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Consulting Prep > Terminology > Flashcards

Terminology Flashcards

1
Q

10,000 feet view / bird’s eye view / high-level view (PreLounge)

A

High level, abstract view on a subject (whereas the number can be replaced by any big number)

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2
Q

80/20 rule (PrepLounge)

A

Generalized approximate rule that e.g. 80% of results come from 20% of time invested, or 80% of sales from 20% of customers etc.

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3
Q

Accounting noise (PrepLounge)

A

Accounting rules which have a negative impact on the business operations

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4
Q

Action item

A

To-do which needs to be done

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5
Q

Action plan (PrepLounge)

A

Plan typically with action item, due date and assigned responsibility to make something happen

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6
Q

Action title (PrepLounge)

A

Slide headline which actively summarizes the key message of the slide; all action titles combined together represent the storyline of your presentation

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7
Q

Actionable (PrepLounge)

A

Typically in conjunction with client recommendations, so that the client can implement those recommendations realistically (and not only theoretically, due to a lack of resources, know-how, etc.)

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8
Q

Added value

A

The value created by a project, person etc., usually in the context of client perception

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9
Q

Answer-first principle (PrepLounge)

A

To state an answer first, before having done the work to analyse the details, thus often representing a hypothesis)

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10
Q

AOB (any other business; PrepLounge)

A

Used mostly for meeting agenda for a generic bucket to discuss any other issues at hand (in practice, very often the really important, delicate issues are discussed in this section which nobody dared to give explicitly on the official meeting agenda)

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11
Q

Ballpark number (PrepLounge)

A

Rough estimated value of a number’s magnitude

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12
Q

Bandwith, capacity, full plate (PrepLounge)

A

Capacity to do additional work, mostly used as “having no bandwidth” or a “full plate” to indicate that you can’t put anything more on your to-do list

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13
Q

Big 3, MBB (PrepLounge)

A

McKinsey, BCG and Bain as the leading 3 consulting firms

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14
Q

Big 4 (PrepLounge)

A

Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers as the leading 4 audit firms

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15
Q

Billable, chargeable (PrepLounge)

A

Doing paid client work

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16
Q

Blanks (PrepLounge)

A

Missing elements, often in the context with delegating some work to lower-level resources to complete the blanks)

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17
Q

Boiling the ocean (PrepLounge)

A

Too large scope with too much analysis to be done, often stemming from a lack of focus and clarity

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18
Q

Bottom-up (PrepLounge)

A

Start with the most detailed level of granularity and aggregating information upwards (as opposed to top-down)

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19
Q

Buckets (PrepLounge)

A

Categories in which certain items (like ideas, points for analysis) are structured

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20
Q

Buttoned-up (PrepLounge)

A

Representing a high quality, accurate, bullet-proof piece of work which can be defended even under closest investigation

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21
Q

Buy-in (PrepLounge)

A

Getting commitment or support from a stakeholder, like the client or other project team members

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22
Q

Charge code (PrepLounge)

A

Specific code used to register your working hours or expenses in internal systems

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23
Q

Circle back (PrepLounge)

A

Follow-up or review progress from an earlier point in time

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24
Q

C-level, C-suite (PrepLounge)

A

High-level executive level, like CEO, CFO, COO etc.

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25
Q

Close the loop (PrepLounge)

A

Finish your work or think something through completely so that nothing is overlooked or unfinished and that it can’t backfire

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26
Q

Critical path (PrepLounge)

A

Most important steps in a project which directly infleunce the overall duration or quality

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27
Q

Deck (PrepLounge)

A

Powerpoint presentation

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28
Q

Deep dive, drill-down (PrepLounge)

A

Detailed, in-depth analysis of certain aspect

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29
Q

Deliverable (PrepLounge)

A

Result which needs to be created at the end, e.g. a Powerpoint presentation, Excel model

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30
Q

Double twenty-four (PrepLounge)

A

Consecutive working time of 2x24 hours

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31
Q

Educated guess, guesstimate (PrepLounge)

A

Estimate based on experience and domain expertise

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32
Q

Elevator test, elevator pitch (PrepLounge)

A

Situation in which you need to give a top-down summary to a senior client or firm member within the duration of riding an elevator together

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33
Q

EOD (PrepLounge)

A

End-of-day, typically used to specify a deadline like the result must be finished by the “end-of-day”, although end-of-day in consulting means practically before start of working day next morning

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34
Q

Engagement (PrepLounge)

A

Consulting project

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35
Q

Fact pack (PrepLounge)

A

Stack of information to collect most important information about a subject

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36
Q

Facetime (PrepLounge)

A

Physical or virtual time spent with your colleagues and mostly superiors to indicate productivity and commitment, although often unnecessarily instead of enjoying your spare time

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37
Q

Granularity (PrepLounge)

A

Level of detail of an analysis

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38
Q

Greenfield, whitefield (PrepLounge)

A

Completely new approach or opportunity

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39
Q

Headcount (PrepLounge)

A

Number of employees, typically on the basis of full-time equivalents

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40
Q

Hard stop (PrepLounge)

A

Definite ending time of a meeting

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41
Q

Hit the ground running (PrepLounge)

A

To add value to the project quickly)

42
Q

Keep it on the radar (PrepLounge)

A

Follow-up with this issue, it might be critical now or later

43
Q

KPI, key performance indicator (PrepLounge)

A

Important metric to track business or progress

44
Q

Leverage (PrepLounge)

A

To make good use of a resource, e.g. “Let’s leverage our senior partner’s expertise on this subject”

45
Q

Low-hanging fruits (PrepLounge)

A

Valuable results with significant impact, which can be reached without major efforts

46
Q

MECE (PrepLounge)

A

Mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive - most often used in conjunction with structuring an issue so that the single buckets don’t overlap each other, but altogether fully describe the issue

47
Q

Mission-critical (PrepLounge)

A

Extremely important resources or topics for achieving the goal

48
Q

Number crunching (PrepLounge)

A

Analysing vast amounts of data, usually in Excel

49
Q

On-the-beach (PrepLounge)

A

Time off projects, usually between the end of one project and the start of next project the consultant is “on the beach”, although not literally

50
Q

Onboard (PrepLounge)

A

To bring somebody on board of a project by giving them a good overview of what has already happened and about current status

51
Q

Optics (PrepLounge)

A

How something will be perceived by somebody else, typically the client

52
Q

Out-of-the-box (PrepLounge)

A

Creative thinking, not limited to the current situation or a narrow framing

53
Q

Out-of-thin-air (PrepLounge)

A

Argumentation which cannot be easily defended, lacking supporting arguments

54
Q

Ping

A

Get in contact, often via direct messaging

55
Q

Pipeline (PrepLounge)

A

Upcoming projects or clients for a project

56
Q

Play back (PrepLounge)

A

Restate the information given in your own words to ensure your understanding

57
Q

Progress review (PrepLounge)

A

Regular meetings to review the progress towards a goal

58
Q

Provide colour (PrepLounge)

A

Asking for a rework to make it less boring

59
Q

Push-back (PrepLounge)

A

Resistance, typically from clients

60
Q

Right-size (PrepLounge)

A

Used as a more acceptable phrase instead of downsizing

61
Q

Run the numbers (PrepLounge)

A

Create an Excel model to play through different scenarios, in practice regularly used to adjust your assumptions in such a way that they justify a predefined outcome

62
Q

Sanity-check (PrepLounge)

A

Checking plausibility of a result

63
Q

Same page (PrepLounge)

A

Being on the same page translates into having the same understanding

64
Q

Scope (PrepLounge)

A

Extent of client deliverables to be covered in a project

65
Q

Straw man (PrepLounge)

A

Typically a storyline developed for your Powerpoint presentation on a high level without having yet done thorough analysis to defend it

66
Q

Takeaway (PrepLounge)

A

Refers to the key message you want to deliver in a meeting or on a slide

67
Q

Top-down (PrepLounge)

A

Opposite of bottom-up, starting with the high-level view and breaking it into details

68
Q

Touch base (PrepLounge)

A

To get into contact with somebody, e.g. to check or review progress

69
Q

Utilisation rate (PrepLounge)

A

Ratio of billable hours vs. total hours

70
Q

Where the rubber meets the road (PrepLounge)

A

Moment of truth after implementing major changes, often in conjunction with the ‘real’ operations of the firm

71
Q

WoMBaT, waste of money, brains and time (PrepLounge)

A

Waste of resources, typically used to indicate that this idea doesn’t sound good

72
Q

Workstream (PrepLounge)

A

Sub-element of a project

73
Q

Top line vs. bottom line

A

top line: company’s total revenue or gross sales

bottom line: company’s net income or profit margin

74
Q

Scale effects

A

Changes in average costs that occur when production levels are increased or decreased. Can be positive = economies of scale (cost per unit decreases as production increases). Can be negative = diseconomies of scale (cost per uni increases as production increases).

75
Q

Profit margin

A

Measures the profitability of a company.
Percentage of revenue that remains as profit after deducting all expenses. There are 3 main types: gross profit margin, operating profit margin, net profit margin.

76
Q

3 main types of profit margin

A

Gross profit margin: measures the profitability of a company’s core operations before deducting overhead expenses (like rent, salaries, and marketing).
Formula: (Gross Profit / Revenue) * 100

Operating profit margin: measures the profitability of a company’s operations after deducting overhead expenses but before deducting interest and taxes.
Formula: (Operating Profit / Revenue) * 100

Net profit margin: measures the overall profitability of a company after deducting all expenses, including interest and taxes.
Formula: (Net Profit / Revenue) * 100

77
Q

Total accessible market (TAM)

A

Estimated total revenue that a product/service could generate if it captured entire market opportunity. Measure of the maximum potential market size.
Key factors to consider: market size & growth, product penetration, pricing.
Can be estimated via top-down, bottom-up or market research.

78
Q

Implications

A

Potential consequences or effects of a particular action, decision, or event. Can be positive, negative, or neutral.

79
Q

Year-over-Year (YoY)

A

To compare data from one year to the previous year. Often used to track trends, assess performance, and identify growth or decline over time.
E.g.: if a company’s revenue increased by 10% YoY, it means that their revenue in the current year is 10% higher than it was in the previous year.

80
Q

Management vs. strategy consulting

A

Management consulting:
Focus: Broad range of business operations, including finance, marketing, human resources, technology.
Scope: Provides solutions to specific problems or challenges within a company.
Tasks: Can involve process improvement, organisational restructuring, performance optimisation, risk management.
-> Management consultants are like doctors for businesses, diagnosing problems and prescribing solutions.

Strategy consulting:
Focus: High-level strategic planning and decision-making.
Scope: Helps companies develop long-term goals and strategies to achieve them.
Tasks: Involves market analysis, competitive analysis, business model development, and corporate restructuring.
-> Strategy consultants are like architects, designing the blueprint for a company’s future.

81
Q

Top revenue

A

Highest amount of revenue generated by a company/organisation within a specific time period: annual, quarterly, monthly revenue.

82
Q

Recession

A

Significant decline in economic activity spreading across the economy, lasting for more than a few months and causing widespread economic hardship.
Characterised by: negative GDP (Gross Domestic Product), increased unemployment, decreased consumer spending, business closures.
Can be caused by: financial crises, economic shocks, policy mistakes (too strict/loose).

83
Q

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

A

Total monetary value of all final goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific period of time (usually a year). Measures the overall economic activity of a nation.
-> GDP represents the total value of everything a country produces. This includes goods (like cars, food, and clothing) and services (like healthcare, education, and entertainment).

84
Q

Implementation plan

A

Detailed roadmap outlining the steps necessary to put a proposed solution or strategy into action.
Key components: objectives, timelines, responsibilities, resources, risk assessment, contingency (Eventualität) planning.

85
Q

Startup costs vs. operational costs

A

Startup costs are expenses incurred before a business begins operations. Typically one-time payments including: legal fees, rent or mortgage, equipment, inventory, marketing & advertising, professional fees (e.g. accounting, consulting, design).

Operational costs are ongoing expenses that a business incurs after it starts operating. These costs are recurring and include: rent or mortgage, utilities, salaries & wages, insurance, taxes, marketing & advertising, supplies.

86
Q

Margin of error

A

Indicating range within which a result is likely to be accurate. It measures the degree of uncertainty in a sample statistic and is often expressed as a percentage.

87
Q

Capital spend (vs. operating budget)

A

Expenditures (Kostenaufwand) made to acquire or improve long-term assets, such as property, plant, and equipment (PP&E). Assets are expected to provide benefits over multiple years.
E.g.: purchasing new machinery, expanding facilities, investing in R&D, making major renovations.
-> Investing in the future of the business.

88
Q

Operating budget (vs. capital spend)

A

Financial plan outlining the expected revenues and expenses for a specific period (typically a year). It covers the day-to-day operations of a business.
E.g.: salaries & wages, rent or mortgage payments, utilities, marketing & advertising, inventory costs, supplies.
-> Managing the day-to-day finances of the business.

89
Q

Grant

A

Financial assistance that is provided to individuals, organisations, or businesses, typically for a specific purpose or project. Unlike loans, grants do not need to be repaid.
-> Government, foundation, corporate, private grants.

90
Q

Ideation

A

Creative brainstorming technique, process of generating new ideas, concepts, solutions.
Key aspects: creativity, quantity over quality, collaboration, divergence, convergence.

91
Q

4 core consulting skills

A

Problem-solving, communication, ability to synthesise, comfortable with quantifications.

92
Q

Investment payback period

A

Financial metric measuring the amount of time it takes for an investment to generate enough cash flow to recover its initial cost.
Calculated by:
1. Estimate the net cash inflow
2. Divide the initial investment by the annual cashflow

93
Q

Operational demands

A

Refers to tasks, activities, or requirements that a business/organisation must fulfil to maintain its day-to-day operations and achieve its goals. Can be internal or external, often involve managing resources, meeting deadlines, and ensuring quality.

94
Q

Retention

A

Ability to keep customers/employees/other individuals engaged and committed over time.
Often measured by: churn rate (% of people who leave an organisation over a specific period of time), customer lifetime value, employee turnover rate.

95
Q

Key revenue drivers

A

Primary factors that contribute to a company’s income generation.

96
Q

Key cost drivers

A

Primary factors that contributes to a company’s expenses.

97
Q

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)

A

Valuation method used to estimate the intrinsic value of an asset/company/project. Based on the idea that the value of an asset is equal to the present value of its future cash flows.
Key steps: project future cash flows, determine the discount rate, discount future cash flows, sum the present values.

98
Q

Sensitivity analysis

A

Used to assess how changes in input variables affect the overall output/outcome of a model/calculation. Helps to understand the impact of uncertainty/variations in key factors on the final result.
Key steps: identify key variables, vary the variables, evaluate the impact.
Can be used for: risk assessment, decision-making, model validation, uncertainty analysis.

99
Q

Mitigation

A

Process of reducing/preventing harmful effects of a negative event/situation.
E.g. risk mitigation: identifying and addressing potential to minimise their impact.

100
Q

Due diligance

A

Process of investigating and verifying information about a company/person/asset before making a decision, such an investment or acquisition to assess potential risks and opportunities.
Financial, legal, environmental, operational, technical.

101
Q

Earnings call

A

Conference call held by a publicly traded company to discuss its financial performance for a specific period, usually a quarter or a year. During an earnings call, the company’s management team presents the company’s financial results, provides commentary on the performance, and answers questions from analysts, investors, and the media.

102
Q
A

Consulting Prep (2 decks)

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