Professional Services are infrequent, technical, or unique functions performed by independent contractors or consultant whose occupation is the rendering of such services. While not limited to licentiates (individuals holding professional licences), the services are considered "professional" and the contract may run to partnerships, firms, or corporations as well as to individuals. Examples of professional services contracts include: accountants, appraisers, archaeologists, attorneys, business consultants, architects, engineers, law firms, physicians, performing artists, researchers, and real estate brokers. The selection of an independent contractor or consultant providing professional services is usually based on skill, knowledge, reputation, and creativity. Price may be a secondary factor in the selection. Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... Appraiser (from Latin appretiare, to value), one who sets a value upon property, real or personal. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... An attorney is someone who represents someone else in the transaction of business: For attorney-at-law, see lawyer, solicitor, barrister or civil law notary. ... A business consultant is a person that provides support and information to assist in the running or future strategy of a business, generally in the form of project work. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. ... Physician examining a child A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... A real estate broker is in the business of brokering real estate transactions; that is, finding sellers for those who want to buy real estate and finding buyers for those trying to sell real estate. ...

Categories of Professional Services

In general, there exist three branches of business services to serve the three major issues businesses must deal with:

1. Strategy consultancy - providing senior management with tactical and strategic advice or direction. This usually involves a deep analysis of the company and situation, followed by strategy formation and potentially implementation. Companies such as McKinsey & Company or BCG are perhaps the most well known. McKinsey & Company is a privately owned management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management in large corporations and organizations. ... BCG can stand for: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (a vaccine for tuberculosis) Boston Consulting Group This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

2. Operational services - the outsourcing of some function to an external service provider, whether on an ongoing or project basis, in order to add new capabilities to the firm. Examples in this large branch could include logistics and supply chain, information technology or software implementation, legal and regulatory, financial services like accounting or auditing, advertising and PR, and a host of others. Information technology (IT)[1] is a broad subject concerned with technology and other aspects of managing and processing information, especially in large organizations. ...

3. Human resources - this branch includes staffing and recruitment companies, executive search, outplacement, and operational HR companies (such as payroll and staff training).

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