Daily rates in consulting

Foreword

Consulting firms charge for working days and display daily rates that make it possible to value the time spent. More generally, there are three methods of invoicing generally used:

• Fixed-price : consultants have a specific mission to carry out and are paid for it, regardless of the time actually needed to carry it out. The quote offered to the client will be an estimate of the number of days spent multiplied by the daily rates of each of the consultants. We will look below at the rates corresponding to this type of mission.
• In the time actually spent. Consultants are generally seconded to the company and their mission evolves. This mode is used, for example, for computer maintenance
• The result : all or part of the mission is paid according to the results, which can be savings made following a plan, a share of the turnover linked to the launch of a new product, etc

Be careful, the reading of these rates must take into account several factors to properly decipher the information:

• These rates are charged for working days for clients, but consultants only charge 50-80% of their time. Prospecting and writing proposals, for example, are not paid. Some working days are also not billed to the customer, as a gesture of goodwill. This is the case, for example, when a small side subject to be cleared has been identified, or for certain "mass" tasks carried out by trainees.
• These are nominal rates, often offset by volume reductions or following an ad hoc agreement. It is indeed common to grant discounts to be able to create an account: consultants charge less for the first assignment to be able to set foot in the client's premises, with the budget of amortizing the investment by reselling other assignments following the first one (for example on an implementation phase after a feasibility study). Discounts are also granted to regular customers and the largest buyers also set up framework contracts to negotiate rates.
• The rates sometimes include expense reports (travel, external studies purchased, etc.), which are not always re-invoiced to customers.

Firm Daily Rates

We can distinguish four types of consulting firms:

• Strategy : they advise the management of large companies on their strategic topics such as the purchase of other companies, the launch of new products and services or the organization of the company. The best known are BCG and McKinsey.
• Management : their spectrum of intervention is quite broad, and ranges from operational strategy to the implementation of information systems, including the management of the activity or management assistance. CSC or Eurogroup are part of it, for example.
• Expert consulting firms : they specialize in a field, such as the supply chain, human resources or the digital world, or in a sector, such as finance or aeronautics. Smaller than management consulting firms, their consultants are generally more senior and charge a little more. MLA Conseil and Fabernovel are among them, for example.
• Information systems consulting firms : they develop and deploy IT solutions for clients, either from scratch or relying on third-party software (SAP, Oracle,...).  Capgemini Consulting and Accenture (which are also present on the types of advice above) are probably the best known.
• Rates by type of advice (€)

Note : these rates are very generic averages to give an idea and the rates can vary by a factor of two depending on the firm, seniority, type of assignment requested, etc.

Daily rates for technical developers (€)

Note: the prices indicated are Parisian prices, there may be a slight discount of 5 to 10% for the provinces.

Freelancers' daily rates

Freelancers generally offer lower rates than those of law firms. They have a smaller network and can only respond to a limited number of calls for tenders, because they do not always have all the skills or simply do not have the material capacity to carry out missions with a workload requiring several consultants. Prices are therefore driven down by the offer for these assignments to which freelancers have access.

The prices listed below are those generally quoted on the market and may vary, especially depending on the freelancer's experience.

Rate per freelance area (€)

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