Arthur Andersen Consulting Partners
Co-founder 2001Background
The collective group of over 47,000 partners and employees of the Andersen Consulting division who orchestrated the dramatic split from the Arthur Andersen accounting firm in 2000, executing a $1.2 billion buyout to secure their independence and form the foundation of the modern Accenture PLC.
Role at Accenture PLC
Accenture's origins do not trace back to a plucky entrepreneur, but rather to the sprawling, regulated world of 20th-century public accounting. The firm that would become Accenture originally began in 1913 as the business and technology consulting division of Arthur Andersen, one of the legendary 'Big Eight' accounting firms in the United States. In 1953, Arthur Andersen was asked by General Electric to automate payroll processing at a major appliance facility in Kentucky. The project culminated in the installation of an UNIVAC I computer and printer which is widely considered the first commercial computer application in corporate America. This success established Arthur Andersen as the undisputed pioneer of corporate technology consulting. However, the 'founding' of Accenture as an independent entity was born out of intense, bitter corporate warfare. By the 1980s, the technology consulting wing (known as Andersen Consulting) was generating more revenue and profit than the traditional audit and tax partners. The consultants grew resentful that they were forced to share their outsized profits with the slower-growing accounting side of the house. Furthermore, the consultants felt constrained by strict regulations that prevented Arthur Andersen from consulting for clients it was actively auditing. This tension erupted into an internal civil war in 1989, culminating in a bitter, decade-long arbitration process. In 2000, an arbitrator finally granted Andersen Consulting total independence, but stipulated they had to surrender the prestigious 'Andersen' name and pay a $1 billion separation fee. Forced to rebrand entirely, the newly independent firm adopted the name 'Accenture' (a portmanteau of 'Accent on the future') on January 1, 2001. The timing of this hostile split proved fortuitous: one year later, Arthur Andersen was entirely destroyed in the horrific Enron accounting scandal. Having severed ties just in time, Accenture executed its IPO in 2001 and went on to become the undisputed global heavyweight of IT consulting.