Accenture

Accenture plc, doing business as Accenture, is a multinational professional services company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, that specialises in information technology (IT) services and management consulting. It was founded in the United States in 1989. A Fortune Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $64.9 billion in 2024.<ref name="Q4">Template:Cite news</ref>

History

Formation and early years, 1950–1989

Accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen in the early 1950s.<ref name=WBBM11>Template:Cite news</ref> The division conducted a feasibility study for General Electric to install a computer at Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, which led to GE's installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer, believed to be the first commercial use of a computer in the United States.<ref name=Betts01>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Betts90>Template:Cite news</ref>

Split from Arthur Andersen and renaming, 1989–2001

In 1989, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units of Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC), a Swiss coordinating entity. Throughout the 1990s, tensions grew between the two units. 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 – pays the other 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 2000, as a result of arbitration, Andersen Consulting broke all contractual ties with AWSC and Arthur Andersen. As part of the arbitration settlement, Andersen Consulting paid $1.2 billion to Arthur Andersen.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 1 January 2001, Andersen Consulting adopted the name "Accenture". The word "Accenture" was derived from "Accent on the future". The name "Accenture" was submitted by Kim Petersen, a Danish employee from the company's Oslo, Norway office. Petersen hoped that the name would not be offensive in any country in which Accenture operates, because the word itself was meaningless.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Incorporation and public listing, 2001–2009

Accenture was incorporated in Bermuda in 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Because of the split from Andersen, Accenture avoided prosecution on June 16, 2002, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prosecuted Arthur Andersen for obstructing justice and accounting fraud in the supreme court case Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States around the Enron scandal.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Reincorporation in Ireland, 2009 until present

On 26 May 2009, Accenture announced that its board of directors had unanimously approved changing the company's place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 2013, Accenture has acquired over 200 companies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Accenture has been a strategic partner of The Alan Turing Institute since 2017.<ref name="acc">Template:Cite web</ref>

Services and operations

Accenture's business is organized into five segments:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1. Strategy and Consulting
2. Technology
3. Operations
4. Accenture Song (formerly Interactive)<ref name="Song">Template:Cite web</ref>
5. Industry X

The company provides services to clients across various industries, including communications, media and technology, financial services, healthcare, public services, consumer products, and resources.<ref name="FactSheet20">Template:Cite web</ref>

Corporate affairs

Leadership

CEO Sweet in 2019.

• William D. Green (2004–2011)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Pierre Nanterme (2011–2019)<ref name=Chausson>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Monks>Template:Cite news</ref>
• David Rowland (2019, interim CEO)<ref name=death>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Julie Sweet (2019–present)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Employees

Template:As of, Accenture reported having approximately 774,000 employees.<ref name=ar/>

Finances

The financial results were as follows:

Year	Revenue (billion US$)	Net income (billion US$)	Total assets (billion US$)	Employees	Template:Refh
2013	30.394	3.282	16.867	275,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2014	31.875	2.941	17.930	305,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2015	32.914	3.054	18.203	358,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2016	34.798	4.112	20.609	384,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2017	36.765	3.445	22.690	425,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2018	41.603	4.060	24.449	459,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2019	43.215	4.779	29.789	505,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2020	44.327	5.107	37.078	506,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2021	50.533	5.906	43.175	624,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022	61.594	6.989	47.263	721,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2023	64.111	7.003	51.245	733,000	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2024	64.896	7.419	55.932	774,000	<ref name=ar/>

Accenture, which went public in 2001, generated total returns (including dividends) of approximately 370% between 2015 and 2024, more than the S&P 500 index itself, Goldman Sachs, etc.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Controversies

Incorporation in a tax haven

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.<ref>Information on Federal Contractors That Are Incorporated Offshore; United States General Accounting Office; 1 October 2002</ref> 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 such as former CNN journalist Lou Dobbs,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> reported Accenture's decision to incorporate in Bermuda was a US tax avoidance ploy, because they viewed Accenture as having been a US-based company.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The GAO itself did not characterize 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."<ref name="GAO">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2009 Accenture shifted its incorporation to Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

UK NHS technology project

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.<ref name=nhswithdraw>Template:Cite news</ref> The government of the United Kingdom ultimately abandoned the project five years later for the same reasons.<ref name=nhscancel>Template:Cite news</ref>

US immigration

In June 2018, Accenture was asked to recruit 7,500 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Under the $297 million contract, Accenture had been charging the US Government nearly $40,000 per hire, which was more than the annual salary of the average officer.<ref name=Lanard>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 five 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".<ref name=Sands>Template:Cite news</ref> The contract was terminated in 2019.<ref name="CNN-Sands-100405">Template:Cite news</ref>

Working conditions

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.<ref name="BI moderators">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="WaPo moderators">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A counselor in the Austin office stated that the content moderators could develop post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the work, which included evaluating videos and images containing graphic violence, hate speech, animal abuse, and child abuse.<ref name="WaPo moderators" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Accenture issued a statement saying the company offers opportunities for moderators to advance, increase their wages, and provide input "to help shape their experience."<ref name="Wapo-Dwoskin-190508">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 2025, Vice News spoke to a former Accenture employee under the condition of anonymity. His project on the WhatsApp team for Meta required him to sift through images and decide whether or not they depicted child sexual abuse, which he coped with "through a lot of substance abuse". The former employee claimed to have witnessed multiple missed opportunities to protect children, and alleged that one colleague had previously been arrested for possessing child abuse materials. In a statement, Accenture said they are "committed to helping companies keep their platforms safe through services such as content, advertising, and compliance reviews".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Tax practices

In February 2019, Accenture paid $200 million to Swiss authorities over tax claims related to transfer pricing arrangements.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Data breach

In August 2021, Accenture confirmed a data breach resulting from a ransomware attack, which reportedly led to the theft of approximately six terabytes of data.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Employment practices

In March 2023, Accenture announced plans to eliminate 19,000 jobs of the 738,000 employees over 18 months, citing reduced revenue forecasts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 2025, Accenture made significant changes to its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, including the discontinuation of global employee representation goals and specific demographic-focused career development programs. The company also paused participation in external diversity benchmarking surveys and reevaluated their external partnerships.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to media analysis, this was to comply with President Trump's Executive Order 14151 to avoid losing billions of dollars of work with US federal agencies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of acquisitions by Accenture

External links

• Template:Official website