acn industry strategy consulting management consulting it services it consulting 1 predecessor andersen consulting 1989 2001 founded 1989 headquarters incorporated headquarters in dublin ireland area served worldwide key people pierre nanterme chairman & ceo 2 3 services strategy consulting digital technology and operations services 4 revenue us 31.0 billion 2015 fiscal 5 operating income us 4.435 billion 2015 5 net income us 3.053 billion 2015 5 total assets us 18.266 billion 2015 5 total equity us 6.133 billion 2015 5 number of employees 375 000 2016 6 website www.accenture.com accenture plc is a global professional services company and provides consulting services in digital technology and operations . it has been incorporated in dublin ireland since 1 september 2009 . it is the world s largest consulting firm as measured by revenues 7 and is a fortune global 500 company . 8 as of 2015 update the company reported net revenues of 31.0 billion with more than 373 000 employees serving clients in more than 200 cities in 120 countries . 5 in 2015 accenture had about 130 000 employees in india more than in any other country about 48 000 in the us 9 and about 50 000 in the philippines . 10 accenture s current clients include 94 of the fortune global 100 and more than 80 percent of the fortune global 500 . 11 accenture common equity is listed on the new york stock exchange under the symbol acn and was added to the s & p 500 index on 5 july 2011 . in 2016 fortune magazine named it as the world s most admired information technology services company . 12 contents 1 history 1.1 formation and early years 1.2 splitting from arthur andersen 1.3 emergence of accenture 1.4 bermuda headquarters 1.5 ireland headquarters 2 services and operations 3 marketing branding and identity 4 recent awards and honours 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit formation and early years edit accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm arthur andersen . 13 arthur andersen s first job in computer consulting came in the early 1950s when the firm conducted a feasibility study for general electric to install a computer at appliance park in louisville kentucky . 14 in 1953 the firm urged ge to install a univac i computer and printer . 15 this system is believed to be the first commercial use of a computer in the u.s. 16 joseph glickauf an early pioneer of computer consulting held a position as head of arthur andersen s administrative services division . 14 splitting from arthur andersen edit in 1989 arthur andersen and andersen consulting became separate units of andersen worldwide soci t coop rative awsc . throughout the 1990s there was increasing tension between andersen consulting and arthur andersen . andersen consulting was upset that it was paying arthur andersen up to 15 % of its profits each year a condition of the 1989 split was that the more profitable unit whether aa or ac paid the other this sum 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 aabc . this dispute came to a head in 1998 when andersen consulting claimed breach of contract against awsc and arthur andersen . andersen consulting put the 15 % transfer payment for that year and future years into escrow and issued a claim for breach of contract . in august 2000 as a result of the conclusion of arbitration with the international chamber of commerce andersen consulting broke all contractual ties with awsc and arthur andersen . as part of the arbitration settlement andersen consulting paid the sum held in escrow then 1.2 billion to arthur andersen and was required to change its name resulting in the entity being renamed accenture . 17 emergence of accenture edit on 1 january 2001 andersen consulting adopted its current name accenture . the word accenture is supposedly derived from accent on the future . the name accenture was submitted by kim petersen a danish employee from the company s oslo norway office as a result of an internal competition . accenture felt that the name should represent its will to be a global consulting leader and high performer and also intended that the name should not be offensive in any country in which accenture operates . 18 accenture s banner hanging on the new york stock exchange nyse building for its initial public offering on july 19 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 nyse ; goldman sachs and morgan stanley served as its lead underwriters . accenture stock closed the day at 15.17 with the day s high at 15.25 . on the first day of the ipo accenture raised nearly 1.7 billion . 19 bermuda headquarters edit 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 country . 20 the other three unlike accenture were incorporated in the united states before they re incorporated in a tax haven country thereby lowering their us taxes . critics most notably former cnn journalist lou dobbs 21 have reported accenture s decision to incorporate in bermuda as a us tax avoidance ploy because they viewed accenture as having been a us based company . 22 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 . accenture engaged in a very large and ambitious it overhaul project for the national health service nhs in 2003 making headlines when it withdrew from the contract in 2006 over disputes related to delays and cost overruns . 23 the government of the united kingdom ultimately abandoned the project 5 years later for the same reasons . 24 ireland headquarters edit accenture announced on 26 may 2009 that its board of directors unanimously approved changing the company s place of incorporation to ireland from bermuda and would become accenture plc. 25 accenture was chosen to replace cgi group as the lead contractor for healthcare.gov in january 2014 . 26 in december 2014 accenture won a 563 million contract to provide ongoing maintenance software development and technology support for healthcare.gov through 2019 . 27 in july 2015 the united states department of defense awarded a major electronic health records contract to cerner leidos and accenture . the contract valued 4.33 billion will serve 55 hospitals and 600 clinics . accenture federal services and leidos will play the role of configuration specialist while cerner is the prime contractor . 28 services and operations edit a worldmap showing the countries where accenture has operations as of 2016 accenture strategy provides business strategy technology strategy and operations strategy services . 29 accenture consulting provides technology business and management consulting . 30 accenture digital provides digital marketing analytics and mobility services . 31 accenture technology focuses on technology solutions implementation delivery and research & development including its technology labs for emerging technologies 32 accenture operations focuses on an as a service model of service delivery . this includes business process outsourcing it services cloud services managed operations security and infrastructure services . 33 the company also operates a national security services business . 34 marketing branding and identity edit in 2011 accenture launched a new campaign of results based ads featuring clients such as marriott unilever and the royal shakespeare company alongside its slogan high performance . delivered . 35 as of 2015 interbrand ranked accenture no. 42 on its list of best global brands . the brand consultancy noted accenture s focus on branding and marketing of its accenture strategy accenture consulting accenture digital accenture technology and accenture operations divisions . 36 from at least 2005 37 until december 2009 accenture used tiger woods as a celebrity spokesperson and advertised using the service mark go on be a tiger and the ancillary statement we know what it takes to be a tiger in association with his image . on 13 december 2009 after details of woods extra marital affairs were exposed the company terminated woods six year sponsorship deal . 38 39 the company uses a standardised system of branding with extensive use of the font rotis semisans . 40 from 1999 the firm s culture was parodied by the webcomic bigtime consulting operated pseudonymously by its san francisco based employee james sanchez . 41 42 the comic operated a store offering merchandise branded with the names bigtime consulting and indenture . sanchez left the company in 2000 but continued to operate the comic for some years . 43 44 45 recent awards and honours edit in 2013 the firm was named 9th in the top 50 companies for diversity by diversityinc . 46 in 2014 the firm was named 12th in the top 50 companies for diversity by diversityinc . 47 in 2014 corporate responsibility magazine named accenture 15th in their top 100 best corporate citizens marking the fourth consecutive year the company ranked in the top 25 . 48 in 2014 accenture was ranked at 339 on the forbes global 2000 list . 49 in 2015 the ethisphere institute designated accenture as one of the world s most ethical companies for the 8th time . 50 the firm was named by fortune magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for from 2009 2015 . 51 in 2015 the firm was named 15th in the top 50 companies for diversity by diversityinc . 52 in 2015 corporate responsibility magazine named accenture no. 48 in their top 100 best corporate citizens . 53 in 2016 the ethisphere institute designated accenture as one of the world s most ethical companies for the 9th time . 54 the firm was named by fortune magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for from 2009 2016 . 55 in 2015 accenture was ranked at 322 on the forbes global 2000 list . 56 in 2015 accenture was ranked no. 374 on the fortune global 500 list . 57 in 2016 the firm was named 15th in the top 50 companies for diversity by diversityinc . 58 in 2016 corporate responsibility magazine named accenture no. 14 in their top 100 best corporate citizens . 59 in 2016 accenture was ranked no. 289 on the forbes global 2000 list . 60 see also edit companies portal list of it consulting firms avanade an it consulting subsidiary of accenture references edit about accenture . retrieved 12 april 2014 . accenture profile pierre nanterme . accenture.com . archived from the original on 2 february 2011 . retrieved 2 february 2013 . accenture newsletter accenture names ceo . accenture.com . retrieved 19 april 2013 . about accenture . retrieved 10 december 2015 . a b c d e f accenture financial statements 2015 . accenture.com . 24 september 2015 . retrieved 6 november 2015 . murray alan 16 december 2015 . the ceo as hologram . fortune . retrieved 15 july 2016 . accenture plc company profile yahoo finance . retrieved 13 march 2014 . fortune global 500 the world s biggest companies accenture profile 2011 . cnn . retrieved 24 march 2014 . marek lynne 27 february 2016 . guess which illinois company uses the most worker visas . crain s chicago business . retrieved 15 july 2016 . mini joseph tejaswi 2012 07 18 . accenture in india . articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com . retrieved 2013 08 10 . fact sheet . retrieved 10 december 2015 . world s most admired companies . fortune . 2016 . retrieved 15 july 2016