Accenture is a multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Accenture provides IT services and Business consultancy services in various business aspects such as finance and operations.
Formation
Accenture is the product of a split between two parts of an accounting firm. The company, Anderson consulting, which has been split from the parent company Arthur Anderson, was renamed as Accenture. In 1989, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units of Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative. In the 1990s, there was increasing tension between Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting was paying Arthur Andersen up to 15% of its profits each year as a result of a provision of the 1989 split where the more profitable unit – whether AA or AC – pay the other the 15 percent.
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 August 2000, The International Chamber of Commerce as ruled that Anderson Consulting should break away from Arthur Anderson and all the contractual ties should be dissolved. As part of the settlement, Anderson Consulting paid the sum held in escrow, an amount of $1.2 billion to Arthur Anderson. Anderson consulting can no longer operate as Anderson consulting, requiring them to change their name. The company renamed itself as Accenture, thus the Accenture of today was born.
Arthur Anderson
Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, the company has become one of the Big Five Accounting firms alongside Deloitte, Ernst Young, KPMG and PwC. The firm was dissolved in the mid 2002 as a result of questionable accounting practices and reporting done for the energy company Enron and Telecomm company Worldcom where the two companies eventually filed for bankruptcy.
On August 31, 2002, the company surrendered its licenses to practice as certified public accountants in the United States, effectively putting the company out of business. Even though the supreme court of United States has ruled out the charges against Anderson, the damages were so huge that the company didn’t even make a comeback as a small accounting firm, and eventually has been wound up
As of 2022, some parts of the company continue to exist: the company's consulting services have been split out and continue today as Accenture and Protiviti, while some of the former partners formed a new firm in 2002 focused on tax services, now called Andersen Tax.
Arthur E Anderson: The Founder of Arthur Anderson Ltd.
Arthur Edward Andersen was born in Plano, Illinois, to parents Johan Wilhelm Andersen and Marie Kathinka Andersen, who had immigrated to the United States from Drammen, Norway in the year 1881. His mother was born in Thisted, Denmark. Andersen’s parents tragically passed away when Anderson was just 16 years old. Anderson graduated from Kellogg School of business with a Bachelor’s degree in business in the year 1908.
He worked during the day as a mail-boy and attended school at night. he was later hired as the assistant to the controller of Allis-Chalmers in Chicago where he became intrigued with the work of independent public accountants. He became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Illinois in 1908, becoming the then youngest CPA in the state. In 1913, with Clarence Delaney, he bought out The Audit Company of Illinois to form Andersen, Delaney & Co., which became Arthur Andersen & Co. in 1918.
While practicing accounting, he was also associated with Northwestern University as lecturer (1909–1912), assistant professor (1912–1915), and professor (1915-1922). He also served as head of the accounting department from 1912 to 1922, when he resigned to devote full-time to his professional accounting practice.
Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees were conferred upon him by Luther College in 1938, and by Northwestern University, Grinnell College and St. Olaf College in 1941. Among other awards, in 1940 he was awarded the Norwegian Knight Commander's Cross of the Royal Order of St. Olav. Arthur E. Andersen also served as Treasurer of the Norwegian-American Historical Association (1936–1942) and was a director of the State Bank & Trust Co. (Evanston, Illinois).
At the time of his death, Arthur Andersen was one of the largest accounting firms in the world. Arthur Andersen's mother had schooled him in a Scandinavian axiom – "Think straight, talk straight". His brand of stern independence carried on through Leonard Spacek, who succeeded Andersen after the founder's death in 1947. He was named to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1953. Northwestern University dedicated Arthur Andersen Hall at the Evanston Campus in 1979 to commemorate Northwestern alumnus, faculty member, and trustee Arthur Andersen.
Accenture Today
Accenture is one of the largest consulting firms in the world, providing services in various industries.
Following are the services provided by Accenture.
Application Services
Artificial Intelligence
Automation
Business Process Outsourcing
Business Strategy
Change Management
Cloud
Customer Experience
Data & Analytics
Digital Commerce
Digital Engineering & Manufacturing
Ecosystem Services
Finance Consulting
Infrastructure
Marketing
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Metaverse
Operating Models
Security
Supply Chain Management
Sustainability
Technology Consulting
Technology Innovation
Zero-Based Transformation
Accenture operates in more than 120 countries, with a work force of over 740 thousand employees. Accenture’s annual revenue for the year 2022 was $16.6 billion.
Accenture's Blog: The One Stop for Discovering Innovations and Ideas
Accenture has created an innovative and interactive web interface on their official website. You can discover various ideas and perspectives on different aspects such as entrepreneurship, Artificial Intelligence, Changing organisational dynamics and compliance. The blog comes up with mind intriguing ideas and keeps the readers up to date.
You should definitely check out their blogs on Artificial Intelligence, Block chain Technology and Accenture Research, as you will find many relevant ideas and happenings in this evolving and dynamic industries.
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