• Business chain
• Category
• Category of being
• Chain store
• Management technology 1
• Strategy of technology
• Supply chain
• Supply chain management

Management consulting

Management consulting grew with the rise of Management as a unique profession. In the US, management consulting was often an outgrowth of the accounting profession. During the course of an audit, the accountant would find a business problem and propose the solution. During the latter half of the twentieth century, as business problems and audits both became more complex, the large auditing firms segregated their audit and consulting arms into separate business units. Management consulting bloomed during the era of reengineering and ERP implementations. In the early twenty-first century, a series of accounting scandals and allegations of a loss of independence drove US regulators to insist on the formal separation of audit and consulting service providers. No longer could an auditor propose to fix a problem which he/she found.

Management consulting is the butt of many business-related jokes. Management consultants are often criticized for overuse of buzzwords, reliance on management fads and an emphasis on form over function. On the other hand, successful management consulting engagements bring resources and/or expertise which the company's internal management team did not have in order to create real changes in the way the company runs its business.

See also

• Business philosophies and popular management theories
• list of management topics
• list of marketing topics
• list of human resource management topics
• list of economics topics
• list of finance topics
• list of accounting topics
• list of information technology management topics
• list of production topics
• list of business law topics
• list of business ethics, political economy, and philosophy of business topics
• list of business theorists
• Management consulting service providers