In an audit and consulting network, the word “advisory” serves as a shared label for jobs that sometimes have almost nothing in common. A strategy consultant preparing a growth plan, a cybersecurity consultant testing a bank’s defences and a transaction services analyst reviewing a target’s accounts all carry the same word on their badge. For a candidate, this confusion has a cost: you apply “in advisory” without knowing which service line you will land in, or what career it opens. This article untangles what the term covers at Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC, where the line with audit runs, and how to adapt a CV to the line you are aiming for.
What advisory covers
Historically, the four large networks are audit firms that developed consulting activities alongside the statutory audit. Each network splits and names them in its own way, and these splits change regularly as internal reorganisations come and go. Rather than memorising labels, it is more useful to reason by broad families of client needs:
- strategy and transactions: strategic plans, market reviews, due diligence, support for investment funds;
- transformation of functions and operations: finance, procurement, supply chain, human resources, customer relations;
- technology and data: information systems, ERP, data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity;
- risk and compliance: internal control, risk management, sector regulation, particularly in financial services.
PwC France, for example, describes its management consulting on its careers page 🔗 as a matrix organisation: industries on one side (industry and services, financial services, public sector), capabilities on the other, among which finance function transformation, large programme management, operations, digital transformation, data and information systems consulting. KPMG, for its part, presents its consulting business 🔗 as supporting large groups, mid-sized companies, funds and start-ups in their transformation and digitalisation projects.
What all these lines have in common: they sell consulting time, not an opinion on accounts.
Consulting or audit, where the line runs
The distinction is simple in principle. The auditor certifies that a company’s accounts give a true and fair view of its position: they issue an opinion, framed by professional standards, and take on the liability of a statutory auditor. The consultant helps the client make and implement decisions: they recommend, design and support.
In practice, two rules make the line visible day to day.
Independence. A network cannot sell everything to a company whose accounts it audits. EU Regulation No 537/2014 🔗 lists services prohibited for the statutory auditor of a public-interest entity, and the French audit authority 🔗, which succeeded the H3C, oversees the application of these rules in France. The practical consequence for a consultant: some prestigious clients will be out of reach because the network’s audit practice already serves them.
Grey areas. Some teams work on the edge. Transaction services analyses accounts, but for a buyer rather than to certify them. Accounting and finance advisory (EY talks about Financial Accounting Advisory Services) supports finance departments on consolidation, reporting or conversion to IFRS. These jobs often recruit former auditors and use their vocabulary. If you come from audit, the page on grades in an audit firm, from assistant to partner 🔗 helps you place your level when moving to the other side.
The main service lines
Without claiming to be exhaustive, here is what you find under each family, and what it means for daily work.
Strategy
Every network now has a brand or a dedicated team for strategy consulting. EY, for example, presents EY-Parthenon 🔗 as its strategy, transaction and corporate finance consulting team, and states that its consultants can specialise after about four years of experience. The engagements resemble those of independent strategy firms: market reviews, strategic plans, commercial due diligence. So does recruitment, with case interviews close to those of specialist firms, profitability cases included.
Transformation and performance
This is often the largest part of the networks’ consulting business: reorganising functions, performance plans, process redesign, shared service centres. Engagements are longer than in strategy, take place largely at the client’s site and go further into implementation.
Technology, data and cybersecurity
Technology teams support the selection and rollout of ERP systems, data governance, artificial intelligence projects and systems security. Deloitte, for example, highlights on its services page 🔗 its support for data and AI transformation, from use cases to governance. Engineering profiles are numerous there and technical certifications matter.
Risk and regulation
Mainly in banking and insurance, risk teams work on compliance with prudential regulation, internal control, anti-money laundering and operational risk management. These engagements require precise regulatory knowledge and are in high demand among financial institutions.
What a junior consultant actually does
Whatever the job, the first years follow a common pattern: a junior works in a team supervised by a manager, on one or two engagements at a time, often at the client’s site. What changes from one line to another is the nature of the deliverables, and the way consultants are assigned to engagements, described in our article on staffing in a consulting firm.
| Service line | What a junior produces | What they learn first | |---|---|---| | Strategy | Market analyses, Excel models, presentation slides | Structuring a problem, synthesising | | Transformation | Process maps, workload analyses, workshop materials | Understanding an organisation, facilitating | | Technology and data | Specifications, test plans, dashboards | Bridging business and technical teams | | Risk | Reviews of control frameworks, control testing, regulatory notes | Reading a regulatory text and applying it |
On recruitment, KPMG describes a typical path on its careers page: one or two rounds of tests (personality, language, technical or cognitive), then two interviews with operational managers, often including a case study, and an interview with a partner. The other networks follow similar patterns, adapted to each line: a technology team will ask more technical questions, a strategy team more open cases.
To see what a CV looks like after a few years in a transformation practice, the management and organisation consultant CV template shows an organisation by grade and by engagement, with quantified and anonymised results.
Bridges to strategy consulting
Many candidates join a network hoping to move later to a strategy firm. It is possible, but the path depends heavily on the service line.
- From a strategy team within the network, moving to an independent strategy firm is the most natural: the engagements are comparable and the grade translates fairly well.
- From transformation or transactions, the bridge exists, provided you highlight engagements with a strategic dimension (portfolio review, due diligence, a performance plan for a leadership team) and prepare case interviews again.
- From technology or risk, moving to pure strategy is rarer; the natural exits are rather expert roles in industry or specialist firms.
In all cases, seniority does not guarantee your entry grade: a strategy firm assesses what you can do on your own, not the title you hold.
Adapting your CV to a service line
Since “advisory” means nothing in itself, your CV must say precisely where you want to go. Four adjustments are often enough.
- The title and summary use the exact name of the target line (“finance function transformation consultant”, “banking risk and regulation consultant”) rather than a generic “advisory consultant”.
- The experience section highlights what matches that line’s deliverables: models and syntheses for strategy, workshops and target organisations for transformation, specifications and testing for technology.
- The skills section cites the line’s standards and tools: IFRS for accounting advisory, prudential regulation for risk, ERP or data platforms for technology.
- The keywords follow the job posting, because the networks screen large numbers of applications with automated tools.
For profiles oriented towards information systems, the AMOA consultant CV template illustrates what technology lines value: a full project cycle, volumes and a business domain. To build your own version, the ConseilCV editor lets you duplicate a CV and adjust one version per service line, without redoing the layout each time, with a PDF that the networks’ screening software reads correctly.
Frequently asked questions
Can you change service line within the same network?
Yes, internal moves exist, but they need preparation: you generally need to have worked occasionally with the target team and obtain the agreement of both partners concerned. They are easier early in your career.
Is Big Four advisory less selective than strategy consulting?
Selectivity varies by line and by office. The networks’ strategy teams recruit on criteria close to those of specialist firms; other lines recruit more on technical or sector expertise.
Do you need a chartered accountancy qualification to work in advisory?
No. It is useful in jobs close to accounting, such as transaction services or accounting advisory, but most consulting lines recruit graduates of business schools, engineering schools and universities.
Does an audit internship help you join consulting in the same network afterwards?
It can help you get to know the network, but consulting recruitment remains separate. Present the audit internship by highlighting analysis and client relations, and prepare for the interviews specific to the target consulting line.
Sources
- PwC France, Conseil en management 🔗
- KPMG France, Expertise Conseil 🔗
- EY France, Rejoindre EY-Parthenon 🔗
- Deloitte France, Nos services 🔗
- Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 on the statutory audit of public-interest entities, EUR-Lex 🔗