'Accenture' (, ) is a global
management consulting,
technology services and
outsourcing company. With more than 158,000 employees in 49 countries and reported revenues of US$18 billion in 2007, Accenture is the largest
consulting firm in the world
[2] and is one of the largest computer services and software companies on the
Fortune Global 500 list
[3].
History
Formation and early years
Accenture originated as the consulting division of
Arthur Andersen which was founded in 1913 by Arthur Andersen and Clarence DeLany as Andersen, DeLany & Co. Its origin goes back to 1953, when
General Electric (
GE) asked
Arthur Andersen to undertake a
feasibility study about payroll processing and manufacturing automation using computers for GE's Appliance Park manufacturing facility near Louisville, Kentucky. Arthur Andersen recommended installation of a
UNIVAC I computer and printer, and GE agreed, which is the start of what became the first-ever commercial computer in the United States.
Joe Glickauf was Arthur Andersen's project leader for the GE engagement and was responsible for the payroll processing automation, launching the era of data processing. Considered to be the father of computer consulting, Glickauf headed the Arthur Andersen administrative services division for 12 years.
Splitting from Arthur Andersen
In 1989, that division split from Arthur Andersen and began using the name 'Andersen Consulting'. Both Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting consisted of groups of locally-owned independent partnerships and other entities around the world, each in a contractual agreement with
Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC), a Swiss administrative entity.
Through the 1990s there was increasing tension between Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting was upset that it was paying Arthur Andersen up to 15% of its profits each year (a condition of the 1989 split was that the more profitable unit - AA or AC - paid the other this sum), while at the same time Arthur Andersen was competing with Andersen Consulting through its own newly established business consulting service line. This dispute came to a head in 1998 when Andersen Consulting claimed breach of contract against AWSC and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting put the 15% transfer payment for that year and future years into
escrow and issued a claim for breach of contract. In August
2000, as a result of a conclusion of 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 over 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.
By 2000, Andersen Consulting had achieved net revenues exceeding US$9.5 billion and had more than 75,000 employees in 47 countries
[4], whereas Arthur Andersen had revenues of US$9.3 billion with over 85,000 employees worldwide in 2001.
Emergence of Accenture
On
2001-01-01, Andersen Consulting adopted its current name, "Accenture".
The word "Accenture" is derived from "Accent on the future". Although a marketing consultancy was tasked with finding a new name for the company, the name "Accenture" was chosen by an employee from the Oslo office, as a result of an internal competition. Accenture 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. The choice of name also means that the company appears closer towards the top of any alphabetised lists, and retains the AC letter sequence of its previous identity.
It is also rumored that while the idea came from someone in the Oslo office, the thought that started that idea came from the training regime that almost all new employees to AC were put through, where many of the classes were called "Accent on C", a reference to the
C programming language.
IPO
On
2001-07-19, Accenture offered initial public offering (
IPO) at the price of $14.50 per share in
New York Stock Exchange (
NYSE);
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 dollars.
Organizational structure
Its organizational structure includes divisions based on client industry types and growth platforms. Industry divisions, referred to as Operating Groups, include Products (e.g. consumer packaged goods or industrial equipment), Communications High Technology and Media ('CHT'), Financial Services (e.g.
banking,
insurance), Resources (e.g.
utilities,
chemicals,
energy), and Government. The growth platforms are respectively titled Consulting, Outsourcing, and Systems Integration & Technology.
Service areas
Consulting
★ Customer Relationships Management
★ Finance & Performance Management
★ Human Performance
★ Strategy
★ Supply Chain Management
Technology
★ Enterprise Solutions
★ Information Management Services
★ Integration
★ Infrastructure Consulting Services
★ IT Strategy & Transformation
★ Microsoft Solutions
★ Mobile Solutions
★ Research & Development
★ Service Orientated Architecture
Outsourcing
★ Application Outsourcing
★ Business Process Outsourcing
★ Infrastructure Outsourcing
Controversy and criticism
Enron scandal and the Accenture name
There is a misconception that the name change from Andersen Consulting to Accenture was simply the consulting firm's attempt to "hide" from the
Enron scandal. This can not be accurate given the timing of events. The split from Arthur Andersen was requested by the consulting side in 1998, and finally awarded in 2000; the Enron scandal (starting with the reporting of the infamous "LJM Partnerships") did not occur until well into 2001, with the scandal culminating in the months after that.
In reality planning for a new name was underway before the arbitration decision was announced (Andersen Consulting partners felt that the word "Consulting" in the name was a drawback, since the firm was moving into non-consulting work such as outsourcing and ventures). Interestingly, internal Arthur Andersen emails in 2001 sent to all employees discussed future plans for Arthur Andersen to move ahead in the market with 3 names: Andersen Tax, Andersen Audit, and Andersen Consulting now that they had ownership over the name. Arthur Andersen was never able to revive the "Andersen Consulting" name since it was brought down by the
Enron scandal before doing so. Accenture is typically listed in the top 100 corporate brands
[5], so the name change appears to have been a positive for the consulting firm. The fact that it is disassociated from the Arthur Andersen name certainly proved to be a positive after the Arthur Andersen/Enron scandal.
Tax haven 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 country
[6]. The other three, unlike Accenture, were incorporated in the United States before they re-incorporated in a tax haven country, thereby lowering their U.S. taxes. Still, critics have panned Accenture's incorporation in Bermuda, generally because they viewed Accenture as having been a U.S.-based company trying to avoid U.S. taxes. The GAO itself did not characterize Accenture as having been a U.S.-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."
Movement of jobs outside the U.S.
Accenture has been criticized repeatedly by
Lou Dobbs of
CNN and others for moving some jobs outside the U.S. that results in loss of work and employment for some U.S. citizens. This is because Accenture utilizes ''global Delivery Centres'' in
South Asia and
Southeast Asia (such as
Bangalore and
Mumbai in
India, and,
Manila and
Cebu in the
Philippines) to reduce cost and increase profit margin in outsourcing deals with major U.S. companies. This enables Accenture to perform work (such as software development and call centre support) at a greatly reduced employee cost as compared to U.S. employees.
As a balance to the criticism about movement of jobs outside the U.S., Accenture's employee population in the U.S. has increased from 28,000 in 2005
[7] to more than 29,000 in 2007
[8]. According to the map of Accenture’s Delivery Centre locations
[9], the Delivery Centres are evenly distributed across the world with 7 centres in Europe, 7 centres in South East Asia and 7 centres in North America.
Because of Accenture's investment in India, many Indian major players such as
Infosys,
Tata Consultancy Services,
Wipro etc along with other market setters such as
IBM,
Siemens IT Solutions and Services etc. have become its competitors.
Subsidiaries
★
Coritel BPM [1] is the Spanish subsidiary of Accenture devoted to
software development and
outsourcing. It was founded in
1984 and currently has 6,500 workers.
★
Avanade [2] is a joint venture between
Microsoft and Accenture. It is dedicated to enterprise business solutions on the Microsoft platform.
★
Navitaire [3] is a subsidiary of Accenture, dedicated to providing specialized solutions to airlines.
★
Accenture Business Services for Utilities [4] is a subsidiary of Accenture, dedicated to providing Business Process systems and solutions for Utilities
★
Accenture National Security Services is a subsidiary of Accenture, dedicated to providing services directly to United States government and military agencies. It was specifically incorporated as a US subsidiary to meet a congressional mandate that defense contractors be based in the US.
★
Accenture Technology Solutions is a subsidiary of Accenture, dedicated to providing technology solutions to the client. The solutions work is mainly outsourced to low-wage developing countries like India, The Philippines and Romania -
Accenture India Delivery Centre,
Accenture Manila Delivery Center and
Accenture Bucharest Delivery Center.
★
Accenture SAP Solutions is a subsidiary of Accenture, dedicated to providing SAP solutions to the client. It has taken Coritel BPM SAP resources and turned it into this new unit called: ASAPS.
Visual identity
The
typeface used in the Accenture
wordmark is
rotis semi-sans, designed by
Otl Aicher in 1988. The right-pointing carat character over the 't' is intended to indicate the company's orientation to the future. The character is similar to an
accent mark in music. The corporate descriptor for Accenture is "High performance. Delivered.", which replaced the previous slogan "Innovation. Delivered." in 2004.
Tiger Woods is a celebrity spokesperson for the company. The campaign uses the
service mark "Go on. Be a Tiger," and the ancillary statement "We know what it takes to be a Tiger."
See also
★
WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
★
Top 50 Business Intellectuals
References
1. About Accenture - Chicago
2. Yahoo! - Accenture Ltd Company Profile
3. Fortune Global 500 - Accenture Ltd Company Snapshot 2007
4. Accenture: The Growth of a Global Leader; Accenture website; retrieved June 19, 2007
5. BusinessWeek - The 100 Top Brands 2006
6. Information on Federal Contractors That Are Incorporated Offshore; United States General Accounting Office; October 1, 2002
7. Source from United States Senate
8. Accenture United States
9. Accenture Global Delivery Network
http://www.accenture.com/Countries/India/default.htm , for details about India delivery centres
External links
★
Official website
★
Con DeLauro's Statement on Award of Homeland Defense Contract to Accenture
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