Unit 8: Consultants
Task: Fill in the gaps in the text with the words and word combinations from the Word
Bank below.
Word bank: analyzing, arm’s-length, auditing, best practice, big four accountancy firms,
client relationship, completing projects, confidentiality, consultant, contractor,
e-commerce sites, enhanced shareholder value, experience, fee, focus on results, formulate
strategy, human dimension, implementation, independent eye, information technology (IT),
input, IT consultancy, knowledge, management consultants, not-invented here syndrome,
objective view, objectives, outcomes, outplacement services, ownership, profits,
restructure, site design, skills, solving problems, specialized services, specific tasks,
strategy, strengths and weaknesses, structure, support, technology consultants, training,
transferring, usability, web consultants, websites
A consultant is a contractor or outside supplier who provides skills or support to a client
for a fee. Some consultants work on their own, often drawing on experience and
knowledge they have gained previously as salaried employees in companies. Others work
for organizations large and small: one well-known firm, for example, is McKinsey, which
describes itself as ‘a management consulting firm advising leading companies on issues of
strategy, organization, technology and operations’. The big four accountancy firms
(Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC) also offer consulting services, and an issue for
them has been the way that ownership (where they verify the accuracy and completeness
of company accounts) has been sold alongside consultancy, which, some say, has inherent
conflicts.
As experts in their fields, consultants can help with analyzing and auditing, completing
projects and solving problems. Consultants can bring an independent eye to bear on an
organization, offering an external, hopefully more objective view of its structure than those
