How to become a Certified SME Management Consultant
Also called: Business adviser (chamber of commerce)
Assesses how small and medium-sized businesses are run at the request of their owners, suggests ways to improve and supports them.
Main tasks
- Setting the direction of the assessment to fit the client company's wishes
- Reading business documents and hearing explanations of the business and its problems to identify management issues
- Visiting the company to look more closely at its problems on site
- Analysing internal information and documents and gathering outside information where needed
- Weighing up all the material, writing improvement proposals in an assessment report and suggesting practical steps
- Discussing problems and proposals with owners to make the business more efficient
- Writing manuals for putting improvements into practice and training staff in the steps
- Talking with those involved to check that new systems and methods are working smoothly
- Helping businesses make use of government programmes
- Researching companies' marketing and finding new sales channels
- Introducing potential business partners
- Helping prepare business start-up plans
- Helping companies raise funds
- Helping launch new businesses
- Researching locations for new businesses and providing information
- Helping with hiring and training staff
- Helping companies manage employment matters
- Counselling staff
- Working with other support organisations and stakeholders
- Teaching at training sessions and seminars
Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
You need the certified SME management consultant (chusho kigyo shindanshi) qualification. To get it, you must first pass the first-stage exam run by the Japan Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultants Association. After that there are two routes: pass the association's second-stage exam and complete practical training or at least 15 days of consulting work, or complete a training course run by the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation or a registered training body. You must then be registered by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Registration must be renewed every five years, which requires attending training and having a set amount of practical experience. Some people gain related qualifications as well and set up in practice as consultants who advise and support small businesses on all aspects of management. You need broad knowledge and experience of running businesses and the integrity to earn clients' trust. The business environment changes every day, so you must keep maintaining and improving your expertise.
Ways in
- University: Business & Commerce degrees, Offered by 85 universities in Japan
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 中小企業診断士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥11,346,400 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥528,100, and the middle half earn ¥389,000 to ¥812,500 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Other management, finance and insurance professionals
- 0.80 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI could change some tasks in this job, by the ILO's global estimate.
Related jobs
- Independent Financial Adviser
- Management Consultant
- Financial Planner
- HR Consultant
- M&A Adviser
- Securities Analyst
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Questions people ask
How do I become a Certified SME Management Consultant?
You need the certified SME management consultant (chusho kigyo shindanshi) qualification. To get it, you must first pass the first-stage exam run by the Japan Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultants Association. After that there are two routes: pass the association's second-stage exam and complete practical training or at least 15 days of consulting work, or complete a training course run by the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation or a registered training body. You must then be registered by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Registration must be renewed every five years, which requires attending training and having a set amount of practical experience. Some people gain related qualifications as well and set up in practice as consultants who advise and support small businesses on all aspects of management. You need broad knowledge and experience of running businesses and the integrity to earn clients' trust. The business environment changes every day, so you must keep maintaining and improving your expertise.
How much does a Certified SME Management Consultant earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥11,346,400 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Other management, finance and insurance professionals, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become a Certified SME Management Consultant?
Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 83% of workers are university graduates.
Will AI change the work of a Certified SME Management Consultant?
Generative AI could change some tasks in this job, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026