Rankings

Based on our studies, we regularly publish rankings of the “best consultants” and the “best auditors” from the perspective of the decision-makers surveyed. For this purpose, we continuously talk to executives from major German companies – board members, heads of specialist departments, sponsors of consulting engagements, and project managers. Their experience and evaluations form the foundation for our rankings.

In the following we have compiled some of the most recent rankings for the leading management consultants, the most important specialist consultants and the major accounting firms. In order to keep the data as easily comprehensible and comparable as possible, we have chosen a uniform presentation in all rankings: 100 percent corresponds to the maximum achievable value and thus an excellent attribution of competence. The intervals between the consultants are not always statistically significant and should therefore be understood as a tendency statement.

Since it is our aim to identify those consultants who are perceived as particularly effective in the market, but not to discredit particular consultants, we have only listed the five best consultants in each category in all rankings.

We have compiled the most important questions and answers on a FAQ page for anyone who would like to find out more about the statistical and methodological basis of our rankings.

The leading management consultants

In this section, we focus on the most important management consultants in Germany (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, Oliver Wyman, Roland Berger, Strategy& and Kearney), the management consulting divisions of the leading IT consultants (Accenture, IBM and Capgemini) and the consulting divisions of the four major accounting firms (PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte).

WGMB Satisfaction Score

How satisfied are German managers with their consultants? We have surveyed many of them over the past ten years. A maximum of 500 points could be awarded for excellent projects. Here are the results over time.

Selected rankings

Last update: January 2021
(n = 1,063)

Strategic Planning
Boston Consulting Group 82%
McKinsey & Company 80%
Bain & Company 79%
Strategy& 69%
Oliver Wyman 67%
Operations & Performance
McKinsey & Company 82%
Boston Consulting Group 77%
Deloitte 76%
Kearney 72%
Roland Berger 71%
Mergers & Acquisitions
Boston Consulting Group 80%
McKinsey & Company 78%
Bain & Company 77%
EY 76%
KPMG 75%
Restructuring & Transformation
McKinsey & Company 82%
AlixPartners 80%
Roland Berger 79%
Boston Consulting Group 78%
KPMG 74%
Digital Transformation
McKinsey & Company 79%
Boston Consulting Group 78%
Bain & Company 76%
Accenture 75%
Deloitte 75%
Business Technology
Accenture 84%
Capgemini 80%
KPMG 77%
PwC 75%
McKinsey & Company 74%

Max = 100 % (excellent)

The most important specialist consultants

In this section, we look at medium-sized specialist consultancies that are less well known than the leading management consultants, but whose expertise in their field is certified by their clients as higher than that of the three “champions” McKinsey, BCG and Bain & Company. We refer to them as “hidden champions”.

Selected rankings

Last update: January 2022
(n = 1,026)

Purchasing & Procurement
Kerkhoff Consulting 81%
H&Z Unternehmensberatung 80%
TARGUS Management Consulting 79%
Kearney 77%
Boston Consulting Group 72%
Engineering & Production
ROI-EFESO 83%
McKinsey & Company 81%
TARGUS Management Consulting 80%
Kearney 76%
Staufen 75%
Marketing
Batten & Company 81%
Simon - Kucher & Partners 80%
Boston Consulting Group 79%
McKinsey & Company 78%
Prof. Roll & Pastuch 77%
Organization & Leadership
undconsorten 84%
McKinsey & Company 79%
Boston Consulting Group 78%
Bain & Company 75%
Roland Berger 70%
Data & Analytics
d-fine 83%
Accenture 80%
Boston Consulting Group 77%
McKinsey & Company 76%
Deloitte 74%
Change Management
CPC 82%
McKinsey & Company 78%
undconsorten 77%
Boston Consulting Group 72%
Bain & Company 71%

Max = 100 % (excellent)

The major accounting firms

In this section we look at the 25 audit firms with the highest turnover in Germany – including audit giants such as PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte as well as companies such as BDO, Rödl & Partner, Ebner Stolz and Baker Tilly.

Selected rankings

Last update: March 2022
(n = 406)

Audit
KPMG 88%
PwC 87%
Deloitte 73%
BDO 68%
Ebner Stolz 64%
Tax
EY 84%
PwC 83%
KPMG 79%
Deloitte 74%
Rödl & Partner 68%
Management Consulting
PwC 86%
Deloitte 81%
KPMG 78%
EY 66%
Ebner Stolz 65%
IT Consulting
KPMG 83%
PwC 82%
Deloitte 81%
EY 72%
BDO 64%
Transactions
PwC 83%
Deloitte 82%
KPMG 80%
EY 79%
Rödl & Partner 62%
Restructuring
FTI-Andersch 86%
PwC 85%
Deloitte 74%
KPMG 73%
Rödl & Partner 65%

Max = 100 % (excellent)