 Primary logo used since 2020 | |
 Headquarters at 1Grand Canal Square,Dublin | |
| Formerly | Andersen Consulting |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| ISIN | IE00B4BNMY34 |
| Industry | |
| Predecessor | Arthur Andersen |
| Founded | 1989; 36 years ago (1989) |
| Headquarters | , Ireland |
Number of locations | 120 countries[1] |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Julie Sweet (chair andCEO) |
| Revenue |  US$69.67 billion (2025)[2] |
| US$10.23 billion (2025)[2] | |
| US$7.83 billion (2025)[2] | |
| Total assets | US$65.39 billion (2025)[2] |
| Total equity | US$32.24 billion (2025)[2] |
Number of employees | 779,000 (2025)[2] |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | accenture |
Accenture plc,doing business asAccenture, is a multinational professional services company headquartered inDublin, Ireland, that specialises ininformation technology (IT) services andmanagement consulting. It was founded in the United States in 1989. AFortune Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $64.9 billion in 2024.[3]
Accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firmArthur Andersen in the early 1950s.[4] The division conducted a feasibility study forGeneral Electric to install a computer atAppliance Park inLouisville, Kentucky, which led to GE's installation of aUNIVAC I computer and printer, believed to be the first commercial use of a computer in the United States.[5][6]
In 1989, Arthur Andersen andAndersen 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.[7]
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'sOslo, Norway office. Petersen hoped that the name would not be offensive in any country in which Accenture operates, because the word itself was meaningless.[8]
Accenture wasincorporated in Bermuda in 2001. On 19 July 2001, Accenture'sinitial public offering (IPO) was priced at $14.50 per share, and the shares began trading on theNew York Stock Exchange.[9] Because of the split from Andersen, Accenture avoided prosecution on June 16, 2002, when theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prosecuted Arthur Andersen forobstructing justice andaccounting fraud in the supreme court caseArthur Andersen LLP v. United States around theEnron scandal.[10]
On 26 May 2009, Accenture announced that its board of directors had unanimously approved changing the company's place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland.[11]
Since 2013, Accenture hasacquired over 200 companies.[12]
Accenture has been a strategic partner of TheAlan Turing Institute since 2017.[13]
Accenture's business is organized into five segments:[14]
The company provides services to clients across various industries, including communications, media and technology, financial services, healthcare, public services, consumer products, and resources.[16]
In June 2025, Accenture announced a change to their growth model, unifying four of its major services (Strategy, Consulting, Song, and Operations) under a new business unit to be named 'Reinvention Services', with each pillar receiving its own group chief executive. Industry X remains separate to the new Reinvention Services unit.[17]
As of 2024[update], Accenture reported having approximately 774,000 employees.[23]
The financial results were as follows:
| Year | Revenue (billion US$) | Net income (billion US$) | Total assets (billion US$) | Employees | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 30.394 | 3.282 | 16.867 | 275,000 | [24] |
| 2014 | 31.875 | 2.941 | 17.930 | 305,000 | [25] |
| 2015 | 32.914 | 3.054 | 18.203 | 358,000 | [26] |
| 2016 | 34.798 | 4.112 | 20.609 | 384,000 | [27] |
| 2017 | 36.765 | 3.445 | 22.690 | 425,000 | [28] |
| 2018 | 41.603 | 4.060 | 24.449 | 459,000 | [29] |
| 2019 | 43.215 | 4.779 | 29.789 | 505,000 | [30] |
| 2020 | 44.327 | 5.107 | 37.078 | 506,000 | [31] |
| 2021 | 50.533 | 5.906 | 43.175 | 624,000 | [32] |
| 2022 | 61.594 | 6.989 | 47.263 | 721,000 | [33] |
| 2023 | 64.111 | 7.003 | 51.245 | 733,000 | [34] |
| 2024 | 64.896 | 7.419 | 55.932 | 774,000 | [23] |
| 2025 | 69.673 | 7.832 | 65.394 | 779,000 | [2] |
Accenture, which went public in 2001, generated total returns (including dividends) of approximately 370% between 2015 and 2024, more than theS&P 500 index itself,Goldman Sachs, etc.[35]
In October 2002, the CongressionalGeneral Accounting Office (GAO) identified Accenture as one of four publicly tradedfederal contractors that were incorporated in atax haven.[36] 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 formerCNN journalistLou Dobbs,[37] reported Accenture's decision to incorporate in Bermuda was a UStax avoidance ploy, because they viewed Accenture as having been a US-based company.[38] 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."[39]
In 2009 Accenture shifted its incorporation to Ireland.[40]
Accenture engaged in anIT overhaul project for theBritishNational Health Service (NHS) in 2003, making headlines when it withdrew from the contract in 2006 over disputes related to delays and cost overruns.[41] The government of theUnited Kingdom ultimately abandoned the project five years later for the same reasons.[42]
In June 2018, Accenture was asked to recruit 7,500U.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.[43] 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".[44] The contract was terminated in 2019.[45]
In February 2019,contractors from Accenture'sAustin, Texas, location who performedcontent moderation tasks forFacebook wrote anopen letter to Facebook describing poor working conditions and a "Big Brother environment" that included restrictedwork breaks and strictnon-disclosure agreements.[46][47][48] A counselor in the Austin office stated that the content moderators could developpost-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the work, which included evaluating videos and images containinggraphic violence,hate speech,animal abuse, andchild abuse.[47][49] Accenture issued a statement saying the company offers opportunities for moderators to advance, increase their wages, and provide input "to help shape their experience."[50][51]
In February 2025,Vice News spoke to a former Accenture employee under the condition of anonymity. His project on theWhatsApp team forMeta required him to sift through images and decide whether or not they depictedchild sexual abuse, which he coped with "through a lot ofsubstance 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".[52]
In February 2019, Accenture paid $200 million to Swiss authorities over tax claims related to transfer pricing arrangements.[53]
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.[54]
In March 2023, Accenture announced plans to eliminate 19,000 jobs of the 738,000 employees over 18 months, citing reduced revenue forecasts.[55]
In February 2025, Accenture made significant changes to itsdiversity, 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.[56] According to media analysis, this was to comply withPresident Trump'sExecutive Order 14151 to avoid losing billions of dollars of work withUS federal agencies.[57]
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