Management consultant vs business consultant

The differences between management consultants and business consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a management consultant and a business consultant. Additionally, a management consultant has an average salary of $99,360, which is higher than the $87,214 average annual salary of a business consultant.

The top three skills for a management consultant include healthcare, project management and portfolio. The most important skills for a business consultant are data analysis, project management, and strong analytical.

Management consultant vs business consultant overview

	Management Consultant	Business Consultant
Yearly salary	$99,360	$87,214
Hourly rate	$47.77	$41.93
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	153,045	128,033
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does a management consultant do?

A management consultant's responsibility focuses on conducting an in-depth analysis of a company or business, including its target market. Through their findings, they can devise strategies that will help the business grow and attain a significant profit. There are also instances when a management consultant must solve particular issues that will require them to investigate the problem, assess damages, identify risks, and recommend the best solutions to take. Furthermore, a management consultant must adhere to the company's vision, mission, and policies at all times.

What does a business consultant do?

A business consultant is an individual who works directly with business owners on developing a business plan and identifying their marketing needs. Business consultants offer business owners a wide range of services, such as supplementing existing staff, provide expertise in a specific market, and influencing other people. To increase revenue in business, business consultants should have experience success with the previous business owners. Business consultants must also have a bachelor's degree in business management and received years of field training.

Management consultant vs business consultant salary

Management consultants and business consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Management Consultant	Business Consultant
Average salary	$99,360	$87,214
Salary range	Between $72,000 And $136,000	Between $64,000 And $117,000
Highest paying City	Jersey City, NJ	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	Alaska
Best paying company	Apple	ZS
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between management consultant and business consultant education

There are a few differences between a management consultant and a business consultant in terms of educational background:

	Management Consultant	Business Consultant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	Northwestern University

Management consultant vs business consultant demographics

Here are the differences between management consultants' and business consultants' demographics:

	Management Consultant	Business Consultant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 65.9% Female, 34.1%	Male, 62.8% Female, 37.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.6% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.4% White, 65.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	12%	12%

Differences between management consultant and business consultant duties and responsibilities

Management consultant example responsibilities.

Streamline and program manage operations for end-to-end creation of all assets using Smartsheet.
Lead daily agile scrum meetings towards the end of the development phase of the project.
Monitor and control project schedule for SaaS product to achieve project deliveries in at least 95th percentile.
Lead teams in implementation of value map streaming, ISO 9000 and waste reduction in manufacturing process.
Manage functional design team activities using baseline scope document information and develop process standards in line with SDLC methodologies.
Develop light-weight (fast) proprietary cloud-base licensing engine and UI to manage and track end user subscription licenses.

Business consultant example responsibilities.

Partner with PMO and lead testing effort to ensure completeness of test data sets and to manage risk.
Manage requirements gathering, identify KPI s, and oversee design and architecture decisions.
Manage various SOX, HIPAA and PCI compliance projects from the planning stages to completion.
Apply the specific rules for HIPAA X12, Medicaid manage care requirements and industry best practices for transaction handling.
Manage external technology suppliers to assure functional operations and system architecture meet the business needs.
Perform successful UAT - good knowledge & experience in SDLC - SQL querying and data analysis.

Management consultant vs business consultant skills

Common management consultant skills

Healthcare, 9%
Project Management, 7%
Portfolio, 6%
Business Process, 5%
Business Strategy, 5%
Business Development, 4%

Common business consultant skills

Data Analysis, 10%
Project Management, 9%
Strong Analytical, 8%
Analytics, 7%
Healthcare, 5%
Tableau, 5%

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Management Consultant
Management Consultant vs Business Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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