Accenture Limited (nyse: ACN, ISIN: BMG1150G1116) is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. It is registered in Hamilton, Bermuda. It is said to be the largest consulting firm in the world. Accenture is a Fortune Global 500 company with more than 186,000 people in 52 countries. For the fiscal year ended 31 August 2008, the company generated net revenues of US$23.39 billion. Accenture's clients include 96 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three quarters of the Fortune Global 500.

Formation and early years

Accenture originated as the consulting division of Arthur Andersen, which Arthur Andersen and Clarence DeLany founded in 1913 as Andersen, DeLany & Co. Accenture's origins are in a 1953 feasibility study for General Electric. GE asked Arthur Andersen about the feasibility of automating payroll processing and manufacturing at GE's Appliance Park facility near Louisville, Kentucky. Arthur Andersen recommended installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer, and GE agreed, which is the start of what became the first-ever commercial computer in the United States. Joe Glickauf was Arthur Andersen's project leader for the GE engagement and was responsible for the payroll processing automation, launching commercial data processing in the United States. Considered to be the father of computer consulting, Glickauf headed Arthur Andersen's Administrative Services division for 12 years.

Splitting from Arthur Andersen

In 1989, that division split from Arthur Andersen and began using the name Andersen Consulting. Both Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting consisted of groups of locally-owned independent partnerships and other entities around the world, each in a contractual agreement with Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC), a Swiss administrative entity.

By 2000, Andersen Consulting had achieved net revenues exceeding US$9.5 billion and had more than 75,000 employees in 47 countries, whereas Arthur Andersen had revenues of US$9.3 billion with over 85,000 employees worldwide in 2001.

Through 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 - 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. 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 a conclusion of 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 over 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.