Workloads increase for consultants, says ACE report

Consultancy and engineering firms are experiencing increased workloads, according to results from the Association for Consultancy and Engineering’s (ACE) State of Business report.

The report, which gives a comprehensive overview of how the consultancy and engineering sector are performing, found that during 2006, more than 70% of firms reported growth in workloads. This compares with 60% of firms in 2005.

The strongest performing sectors in 2006 are private housing, roads, nuclear and rail, with expansion in the nuclear market set to increase during 2007 and 2008.

The top concerns for firms are skills shortages, delays in payments by private clients and low fee levels.

ACE chief executive Nelson Ogunshakin commented: “The results are confirmation of the critical contribution to the health of UK plc that our sector provides and offer the most accurate, representative picture of the industry.

“The report contains a wealth of information and the overall results are encouraging for our industry and investors in terms of future workload and return on investment. The predicted future growth can only be good news for UK business.”