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| former_name = Andersen Consulting<br />(1989–2000)
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| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{ubl|{{NYSE|ACN}} (Class A)|[[S&P 100]] component|[[S&P 500]] component}}
| traded_as = {{ubl|{{NYSE|ACN}} (Class A)|[[S&P 100]] component|[[S&P 500]] component}}

Revision as of 21:24, 9 November 2021

Accenture plc
Company typePublic
ISINIE00B4BNMY34
Industry
Founded1989; 35 years ago (1989)
HeadquartersDublin, Ireland (since 2009)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Julie Sweet
(Chair and CEO)[1]
RevenueIncrease US$50.53 billion (2021)[2]
Increase US$7.62 billion (2021)[2]
Increase US$5.91 billion (2021)[2]
Total assetsIncrease US$43.18 billion (2021)[2]
Total equityIncrease US$20.1 billion (2021)[2]
Number of employees
624,000 (2021)[3]
DivisionsStrategy & Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations[4]
Websitewww.accenture.com

Accenture plc is an Irish-based multinational professional services company that specialises in IT services and consulting. A Fortune Global 500 company,[5] it reported revenues of $44.33 billion in 2020 and had 569,000 employees. In 2015, the company had about 150,000 employees in India,[6] 48,000 in the US,[7] and 50,000 in the Philippines.[8] Accenture's current clients include 91 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500.[9]

Julie Sweet has served as CEO of Accenture since 1 September 2019.[10]

It has been incorporated in Dublin, Ireland, since 2009.

History

Headquarters Accenture ASG, Campus Kronberg, Germany

Formation and early years

Accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen[11] in the early 1950s when it conducted a feasibility study for General Electric to install a computer at Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky,[12] which led to GE's installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer,[13] believed to be the first commercial use of a computer in the U.S.[14] Joseph Glickauf, an early pioneer of computer consulting, held a position as head of Arthur Andersen's administrative services division.[12]

Split from Arthur Andersen

In 1989, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units of Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC). Throughout the 1990s, there was increasing tension between Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting was paying Arthur Andersen up to 15% of its profits each year (a provision of the 1989 split was that the more profitable unit – whether AA or AC – pay the other the 15 percent), while at the same time Arthur Andersen was competing with Andersen Consulting through its own newly established business consulting service line called Arthur Andersen Business Consulting. This dispute came to a head in 1998 when Andersen Consulting put the 15% transfer payment for that year and future years into escrow and issued a claim for breach of contract against AWSC and Arthur Andersen. In August 2000, as a result of the conclusion of arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce, Andersen Consulting broke all contractual ties with AWSC and Arthur Andersen. As part of the arbitration settlement, Andersen Consulting paid the sum held in escrow (then $1.2 billion) to Arthur Andersen, and was required to change its name, resulting in the entity being renamed Accenture.[15]

Emergence of Accenture

On 1 January 2001, Andersen Consulting adopted its current name, "Accenture". The word "Accenture" is derived from "Accent on the future". The name "Accenture" was submitted by Kim Petersen, a Danish employee from the company's Oslo, Norway office, as a result of an internal competition. Petersen felt that the name should represent its will to be a global consulting leader and high performer, and also intended that the name should not be offensive in any country in which Accenture operates.[16]

Accenture's banner hanging on the New York Stock Exchange Building for its initial public offering on 19 July 2001.

On 19 July 2001, Accenture's initial public offering (IPO) was priced at $14.50 per share, and the shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley served as its lead underwriters. Accenture stock closed the day at $15.17, with the day's high at $15.25. On the first day of the IPO, Accenture raised nearly $1.7 billion.[17]

2000s: Bermuda headquarters

In October 2002, the Congressional General Accounting Office (GAO) identified Accenture as one of four publicly traded federal contractors that were incorporated in a tax haven.[18] The other three, unlike Accenture, were incorporated in the United States before they re-incorporated in a tax haven, thereby lowering their US taxes. Critics, most notably former CNN journalist Lou Dobbs,[19] have reported Accenture's decision to incorporate in Bermuda as a US tax avoidance ploy, because they viewed Accenture as having been a US-based company.[20] The GAO itself did not characterise Accenture as having been a US-based company; it stated that "prior to incorporating in Bermuda, Accenture was operating as a series of related partnerships and corporations under the control of its partners through the mechanism of contracts with a Swiss coordinating entity."[21]

Accenture engaged in an IT overhaul project for the British National Health Service (NHS) in 2003, making headlines when it withdrew from the contract in 2006 over disputes related to delays and cost overruns.[22] The government of the United Kingdom ultimately abandoned the project five years later for the same reasons.[23]

Accenture office at Tech Square in Atlanta

2010s: Ireland headquarters and recent history

Accenture announced on 26 May 2009 that its board of directors unanimously approved changing the company's place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland and would become Accenture plc.[24]

In 2012, it was revealed Accenture was paying only 3.5% in tax in the Republic of Ireland as opposed to the average rate of 24% for a UK corporation.[25]

Accenture was chosen to replace CGI Group as the lead contractor for HealthCare.gov in January 2014.[26] In December 2014, Accenture won a $563 million contract to provide ongoing maintenance, software development and technology support for HealthCare.gov through 2019.[27]

In July 2015, the United States Department of Defense awarded a major Electronic Health Records contract to Cerner, Leidos and Accenture. The contract valued $4.33 billion will serve 55 hospitals and 600 clinics. Accenture Federal Services and Leidos will play the role of configuration specialist, while Cerner is the prime contractor.[28]

On 29 August 2017, Apple Inc. announced a partnership with Accenture to create iOS business software.[29]

In June 2018, Accenture generated controversy over the amount the firm has been charging to recruit 7,500 Customs and Border Protection officers. Under the $297 million contract, Accenture had been charging the US Government nearly $40,000 per hire, which is more than the annual salary of the average officer.[30] According to a report published by the DHS Office of Inspector General in December 2018, Accenture had been paid $13.6M through the first ten months of the contract. They had hired two agents against a contract goal of 7,500 hires over 5 years. The report was issued as a 'management alert', indicating an issue requiring immediate attention, stating that "Accenture has already taken longer to deploy and delivered less capability than promised".[31] The contract was terminated in 2019.[32]

In January 2019, CEO Pierre Nanterme stepped down from his position, citing health reasons. Twenty days after stepping down, he died in France at the age of 59 after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Chief Financial Officer David Rowland was named as the interim CEO.[33] In July 2019, Julie Sweet, previously CEO of Accenture North America, was named the new chief executive officer of the firm, effective September 2019.[34]

In February 2019, contractors from Accenture's Austin, Texas, location who performed content moderation tasks for Facebook wrote an open letter to Facebook describing poor working conditions and a "Big Brother environment" that included restricted work breaks and strict non-disclosure agreements.[35][36][37] A counselor in the Austin office stated that the content moderators could develop posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the work, which included evaluating videos and images containing graphic violence, hate speech, animal abuse, and child abuse.[36][38] Accenture issued a statement saying the company offers opportunities for moderators to advance, increase their wages, and provide input "to help shape their experience".[39]

On 7 January 2020, news sources reported that Accenture had agreed to acquire Symantec's 300-person cybersecurity services division from Broadcom.[40] The $200 million acquisition was completed in April 2020.[41]

In February 2020, Accenture announced that it plans to shut down its media auditing by the end of August.[42] The company also announced the appointment of Jean-Marc Ollagnier as CEO for Europe.[43]

In May 2020, Accenture announced that it had acquired Callisto Integration, a Canada-based provider of consulting and technology services[44] and Byte Prophecy, an Ahmedabad-based data analytics company.[45]

In September 2020, Accenture committed $3 billion and created a division called Accenture Cloud First.[46][47]

On 1 February 2021, Accenture acquired Imaginea Technologies, a cloud-native and agile development company. This acquisition also bolsters the Cloud First division.[48]

On 16 February 2021, Accenture acquired Infinity Works. This acquisition also bolsters the Accenture Cloud First division.[49]

On 22 April 2021, Accenture acquired Cygni, a cloud-native, full-stack development company.[50]

On 22 August 2021, Accenture acquired Trivadis AG, an IT services provider specializing in platforms and solutions that enable highly automated provisioning and innovative use of data.[51]

Finances

Year Revenue
in billion USD$ 		Net income
in billion USD$ 		Total Assets
in billion USD$ 		Price per Share
in USD$ 		Employees
2005 17.098 0.940 8.957 19.63
2006 18.228 0.973 9.497 24.22
2007 21.453 1.243 10.747 31.04
2008 25.314 1.692 12.399 29.00
2009 23.171 1.590 12.256 28.02
2010 23.094 1.781 12.835 35.20
2011 27.353 2.278 15.732 47.23
2012 29.778 2.554 16.665 54.58
2013 30.394 3.282 16.867 67.91 275,000
2014 31.875 2.941 17.930 74.87 305,000
2015 32.914 3.054 18.203 91.88 358,000
2016 34.798 4.112 20.609 108.54 384,000
2017 36.765 3.445 22.690 126.73 425,000
2018 41.603 4.060 24.449 159.92 459,000
2019 43.215 4.779 29.789 196.81 505,000
2020 44.327 5.107 37.078 200.40 506,000
2021 50.533 5.906 43.175 270.28 624,000

Services and operations

A worldmap showing the countries where Accenture has operations as of 2016
Accenture office in ITPL, Bangalore

Marketing, branding and identity

From at least 2005[57] until December 2009, Accenture used Tiger Woods as a celebrity spokesperson and advertised using the service mark "Go on, be a Tiger" and the ancillary statement "We know what it takes to be a Tiger" in association with his image. On 13 December 2009 after details of Woods' extra-marital affairs were exposed, the company terminated Woods' six-year sponsorship deal.[58]

In 2011, Accenture launched a new campaign of results-based advertisements featuring clients such as Marriott, Unilever and the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside its slogan "High performance. Delivered".[59] As of 2019, Interbrand ranked Accenture No. 31 on its list of best global brands.[60] The brand consultancy noted Accenture's focus on branding and marketing of its Accenture Strategy, Accenture Consulting, Accenture Digital, Accenture Technology and Accenture Operations divisions.[61]

The company uses a standardised system of branding, with extensive use of the font Graphik.[62]

From 1999, the firm's culture was parodied by the webcomic Bigtime Consulting, operated pseudonymously by its San Francisco-based employee James Sanchez.[63][64]

Accenture has implemented policies to reduce gendered discrimination such as gender neutral bathrooms and gender neutral dress-codes.[65]

Awards & recognition

  • In 2021, Accenture was ranked No. 169 on the Forbes Global 2000.[66]
  • In 2021, the firm was ranked No. 2 in the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc.[67]
  • In 2021, Ethisphere Institute recognised Accenture for the 14th time.[68]
  • Fortune named Accenture one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For from 2009 to 2021.[69]
  • In 2021, Accenture was ranked No. 258 on the Fortune Global 500 list.[70]
  • In 2021, Fortune magazine named it as the world's most admired Information Technology Services company.[71]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Leadership". Accenture. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Accenture Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021" (PDF). Accenture.com. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Fact sheet". Accenture. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  4. ^ Johnson, O'Ryan (20 December 2018). "Accenture Has $1.5B To Spend On More Acquisitions This Fiscal Year". CRN.com. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Fortune Global 500 – The World's Biggest Companies – Accenture Profile 2011". CNN. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ^ "Accenture says India employees have to specialise – Times of India". The Times of India.
  7. ^ Marek, Lynne (27 February 2016). "Guess which Illinois company uses the most worker visas". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  8. ^ Mini Joseph Tejaswi (18 July 2012). "Accenture in India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  9. ^ "Fact sheet". Accenture. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Accenture Appoints Julie Sweet Chief Executive Officer and Names David Rowland Executive Chairman, Effective Sept. 1, 2019 | Accenture Newsroom". accntu.re. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Accenture To Add 500 Jobs in Chicago". WBBM-TV. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  12. ^ a b Brachear, Manya A. (28 July 2005). "Joseph Glickauf Jr. 1912–2005". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  13. ^ Betts, Mitch (29 January 2001). "GE's Appliance Park Still an IT Innovator". Computerworld. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  14. ^ Betts, Mitch (2 July 1990). "The Univac I: First in the field". Computerworld. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  15. ^ Martin, Mitchell (8 August 2000). "Arbitrator's Ruling Goes Against Accounting Arm : Consultants Win Battle Of Andersen". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  16. ^ Andersen Consulting Changing Name To Accenture – 26 Oct. 2000; InformationWeek
  17. ^ Accenture IPO gains in first trades – 19 Jul. 2001; CNN Money
  18. ^ Information on Federal Contractors That Are Incorporated Offshore; United States General Accounting Office; 1 October 2002
  19. ^ Dobbs, Lou (9 March 2004). "Exporting America". CNN. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  20. ^ [1] Archived 3 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "Information on Federal Contractors That Are Incorporated Offshore". gao.gov. General Accounting Office. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  22. ^ Bowers, Simon (28 September 2006). "Accenture to quit NHS technology overhaul". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  23. ^ "NHS pulls the plug on its £11bn IT system". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  24. ^ "Accenture Newsroom: Accenture Announces Proposed Change of Incorporation to Ireland". newsroom.accenture.com. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  25. ^ Simon Moore (26 November 2012). "Revenue's IT contractors accused of tax avoidance". Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  26. ^ "Accenture chosen as lead contractor of Obamacare website". Yahoo!. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  27. ^ "Accenture wins new $563M contract for HealthCare.gov". www.beckershospitalreview.com.
  28. ^ Sy Mukherjee (30 July 2015). "Cerner, Leidos, & Accenture win massive $4.3B Defense Department EHR contract". Healthcare Dive. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  29. ^ "Apple and Accenture partner to create iOS business solutions". Apple Newsroom. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  30. ^ Lanard, Noah (14 June 2018). "Border Patrol Is So Desperate for New Agents, It's Spending Millions to Help Recruits Finish Their Applications". Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  31. ^ Geneva Sands (10 December 2018). "'Serious' issues with $297 million CBP hiring contract, internal watchdog says". Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  32. ^ Sands, Geneva (5 April 2019). "CBP terminates controversial $297 million Accenture contract amid continued staffing struggles". CNN. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  33. ^ "Accenture's former CEO Nanterme dies". Reuters. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  34. ^ Horowitz, Julia (12 July 2019). "The Fortune 500 has a new woman CEO: Accenture's Julie Sweet". CNN Business. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  35. ^ Price, Rob (15 February 2019). "Facebook moderators are in revolt over 'inhumane' working conditions that they say erodes their 'sense of humanity'". Business Insider. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  36. ^ a b Dwoskin, Elizabeth (8 May 2019). "Inside Facebook, the second-class workers who do the hardest job are waging a quiet battle". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  37. ^ Brustein, Joshua (25 February 2019). "Facebook Grappling With Employee Anger Over Moderator Conditions". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  38. ^ Wong, Queenie (19 June 2019). "Murders and suicides: Here's who keeps them off your Facebook feed". CNET. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  39. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth (8 May 2019). "Inside Facebook, the second-class workers who do the hardest job are waging a quiet battle". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  40. ^ "Accenture acquires Symantec's cybersecurity division". Bizjournals. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  41. ^ Novinson, Michael (24 June 2020). "The Biggest 10 Cybersecurity Acquisitions Of 2020 (So Far)". CRN. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  42. ^ "Accenture shuts media auditing business | News". Research Live. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  43. ^ "Jean-Marc Ollagnier new CEO of Accenture's European division". Consultancy.eu. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  44. ^ Condon, Stephanie. "Accenture acquires Callisto Integration for digital manufacturing services". ZDNet. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  45. ^ "Accenture acquires Ahmedabad-based big data analytics company Byte Prophecy". The Economic Times. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  46. ^ www.ETCIO.com. "Karthik Narain to lead $3 billion 'Accenture Cloud First' group - ET CIO". ETCIO.com. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  47. ^ Goled, Shraddha (12 January 2021). "Cloud-First Strategy: What's All The Fuss About?". Analytics India Magazine. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  48. ^ "Accenture to Acquire Imaginea to Accelerate Cloud Native Product and Platform Engineering Services". newsroom.accenture.com. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  49. ^ "Accenture to Infinity Works".
  50. ^ "Accenture Completes Acquisition of Cygni to Expand its Cloud First and Software Engineering Capabilities". BusinessWire. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  51. ^ "Trivadis is now part of Accenture". newsroom.accenture.com. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  52. ^ "Analyst Commentary: Accenture's digital push will boost consulting prospects". Professional Outsourcing Resources. 3 January 2014. Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  53. ^ "Accenture Consulting". www.accenture.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  54. ^ Rayana Pandey (5 December 2013). "Accenture launches digital marketing capabilities. Should agencies worry?". Marketing. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  55. ^ Arik Hesseldahl (5 June 2013). "Former HP Labs Head Prith Banerjee Joins Accenture". All Things D. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  56. ^ Stuart Lauchlan (25 September 2014). "Accenture's offensive on the $5bn digital opportunity". Diginomica. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  57. ^ Jennifer Pellet (1 August 2005), Pursuing high performance: chief executives can, in fact, stay ahead of emerging global competitors., Chief Executive, p. 66, retrieved 13 October 2013
  58. ^ "Accenture cuts Tiger Woods sponsorship deal". BBC News. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  59. ^ Elliott, Stuart (17 November 2011). "Accenture Calls on Clients to Help Make a Statement". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  60. ^ "Best Global Brands 2019 Rankings". Interbrand. 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  61. ^ "Best Global Brands 2015". Interbrand. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  62. ^ "New logo and identity for Accenture". Brand New. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  63. ^ "Bigtime Consulting archive". Bigtime Consulting.
  64. ^ Gardner, Jim. "Web satire causes Bigtime headaches for Andersen". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  65. ^ Alsop, Ronald. "Transgender, at the office". Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  66. ^ "Global 2000". Forbes. 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  67. ^ "DiversityInc Announces The 2021 Top 50 Companies for Diversity List". DiversityInc. 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  68. ^ "The 2021 World's Most Ethical Companies Honoree List". Ethisphere Institute. 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  69. ^ "Accenture: #44". Fortune. 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  70. ^ "Accenture: Global 500". Fortune. 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  71. ^ "World's Most Admired Companies". Fortune. 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
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