Service Business Talks with Fexingo: Consulting, Agencies, and Professional Services

Episode 13 of Service Business Talks dives into a quiet but accelerating trend: the world's biggest consulting firms are acquiring small and mid-sized accounting practices. Lucas and Luna examine the specific case of Bain & Company buying a 50-person tax advisory firm in Dallas last month, and why Deloitte has acquired 14 regional accounting firms since 2022. They break down the strategy—these acquisitions aren't about adding audit capacity; they're about capturing the compliance-adjacent advisory work that generates predictable, recurring revenue. Lucas explains how the economics work: a typical accounting practice trades at 1.2 to 1.8 times revenue, while a consulting firm trades at 2.5 to 3.5 times. Buying accounting firms and converting their clients to higher-margin advisory services creates an instant arbitrage. Luna pushes back on integration risk, and they discuss why the Big Four face regulatory limits that smaller consulting firms don't. The episode closes with a question about whether this wave will pull in private equity firms looking for platform roll-ups.

#BainAndCompany #Deloitte #AccountingFirms #ConsultingAcquisitions #TaxAdvisory #ProfessionalServices #MergersAndAcquisitions #RecurringRevenue #FinancialAdvisory #BigFour #PrivateEquity #RollUps #BusinessStrategy #ServiceBusinessTalks #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Consulting #Accounting

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Episode 12 of Service Business Talks with Fexingo: Lucas and Luna explore why top consulting firms are increasingly hiring former operators — ex-CFOs, ex-COOs, ex-plant managers — instead of traditional MBA graduates. They dive into McKinsey's 'Owner Operator' program, launched in 2024, which now accounts for 12% of senior hires, and how Bain's 'Practitioner Track' embeds retired executives into client teams full-time. Lucas cites a case where a former airline maintenance director brought a $40 million cost-saving insight that no junior consultant could have found. Luna pushes back on whether these hires dilute the 'consultant brand,' and they debate how firms are restructuring compensation to attract talent that would otherwise never join a consultancy. The episode closes with the hosts discussing what this means for the future of professional services — fewer slide decks, more hands-on execution.

#ConsultingHiring #OperatorsNotConsultants #McKinsey #BainAndCompany #OwnerOperator #PractitionerTrack #ProfessionalServices #FutureOfConsulting #TalentStrategy #BusinessPodcast #FexingoBusiness #ServiceBusinessTalks #CareerPivot #FormerExecutives #ConsultingIndustry #LaborMarket #HumanCapital #ROIC

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Episode 11 of Service Business Talks with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna examine why top consulting firms like McKinsey and Deloitte have acquired over a dozen insurance brokerages since 2022. They unpack the specific numbers—McKinsey's purchase of BMA Group, Deloitte's deal for The Greenhouse—and explain the strategic logic: recurring revenue, regulatory hard walls, and cross-sell to CFOs. They also discuss the tension between advisory independence and distribution ownership, and what this means for mid-size brokerages. No fluff, just the mechanics of a quiet M&A wave reshaping professional services.

#ConsultingM&A #InsuranceBrokerage #McKinsey #Deloitte #BMAGroup #TheGreenhouse #ProfessionalServices #CrossSell #RecurringRevenue #RegulatoryMoat #ServiceBusinessTalks #Business #Podcast #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #MergersAndAcquisitions #Advisory #Distribution

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Episode 10 of Service Business Talks explores how Booz Allen Hamilton, the oldest strategy consulting firm in America, went from zero to a proprietary AI platform called 'Booz Allen AI' in just 18 months. Lucas and Luna break down the $400 million investment, the decision to build instead of buy, and why the firm open-sourced parts of the codebase. They also discuss what this move means for smaller consulting firms and agencies considering their own AI tools. If you're wondering whether your firm should build a proprietary AI platform or license existing tools, this episode offers a concrete case study with hard numbers.

#BoozAllen #BoozAllenAI #AIinConsulting #ProprietaryAI #ConsultingTech #BusinessStrategy #ServiceBusinessTalks #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #ConsultingFirms #AIPlatform #BuildVsBuy #OpenSourceAI #ProfessionalServices #TechInvestment #FutureOfConsulting #AIAdoption #Podcast

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Lucas and Luna explore a controversial trend in professional services: consulting firms acquiring client companies. They dig into the case of Accenture’s 2025 purchase of a mid-market telecom operator, a deal that blurred the line between advisor and competitor. The hosts discuss the strategic rationale — from capturing recurring revenue to owning implementation outcomes — and the ethical tensions it creates. They also examine why smaller boutique firms are following suit, buying niche operators to scale intellectual property. The episode raises a sharp question: when your consultant becomes your competitor, who can you trust?

#Accenture #ConsultingAcquisitions #ClientBuyouts #ProfessionalServices #BusinessStrategy #VerticalIntegration #EthicsInConsulting #RecurringRevenue #MAndA #BoutiqueConsulting #Telecom #ConflictOfInterest #BusinessPodcast #FexingoBusiness #Podcast #ConsultingTrends #CorporateStrategy #Advisory

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Lucas and Luna explore why major consulting firms are moving away from the traditional billable hour toward value-based and fixed-fee pricing. The episode digs into the specific case of Slalom Consulting, which switched to a fully transparent, fixed-price model for over 80 percent of its engagements by 2025. They discuss how this shift changes incentives for consultants, what it means for client relationships, and whether the billable hour is truly dying or just evolving. The conversation also touches on the rise of subscription-based advisory services and what smaller firms can learn from the trend.

#Consulting #Pricing #BillableHour #ValueBasedPricing #SlalomConsulting #FixedFee #ProfessionalServices #BusinessModel #ClientRelationships #ConsultingIndustry #StrategyConsulting #Transparency #Subscription #Advisory #Business #ServiceBusinessTalksWithFexingo #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

A growing number of professional services firms are investing in private cloud and dedicated data centers. Lucas and Luna examine the economics driving this shift, from client data sovereignty demands to the massive margins on compute-heavy consulting. They break down how firms like Accenture and Deloitte are positioning themselves as infrastructure providers, not just strategy advisors. Along the way, they discuss the capital intensity of this move, the risks of competing with hyperscalers, and what it means for the future of consulting revenue models. If you're in professional services or just curious about where Big Consulting's next profit pool is coming from, this episode offers a concrete look at a trend that's reshaping the industry.

#ProfessionalServices #Consulting #DataCenters #CloudStrategy #Accenture #Deloitte #Infrastructure #Sovereignty #RevenueModel #Margin #Hyperscaler #BusinessStrategy #Technology #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #ServiceBusinessTalks #LucasAndLuna

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Episode 6 of Service Business Talks with Fexingo explores why top consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Deloitte are quietly hiring anthropologists and ethnographers. Lucas and Luna unpack how the rise of 'deep customer insight' is reshaping consulting deliverables—moving from data-heavy decks to behavioral narratives. They look at the specific case of BCG's partnership with a cultural anthropology firm, and why Accenture acquired a design-and-research shop in 2023. The episode argues that as clients demand empathy over analytics, firms are scrambling for social scientists who can decode messy human behavior. A concrete look at how the $200 billion consulting industry is changing its talent mix.

#Consulting #Anthropology #Ethnography #CustomerInsight #McKinsey #BCG #Deloitte #Accenture #HumanCenteredDesign #ServiceBusinessTalks #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #ProfessionalServices #DesignThinking #BehavioralScience #TalentStrategy #Agencies #BusinessEvolution

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Episode 5 of Service Business Talks with Fexingo dives into the quiet revolution in consulting pricing. Lucas and Luna explore how firms like Eden McCallum and Axiom Consulting have moved away from the traditional billable hour to flat-fee and value-based models. They break down a real case: a mid-size strategy consultancy that switched to fixed-price engagements and saw client retention jump 22% in 18 months. The hosts discuss why the billable hour survives despite its flaws, how flat fees shift incentives toward outcomes, and what it means for young consultants worried about utilization rates. Specific numbers, concrete examples, no fluff.

#ConsultingPricing #FlatFee #BillableHour #StrategyConsulting #EdenMcCallum #AxiomConsulting #ValueBasedPricing #ProfessionalServices #BusinessModel #PricingStrategy #ConsultingIndustry #ServiceBusinessTalks #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #LucasAndLuna #ClientRetention #UtilizationRate #OutcomeBased

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Episode 4 of Service Business Talks with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna examine a counterintuitive trend: consulting firms spinning off a unit, only to buy it back years later at a premium. They anchor on the 2023 case of KPMG selling its U.S. restructuring practice to private equity, then reacquiring it in 2025 for 30 percent more. Why? The hosts unpack three economic drivers: talent retention via carried interest, client lock-in through specialized IP, and balance-sheet optics around recurring vs. project revenue. They compare spin-off patterns at Accenture and Deloitte, and debate whether this is smart parenting or a costly signal that the original firm couldn't manage the unit. No marketing fluff, just the numbers and the strategy behind the churn.

#KPMG #ConsultingSpinOffs #PrivateEquity #ProfessionalServices #Accenture #Deloitte #CarriedInterest #TalentRetention #ClientLockIn #RecurringRevenue #BalanceSheetOptics #ServiceBusinessTalks #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Business #Finance #Strategy #MergersAndAcquisitions

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo