An IT consulting behemoth, Accenture— formerly Andersen Consulting—has been turning heads with its strong growth. In the 2007 fiscal year, the company’s revenue increased 17 percent, continuing its trend of double-digit growth. Much of its growth has been through aggressive overseas expansion. Its bulging client list includes 94 of the Fortune Global 100 and two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500.
Accenture started out as the consulting sibling of tax and accounting firm Arthur Andersen. In 1999, tired of having to share profits with its poor relation, Andersen Consulting asked for its independence. Arthur Andersen refused, and the case was submitted to an international arbitration court.
The arbitrator put much of the blame for the split on Arthur Andersen, and ordered Andersen Consulting to give up its name and pay $1 billion in exchange for its independence, significantly less than the $14 billion Arthur Andersen wanted. In 2001, Accenture spent $175 million to reintroduce itself under its new name (which rhymes with “adventure” and is meant to convey the firm’s “accent on the future”) and went public. The timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous—a short time later, Arthur Andersen imploded in the wake of the Enron scandal.
Today, the firm’s nearly 180,000 employees include more than 4,600 senior executives. Accenture has operations in more than 150 cities in 49 countries.
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