And consultancy services, in the form of direct grants, tax concessions, low interest rate loans or loan guarantees. A limited number of so-called high-growth SMEs make important contributions to job creation and productivity. Size classes differ: Canada, New Zealand: 0-19; Mexico: 1-15; 16-100; 101. 250; 251+; Japan.

It seems like everyone these days is in management consulting – strategy consultants, business consultants, technology consultants, IT consultants, marketing consultants, and the list goes on and on. It’s a catch-all title for someone who gets paid to give their advice on particular subjects to companies. In this post, we’ll attempt to answer 3 big questions: -Who are management consultants? -McKinsey, Accenture, Monitorwhat’s the difference between different management consulting firms?

-What do management consultants actually do? Who are consultants? Management consultants as people are generally: 1) Knowledgeable about the topic at hand 2) Well-connected within the industry 3) Have a reputation and/or brand (based on experience, publications, etc) 4) Effective communicators Companies often face questions that they are incapable of answering or too busy to properly address. This is where management consultants come in, armed with the above 4 traits, to help address precisely those questions. Further reading: McKinsey, Accenture, Monitorwhat’s the difference between different management consulting firms? The consulting industry can be segmented accordingly: 1) Management consulting firms (eg McKinsey, Bain, BCG – MBB) 2) One-stop-shop and technology-focused consulting firms (eg Accenture, Deloitte) 3) Niche/boutique consulting firms (eg Mercer HR, Kurt Salmon) 4) Independent consultants (self explanatory) Our categorization isn’t perfect – for instance, boutique consulting shops provide management advice; one-stop-shops often focus on IT/technology and less on strategy. In addition – many corporations these days have in-house consulting groups (often populated by ex-McKinsey-Bain-BCG-types).

And much of what the venture capital industry does when working with portfolio companies is similar to what Monitor would do for their Fortune 500 clients. Further reading: Interviews with a and Finally, what do consultants do?

The answer is: it depends. If you’re an analyst/associate, your job is to do the grunt work necessary to answer client questions. You will work with the following pieces of software: 1) Microsoft Powerpoint 2) Microsoft Excel 3) Emaillots and lots of email You will be provided the following pieces of hardware: 1) Smartphone 2) Durable laptop, usually a PC Your day will typically include the following (with a more detailed post on this later): 1) Client meetings 2) Team (internal) meetings 3) Data gathering and analysis 4) PowerPoint slide creation 5) Conference calls With all the above, your job is to come up with the most comprehensive, data-driven insights and answers that your clients don’t already know. These will form the basis for recommendations that your team will provide, and from which your clients will (ideally) make changes to their business to result in one or more of the following: 1) Increased revenue 2) Reduced costs 3) Clear strategic direction (acquisitions/divestitures/partnerships) 4) Org design and the gameplan for hiring and firing of employees 5) And so forth For more information about management consulting, check out.

Luis – I believe your original comment was somehow truncated. However, in regards to your basic question of whether an intelligent person is capable of finding a consulting job: Absolutely. Less than intelligence, it’s more about your ability to perform well in your environment, whether that’s in academics, work performance, or something else. Consistent high-performance, along with the ability to build important relationships through networking, will be the best predictors of your ability to break into and be successful at consulting. Hi Vic, U seemed to have more than one Q 1) I want to work for Mc too, I once sent them a email and soon I received a “we are ###, but ***” letter. I wrote back as “I am sorry that I am not stupid enough to heartly believe that U r ###, but U know what, I will somehow someday become a consultant, and later I will be Ur colleague”. This is really stupid, and it is also for Ur last Q, confidence is important, but far from enough, as I am still not in Mc yet after one year full with confidence.

2) I don’t know what Ur “technical” means, would U plz elaborate on what U did and learned? I have never been “workin’on technical side”. 3) My personal opinion is, those with hands on experience on management are too expensive and too old to travel that much for becoming a consultant in consulting firms. I cannot agree more with Kevin, as campus hired consultant means less pay & more plasticity for the firms. However, the best way to get into a con firm is to be recommended by senior level consultants. After I receive Mc’ elegant rejecting letter, I found myself a intern position in a con firm mentioned in the artical above, and then I wrote letters to every senior level consultants I knew, I was lucky, so U see, confidence is really important, at least I realized my first half promise, I am a consultant now.

And my friend, I can wish U nothing better than good luck in Ur search. Hi Luke, I have been following your site for quite some time and I would like you to know that yours is one most comprihensive, easy to understand and friendly consulting sites I’ve ever seen. Thank you very much for your efforts. There is something I would like to know, I am doing my BS in Information System Management at NYU. My career goal is to enter into the business and strategic consulting field.

Right now, I want to enter into Information Technology consulting. Can you please point out few companies which could make this transition (from IT consulting to Strategic consulting) relatively easy?

Also, can you please let me know what skill set I need to possess in order to enter the field of IT consulting and still avoid being one in the crowd? I know you must be really busy, but I will be really happy and grateful to you if you can be as specific as possible. Hi – just looking for opinions really. I’m UK based, am currently working in the public sector as a project manager, but have a wide range of experience in various fields – I’ve run my own small construction business, I’ve been an IT consultant and worked in the US and Europe, but never been particularly fulfilled with life as a techie, I’ve got a degree in English from a US university. I’m now completing an MBA and am seriously considering consulting for either a firm specialising SMEs or public sector and I think I look OK on paper. Only thing is – I’m 42. Is this too old?

I also have a family too so don’t want to spend my time endlessly roaming the globe. Am I being realistic about getting anyone to hire me? Honest opinions please! I’m an licenced architect in Chicago with 16 over years of domestic and international experiences.

The economy sucks as everyone knows and 50% of architects are unemployed i in the country. The salary for architects aren’t glamourous either. Hence, I’m looking to switch to a different field and am wondering how someone with a masters in architectural degree could fit into the “realm of management consultancy” any thoughts.? What’s my next step if I were to pursue another masters in Mgmt consultancy • Pingback: free music downloader() •.

I upgraded from Vista 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. Now I can't email invoices or save my invoices via 'Save as PDF' in Quickbooks. I've researched it online and it seems to be a known problem with other W7 but no solution from QBs. Found some user solutions about PDF converter problem but none work. Was working fine before upgrade. Here's the Quickbooks error I get: Printer not activated, error code - 20; then I press Ok and get: Could not print to printer.

Check your printer selection. Printing may have been canceled from another program. Then I press Ok and get: Problem Your forms were not sent b/c QB could not create the necessary PDF files. Solution You should be able to solve this problem by exiting and restarting QB, and then sedning the forms again. For more information, click Help. Thanks so much in advance for your help! Hi Sculley, Thanks for the post.

Since Quickbooks was working fine in Vista,it should also work reliably on Windows 7. However, you may like to follow these steps. Right click on your quickbooks startup exe file and open properties.

On the compatibility tab select compatibility mode and run this program in compatibility mode for Windows Vista (Service Pack 2). On privilege level check 'Run this program as administrator'.

Press Apply/OK to close properties. Start - Devices and Printers - add a printer - add a local printer - create a new port - local port and name it QBD_PDF. Choose to install AMYUNI Technologies - Amyuni Document Converter 300 (click windows update button if it is not on your list). If windows detects you already have a driver then choose to replace current driver. Name the printer Quickbooks PDF Converter - do not share printer - do NOT set as default printer. Start - Devices and Printers - Right click your QB printer, choose Printer - Properties and go to the advanced tab.

8. Remove any check marks in the 4 items with square boxes next to them (bottom part of screen) then select 'Print directly to the printer' Hit OK to close the window. Restart you computer and open Quickbooks. Open File - Printer Setup and make sure Quickbooks PDF Converter is the selected printer for any PDF operation you use frequently. (on rare occasions you may not see the Quickbooks PDF Converter on the list, reboot again and you will get it).

You can now perform PDF operations in Quickbooks (works for 32 and 64 bit Windows 7 RC) You may also like to go through Hope this helps NOTE - Disclaimer The links in this message may lead to third-party Web sites. Microsoft provides third-party resources to help you find customer service and/or technical support resources.

Information at these sites may change without notice. Microsoft is not responsible for the content at any third-party Web sites and does not guarantee the accuracy of third-party information. ========= 'Mark this as answer,if it really helps' =========.

I upgraded from Vista 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. Now I can't email invoices or save my invoices via 'Save as PDF' in Quickbooks. I've researched it online and it seems to be a known problem with other W7 but no solution from QBs. Found some user solutions about PDF converter problem but none work. Was working fine before upgrade. Here's the Quickbooks error I get: Printer not activated, error code - 20; then I press Ok and get: Could not print to printer. Check your printer selection.

Printing may have been canceled from another program. Then I press Ok and get: Problem Your forms were not sent b/c QB could not create the necessary PDF files.

Solution You should be able to solve this problem by exiting and restarting QB, and then sedning the forms again. For more information, click Help. Thanks so much in advance for your help!

I have the same issue. I have spent at least 4 hours a night on the phone Quickbooks. I finally was escalated to Level 3 support which could not resolve the issues. I am at my wits end and cannot take any more.

I upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate and Quickbooks PRO 2010. Quickbooks assured me that when I spent the money for the upgade it would be corrected. I NEED HELP NOW. My business is suffering since I cannot email any documents to customers. Hi Sculley, Thanks for the post. Since Quickbooks was working fine in Vista,it should also work reliably on Windows 7.

However, you may like to follow these steps. Right click on your quickbooks startup exe file and open properties. On the compatibility tab select compatibility mode and run this program in compatibility mode for Windows Vista (Service Pack 2).

On privilege level check 'Run this program as administrator'. Press Apply/OK to close properties. Start - Devices and Printers - add a printer - add a local printer - create a new port - local port and name it QBD_PDF. Choose to install AMYUNI Technologies - Amyuni Document Converter 300 (click windows update button if it is not on your list).

If windows detects you already have a driver then choose to replace current driver. Name the printer Quickbooks PDF Converter - do not share printer - do NOT set as default printer. Start - Devices and Printers - Right click your QB printer, choose Printer - Properties and go to the advanced tab.

8. Remove any check marks in the 4 items with square boxes next to them (bottom part of screen) then select 'Print directly to the printer' Hit OK to close the window. Restart you computer and open Quickbooks. Open File - Printer Setup and make sure Quickbooks PDF Converter is the selected printer for any PDF operation you use frequently. (on rare occasions you may not see the Quickbooks PDF Converter on the list, reboot again and you will get it). You can now perform PDF operations in Quickbooks (works for 32 and 64 bit Windows 7 RC) You may also like to go through Hope this helps NOTE - Disclaimer The links in this message may lead to third-party Web sites. Microsoft provides third-party resources to help you find customer service and/or technical support resources. Information at these sites may change without notice.

Microsoft is not responsible for the content at any third-party Web sites and does not guarantee the accuracy of third-party information. ========= 'Mark this as answer,if it really helps' =========. QB Tier 2 shared this steps to me. This worked for me and I hope this would help you as well. With QuickBooks closed Note: You may need to reboot if certain PDF elements are locked. If so, r eboot the computer and do not open QuickBooks. I n Windows, Go to Start >Devices & Printers.

Click once on the QuickBooks PDF Converter icon. Using the links in the menu bar, click on Remove device. Click once on any installed printer. Using the links in the menu bar, click on Print server properties. Click on the Drivers tab. Select and remove all Amyuni Document Converters. If asked, choose “Remove driver and driver package.” 9.

Close out of the Print server properties window. Right-click on the Start button and choose: Open Windows Explorer. Browse to the install.exe application in the QuickBooks installation directory: C: Program Files (x86) Intuit QuickBooks 2010 (or whatever the folder is called) install. Free Efax Software Download more. exe. Double-click on install.exe. This will install the PDF converter to the Devices & Printers screen.

Open a QuickBooks Sample or test company file then o pen an existing invoice. Save it as a PDF to your Desktop: File >Save as PDF. With QuickBooks closed Note: You may need to reboot if certain PDF elements are locked. If so, r eboot the computer and do not open QuickBooks.

I n Windows, Go to Start >Devices & Printers. Click once on the QuickBooks PDF Converter icon. Using the links in the menu bar, click on Remove device. Click once on any installed printer. Using the links in the menu bar, click on Print server properties. Click on the Drivers tab.

Select and remove all Amyuni Document Converters. If asked, choose “Remove driver and driver package.”. Hi Sculley, Thanks for the post. Since Quickbooks was working fine in Vista,it should also work reliably on Windows 7.

However, you may like to follow these steps. Right click on your quickbooks startup exe file and open properties. On the compatibility tab select compatibility mode and run this program in compatibility mode for Windows Vista (Service Pack 2). On privilege level check 'Run this program as administrator'. Press Apply/OK to close properties. Start - Devices and Printers - add a printer - add a local printer - create a new port - local port and name it QBD_PDF.

Choose to install AMYUNI Technologies - Amyuni Document Converter 300 (click windows update button if it is not on your list). If windows detects you already have a driver then choose to replace current driver. Name the printer Quickbooks PDF Converter - do not share printer - do NOT set as default printer. Start - Devices and Printers - Right click your QB printer, choose Printer - Properties and go to the advanced tab. 8. Remove any check marks in the 4 items with square boxes next to them (bottom part of screen) then select 'Print directly to the printer' Hit OK to close the window. Restart you computer and open Quickbooks.

Open File - Printer Setup and make sure Quickbooks PDF Converter is the selected printer for any PDF operation you use frequently. (on rare occasions you may not see the Quickbooks PDF Converter on the list, reboot again and you will get it). You can now perform PDF operations in Quickbooks (works for 32 and 64 bit Windows 7 RC) You may also like to go through Hope this helps NOTE - Disclaimer The links in this message may lead to third-party Web sites. Microsoft provides third-party resources to help you find customer service and/or technical support resources. Information at these sites may change without notice.

Microsoft is not responsible for the content at any third-party Web sites and does not guarantee the accuracy of third-party information. ========= 'Mark this as answer,if it really helps' ========= This worked like a charm for me. QB 2010, Win 7. This is the biggest relief. Thank you so much sir! I am also having the same problem - does anyone have a soluction.

I have a medium size database and the computer hangs when I do a reconciliation, even when I try to create an adjustment note. I cant email PDF files and have to save the file as an excel and email the data through my own excel software.

I rang Quicken and the Tech said leave it run as long as it takes - but it had been running already for 5 hours with no response - he said let it run. This is my bookkeeping business and I am unable to do too much. It doesn't ever respond - I have to abort!

Anyone got any suggested help? (Apart from going to MYOB instead as it works fine in Windows 7). QB will not support windows 7 for older style QB like mine which is 2009 pro I have to upgrade to the lateste QB and as I have it set up on 2 computers the cost would be £400.00 approx!! So I have found a way round this and it has now been running for 2 months with no problem what soever, Oh and they dont do a minor upgrade or bug fix either Download primo print package and include it on your network with your usual printer when you go to print with a QB invoice on the drop down bar select primo print and just press the print button this brigs up a create PDF button which I then save and sen by email. Yes it take 3 mins longer and and I have to press 3 extra buttons but its saved me £400.00 and I shall be looking to change from QB to sage in the long terms and have told QB as much.:-)). I just want to say THANK YOU for your post. My issue was resolved almost immediately!

One minor change, it made Quickbooks run in Windows XP compatibility mode versus Vista.not sure why, but everything is WORKING perfectly! I spent several hours on the phone with Intuit yesterday. They took over my PC and made things much worse than they were.

My only issue was being unable to save PDFs and send forms in Quickbooks Pro 2010 after functioning correctly for over a year. Of course on initial install we had to do some crazy fix and it worked.for a while. By the time I got off of the phone because it was an hour past COB, nothing worked as far as printing on my pc. I had to uninstall and re-install my printer(UGH!). Needless to say I did a little more internet digging and found your post before calling them back since my case was fed up the food chain to the next tier of support, I could feel more hours of dread coming. They can call me back as far as I am concerned and I will let them know that they need to hire you as a technical support consultant! What a waste of my life dealing with them.

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!! This post has made my day! Candice Barnhart Moncks Corner, SC. I am having the exact same problem. Upgraded over the weekend and can't email my invoices. Now Running W7_64. Tried changing permissions to include write within windir, WOW64 folder and 32 folder.

Still doesn't work. Application is latest update of 2009 Pro. So, two options I've heard of: intuit support may have a patch and 2, upgrade to 2010. My version of Pro does include 2010 upgrade, so its a matter of a week or two until I receive the disc. In the meantime, any suggestions would be great! Why don' you try Expert PDF convert software. Expert PDF Software is an efficient software that is especially designed for windows based operating system that can easily convert, create or customize and view PDF documents.

It provides best solution to easily convert word, text, xls any other document easily in PDF format in fraction of seconds. For more info.