Tony, thanks for the EY article - very useful. One last question for you, and others, regarding the practice.If one were to compare the possibilities between accenture strategy and this new devision of EY, what would you suggest ( assume I have both offers!). What pros and cons would you associate with each one?I see EY as providing better career opportunities, however posing greater risk as 'new' brand and not established practice. I also think that the training and exposition to clients would be superior at ACN. Im stuck in a pickle. Help!Thank you

Jonathan - my advice would be to base your decision on the people, the people... and then if you are still undecided, think about the people you'd be working with in each firm!Whenever I'm asked to pass judgement on these types of questions, this is invariably what I recommend people focus on. At the end of the day, you are going to be stuck away from home on projects with these people, working long hours and potentially living in a hotel with only them for company in the evenings. How well you get on with people and whether they're the types you would consider friends (rather than just people you have to work with) is very often the make or break between being very contented with your consulting lifestyle or being totally despondent!When you join a consulting firm, all sorts of factors influence the experience you have there - it's luck of the draw which assignments you end up working on, which Partners you end up working with, etc. These factors are likely to be much more important than any differences between the firms and so getting hung up on whether Accenture is better than E&Y or vice-versa to me isn't nearly as important as assuring that you really like the types of people that Accenture or E&Y typically employ. All places of work have a distinct culture and hire a certain mould of person. And that's probably the single biggest difference between them as places to work.Hope that helps, even if it doesn't directly answer your "who's best" question!Tony

so what sort of person would you expect to be working for EY in that case? I have a first round interview with them next week...thanks

Tony, Thanks for your reply. And i agree that the people are one of the most imporant pull factors. This said, however, I must also think about where i will be in 5 years, and what opportunities may lie in each two companies. the ey offer is slightly better in terms of money (10%) and one grade up. im truly stuck, and both offers expire at the end of the week. ANyone that has input please give!Thank you again J

Jon - E&Y sold their consulting business (to Capgemini) following the Enron saga (as did all the Big 4 accountancies with the exception of Deloitte) and have now re-entered the consulting business, so there's been massive change there. Accenture, equally, have been transformed from a consulting business to a business that is a major outsourcing firm as well as a major consultancy. This is an industry where major changes have taken place and such changes are likely to continue being a consideration in the future. I wouldn't like to guess what any of these major firms would look like 5 years from now. What I can say is that both are very strong brand names and will look good on your CV / keep your options open for future career directions - so I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over "making the wrong choice" between the two from this perspective. I would say that it is hard to be awarded pay rises or promotion at a rate significantly faster than your peers when you are working in a major organisation, so being able to enter the industry at a higher salary / level is a significant plus - but have you tried seeing if Accenture will match this? Tony