Quality (Score)

Criteria 3 2 1
Completeness of Report The report explains all The report explains all The report does not
the essential concepts the essential concepts explain all the
necessary to understand necessary to essential concepts to
the topic and relates the understand the topic understand the topic
topics to other related
topics
Mastery Mastery of subject matter Partial Mastery of No Master of subject
discussed subject matter matter (reads the
discussed report)
Examples Provides sufficient Provides insufficient Provides no examples
simple to complex actual examples in discussing in the presentation of
workplace (industry- the topic the topics
based) examples in
discussing the topic
Learning Activities Provides sufficient Provides limited Provides no exercise
exercise on topics exercise on topics on topic
Ability to answer Able to answer all Able to answer some Unable to answer
questions/queries questions correctly and questions correctly and most or all of the
sufficiently. sufficiently. questions correctly
and sufficiently
Organization Able to present the report Able to present the Unable to present the
in a very systematic and report in an acceptable report in a logical
logical order (Properly logical order order
ordered to facilitate
understanding of topics)
Vocal Clarity (oral Consistently present the Inconsistently present Unable to present the
reports only) report with adequate the report with report with adequate
vocal clarity adequate vocal clarity vocal clarity
Summarize Summarizes the report at
the end of the session
 Organization and
Management of MAS
Practice
Written Report

SUBMITTED BY
Boco, Dianne A.
Crespo, Maria Gabrielle Isabel D.
Hernandez, Lyza Dianne C.
4BSA

SUBMITTED TO
Assoc. Prof. Roberto Dacanay

April 13, 2018

DEVELOPING MAS PRACTICE
An aspiring consultant must assess her talents, expertise, and business and professional judgement –
particularly in the following fields:
a) Oral and written communication skills
b) Sales ability
c) Ability to focus on a project and carry it to conclusion
d) Ability to maintain objectivity
The expertise and experience of a consultant defines her scope of practice. The various scopes of practice,
as discussed in the preceding chapters, are as follows:
a) Engineering
b) Industrial management
c) Marketing
d) Business management
e) Financial areas
To be a successful consultant, it is crucial to recognize the firm’s background and expertise so that the scope
of the consulting practice can be well defined for proper communication to the potential clients. The
consultancy firm should not over sell these abilities or accept work outside its capabilities.
Before entering into a consulting practice, the aspiring consultant must first conduct a market research to
identify opportunities in the marketplace. Market research allows a continuous flow of work and a steady
stream of new opportunities and new contracts. This type of research is made to reach out, contact potential
clients, and make them aware of one’s consulting services. The market research involves:
a) A study of listings of management consultants
b) A survey of local CPA firms to determine which are offering consulting services
c) A determination of possible oversaturation of consultants in one’s specialty area
d) An identification of new services that may provide a competitive edge
e) Economic statistics and financial information concerning consulting practices (usually obtained
from discussions with other consultants and knowledge of the local marketplace)

Establishing an MAS Operating Plan

Establishing an MAS operating plan entails indicating a set of goals and objectives. The goals and
objectives of a potential consultant includes:
a) A desired income level
b) Potential clients
c) Strategies to obtain those clients
A development plan entails the following tasks:
a) Identify staffing requirements and financing needs
b) Establish quality contacts and educate the network as to the type of services offered
ORGANIZATION OF MAS DIVISION
People who are primarily accountants, specialists, or professionals with experience and training in
engineering, marketing, economics, psychology, etc. may render consultancy services in a firm. The firm
should periodically assess its needs with respect to in-house knowledge and skills. Upon comparing the
knowledge and skills held by its current consultants against its needs, the firm can determine the extent of
its deficiencies. Actions to address these deficiencies are:
1) Employing additional consultants with adequate knowledge and skills, or
2) Undertaking staff development activities that are intended to endow the presently employed
consultant with needed knowledge and skills.

Staff Pyramid and Fee Structures

A simple approach in staffing a consulting practice is to break the practice into pyramids of from five to
fifteen people, with the size depending upon the firm’s practice and philosophy. A graphic depiction of the
consulting pyramid is shown below:

Level
Partners
1 Principal
1 Director

Senior Managers
2 Managers
1-3
Supervisors

Senior Consultant
3 1-5 Senior

Associate Consultant
4 Staff
2-6

Each pyramid is built around a partner, principal, or director. In large practice, there will be multiple
pyramids. The numbers in the pyramid refer to the typical number of personnel at each level per pyramid.

Partners, Principals, Directors

They are usually found at the top of the pyramid. Partners, principals, and directors are the most experienced
highly paid professional and is normally responsible for the successful completion of engagements, dealing
directly with clients for selling work.
The main activities of partners include performing practice planning, administering and developing
practice, consulting with top-client managers, approving engagement reports, and managing client crises.
In the event that a new partner is to be recruited, the principal consideration must be the external reputation
of the candidate as a highly competent consultant. The firm should also consider the candidate’s (1)
remaining period of useful and productive service to the practice, and (2) compatibility with the existing
practice and current partners.

Senior Managers, Managers, Supervisors

The senior managers, managers, and supervisors perform week-to-week management of the engagements
and are responsible for identifying new client prospects and assisting in the sales process. Main activities
of managers include planning engagements, evaluating consultants, supervising consultants, writing
proposals, reviewing working papers and reports, consulting with client managers, and serves as expert in
one or more applied knowledge areas.
Many consulting firms recruit for their practices mainly at the manager classification level. Their reasoning
is that a manager is likely to be of worth from the beginning, since his or her personal competence will
usually determine the success of individual engagement. A firm that intends to recruit a manager will
probably seek the following attributes:
1. Previous successful consulting experience
2. Previous successful middle and top management experience
3. Specialized or advanced knowledge in major areas where the recruiting firm’s practice has
identified needs

Senior Consultants, Seniors

Senior consultants and seniors typically have 2 to 3 years of consulting experience and are capable of
supervising the daily work of the younger staff. They possess the right combination of experience and
dedication to complete different projects with limited supervision. Seniors are normally in short supply in
most firms.

Associate Consultant, Staff

Associate consultant and staff are those found in the final layer of the pyramid. They are individuals who
usually have less than 2 years of consulting experience and may have been hired directly out of graduate or
undergraduate school. Some firms require prior business experience, while others prefer to train their own
personnel and hire some undergraduate students.

Billing Rates
The typical range of billing rates of the engagement team members in a medium-sized consultancy firm
with the four pyramid levels as of 2015 are as follows:
Level 1 P10,000 to P20,000 per hour
2 P 8,000 to P10,000 per hour
3 P 5,000 to P 8,000 per hour

4 P 2,000 to P 5,000 per hour

There may also be multiple billing codes relating to salary and experience levels.
DEFINING THE TARGET LEVEL OF COMPETENCE OF
MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS
The ability of a consultant to deliver specific agreed-upon consulting services to a client on a profitable
time-and-fee basis observing professional standards defines consulting competence. There are four major
factors that must be considered when defining the target level of competence are:

1. Scope of Practice Area

2. Service Variety
3. Client Requirements
4. Service Delivery Capability

Scope of Practice Area

A consultant who desires to grow should take the following steps:

1. Review the economic region in which the consulting firm draws, or expects to draw, most of its
clients.
2. Inventory the services required by the existing client, and in most cases, by the clients the
consultant would like to add.
3. Select services from this inventory will be provided.
4. Acquire the competence needed to provide the selected services.
5. Notify clients and potential clients that the consulting firm is able and willing to perform the
selected advisory and consulting services.

Service Variety
The range of services that consultants typically provide is extremely broad. Most engagements, however,
would fall into one of the following categories:

1. Planning, control and reporting systems.

2. Operational computer system analysis, design, implementation and evaluation.
3. Specialized technical services such as advice on new laws, entering international markets or
keeping abreast of new economic or technical development. Specific services such as acquisition,
mergers, divestitures, economic and feasibility studies, management audits, market analysis, etc.
might also fall into this category

Client Requirements
In reviewing client requirement, the consultant may asses the following questions:

1. Will a fully implemented service (e.g., a system or recommendation) be turned over to the client
ready for use? If so, these services will require more care, organization and attention to detail than
other services.
2. Will the service require changes or adaption? If so, the client must be told explicitly what to do in
order to realize the service benefits.
3. Does the client belong to an industry with special characteristics or problems? If so, the service
must be designed to produce satisfaction in such situation.
4. Does the client have special financial or growth problems? If so, the service should not aggravate
these problems or be ineffective in their presence.
Service Delivery Capability
Service delivery is the application of consulting skill an without this, even high levels of knowledge and
understanding cannot be put to effective use for clients.

In delivery services, the consultant undergoes the following phases:

1. Setting objective, identifying problems and needed services, predicting specific expected benefits
from these services, and gathering essential facts pertaining to the problem and means of
delivering the services.
2. Adapting and beginning the services that are to be the principal deliverables from the
engagement.
3. Implementing these services to the client’s satisfaction.
4. Evaluating the results in operation, in order to determine the extent to which the anticipated
benefits were received from the services.

MANAGEMENT OF MAS PRACTICE

Steps in Starting the Mas Practice
CPAs have been providing management with advice and technical assistance for as long as the accounting
profession has existed. But as businesses grew in size and complexity, the demands of clients for outside
professional help also increased significantly. A number of accounting firms realized that they now have
to offer management services on a systematic, organized basis.

A CPA who would want to start the MAS practice formally may follow these suggested steps:

1. Determine and make a list of services that one can truly offer with a confidence of competence to
perform.
2. Review a client list classified by industry, size, etc. and prepare a package tailored to fit the firm’s
competence and a particular type of clientele. “Initial package” usually consists of services that
are closest to the conventional accounting function such as budgeting, financial, financial
planning situation analysis (mergers, make or buy decisions, etc.) cost system or studies and
system design and installation, office management and equipment.
3. Prepare a line-up of MAS Personnel. In the selection of the staff, the following sources may be
considered:
a.) Accounting firm’s own staff (usually audit staffmen who had lost interest in the audit
work but who have the technical qualifications, personalities to do MAS work).
b.) Experienced specialist (engineers, management consultants) from outside the firm either
on a full time and permanent basis of part-time basis.
c.) Referral by other CPAs.
4. Seek out advisory engagements.
This, of course, should be done within the bounds of the Code of Ethics, Leads to management
advisory clients can come from an outright request for advice by the client to a rumor that a
business is in trouble. The CPA can capitalize on his audit and tax engagement. Mention can also
be made of the CPA’s availability for MAS work in his audit letter of engagement. Use of letters
and brochure to inform present clientele is also allowed.
 The basic characteristics and qualifications of a CPA firm from a sound basis for the development
of the management advisory services portion of the CPA’s practice. The CPA’s review of the
many aspects of an organization’s operation gives him the opportunity to know the weakness and
strength of the business firm. This is the reason why members of the business community seek his
advice on business matters.

Sources of MAS Engagement

The primary source of MAS engagements is the audit client of the CPA. In the course of his
examination of a client’s financial statements, the CPA reviews many aspects of an organization’s
activities and procedures and hereby obtains first hand knowledge of the problems confronting
management. The CPA may therefore be engaged by the audit client to conduct a more thorough
and in-depth analysis of the problem and to make constructive suggestions to solve the problem
and improve the operations of the company. Other possible sources of MAS clients are:

a.) Referrals from other CPAs

b.) Referrals from audit clients.
c.) Referrals from businessmen.
d.) Referrals from financial and government institutions.
e.) Referrals from legal and other professional firms

Determining Market Opportunities

In determining market opportunities and identifying potential clients with accuracy and success, the
professional consultant must be very certain of his/her area(s) of specialization.

The following matters have to be considered carefully by the consultant:

1. The specific skills, talents and attributes, and the market that is suited to these abilities.
2. The spectrum of opportunities to apply to the services in vertical and horizontal markets both in
the public and private sector.
3. Consulting opportunities can be created by political, economic and social changes affecting one’s
area of expertise and interest.

A brief overview of the possibility of market opportunities in the private and public sector is
discussed in this section.

1. Private Sector

 Individuals - Individuals hire consultants to seek advice on how to save money or how to
make money. The consultant’s target market is anyone in the higher earning bracket
including executives and professionals. Some examples of consultants in this area are tax
consultants, internal consultants and real estate consultants.

 Small Businesses- For a new consultant, small businesses provide an excellent client base.
The failure rate of small businesses is very high which oftentimes is caused by the small
 business owner/operator’s lack of knowledge in important areas of small business
management. If the consultant’s skills include small business management and making,
raising or saving money in a business, he/she can find a market.

 Medium-sized Businesses- Medium-sized businesses are constantly going through various

stages of growth with all the predictable problems involved. These companies often hire
experts who can assist them in identifying, analyzing and finding solution to their problems
instead of hiring staff. Hiring staff involves the related costs of training benefit packages and
long-term commitments for possibly short-term needs.

 Large Companies- It is more difficult to obtain contracts from larger companies because large
companies prefer dealing with large consulting firms or well-known consultants with
considerable experience and contracts. Because of the money available in larger businesses,
consulting opportunity exist particularly in the area of technical assistance.

2. Public Sector

 Government- One of the major users of consulting services is the government. A

consultant can submit a solicited or unsolicited proposal and attempt to get the contract
directly. An additional way of making money through government is grants and
subsidiaries.

The following are some steps that a consultant may take to obtain necessary information
and make the necessary contracts with government:

 Read government advertisement and publications related to your area of interest.

 Place your name on the government mailing list. Request the government agency to
include your name on the list to receive all relevant information including proposed
procurements and contracts awarded relating to your field.
 Contact government contract officers.
 Submit your resume to various government departments and introduce yourself to the
person in charge of approving contracts.
 Contract large consulting firms and other companies that have received government
contracts and might require additional consulting assistance for those contracts.
 Contract friends and acquaintance who work in government and inform them that you are
looking for consulting assignments in your specialty.

3. Grant Consulting

A grants consultant attempts to obtain grants, loans or subsidiaries for a client. The national
government and its various agencies award large sums of money to eligible applicants.

The consultant identifies the specific needs of an organization or company and advices them of
the availability of government funds. He/she performs the analysis, collects all the necessary
 detail for documentation and prepares the application for signature by an authorized
representative of the organization or company.

The consultant could also be responsible for coordinating the implementations of the program in
which the funding was based, if applicable. The consultant normally takes an administration fee
which is a negotiated percentage of the amount awarded which is based on performance only and
paid from the funds received.

PROBLEM AREAS IN RENDERING MANAGEMENT ADVISORY

SERVICES BY AN INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTING FIRMS
1. Questions as to the effect of the practice of MAS on the firm’s independence.
Agreement should be reached as to the relationship that MAS work will have on the audit work.
The function of the MAS is solely advisory and decision making is not a responsibility of the
consultant but the management. The principle of independence that applies to an audit
engagement also applies in the practice of MAS.
2. Development and maintenance of a high level of competence in MAS.
A policy should be established for resolving the problem when disagreement between the MAS
partner and audit partner arises as to whether appropriate competence exists in the firm.
3. Questions of what fee to charge.
The fee structure should be clearly established. This structure should be understood by the entire
firm.
4. Question of AUDIT-MAS cooperation in obtaining engagements.
Efforts to be made to obtain MAS engagement and the cooperation to obtain MAS engagements
and the cooperation to be expected of audit partners and staff should be clearly defined.
5. Question of regular communication between the MAS function and the rest of the firm.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF AN MAS PRACTICE

1. Working Capital Requirements
The working capital will be used to pay monthly operating expenses which include the salaries of
the consultants, rent, supplies, utilities, etc. This will also be needed to fund accounts receivable
that represent time billings to clients.
2. Office facilities and equipment requirements
The consultant should establish a professional and businesslike image for the basic business
operation through stationery utilized, telephone answering procedures employed, quality of typed
material that will be presented to the client.

Revenues and Expenses of Management Consultants

Net service fees represent the peso value of what has been sold to the client or what will be received as
revenue. Net service fees are determined by subtracting from gross fees (total chargeable hours worked by
a professional times his or her billing rate) the allowance, fee adjustment or write off.
Billings and Collection

One of the most important considerations in a consultancy practice is how professional fees are to be
established. Some consultants bill services on an hourly basis, while some on a daily, or per diem basis.
Some consultants add out-of-pocket expenses directly chargeable to the client to the bill while others
absorb their expenses. Another billing approach is on a project basis. Here the fee is determined for the
project and the work is completed with a reasonable time. No matter what the method of billing, time
keeping is of prime importance. Follow-up on unpaid invoices is important. Statements should be sent as
a reminder of outstanding invoices. Aggressive invoice collection is important to cash flow and survival
of the practice.

PREPARING A BUSINESS PLAN FOR MAS PRACTICE

Why Prepare a Plan

Most consultants prefer to be a consultant first and a business owner second. But planning and good
management skills are vital to business success. Those who do not plan run a very high risk of failure.

A business plan is written summary of what the consultant hopes to accomplish by being in business and
how to organize the resources to meet his/her goals. Having clear goals and a well-written plan aid in
decision-making. A business plan establishes the amount of financing or outside investment required and
when it is needed.

Format

The business plan format normally consists of four parts: the introduction, the business concept, the
financial plan, and the appendix.

The plan starts with an introductory page highlighting the business plan. The business concept, which
begins with a description of the industry, identifies the consultant’s market potential within the industry
and outlines the action plan for the coming year. The financial plan outlines the level of present financing
and identifies the financing sought. This section should be brief. The financial plan contains pro forma
(projected) financial forecasts. These forecasts are a projection into the future based on current
information and assumptions. The appendix section contains all the items that do not naturally fall
elsewhere in the document, or which expand further on the summaries in the document. These might
include a personal net worth statement and a statement of accounts receivable.