The consulting business is facing an accountability crisis. Many consulting projects do not deliver what they promise and too many projects do not have quantifidable expectations or results. While a few projects are evaluated after the fact, rarely do clients or consultants have a complete profile of what worked, what didn't work, and what it cost the client. Many consultants who have, in the past, received five, six, or seven figure consulting fees--without being held accountable for the results of their work--are being asked to prove the value of their work. In some cases consultant fees are even being linked to the effect of a consulting project on the organization's bottom line.

In this new context, what is needed is a useful framework to measure the success of consulting projects in terms of business impact, ROI, and other performance measures. More importantly, the measurement process must account for the influence of other factors and the results must be converted into monetary values so that the actual return on investment can be developed. The Consultant's Scorecard is designed to address this crisis, and show both consultants and clients how they can track and measure the success of consulting and performance improvement projects, including the return on investment. By collecting the right data during and after a consulting intervention, it is possible to create a complete profile of project success, based on six key measures of success:

1) Client satisfaction,

2) Knowledge and skill acquisition,

3) Application, implementation, and utilization in the work units,

4) Business unit impact,

5) Return on Investment, and

6) Intangible benefits.

Together, these six measures represent a balanced approach to evaluation, and are necessary to provide an adequate profile on the success of a consulting projects. Based on proven methods that have been applied to dozens of leading companies in hundreds of consulting situations, including Compaq, Singapore Airlines, Nortel, First Union National Bank, and Bristol Myers-Squibb, The Consultant's Scorecard is the first guide to measuring consultants' performance and making acocountability a vital part of the consulting process.