Management consulting is a sought-after, high rewarding field of work for many. The profile of a management consultant is considered among the highest paying jobs. It is a job that demands filling up technical gaps that exist in an organization to improve its productivity and efficiency. The management concepts are the cornerstones of these firms. Firms hiring such consultants are many, but the ones that top the list are only a few. Getting there takes a great deal of effort, which includes formal training and a good work experience. Consulting firms are breeding grounds of the best intellectual, analytical, and creative minds in the present day's highly competitive and fast-paced corporate scenario. Here's taking a look at list top firms with a brief overview. Accenture Leading the list is Accenture, the world's largest, and the most famous. It is considered to be a leader in the areas of systems integration and business process engineering. The company has presence in over 80 countries around the globe. Accenture is a spin off, of Arthur Andersen Consulting, a famous firm in its own right. Accenture grew bigger in terms of revenues and presence than Arthur Andersen by 2001. McKinsey Closely following is McKinsey. This is a privately owned management consulting firm with more 80 offices around the globe and odd 15,600 employees. This firm also finds itself in the top financial consulting firms. McKinsey has divided its work in 7 broad verticals, each having its own specialist skilled consultants to provide thoughtful, in-depth solutions to any problems the client might be facing. McKinsey's clients range from nearly every sector and from every country, from automotive giants in U.S. to some government department or NGOs in India. Deloitte Consulting Consulting arm of Deloitte & Touche, Deloitte Consulting has a workforce of 15,000 professionals spanning over 33 countries. The impressive list of clients comprises more than one-third of companies in Global Fortune 500 list. It's services includes consulting for tax advisory and financial advisory services, strategic and operational management consulting. Managing consulting verticals also include strategy and operations management, technology/systems integration and human capital. The main targets of this consulting firm are public sector, real estate, life sciences and health care, consumer business, financial services, manufacturing, technology, media, and communications, energy and resources, aviation and transport. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Privately held management consulting company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was established in 1968 by Bruce Henderson. Their major claims to fame have been contributions to management theories and practices, like the BCG Matrix for example. With 6,000 employees spread over 65 offices, this is one of the top most firms, as none can match their high quality strategic consulting work. For those seeking high management consulting salaries, this is the place to be. This intellectually driven company has an insightful and out-of-the-box solutions for its esteemed list of clients. Bain and Company Focus of Bain and Company is at developing and increasing operational efficiency and developing marketing strategies. Bain is also heavily involved in consulting in financial domains like mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments and transformation plans. Bain has over 4,000 professionals and shares a close affiliation with Bain Capital, an elite private equity firm, known for outstanding large investments. Booz & Company The oldest management consulting firm Booz & Company, was founded in 1914, and was the first one ever to coin the term "management consultant". It provides consulting for both public and private sectors. The company employs more than 3200 people operating in 57 offices in 33 countries. Booz Allen Hamilton, is Booz's venture which only provides consulting services to the U.S. Government. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) is one of the world's largest providers of assurance, tax, and business consulting services. With 757 cities across 154 countries and employs over 161,000 people the company posted a profit of $26.6 billion in 2010. It is the largest provider of management consulting jobs related to accountancy. This is the reason why PwC hired a number of CFAs, CAs, and lawyers. Profits posted, businesses acquired, and returns yielded on investments decides the management consulting firms' ranking. Such consulting firms usually work on a hybrid model of pricing. Traditionally the firms billed the clients solely on the basis of time and material. In this model, the consultant's man hours and other out of pocket expenses or overheads were charged to the client. By the mid 2000s there was a dramatic shift towards a more result oriented approach to pricing, and the two models have been combined and adopted by major firms to charge their clients. World over there are many management consulting firms that deliver services in various areas of management and operations. Mainly we can define seven broad areas of management services that these firms cater to, namely, business technology, corporate finance, marketing and sales, operations, organization, risk, and strategy. Today many non-consulting companies and IT companies are making great strides in the world of consulting too.