Management consultant versus Accountant

[chuechue]

I overheard a conversation that Accountancy is no longer a good career and it is low paid now compared to Management Consultancy careers.

AIBU to think that this is not the case?

The middle ground is to join an accountancy training firm but in their business advisory department rather than audit or tax.

My friend is an accountant and earns around 100k. They're always being head hunted for new roles.

Quite a lot of management consultants I work with are qualified accountants.

If you qualify as an accountant, you aren't obliged to be one forever and a move into consultancy or other broader roles in finance is quite common.

If by 'accountancy' you mean one of the big accounting firms, then it's still a good starting point. it's relatively harder to go into management consulting without some knowledge to contribute; while there are graduate entry points to consulting they are far fewer than those that come later.
The accountancy profession has always been one where the monetary rewards are deferred - but that ignores the value of the training and the benefits of working in a people-development focussed environment.

So who ultimately earns more in general? I guess there are more opportunities for bonuses if you are a consultant.

What qualifies somebody to be a management consultant and give advice to any company? It seems like a tall order!

Management consultants come in various guises. There's quite a lot who are 'just' hired arms and legs e.g. for projects where a business doesn't have sufficient permanent staff (or staff with needed expertise in a particular IT system or process, or needs project management expertise). There's a much smaller number who are truly strategy experts and are offering strategic advice to companies. The former sort is easier to get into than the latter.

Either way the top of both the accounting and management consultancy professions are very well paid (£500k-£1m+ pa is certainly achievable). Both have a lot of more junior roles that are less well paid / less interesting. The average management consultant might make more than the average accountant - but both cover a very wide range. Neither is a bad profession.

YANBU.