ACCENTURE
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Accenture plc
Headquarters at 1 Grand Canal Square, Dublin |
Headquarters at 1 Grand Canal Square, Dublin |
|---|---|
| Formerly | Andersen Consulting (1989–2000) |
| Company type | Public limited company |
| Traded as | |
| ISIN | IE00B4BNMY34 |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1989; 35 years ago |
| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland (corporate) New York City, New York, United States (operational) |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Julie Sweet (chair and CEO)[1] |
| Revenue |  US$64.11 billion (2023)[2] |
| Operating income |  US$8.81 billion (2023)[2] |
| Net income |  US$7.00 billion (2023)[2] |
| Total assets |  US$51.25 billion (2023)[2] |
| Total equity |  US$26.46 billion (2023)[2] |
| Number of employees | 733,000 (2023)[2] |
| Website | www.accenture.com |
Accenture plc is an American multinational[3][4] professional services company headquartered in Dublin for tax reasons, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A Fortune* Global 500 company,[5] it reported revenues of $64.1 billion in 2023.[2] Accenture's clients include 91 of the *Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500.[6] As of 2022, Accenture is considered the largest consulting firm in the world by number of employees.[6][7]
Julie Sweet has been CEO of Accenture since 1 September 2019.[8]
History
Formation and early years
Accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen[9] in the early 1950s when it conducted a feasibility study for General Electric to install a computer at Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, US,[10] which led to GE's installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer,[11] believed to be the first commercial use of a computer in the United States.[12] Joseph Glickauf, an early pioneer of computer consulting, held a position as head of Arthur Andersen's administrative services division.[10]
Split from Arthur Andersen
In 1989, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units of Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC). Throughout 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 (a provision of the 1989 split was that the more profitable unit – whether AA or AC, pay the other the 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 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.[13]
Emergence of Accenture
As part of the separation agreement, Andersen Consulting was forced to change its name, which prompted a massive rebranding effort with 2,700 names suggested by employees and the involvement of brand consulting firm Landor Associates.[14] 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's Oslo, Norway office. Petersen felt that the name should represent the firm's desire to be a global consulting leader and high performer,[15] and also intended that the name should not be offensive in any country in which Accenture operates, because the word itself was meaningless.[14]
Accenture's banner hanging on the New York Stock Exchange Building for its initial public offering on 19 July 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; 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.[16] Because of the split from Andersen, Accenture avoided prosecution on June 16, 2002, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prosecuted Arthur Andersen for obstructing justice and accounting fraud.[17]
2000s: Bermuda headquarters
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.[18] 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 former CNN journalist Lou Dobbs,[19] reported Accenture's decision to incorporate in Bermuda was a US tax avoidance ploy, because they viewed Accenture as having been a US-based company.[20] 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."[21]
Accenture engaged in an IT overhaul project for the British National Health Service (NHS) in 2003, making headlines when it withdrew from the contract in 2006 over disputes related to delays and cost overruns.[22] The government of the United Kingdom ultimately abandoned the project five years later for the same reasons.[23]
2010s: Ireland headquarters
Accenture announced on 26 May 2009 that its board of directors unanimously approved changing the company's place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland and would become Accenture plc.[24]
In 2012, it was revealed Accenture was paying only 3.5% in tax in Ireland as opposed to the average rate of 24% it would pay if instead based in the UK.[25]
In January 2014, Accenture was chosen to replace CGI Group as the lead contractor for HealthCare.gov,[26] signing a $563 million contract to provide ongoing maintenance, software development and technology support for HealthCare.gov through 2019.[27]
In April 2014, Accenture acquired i4C Analytics, an advanced analytics software platform provider based in Italy that specialized in helping clients solve complex business problems through easy to use analytics applications.[28]
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, serves 55 hospitals and 600 clinics. Accenture Federal Services and Leidos act as configuration specialists, while Cerner is the prime contractor.[29] In 2015, the company had about 150,000 employees in India,[30] 48,000 in the US,[31] and 50,000 in the Philippines.[32]
On 29 August 2017, Apple Inc. announced a partnership with Accenture to create iOS business software.[33]
In June 2018, Accenture generated controversy over the amount the firm was charging to recruit 7,500 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.[34] 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 5 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".[35] The contract was terminated in 2019.[36]
In January 2019, CEO Pierre Nanterme stepped down from his position, citing health reasons. Twenty days after stepping down, he died in France at the age of 59 after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Chief Financial Officer David Rowland was named as the interim CEO.[37] In July 2019, Julie Sweet, previously CEO of Accenture North America, was named the new chief executive officer of the firm, effective September 2019.[38]
Main article: Content moderation and working conditions
In February 2019, contractors from Accenture's Austin, Texas, location who performed content moderation tasks for Facebook wrote an open letter to Facebook describing poor working conditions and a "Big Brother environment" that included restricted work breaks and strict non-disclosure agreements.[39][40][41] A counselor in the Austin office stated that the content moderators could develop post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the work, which included evaluating videos and images containing graphic violence, hate speech, animal abuse, and child abuse.[40][42] Accenture issued a statement saying the company offers opportunities for moderators to advance, increase their wages, and provide input "to help shape their experience."[43]
In 2019, Accenture was required to pay US$200 million to Swiss authorities over tax claims made in LuxLeaks.[44]
2020s
Main article: List of acquisitions by Accenture
On 7 January 2020, news sources reported that Accenture had agreed to acquire Symantec's 300-person cybersecurity services division from Broadcom.[45] The $200 million acquisition was completed in April 2020.[46] In February 2020, Accenture announced that it planned to shut down its media auditing by the end of August.[47] The company also announced the appointment of Jean-Marc Ollagnier as CEO for Europe.[48] In April 2020, Accenture announced that it had acquired Revolutionary Security, an American-based cybersecurity company specializing in IT and operational technology (OT).[49] In May 2020, Accenture announced that it had acquired Callisto Integration, a Canada-based provider of consulting and technology services[50] and Byte Prophecy, an Ahmedabad-based data analytics company.[51] In September 2020, Accenture committed $3 billion and created a division called Accenture Cloud First.[52][53] In the same month, the company announced that they would establish a hub in Adelaide, South Australia, with premises at Lot Fourteen.[54][55]
On 1 February 2021, Accenture acquired Imaginea Technologies, a cloud-native and agile development company. This acquisition also bolsters the Cloud First division.[56] In 2021, Accenture acquired infinityworks.com, a digital transformation and engineering consultancy.[57] On 22 April 2021, Accenture acquired Cygni, a cloud-native, full-stack development company.[58] On 22 August 2021, Accenture acquired Trivadis AG, an IT services provider.[59] In August 2021, Accenture named David Droga as chief executive officer of Accenture Interactive (later renamed Accenture Song).[60][61] In September 2021, Accenture acquired Blue Horseshoe Solutions, Inc., a US-based supply chain management and strategy consulting firm and systems integrator specializing in fulfillment and distribution solutions.[62]
In April 2022, it was announced that Accenture had acquired the London-headquartered sustainability consultancy, Avieco.[63] In the same month, Accenture rebranded one of their divisions, Accenture Interactive, as "Accenture Song" - consolidating all of their acquisitions under one brand.[64] Accenture acquired AFD.TECH, an independent network services company, in April 2022 for an undisclosed sum.[65] It also acquired Ergo, a data-centered business located in Argentina, and Greenfish, a sustainability consulting and engineering firm, in April 2022.[66][67] In May 2022, Accenture announced the acquisition of Munich based sustainability consultancy Akzente.[68] In June 2022, Accenture acquired operational and digital engineering technology capabilities from Transcom ITS, a Japanese logistics technology services provider and Allgemeines Rechenzentrum GmbH (ARZ), a technology service provider focused on the banking sector in Austria.[69][70] It also acquired Advocate Networks, a technology consultancy and managed services provider, in June 2022.[71] In July 2022, Accenture acquired Solvera Solutions, a cloud consulting company, for an undisclosed sum.[72] In August 2022, Accenture acquired Tenbu, a cloud data firm, for an undisclosed sum.[73] In November 2022, it was announced Accenture had acquired the Tokyo-headquartered data science company, Albert Inc.[74]
In March 2023, after trimming its revenue forecasts, the firm announced it would eliminate 19,000 jobs over a period of 18 months.[75][76][77] Later in 2023, Accenture announced its acquisition of Einr AS, a Norwegian business consulting company. The terms were not disclosed.[78] Between August and December 2023, Accenture acquired ATI Solutions Group, a Perth-based consulting service provider,[79] Nautilus Consulting, a London-headquartered digital healthcare consultancy,[80] and Vocatus, a German management consultancy.[81] In December 2023, Accenture also acquired Jixie's intelligent digital marketing platform and business in Indonesia for undisclosed terms.[82]
On 10 January 2024, Accenture announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Navisite, a digital transformation and managed services provider for an undisclosed sum.[83] The acquisition was completed on 30 January 2024.[84]
In March 2024, Accenture announced it would acquire learning platform provider Udacity, which would help support its AI-powered LearnVantage suite, to equip clients with the resources to reskill, and upskill their workforce.[85][86]
Between April and June 2024, Accenture announced it would acquire CLIMB, a technology services provider,[87] Cognosante, a federal government contractor,[88] and Fibermind, an Italian telecom technology company.[89]
Services and operations
A worldmap showing the countries where Accenture has operations as of 2016
The business is organized into:
- Accenture Strategy and Consulting provides business strategy, technology strategy, and operations strategy services.[90]
- Accenture Song (formerly Digital and Interactive) provides digital marketing, analytics and mobility services.[91]
- Accenture Technology focuses on technology software, implementation, delivery, and research & development, including its Technology Labs for emerging technologies.[92]
- Accenture Operations focuses on an "as-a-service" model of service delivery. This includes business process outsourcing, IT services, cloud services, and managed operations.[93]
Marketing, branding and identity
From at least 2005[94] 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.[95]
In 2011, Accenture launched a new campaign of results-based advertisements featuring clients such as Marriott, Unilever and the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside its slogan "High performance. Delivered".[96] In 2015, the brand consultancy Interbrand noted Accenture's focus on branding and marketing of its Strategy, Consulting, Digital, Technology and Operations divisions.[97] As of 2021, Interbrand ranks Accenture No. 32 on its list of best global brands.[98]
The company uses a standardized system of branding, with extensive use of the font Graphik.[99]
From 1999, the firm's culture was parodied by the webcomic Bigtime Consulting, operated pseudonymously by its San Francisco-based employee James Sanchez.[100][101]
Accenture has implemented policies to reduce gendered discrimination such as gender neutral bathrooms and gender neutral dress-codes.[102]
Awards and recognition
- In 2021, Accenture was ranked No. 169 on the *Forbes* Global 2000.[103]
- In 2021, the firm was ranked No. 2 in the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc.[104]
- In 2022, Ethisphere Institute recognized Accenture for the 15th time.[105]
- Fortune magazine named Accenture one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For from 2009 to 2022;[106] rating it sixth in 2022.[107]
- In 2021, Accenture was ranked No. 258 on the *Fortune* Global 500 list.[108]
- In 2021 and 2022, Fortune named it as the world's most admired Information Technology Services company.[109][110]
Finances
| Year | Revenue in billion US$ | Net income in billion US$ | Total Assets in billion US$ | Price per Share in US$ | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 17.098 | 0.940 | 8.957 | 19.63 | |
| 2006 | 18.228 | 0.973 | 9.497 | 24.22 | |
| 2007 | 21.453 | 1.243 | 10.747 | 31.04 | |
| 2008 | 25.314 | 1.692 | 12.399 | 29.00 | |
| 2009 | 23.171 | 1.590 | 12.256 | 28.02 | |
| 2010 | 23.094 | 1.781 | 12.835 | 35.20 | |
| 2011 | 27.353 | 2.278 | 15.732 | 47.23 | |
| 2012 | 29.778 | 2.554 | 16.665 | 54.58 | |
| 2013 | 30.394 | 3.282 | 16.867 | 67.91 | 275,000 |
| 2014 | 31.875 | 2.941 | 17.930 | 74.87 | 305,000 |
| 2015 | 32.914 | 3.054 | 18.203 | 91.88 | 358,000 |
| 2016 | 34.798 | 4.112 | 20.609 | 108.54 | 384,000 |
| 2017 | 36.765 | 3.445 | 22.690 | 126.73 | 425,000 |
| 2018 | 41.603 | 4.060 | 24.449 | 159.92 | 459,000 |
| 2019 | 43.215 | 4.779 | 29.789 | 196.81 | 505,000 |
| 2020 | 44.327 | 5.107 | 37.078 | 200.40 | 506,000 |
| 2021 | 50.533 | 5.906 | 43.175 | 270.28 | 624,000 |
| 2022 | 61.594 | 6.989 | 47.263 | 721,000 | |
| 2023 | 64.111 | 7.003 | 51.245 | 733,000 |
This article is about the company. For its founder, see Arthur E. Andersen. For the U.S. Supreme Court case, see Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States. For the songwriter and composer, see Arthur Olaf Andersen.
Arthur Andersen LLP
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1913; 111 years ago |
| Founder | Arthur E. Andersen |
| Defunct | August 31, 2002 (CPA licenses surrendered) |
| Fate | Dissolved after the Enron scandal |
| Successor | |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois , U.S. |
| Revenue | US$9.3 billion (2002) |
| Number of employees | 28,000 (2002) |
Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporations and was one of the "Big Five" accounting firms (along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers). The firm collapsed by mid-2002, as details of its questionable accounting practices for energy company Enron and telecommunications company WorldCom were revealed amid the two high-profile bankruptcies. The scandals were a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002.
History
Founding
Main article: Arthur E. Andersen
Arthur E. Andersen
Revenue per year in million U.S. dollars.
Source: corporate press releases
Born May 30, 1885, in Plano, Illinois, and orphaned at the age of 16, Arthur E. Andersen began working as a mail boy by day and attended school at night, eventually being hired as the assistant to the comptroller of Allis-Chalmers in Chicago. In 1908, after attending courses at night while working full-time, he graduated from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in business. That same year, at age 23, he became the youngest Certified Public Accountant in Illinois.[1]
In 1913, Andersen and Clarence DeLany founded an accounting firm as Andersen, DeLany & Co.[1] The firm changed its name to Arthur Andersen & Co. in 1918. Arthur Andersen's first client was the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee.[2] In 1915, due to his many contacts there, the Milwaukee office was opened as the firm's second office.[1]
Andersen believed education was the basis upon which the new profession of accounting should be developed. He created the profession's first centralized training program and believed in training during normal working hours. In 1927, he was elected to the board of trustees of Northwestern University and served as its president from 1930 to 1932. He was also chairman of the board of CPA examiners of Illinois.[1]
Reputation
Andersen, who headed the firm until his death in 1947, was a zealous supporter of high standards in the accounting industry. A stickler for honesty, he argued that accountants' responsibility was to investors, not their clients' management. This gave rise to the uniform look of all the so-called "Arthur Androids", as employees referred to themselves, the intent being to provide the same service the same way to all customers in all locations. For many years, Andersen's motto was "Think straight, talk straight"—an axiom passed on from his mother.[3] During the early years, it is reputed that Andersen was approached by an executive from a local rail utility to sign off on accounts containing flawed accounting, or else face the loss of a major client. Andersen refused in no uncertain terms, replying that there was "not enough money in the city of Chicago" to make him do it. The railroad fired Andersen, only to go bankrupt a few months later.[4]
Arthur Andersen also led the way in a number of areas of accounting standards. Being among the first to identify a possible sub-prime bust, Arthur Andersen dissociated itself from a number of clients in the 1970s.[5]
Arthur Andersen struggled to balance the need to maintain its faithfulness to accounting standards with its clients' desire to maximize profits, particularly in the era of quarterly earnings reports. The firm has been alleged to have been involved in the fraudulent accounting and auditing of Sunbeam Products, Waste Management, Asia Pulp & Paper,[6] the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, WorldCom, as well as Enron, among others.[7][8]
Andersen Consulting and Accenture
The consulting wing of the firm became increasingly important during the 1970s and 1980s, growing at a much faster rate than the more established accounting, auditing, and tax practice. In a further effort to take advantage of economies of scale, Price Waterhouse and Arthur Andersen discussed a merger in 1989[9] but the negotiations failed, mainly because of conflicts of interest such as Andersen's strong commercial links with IBM and PW's audit of IBM, as well as the two firms' radically different cultures. It was said by those involved with the failed merger that at the end of the discussion, the partners at the table realized they had different views of business, and the potential merger was scrapped.[10]
In 1989, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units of Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative. The two businesses spent most of the 1990s in a bitter dispute. Andersen Consulting saw a huge surge in profits during the decade. The consultants, however, continued to resent transfer payments they were required to make to Arthur Andersen. In August 2000, at the conclusion of International Chamber of Commerce arbitration of the dispute, the arbitrators granted Andersen Consulting its independence from Arthur Andersen, but awarded $1.2 billion in past payments (held in escrow pending the ruling) to Arthur Andersen, and declared that Andersen Consulting could no longer use the Andersen name.[11][12] As a result, Andersen Consulting changed its name to Accenture on January 1, 2001, and Arthur Andersen, having the right to the Andersen Consulting name, rebranded itself to "Andersen".[13]
Four hours after the arbitrator made his ruling, Arthur Andersen CEO Jim Wadia resigned. Industry analysts and business school professors alike viewed the event as a complete victory for Andersen Consulting.[14] Wadia would provide insight on his resignation years later at a Harvard Business school case activity about the split. It turned out that the Arthur Andersen board passed a resolution saying he had to resign if he did not get at least an incremental $4 billion (either through negotiation or via the arbitrator decision) for the consulting practice to split off, hence his quick resignation once the decision was announced.[15]
Accounts vary on why the split occurred—executives on both sides of the split cite greed and arrogance on the part of the other side. The executives on the Andersen Consulting side maintained it was a breach of contract when Arthur Andersen created a second consulting group, AABC (Arthur Andersen Business Consulting) which competed directly with Andersen Consulting in the marketplace.[16]
Enron scandal
Main article: Enron scandal
Following the 2001 scandal in which energy giant Enron was found to have fraudulently reported $100 billion in revenue through institutional and systematic accounting fraud, Andersen's performance and alleged complicity as an auditor came under intense scrutiny. The Powers Committee (appointed by Enron's board to look into the firm's accounting in October 2001) came to the following assessment: "The evidence available to us suggests that Andersen did not fulfill its professional responsibilities in connection with its audits of Enron's financial statements, or its obligation to bring to the attention of Enron's Board (or the Audit and Compliance Committee) concerns about Enron's internal contracts over the related-party transactions".[17]
On June 15, 2002, Andersen was convicted of obstruction of justice for shredding documents related to its audit of Enron. Although the Supreme Court reversed the firm's conviction, the impact of the scandal combined with the findings of criminal complicity ultimately destroyed the firm. Nancy Temple (in the firm's legal department) and David Duncan (lead partner for the Enron account) were cited as the responsible managers in the scandal because they ordered subordinates to shred relevant documents.[18]
Because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not accept audits from convicted felons, the firm agreed to surrender its CPA licenses and its right to practice before the SEC on August 31, 2002—effectively putting the firm out of business. It had already started winding down its American operations after the indictment, and many of its accountants joined other firms. The firm sold the majority of its American operations to other accounting firms such as KPMG,[19] Ernst & Young,[20] Deloitte & Touche[21] and Grant Thornton International.[22] At this time, Arthur Andersen had lost most of its business and two-thirds of its 28,000 employees.[23]
The indictment also put a spotlight on the firm's faulty audits of other companies, most notably Waste Management, Sunbeam Products, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona and WorldCom.[24]
On May 31, 2005, in Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed Andersen's conviction because of errors in the trial judge's jury instructions. The Supreme Court held that the instructions were too vague to allow a jury to find that obstruction of justice had occurred. The court found that the instructions were worded in such a way that Andersen could have been convicted without any proof that the firm knew it had broken the law or that there had been a link to any official proceeding that prohibited the destruction of documents. The opinion, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, also expressed skepticism of the government's concept of "corrupt persuasion"—persuading someone to engage in an act with an improper purpose without knowing that the act is unlawful.[25]
Demise
The 2005 Supreme Court ruling theoretically left Andersen free to resume operations. However, CNN reported that by then, Andersen was "nearly defunct," with about 200 employees remaining from a high of 28,000 in 2002.[26] Following the ruling, William Mateja, a former counsel to the US Attorney General who had supervised the Andersen appeal, told NPR that he did not believe the government would seek a retrial because, "there's nothing left of Arthur Andersen, and to spend the taxpayers' money on another prosecution would be just—defy common sense." Echoing this, United States Chamber of Commerce vice president Stephen Bokat pronounced Andersen "dead," and said that "there is no putting the company back together."[27] In his post-mortem of the Enron scandal, Conspiracy of Fools, journalist Kurt Eichenwald argued that even if Andersen had escaped the Enron scandal, it would have likely been brought down by the massive accounting fraud at WorldCom. The WorldCom fraud came to light just days after Andersen was convicted of wrongdoing at Enron.[28]
Indeed, Andersen has never returned as a viable business on even a limited scale. Ownership of the partnership has been ceded to four limited liability companies named Omega Management I through IV.[29]
Arthur Andersen LLP operated the Q Center conference center in St. Charles, Illinois, until day-to-day management was turned over to Dolce Hotels and Resorts in 2014, but Andersen retains ownership.[30] In 2018, that relationship ended, and day-to-day management returned to the Q Center. The Q Center is currently used for training, primarily for internal Accenture personnel, and other large-scale companies.[31]
In 2014, Wealth Tax and Advisory Services (WTAS), a tax and consulting firm started by several former Andersen partners, changed its name to Andersen Tax after acquiring the rights to the Andersen name. It rebranded its year-old international arm, WTAS Global, as Andersen Global.[32]
Collapse
The firm collapsed by mid-2002, as details of its questionable accounting practices for energy company Enron and telecommunications company Worldcom were revealed amid the two high-profile bankruptcies. The scandals were a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. After the collapse, some parts of the company continue to exist: the company's consulting services were split out before the collapse 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.[23]
Migration of partners and local offices to new firms
Many offices were acquired by other consulting firms as described above. Some partners formed new companies such as:
- Accuracy which was founded in 2004 by a team of seven former partners and is headquartered in Paris[33]
- Andersen Tax which acquired the rights to the company name and changed their name from WTAS in 2014[34]
- BearingPoint, formerly the US consulting unit spun off by KPMG, which purchased Andersen business consulting practices in various countries[35]
- Huron Consulting Group, which was formed by former employees of the Chicago office of Anderson[36]
- West Monroe Partners which was founded in 2002 by a few former consultants, based in Chicago[37]
- Navigant Consulting which absorbed eight partners from Andersen[38]
- Protiviti was formed in 2002 by hiring more than 700 professionals who had been affiliated with the internal audit, business and technology risk consulting practice of Arthur Andersen.[39]
- SMART Business Advisory and Consulting which absorbed some staff[40]
- jcba Limited which was founded by a partner from the aviation practice[41][42]
- True Partners Consulting, a tax consultancy founded by Arthur Andersen alumni[43]