Most people are familiar with the role of a consultant. A consultant is often defined as “a person who provides expert advice professionally”. Not all view a consultant as someone who assists, facilitates and deploys, often limiting the scope to providing information or proposing a solution. Unfortunately, this is also a great way to avoid difficult conversations and business challenges that need fixing. But, is part of the problem the bias towards management consultants? Is there a lack of clarity on the types of support out there? Did IR35 cause some businesses to reconsider most external resource? So, read on as we answer, “When is a management consultant not a consultant?”
Management consultant and the role
Consultants are often criticised as poor value for money, particularly when they play back what you already know. Many see consultants as an unnecessary group of advisors or have little access to them. In many companies, expenditure on consultancy has additional controls in terms of the approval chain that means directors have to approve such spend.
There are varying definitions of what a management consultant does. This example from the Harvard Business Review, outlines a hierarchy of consulting purposes:
Fig 1. A hierarchy of consulting purposes
Unfortunately, many people see the consulting process as the consultants looking for ways to upsell other services. However, this mindset can limit the benefits the organisation can identify and unlock. The best consulting engagements are a balance between people, process and professional scepticism. A skilled management consultant that asks broader questions, identifies strategic challenges and understands internal interdependencies, is able to extract more value for clients.
Fig 2. Our hierarchy of management consultant purposes
When a consultant is not a consultant
In the employment sense, a consultant is a third-party advisor or expert to an industry sector or a specialist field. They are not employees and should retain independence to extract the best consulting and business outcomes. However, if we draw a broad distinction such as this, it fails to address specific work packages within the above hierarchies. For example, someone who provides high-quality industry research or market profiling may not identify as a consultant.
Fig 3. A radial view of UK employment types
Here at Think Beyond, we call ourselves consultants but you could also view us as freelance or contractor. Our services range from advisory work (consultancy) to delivering projects (contractor) and getting hands on (freelance) to help improve business performance. We are not an agency so we don’t charge recruitment fees or commissions.
Management consultant in business, finance and marketing
Any management consultant has different experience and skills. Some have worked in operational roles, some on corporate boards and others started at business school and went straight into consulting. We believe that an amalgamation of business, finance and marketing skills are ideal to support companies. In fact, according to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), 49% of FTSE 350 boards have a background in accountancy or finance. Conversely, marketing and sales representation on boards is declining, which is viewed as a negative development in board diversity.
From junior roles through to business partner roles and finance director or marketing director, we have worked cross-functionally for much of our careers. Steven had a commercial leaning from the beginning, favouring roles that allowed him to work alongside operations, engineering, sales, marketing, commercial, procurement and IT departments. Mercè focused mainly on the relationship with sales, commercial and product teams with some exposure to operations, finance, procurement and IT departments. Both of us worked alongside directors from our early beginnings and our clients are a mix of board members, senior sales positions and manager to senior marketers. So, if you need to understand the advantages of business, finance or marketing support, give us a call on 01565 632206.
Understanding off-payroll working (IR35)
A worker who provides their services through an intermediary or a client who receives services from a worker through an intermediary or an agency may be affected by IR35. For those involved, most commonly agency or employment businesses, they are responsible for correctly paying tax and National Insurance for workers. Your company may also need to pay employer National Insurance contributions, statutory pension contributions and any Apprenticeship Levy due. More self-employed workers or those working under ‘umbrella’ companies may be treated as employees under IR35 since 6th April 2021.
Medium and large-sized private sector businesses only need to review the off-payroll working status if the company meets 2 or more of these conditions:
- an annual turnover of more than £10.2 million
- a balance sheet total of more than £5.1 million
- more than 50 employees
The key test for businesses is whether a worker would be classed as an employee if they were contracted directly. Some example tests could include:
- could you have hired the worker directly?
- is there a specific job role for the worker?
- are you dependent on the worker to function?
A contract for the purpose of the off-payroll working rules is a written, verbal or implied agreement between parties.
In summary, you cannot employ us directly, use us to fill a vacancy or depend on us to function. Additionally, we may ask you to sign a contract that covers the scope of our services.
Flexible support from consultant to contractor
Whatever your business need, engaging Think Beyond is as easy as raising a purchase order. With competitive day rates and clear, transparent costings for projects, you know exactly how much to pay and when. We offer ongoing advisory and oversight support to boards and also fixed cost project work with clear timescales and deliverables. Finally, we can sometimes offer lower pricing for longer-term commitments to work with us.
If you would like to know more about how to engage Think Beyond, why not check out our frequently asked questions.
To get started and creating sustained value, simply email us at sales@think-beyond.co.uk. Alternatively, just enter a few details into our form to request a call back.
Finally, see how we work and what makes Think Beyond different.