Management consultancy, explained.
Burns & Co. Professional is the management consultancy division of Burns & Co. Group. We take on the projects a business needs delivered — strategy, operations, transformation, governance, systems, cost, bids and the programme management that holds it all together — and we stay until the work is done.
What does Burns & Co. Professional actually do?
We are a management consultancy. We work with leadership teams on strategy, operations, transformation, governance and the delivery of specific projects — from the first piece of analysis through to implementation and handover. If a business has a project it needs delivered, that is the work we take on.
Is this management consultancy or legal advice?
Burns & Co. Professional is the management consultancy division of Burns & Co. Group, and engagements here are consultancy. Where a project raises a legal question — a contract, a transaction, a regulatory obligation — the work is handled by the group's legal and general counsel teams, so you do not need to source separate advisers.
Can you really deliver any project our business has?
Bring us the brief and we will tell you honestly whether it is one for us. In practice that covers strategy and market work, operational improvement, system and change programmes, cost reduction, bids and tenders, governance and risk, organisational design, data and reporting, and the programme management that holds a large project together.
What size of business do you work with?
Most of our clients are owner-managed or privately held businesses from around £1m to £100m turnover, together with charities, trusts and public sector suppliers. The common factor is a decision that matters and a leadership team that wants it made properly, rather than a particular size of balance sheet.
How quickly can you start?
Most engagements begin with a conversation, followed by a short scoping piece that can usually start within a week or two. Where a project is in difficulty or a deadline is close, we will say so at the outset and set the timetable around the date that matters to you.
How do you charge for consultancy work?
Work is scoped and priced before it begins. Fixed-scope projects are quoted as a single fee, retainers are agreed as a number of days a month, and embedded delivery is priced against a defined programme. Disbursements and any third-party costs are shown separately, and you are told before anything outside the agreed scope is incurred.
What happens in the first conversation?
We ask what you are trying to achieve, what you have already tried, and what the constraints are. That conversation is free and carries no obligation. It usually ends with a view on whether the work is worth doing, what it would involve, and whether we are the right people for it.
Do you work on site or remotely?
Both, depending on the work. Diagnostic and workshop stages are usually most effective in person, while reporting, analysis and programme management often run remotely with regular review points. For embedded delivery we work to your pattern, including time on site with your team.
Can you work alongside our existing team and suppliers?
Yes, and usually that is the point. We are as comfortable directing a workstream as supporting a finance director who is already running one, and we regularly work with incumbent accountants, system suppliers, contractors and lenders rather than around them.
What if a project has already started and is off track?
That is a common reason for the first call. We review what has been done, what has been spent and what remains, then give you a straight assessment of the options: recover it, re-scope it or stop it. Recovery work is scoped like any other project, with a revised plan and milestones you can hold us to.
Do you provide interim leadership?
Where a business needs cover or additional senior capacity during a period of change, we can provide interim management in areas including operations, finance, change and programme leadership, on a defined brief and for a defined period.
How do you measure whether the work has succeeded?
We agree the measures before we start. They are usually commercial — cost, margin, capacity, timescale, compliance, customer outcome — and they are reported against at every review. If a measure is not moving, that is what the next conversation is about.
Which sectors do you work in?
Manufacturing and engineering, professional services, construction and property, healthcare and care, rural and agricultural businesses, education and charities, hospitality, retail and technology, together with businesses supplying the public sector. The approach is transferable; the sector knowledge is built at the start of each engagement.
How is our information handled?
Everything you share is treated as confidential, and engagements are covered by a written agreement before work begins. Access to systems and data is limited to the people delivering the work, and we will sign your own confidentiality terms where you would prefer that.
Still have a question?
Ask it directly. Most questions about scope, fees and timescales can be answered in a single conversation, and there is no obligation attached to it.