Accenture Ltd, based in both Bermuda and New York City, is the world’s largest consulting firm. It “offers management consulting, information technology and systems integration, and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to customers around the globe. The company divides its practices into five main operating groups — communications and high technology, financial services, public service, products, and resources — that encompass more than 15 industries. Accenture, which is domiciled in Bermuda but headquartered in New York, operates from more than 200 locations in about 50 countries.”[1]
Contents
Criticism
Worker Rights
- William D. Green, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Accenture, had total pay of $11,995,985 in 2007 according to BusinessWeek.[2]
Human Rights
- Voting Rights, “Accenture and the Florida government came under fire in 2004 for excluding convicted felons from the voter lists. The policy was enacted through an Accenture-designed system which purged almost no Hispanic voters (who tend to be Republican in Florida) but removed more than 20 000 black voters (who are overwhelmingly Democratic) from voter lists.”[3]
- Connecticut Sues Accenture Over Lost Data, September 21, 2007. “The state of Connecticut is suing technology consulting company Accenture over the loss of a data tape containing personal information on 58 taxpayers and nearly 460 state bank accounts. The civil complaint alleges that Accenture had removed the information from Connecticut’s computer system without permission, which was later downloaded onto a security tape in Ohio and stolen from the car of an intern working for Ohio’s state government.”
Political Influence
- In the 2008 U.S. election, Accenture gave $324,150 to Federal candidates through its political action committee – 56% to Democrats and 44% to Republicans.
- In 2006, it gave $313,380 – 37% to Democrats and 62% to Republicans.[4]
- In 2007, Accenture spent $3,626,231 for lobbying.[5]
Business Ethics
- General Accounting Office, October 1, 2002. The General Accounting Office (GAO) identified Accenture as one of four publicly-traded federal contractors that were incorporated in a tax haven country. The GAO said, “Some U.S.-based multinational companies have found that the effective tax rate on income earned from foreign sources can be reduced if they are incorporated in countries that either do not tax corporate income at all or tax the income at a lower rate than the U.S. corporate tax rate.”PDF report
- 10 Big Businesses That Have Moved Their Headquarters Abroad to Pay Less U.S. Taxes, June 4, 2008. Accenture and companies such as Halliburton and Seagate Technology have overseas headquarters. “Some call the practice of moving a company abroad to avoid taxes “corporate inversion,” while others deem these businesses “expatriate corporations.” Whichever term you prefer, the fact is that several successful American companies have moved their headquarters overseas in recent years to avoid hefty U.S. taxes.”
Brands and Subsidiaries
A few of their subsidiaries:
- Sistemes Consulting S.A., Andorra;
- Diversiti Pty Ltd, Australia;
- Partners Security Ltd, Bermuda;
- Accenture (Botswana) (PTY) Ltd;
- Atan Technologies de Automacao e Informacao Ltda, Brazil;
- Navitaire Canada Corporation;
- Guangzhou Bao Zhe Information Consulting Co Ltd, China;
- Navitaire Prague s.r.o., Czech Republic;
- Accenture Denmark II ApS;
- InVita SAS, France;
- ATV eMillenuim Beteiligung GmbH, Germany;
- P.T. Accenture, Indonesia;
- Proquire KK, Japan;
- Sopia Corporation (Kabushiki Kaisha Sopia), Japan;
- Accenture Sp. z.o.o., Poland;
- Coritel Solucoes de Gestao SA, Portugal;
- Accenture OOO, Russia;
- Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, South Africa;
- Coritel S.A., Spain;
- Imagine Broadband Ltd, United Kingdom;
- Proquire LLC, United States;
- Avanade
References and External Links
WatchDog Web Sites
- Exposing Evil Empire a collaborative campaign to expose the truth about Accenture..