Continuous innovation and rapid transformation have been themes throughout Accenture’s history. Established in 1989, primarily as a technology consultancy and systems integrator, Accenture soon began offering a new breed of business integration solutions to clients—solutions that aligned organizations’ technologies, processes and people with their strategies.
Throughout its history, Accenture has expanded its offerings and capitalized on evolving management trends and technologies to benefit its clients. The company pioneered the integration of systems and business processes. The Accenture High Performance Business research initiative is central to Accenture’s value proposition to its clients. The research, which covers 36 industry segments and more than 6,200 companies, aims to build understanding of what makes a tiny minority of companies outperform their competitors over time. This thorough understanding of what underlies high performance is then leveraged to create proprietary solutions that help our clients to become high-performance businesses and governments themselves.
Joe W. Forehand, a partner with 30 years of experience, was named chief executive officer in November 1999 and chairman of Accenture’s board of directors in February 2001. Under Forehand’s leadership, Accenture became a public company in July 2001 when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. After nearly five years as CEO, Forehand stepped down on September 1, 2004. He was succeeded as CEO by William D. Green, a partner with more than 26 years experience at Accenture, who had previously served as chief operating officer-Client Services. Green also took over the position of chairman on September 2006.
Today Accenture is a global management consulting, technology and outsourcing company, with net revenues of US$23.39 billion for the fiscal year ended August, 31, 2008.
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