Continuous innovation and rapid transformation have been
themes throughout Accenture’s history.
Initially called Andersen Consulting, Accenture was formally
established in 1989 when a group of partners from the Consulting division of
the various Arthur Andersen firms around the world formed a new organization
focused on consulting and technology services related to managing large-scale
systems integration and enhancing business processes.
That same year Accenture formalized Business Integration,
its framework for aligning a client’s people, processes and technology in
support of its overall strategy to enable all components of the client
organization to work to enhance business performance. During its first 10
years, Accenture evolved from a systems integrator to a global management
consulting and technology services company, providing the full range of
consulting, outsourcing and related technology services.
A New Name, A New Direction By 2000, Accenture had achieved more than a decade of
tremendous growth, with net revenues exceeding US$9.5 billion and more than
70,000 professionals in 46 countries delivering to clients a broad range of
consulting, technology and outsourcing services and solutions.
On Jan. 1, 2001, the company changed its name to Accenture
(from Andersen Consulting) as the result of an
arbitrator’s decision in
August 2000 that severed the contractual ties between Accenture and Andersen
Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC). Accenture then launched one of the
largest and most successful re-branding campaigns in corporate history. The new
name reinforced Accenture’s new positioning and reflected the organization’s
further growth and broadened set of capabilities.
Since its inception in 1989, Accenture had operated as a group of locally owned independent partnerships or other entities in more than 40 countries. (Accenture is and has always been a global organization and has never operated under a U.S. holding company structure.) By 2001, it became apparent to Accenture’s partners that
maintaining the organization’s existing partnership structure would limit the company’s ability to
continue its growth. Therefore, the partners, more than half of whom were from countries other than the United States, decided to transition to corporate
form, enabling Accenture to build and acquire the necessary capital to remain
competitive and fuel its growth.
In April 2001, Accenture’s partners voted overwhelmingly to
pursue an initial public offering, and Accenture became a public company on
July 19, 2001, when it listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
ACN.
Today Accenture is a global management consulting,
technology services and outsourcing company, identifying new business and
technology trends and developing solutions to help clients around the world
enter new markets, increase revenues in existing markets, improve operational
performance, and deliver their products and services more effectively and
efficiently.
To Top |