Dip in employment for top 21 firms

See Overall Drop In Local Employment

Orange County’s largest management consulting firms saw a slowdown in the past year.

The 21 largest firms on the Business Journal’s annual list reported a 3.7% decline in consultants to 1,515 and a 4.7% drop in OC employees to 3,841, compared to year-ago levels.

Two years ago, the ranks of local consultants represented on the list approached 4,500.

Management consultant firms provide an array of specialists in information technology, operations, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions aimed at improving the performance of businesses.

No. 1 Accenture, which has an Irvine office, reduced its headcount by 13% to 295 compared with a 3.4% increase in the prior year. Its OC employee count also fell 3.7% to 340.

Marty Hodgett is the new officer managing director for Southern California, taking over for David Wolf, who left earlier this year for an executive position at GlobalLogic.

Deloitte LLP, which has an office in Costa Mesa, fell 10% to 277 consultants, placing it at No. 2.

The New York-based firm, which can still claim the title of largest OC accounting firm, has a new managing partner, Marshall Solomon (see story, page 20).

This week’s list ranks the largest management consulting firms, with a minimum cutoff of 10 area consultants. The list includes management consulting firms with headquarters in Orange County and others with operations here.

Irvine is clearly the city to be a consultant as 13 reported its offices here, followed by Newport Beach with three offices and Costa Mesa with two.

Only seven of the firms reported an increase in consultants, compared to 11 on last year’s list.

Five reported declines while nine had no change.

Companywide firms grew 6.3% to 1.5 million employees, similar to a 6.1% growth a year ago.

Notable Changes

▪ The biggest increase by the number of employees was Irvine-based Blythe Global Advisors LLC, which jumped 76% to 79 workers. The company ranks No. 8.

Its companywide count also climbed 29% to 99. A year ago, its headcount fell 22% to 45 consultants.

▪ The biggest decline was No. 11 Moss Adams, which fell 38% to 31 consultants. Its OC employee count increased 6% from a year ago to 283.

▪ No. 9 Resources Global Professionals, also known as RGP (Nasdaq: RGP), continued to reduce its OC consulting workforce as consultants went down 16% to 76. A year ago, it had trimmed 14%.