What Are the Big 5 Major Consulting Firms? Salary and Differences at Each Firm Explained

“What are the Big 5 firms in the consulting industry?” “What are the differences and characteristics of the Big 5?” Do you have these questions?

This article addresses those questions in the following order:

• What is the Big 5 in the consulting industry?
• Types of consulting firms
• Career transition to the Big 5

This article is useful for those considering a job or career change in the consulting industry. Please read to the end.

※Information about companies and job listings mentioned in this article is as of 2025.

What Is the Big 5 in the Consulting Industry?

“Big 5” is a term referring to the following five consulting firms.

Previously, the four firms excluding Accenture were called the “Big 4.”

The Big 4 originally started as accounting firms, but through repeated acquisitions of other firms, they became comprehensive consulting firms capable of providing services across a wide range of fields.

Accenture was a firm with strengths in management consulting, but due to its ability to handle a wide range of consulting services, it began to be compared with the Big 4 and is now recognized as part of the Big 5.

Features, Strengths, and Salaries of Each Big 5 Firm

Here, we introduce the features, strengths, and average salaries of each consulting firm in the Big 5. Compare each firm to understand their differences.

※Salary figures for each firm are calculated based on information from job site “OpenWork” and other sources.

Deloitte Tohmatsu

Deloitte Tohmatsu is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which has over 415,000 employees in 150 countries worldwide.

It has 30 locations within Japan and employs approximately 5,100 people. Working in collaboration with Deloitte Tohmatsu LLC and Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory (DTFA), it delivers services on a global scale.

Features of Deloitte Tohmatsu

The consulting industry is known for its demanding meritocracy — often described as “Up or Out” (promote or leave) — but Deloitte Tohmatsu is said to have a mild corporate culture, rare among foreign-affiliated firms. This is because it has a well-developed system that thoroughly trains employees until they become full-fledged consultants.

Hiring standards also focus on whether candidates have the qualities to grow as consultants. In terms of nurturing talent, it may be similar to Japanese companies.

Strengths of Deloitte Tohmatsu

While consulting firms typically focus on strategy formulation, Deloitte Tohmatsu goes beyond that to also provide implementation support.

Additionally, Deloitte Tohmatsu consultants each possess highly specialized knowledge in specific fields. Its strength lies in bringing together expert consultants who can deliver high-value services.

Salary at Deloitte Tohmatsu

The average salary at Deloitte Tohmatsu is approximately ¥9.5 million, with a salary range of roughly ¥4 million to ¥25 million — an extremely wide spread. This reflects a characteristic of consulting firms where performance is directly tied to compensation.

The incentive portion of compensation is high, while the base salary portion is relatively small. Incentive rankings are set in fine detail, with rigorous evaluations conducted.

Bonuses are paid twice a year, with each payment reportedly equivalent to two months of base salary.

PwC Consulting

PwC Consulting is a group firm of the PwC global network, which has approximately 300,000 employees worldwide, with about 5,130 employees in Japan.

As a comprehensive consulting firm that handles everything from strategy formulation to implementation support, it boasts the largest scale in Japan. Leveraging the PwC network, it supports clients in strengthening their international competitiveness.

Features of PwC Consulting

PwC Consulting focuses its consulting work on four areas: Strategy, Management, Technology, and Experience. It also provides Deal Advisory services covering M&A, group restructuring, and business revitalization.

Since consulting and Deal Advisory services fall under the same hiring track, someone hired hoping to work as a consultant may be placed in Deal Advisory services.

PwC Consulting handles more overseas projects than other firms, and with a well-established training system to support performance in global environments, it can be considered a firm offering a wide range of experiences.

Strengths of PwC Consulting

The strength of PwC Consulting lies in its collaborative structure across departments. Within the PwC group, there are various divisions including finance and legal. When collaboration from other divisions is deemed necessary to ensure project success, they reach out and work together to advance the project.

When asked for cooperation by other divisions, they likewise collaborate to move the project forward.

Salary at PwC Consulting

The average salary at PwC Consulting is approximately ¥9.7 million, with a salary range of roughly ¥4 million to ¥25 million.

Even at the same job title, compensation varies based on rank. Bonuses come in two types: one that varies based on position and performance, and one that is paid at a fixed amount tied to the firm’s overall performance.

EY Strategy & Consulting (EYSC)

EY Strategy & Consulting is a member firm of the EY Group, which has approximately 300,000 employees in 150 countries worldwide. Its workforce in Japan numbers approximately 4,000 employees.

EY Strategy & Consulting was established in 2010 as EY Advisory, and underwent internal group reorganizations in 2018 and 2020 to reach its current form.

Its main services are organizational restructuring through M&A and business transformation support leveraging IT technology.

Features of EY Strategy & Consulting

EY Strategy & Consulting is known for its mild corporate culture with an emphasis on contributing to the team. This is also a characteristic of the EY Group as a whole.

Feedback from those who received job offers also frequently notes that people tend to be soft-spoken, with some describing it as having the most relaxed culture among the Big 5.

If you want to avoid firms with an aggressive atmosphere, targeting EY Strategy & Consulting for your job search or career change may be a good option.

Strengths of EY Strategy & Consulting

The EY Group emphasizes “connectedness” as its global strategy. While some firms compete by region or operate independently, collaborating within the group yields better results than acting separately.

For example, if EY Strategy & Consulting faces a challenge that is difficult to resolve on its own, it may be able to address it by receiving solutions from other firms within the group.

By prioritizing intra-group connectivity and earning client trust, this approach leads to further business opportunities.

Salary at EY Strategy & Consulting

The average salary at EY Strategy & Consulting is approximately ¥9.05 million, with a salary range of roughly ¥4.5 million to ¥27 million.

The compensation structure is organized by rank for each job title. Salaries can differ by units of ¥1 million depending on the position.

KPMG Consulting

KPMG Consulting is a member firm of KPMG International. The group as a whole has approximately 236,000 employees across 143 countries worldwide.

KPMG Consulting was established in 2014 through the merger of KPMG Management and KPMG Advisory, making it one of the newer firms. As of January 2025, it employs approximately 2,100 people in Japan, making it the smallest of the Big 5 in terms of domestic headcount — a lean, elite organization.

Features of KPMG Consulting

A defining feature of KPMG Consulting is its recruitment and training system built on brand strength. While KPMG Consulting itself was only founded in 2014, the broader group has existed since the 1980s and enjoys extremely high name recognition.

Leveraging this brand recognition, the firm attracts talented individuals and invests in their development over time, producing results-driven consultants from a small but elite workforce.

Strengths of KPMG Consulting

Key strengths of KPMG Consulting include its RPA (Robotic Process Automation) projects and established domain expertise. By leveraging RPA and AI to automate workflows, it supports business transformation and risk management for clients.

Additionally, KPMG Consulting proactively enters emerging fields such as the space industry and esports, developing deeper expertise than any other firm in those areas and securing a leading position — this is another key strength.

Salary at KPMG Consulting

The average salary at KPMG Consulting is approximately ¥9 million, with a salary range of roughly ¥5 million to ¥22 million.

Base salary accounts for a larger portion of total compensation, while bonuses represent roughly one to two months’ salary. Compared to other Big 5 firms, there may be some gap in overall compensation levels, but given that the base pay is already high, most employees report satisfaction with their income.

Accenture

As of January 2025, Accenture operates in 49 countries across more than 200 cities worldwide, making it one of the largest consulting firms in the world with 750,000 employees.

While its registered headquarters is in Ireland, its operational base is widely considered to be Chicago and New York. In Japan, it employs approximately 25,000 people.

Originally, Deloitte Tohmatsu, PwC Consulting, EY Strategy & Consulting, and KPMG Consulting were collectively known as the “Big 4,” but with the rise of Accenture in recent years, the five firms together are now referred to as the “Big 5.”

Features of Accenture

Accenture’s defining features are its structure combining four service areas — “Strategy & Consulting,” “Interactive,” “Technology,” and “Operations” — to handle a diverse range of engagements, and its people-first corporate culture.

Employees with ambitions are given opportunities to take on challenges, and Accenture actively invests in and supports those who work hard to deliver results — a culture that could be considered unusual within the performance-driven consulting industry.

Strengths of Accenture

Accenture’s key strength is its advanced IT capabilities. While most firms outsource system development, Accenture handles it in-house.

By keeping system development internal, it eliminates the misalignments in understanding and quality control issues that tend to arise with outsourcing, enabling it to deliver systems that truly meet client requirements.

Salary at Accenture

The average salary at Accenture is approximately ¥8.7 million, with a salary range of roughly ¥2.9 million to ¥60 million.

Accenture operates on an annual salary system. Bonuses are paid once a year, and while the amount varies based on performance evaluations, it is approximately two to three months’ salary. Additional benefits include a defined contribution pension plan and employee stock purchase support programs.

Types of Consulting Firms

Each consulting firm has its own areas of expertise and industry focus.

Here, we categorize consulting firms into eight types and introduce the features and major firms in each category.

Comprehensive Consulting Firms

Comprehensive consulting firms are not limited to a specific field — they guide client companies across various industries and sectors toward resolving their challenges.

The issues companies face span a wide range, including business strategy, IT, and finance. To address these varied challenges, comprehensive consulting firms are mostly large-scale organizations with thousands of employees.

All of the Big 5 firms introduced in this article fall under the category of comprehensive consulting firms. Other firms such as IBM Japan and Forties Consulting (formerly Kunie) are also classified as comprehensive consulting firms.

Strategy Consulting Firms

Most strategy consulting firms are headquartered in the West and operate globally. While they previously applied Western management principles and concepts to client companies around the world, they have since shifted to providing consulting tailored to the business practices of each region in order to solve client challenges.

In recent years, the focus has expanded beyond proposals to also include support during implementation.

IT Consulting Firms

IT consulting firms serve clients ranging from large corporations to SMEs and startups, providing services such as IT strategy formulation, upstream consulting on business transformation, and system implementation support.

Another characteristic of IT consulting firms is that many also engage in a wide range of initiatives, including independent research and development of proprietary packaged systems, investment in startups, and management of venture companies.

Think Tank Consulting Firms

Think tank consulting firms primarily focus on the following four areas:

• Economic research
• Research for government agencies
• IT consulting
• Management consulting

Among these, the majority of think tank consulting firms focus on IT and management consulting.

Most think tank consulting firms are subsidiaries of large companies such as financial institutions, and leverage know-how gained across the group in their consulting work.

They also tend to have a corporate culture similar to that of typical Japanese companies, which is reflected in a more deliberate, long-term approach to consulting engagements.

Financial Advisory Consulting Firms

Financial advisory consulting firms provide consulting in the following areas:

• M&A advisory
• Valuation services covering corporate value, intellectual property, and accounting purposes
• Due diligence to verify the accuracy of financial information of acquisition targets
• Forensic services including fraud investigations and litigation analysis

As business becomes increasingly global, cross-border M&A is no longer uncommon. As a result, financial advisory consulting firms require not only advanced financial knowledge and experience, but also proficiency in foreign languages such as English.

Accounting Consulting Firms

Conducting financial audits primarily for large corporations and verifying that financial statements are correctly prepared is the role of accounting consulting firms. Strictly speaking, “audit firms” may be the more accurate term.

While financial auditing was once the primary focus, in recent years these firms have expanded their services into areas not directly related to accounting or auditing, such as management consulting, IT advisory, and security and risk consulting for financial institutions.

Business Revitalization Consulting Firms

Business revitalization consulting firms receive mandates from companies facing declining performance or funding shortfalls, and work on operational improvements and business turnaround.

When necessary, they embed themselves within the client organization to handle negotiations with creditors and stakeholders, and propose financial restructuring and operational improvement plans.

Given the nature of the work, professionals with deep expertise in finance and taxation are in high demand, making this a field where certified accountants and alumni of strategy consulting firms can thrive.

HR & Organizational Consulting Firms

Providing consulting specialized in organizational structure and human resources is the focus of HR consulting firms.

They work to define a future vision for the organization and then formulate and introduce new HR strategies and systems to bring that vision to life.

HR reform often meets internal resistance. The larger or more prominent the company, the more challenging it becomes to drive reform internally. Having an external party — such as an HR consulting firm — take the lead helps facilitate a smoother transformation.

Differences Between Japanese and Foreign-Affiliated Consulting Firms

There are two types of consulting firms: Japanese and foreign-affiliated. Here is an overview of the characteristics of each.

What Are Japanese Consulting Firms?

Japanese consulting firms are firms primarily funded and operated by Japanese companies. They place importance on organizational structure and have well-developed training programs for new graduates and inexperienced mid-career hires.

While they do conduct project-based consulting, their foundation is typically a retainer-style engagement that builds long-term relationships with clients.

Average Salary and Promotion System

The average salary range at Japanese consulting firms is approximately ¥5 million to ¥10 million.

According to a survey by Japan’s National Tax Agency in fiscal year 2024, the average annual income in Japan was ¥4.78 million, meaning that at a Japanese consulting firm, there is a possibility of exceeding Japan’s average income shortly after joining.

The promotion system is said to have a strong seniority-based tendency, typical of Japanese companies, where years of service are given significant weight.

What Are Foreign-Affiliated Consulting Firms?

Foreign-affiliated consulting firms are firms primarily funded by foreign companies. Strictly speaking, this refers to firms where foreign investors hold more than one-third of the shares and at least one foreign shareholder holds an ownership stake of 10% or more.

The “Up or Out” culture — unique to consulting — is strongly embedded, and most operate on a results-driven meritocracy where failure to deliver is not rewarded.

In contrast to the retainer-style model common at Japanese consulting firms, foreign-affiliated firms typically operate on a project basis, assembling teams for each engagement.

With offices around the world, overseas postings are not uncommon, so language proficiency is highly valued.

Average Salary and Promotion System

The average salary range at foreign-affiliated consulting firms is approximately ¥5 million to ¥13 million.

At foreign-affiliated firms, the incentive portion of compensation is high, meaning strong performance can push earnings above the figures listed above — and early promotion is also possible. However, failure to deliver results can push earnings below expectations, and demotion is also a possibility.

While working conditions are improving, foreign-affiliated consulting firms tend to involve longer working hours than their Japanese counterparts, so be prepared for a demanding workload if you’re targeting a foreign-affiliated firm.

Career Transition to the Big 5

Making a career move to the Big 5 — the top tier of the consulting industry — is assumed to be highly competitive, but what is the reality?

Here is an overview of the job market and hiring landscape for the Big 5.

Mid-Career Hiring at the Big 5

In recent years, demand for consultants has grown significantly, and many firms are actively hiring mid-career professionals in addition to new graduates in order to secure talent.

The Big 5 are no exception — they are focused on acquiring experienced mid-career hires who can hit the ground running. However, transitioning to the Big 5 — the industry’s top firms — is by no means easy. The competition from other candidates is fierce, and the required experience and skill level remains high.

The barrier to entry has simply lowered compared to before, so it’s still necessary to thoroughly understand the characteristics of your target firm and develop a solid strategy.

Can You Join the Big 5 Without Prior Consulting Experience?

Even without prior consulting experience, having specific experience or skills can make it possible to transition to the Big 5. The experience and skills that are particularly valued include backgrounds in corporate sales, the financial industry, and the IT industry.

These types of experience and skills tend to be well-regarded even without a consulting background, and IT industry experience and technical skills in particular are highly sought after.

Regardless of industry, IT is transforming the way businesses operate. Companies eager to digitize are seeking consultants with strong IT knowledge, and many firms are actively recruiting IT talent to meet this demand.

Candidates in their 20s to early 30s who have this kind of experience and skills are more likely to be hired based on potential, even without a consulting background. As candidates get older, the likelihood of potential-based hiring decreases, so if you’re interested in a consulting career, it’s best to take the leap sooner rather than later.

• Career Change to Consulting Without Experience: Required Qualifications and Interview Tips Thoroughly Explained
• No Experience Required! Free Career Consultation

What Skills Do You Need to Join the Big 5?

Here is an overview of the skills required when targeting a career move to a consulting firm — especially the Big 5.

Analytical and Insight Skills

Identifying the challenges clients face and guiding them toward resolution requires strong analytical and insight skills.

At the Big 5 — the top consulting firms in the industry — these two skills will be assessed during the interview process.

Make it a habit to observe your surroundings carefully, consistently input the knowledge and information that forms the foundation of your thinking, and regularly practice outputting what you’ve learned — this will sharpen both your analytical abilities and your insight.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are a critical asset for consultants.

Communication consists of three elements: the ability to listen, the ability to convey information clearly, and the ability to accurately understand the intent of others.

Without accurately identifying the nature of a client’s challenge, it’s impossible to guide them toward a solution. Strong communication skills are indispensable not only for building solid relationships with clients, but also for fostering good working relationships with project team members and ensuring projects run smoothly.

Industry-Specific Expertise

In addition to the core skills expected of a consultant, having specialized knowledge and experience in a particular industry or sector can be a strong differentiator.

The Big 5 serve clients across a wide range of industries and sectors. Having deep knowledge and hands-on experience in a specific field positions you as a candidate who can be expected to deliver results on relevant projects.

The industry knowledge and experience that each firm values most differs. Research which firm would best leverage your background, and use that to gain an edge in your job search.

Language Skills

Even at their Japan-based offices, the Big 5 have a high proportion of non-Japanese employees, and the internal working language may be English or another foreign language. There are also cases where clients are foreign companies and English is the only common language.

While some job postings may not explicitly state language requirements, a TOEIC score of 800 to 850 may be expected in practice.

Given the extensive global presence of the Big 5, overseas travel and overseas transfers are also a possibility.

Strong language skills don’t guarantee a job offer, but they certainly won’t hurt your chances. Language ability can be developed through practice — make an effort to improve it as much as possible.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

An entrepreneurial mindset is also essential for consultants.

The management challenges that companies face are wide-ranging. Simply applying a success formula from one client does not guarantee the same outcome with another.

It is necessary to factor in the unique characteristics of each client company, their industry and sector, and the broader economic climate in order to identify the most effective solution.

This requires flexible thinking and a willingness to tackle challenges from new angles. Rather than relying on routine, consultants must bring an entrepreneurial drive to their work at all times.

Summary

With growing demand for consultants, many firms — including the Big 5 — are increasing their hiring numbers, making it easier to break into the consulting industry.

While the difficulty of joining the Big 5 remains unchanged, by understanding the characteristics of each firm and the experience and skills they require — and preparing accordingly — it is possible to successfully transition to a consulting role even without prior experience.

“ConsulNext.jp“, operated by Mirai Works Co., Ltd., publishes not only job listings in the consulting industry but also a wide range of articles useful for consultants — be sure to check it out.