Daily rates in consulting

Foreword

Consulting firms bill for days of work and display daily rates that allow the time spent to be valued. More generally, there are three generally used billing methods:

• 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 consultant. Below we will look at the rates corresponding to this type of mission.
• In management , that is to say the time actually spent. Consultants are generally seconded to the company and their mission evolves. This mode is for example used for computer maintenance
• The result : all or part of the mission is remunerated according to the results, which may include savings made following a plan, a share of the turnover linked to the launch of a new product, etc.

Please note, reading these rates must take into account several factors to properly decipher the information:

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

Daily office rates

We can distinguish four types of consulting firms:

• Strategy : they advise the management of large companies on their strategic subjects 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 activity management or management assistance. CSC or Eurogroup are among them, 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 by relying on third-party software (SAP, Oracle, etc.). Capgemini Consulting and Accenture (which are also present in the types of consulting above) are surely the best known.
• Rate by type of advice (€)

Note : these rates are very generic averages to give an idea and the rates can vary by one to two depending on the firm, seniority, type of mission 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 province.

Freelancer daily rates

Freelancers generally offer lower rates than firms. They in fact 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 supply for these missions to which freelancers have access.

The prices indicated below are those generally quoted on the market and may vary, in particular depending on the experience of the freelancer.

Rate per freelance domain (€)

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