This Month
Why so many top executives start in accounting, consulting
BOSS delves into the career paths of the senior executives at Australia’s 20 biggest companies to discover where they started – and the critical skills and experience they gained.
- Sally Patten
April
McKinsey uses Chumbawamba to boost morale
The firm sought to rally partners at a meeting, but has been hit by news of a criminal investigation and lawsuit from a former senior partner in the past week.
- Ambereen Choudhury and Amy Bainbridge
McKinsey offers staff nine months’ pay to leave
The management-consulting firm is dangling the pay, along with career-coaching services and other resources, to some UK staff who would like to leave.
- Matthew Boyle
March
Win promotion in 2½ years or go, McKinsey now tells consultants
The company is raising the “up or out” pressure on staff as the global industry struggles following several years of aggressive hiring.
- Ambereen Choudhury
February
Diversity advocates McKinsey, BCG, Bain land pay gaps over 30pc
Strategy firms that advise clients to increase the diversity of their workforces and leadership teams have gender pay gaps that are up to double the national gap.
- Edmund Tadros
Call to ban McKinsey from US government contracts for China work
Top Republicans have called for McKinsey to be banned from securing US federal contracts after a think tank led by the firm gave policy recommendations to Beijing.
- Demetri Sevastopulo and Stephen Foley
Consultants slam brakes on hiring in the UK
The professional services sector, considered a bellwether for Britain’s economy, is cutting costs amid a dearth of deals.
- Irina Anghel
January
- Exclusive
- Aviation
Qantas calls in McKinsey for operational overhaul to fix late flights
The appointment of the global management consultancy comes after BCG was engaged for similar work and follows Vanessa Hudson’s elevation to chief executive.
- Kylar Loussikian and Ayesha de Kretser
What it’s like to get managed out at McKinsey
The strategy consulting firm lost 2 per cent of its Australian workforce in 2022 through its “up or out” approach towards struggling staff.
- Hannah Wootton
December 2023
McKinsey, BCG don’t want public to know junior partners earn $700,000+
McKinsey told a Senate inquiry it was “not able to share the remuneration of our individual partners”, while BCG said partner pay was “tied to a global structure in a highly competitive global market”.
- Edmund Tadros
Ex McKinsey, Bain operative to run Canberra’s in-house consulting push
The high-powered in-house Australian Government Consulting unit will be led by former Victorian data chief Andrew Nipe.
- Tom Burton
November 2023
Consultants go from rock stars to targets of jest
A succession of scandals and a business slump has reduced the rock stars of the business world – as well as accountants, lawyers and PR spinners – to the butt of jokes.
- Matt Oliver and Adam Mawardi
Party’s over for graduates as consulting firms freeze starting salaries
McKinsey and BCG among those in the US holding pay at last year’s levels as growth slows.
- Stephen Foley
October 2023
- Exclusive
- Consulting
Strategy firm Bain delays new starters by up to 10 months
The consulting company’s Australian office has deferred the start dates of its roughly two dozen new employees until as late as October next year.
- Updated
- Edmund Tadros
What BCG, McKinsey revealed to the consulting inquiry
Boston Consulting Group has sacked four personnel from its local business and detailed how it helps staff manage their workloads.
- Edmund Tadros
Women are asking for promotion, but men keep getting them: study
Men are promoted based on potential, but women must first prove their worth, the study and survey of US and Canadian companies found.
- Ella Ceron and Emily Chang
September 2023
Consulting firm McKinsey to pay $362m in latest US opioid settlements
Hundreds of US local governments and school districts alleged it fuelled an epidemic of addiction through its work for bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.
- Nate Raymond
FX head sues after boss’s ‘transformation strategy’ doubles workload
The trader blamed his depression on his new boss’s strategy which involved “terminating lower performers while passing on their workload to the highest performers”.
- Sarah Limbrick
Accenture opens the door on big four’s secret client ‘mapping’
The big four consulting firms have denied systematically tracking their relationships with public sector clients, but Accenture says it’s a common practice.
- Updated
- Edmund Tadros
August 2023
McKinsey about-face reveals misconduct complaints
The Australian arm of the global consulting firm admitted to 15 workplace complaints in the past five years, including one of sexual harassment, just weeks after telling a Senate committee it was a bullying-free workplace.
- Hannah Wootton and Edmund Tadros
