PwC or Accenture Consulting Graduate Scheme (uk)

So, I've just been offered PwC MC London and Accenture London graduate schemes. Not sure on which to choose. Here's some thoughts.

PwC

- Option to try different areas of consulting - strategy, risk, PPM, Deals, finance, tech, sustainability etc

- More rigerous assessment process (assessment centre and partner interview) as opposed to Accenture (assessment centre with a 30 minute interview with HR)

- Bigger name / better exit opportunities? (not sure)

- Less Pay £31.5k vs Accenture's £31.5 + £5k bonus for first two years.

- Not sure if it's a smaller intake than Accenture.

- Not sure about training either.

Accenture

- More pay

- Potential go get aligned to with Management Consulting or Technology Consulting (coding and more systems work which isn't desirable)

- Better for tech - although it's something which interests me and tech arguably is the way the world is moving I'm not sure if it's going to pigeonhole exit opportunities.

- Have heard good and bad things and therefore tough to decide.

You can't go wrong with either. Both have good reputations in the consulting market and the exit opportunities don't really differ. The intake of grads will be substantial for both.

Do you get to choose which area you join, or do rotations to experience multiple? Do you have an inclination as to what area of consulting you want to do?

Even in your comments it sounds to me like you're leaning towards PwC but want somebody to back you on it.

Hi Whizz,

Rotations/Functions: So, depending on business demand the areas you can work within at PwC include: Finance, People and Change, Tech, Ops, Risk, Strategy, PPM, Deals, Sustainability. Accenture you may be aligned to either Management Consulting or Technology Consulting at their discretion.

Personal Interests: As with many graduates Strategy is appealing, M&A/Deals could also be interesting and a road into VC. I think one of the common reasons for an entry into consulting is to 'try' these areas.

Thanks for the advice!

You can't go wrong with either. Both have good reputations in the consulting market and the exit opportunities don't really differ. The intake of grads will be substantial for both.

Do you get to choose which area you join, or do rotations to experience multiple? Do you have an inclination as to what area of consulting you want to do?

Even in your comments it sounds to me like you're leaning towards PwC but want somebody to back you on it.

Do you want to be a management consultant or a technology implementation consultant? Maybe a bit flippant but the two companies do have different models and approaches.

I can tell you that at pwc although you will have the opportunity to try out projects in different areas of the business there is no guarantee that you will do them all. As long as you're cool with that then pwc is arguably the better choice; stronger brand, strategy through execution to results, more "strategic" less delivery-focused work.

I'd take PWC, given the unknown around which part of Accenture you get put in.

I'm an advocate of tech - it is as you say, the way the world is moving. However there's a world of difference being a management consultant with a digital hat, versus a technology consultant coding and writing test scripts.

Ultimately you wouldn't go far wrong with either as a starting point for your career, but PWC gets the vote here for me.