwC is eleventh with £37.0m of central government consulting fees.In the table of consultants to the NHS, PwC is sixth (£17.0m fee income in 2005) and PA Consulting is just behind in seventh place (£16.2m in fees).