The Most Prestigious Consulting Firms (2011)

Vault.com, the career website, released a ranking today of the most prestigious consulting firms. A little like the Oscars, which turns to the movie industry to tally its votes, Vault’s list comes from a survey of consultants who are asked to rank their peers and competitors. Vault ran its survey from March through July 2011 and gathered votes from 5,000 consultants at 60 firms, ranging from giant companies like McKinsey and Bain to small outfits like Bates White in Washington, D.C.

For the prestige ranking, consultants were not allowed to vote for their own firms, and they were asked only to rate firms with which they were familiar. Vault has been running the survey for a decade, and every year McKinsey has come out on top. In fact, the top five are unchanged from last year, though PricewaterhouseCoopers moved up two spots to #6, Ernst & Young climbed one spot to #8 and Mercer LLC fell three spots to #9. Herewith, the top ten:

1. McKinsey & Company
2. The Boston Consulting Group
3. Bain & Company
4. Booz & Company
5. Deloitte Consulting
6. PricewaterhouseCoopers
7. Monitor Group
8. Ernst & Young
9. Mercer LLC
10. Accenture