Financial Consultants

The first management consulting firms were founded in the early 20th century, and many provided financial advice to corporations and other businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies at all levels. As more laws regulating business were passed, and U.S. business activity increased and trade expanded globally, demand grew for financial consultants.

In the 2000s, major financial scandals prompted Congress to pass several laws to address improper corporate activity, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires higher levels of financial accounting and disclosure from all publicly held companies, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which imposes higher standards of accountability on the financial industry and offers improved protections to consumers. In more recent years, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 earmarked approximately $79 billion in additional funding to the Internal Revenue Service over the next 10 years for use in taxpayer service, tax law/regulations enforcement, operations support, and business system modernization. The act also included tax credits, loans, and grants to boost the domestic production of renewable energy and tax rebates and credits for households to lower energy costs. The passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and Inflation Reduction Act have created many new rules and regulations and, as a result, excellent opportunities for financial consultants.