Accenture plc is a [3] [4] [5] '''[6] American-Irish technology consulting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.[7] Founded in 1989, Accenture provides information technology and management consulting services across 120 countries globally.
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.[8] 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.[9][10]
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.[11]
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.[12]
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.[13] 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.[14]
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.[15]
Since 2013, Accenture has acquired over 200 companies.[16]
Accenture has been a strategic partner of The Alan Turing Institute since 2017.[17]
In January 2026, the company announced the acquisition of Faculty, a UK-based artificial intelligence company, in a deal that values the company at $1 billion.[18]
In March 2026, Accenture agreed to acquire Ookla, a Seattle-based network intelligence company known for
Services and operations
Accenture's business is organized into five segments:[20]
The company provides services to clients across various industries, including communications, media and technology, financial services, healthcare, public services, consumer products, and resources.[22]
In June 2025, Accenture announced a change to their growth model, unifying four of its major services (Strategy, Consulting, Song, and Operations) under a new business unit to be named 'Reinvention Services', with each pillar receiving its own group chief executive. Industry X remains separate to the new Reinvention Services unit.[23]
It is listed in the 211th place in Fortune Global 500 as of January 2026.[24]
- 1) Strategy and Consulting
Corporate affairs
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.[45] 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,[46] 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.[47] 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."[5]
Notable people
See also
External links
References
- Annual Report 2025 Accenture, August 2025, retrieved 24 November 2025^
- Accenture Fact Sheet FY24 Accenture, 2024, retrieved 14 October 2024^
- Lou Dobbs. Exporting America CNN, 9 March 2004, retrieved 3 May 2011