This month we secured this Australian Financial Review exclusive for the Source Global Research report on Australia’s consulting market.

The report had found that the market had experienced the lowest level of growth (5.1%) for almost a decade largely due to the fallout of the PwC tax leaks scandal, which led to reduced demand in the public sector for services offered by the Big Four consulting firms, and a general downturn from late 2023 among private sector clients that use the big firms, as economic conditions deteriorated.

Specifically, the Source report found that the market growth rate more than halved from 11.3% in 2022 to just 5.1% in 2023. The Australian market was worth US$6.1bn in 2023, with 4% growth forecast to US$6.4bn in 2024.

Dane Albertelli, senior research analyst at Source said in the feature: “Australia in particular has had to deal with a collapse in demand for consulting services following domestic scandals and a general belt-tightening from consumers.

As a result of the negative press surrounding high-profile consulting scandals, firms should be particularly aware of how much companies now value brand and reputation, with this emerging as the second most important buying criteria among consulting clients.”