Which consulting firms pay the best?

Can anyone help me?

Unless someone has researched every single IT Firm or worked for them how on earth are they going to answer your question?

ITGuy,

I DO know the INDUSTRY! I have dealt with, in some way, 8 or 9 companies.

Your question is a bogus question.

There is NO such thing as an "IT CONSULTANT". Rather they are consultants in IT that have various specialties. I once thought that ALL would know C, RACE CONDITIONS, LOCKS, etc.... I was once at a contract were I was apparently the ONLY one that knew ANY programming language. They ALL said they didn't know C. And I have had to explain RACE and LOCKS a LOT. BTW for those that haven't figured it out, a RACE condition is where a particular condition isn't handeled, or is improperly handled, such that two or more processes or routines may effectively try to use the same resources and cause problems. Hire an "IT CONSULTANT" at your own peril. You can't even be sure they know how to SPELL SQL, let alone tell you what it means or how to use it.

The bill rate can vary all over the place. It depends on the economy, consultant, specialties, needs, requests, salesperson, etc... For the SAME consultant at the SAME company, you may have VERY different bill rates.

As for the percentage? That varies ALSO! It can be a small fraction or even EXCEED 100%! YEP, one time a "consultant" lied and abandoned his assignment, and I had to fill in. MY hourly rate was higher, and the expenses were higher. HE was local, I was not. My company had to send me to save face, etc....

SOME may have a set percentage. SOME, like mine, may have a fixed rate. SOME may pay ONLY if and when they are paid. SOME, like mine, may pay in advance.

OK, I answered your question as best as anyone could, given the parameters, and without giving meaningless examples or proprietary info.

Steve