Table of contents

Chapter Table of content Page no.I Introduction and Literature Review 7

Introduction to the topic 8

Literature Review 9-19

Introduction to the Industry 20-26

Introduction to the Company 27-

II Research Design 43-46

Project TitleProblem FormulationScope of the StudyResearch ObjectiveMethodologyLimitations of the study

III Data analysis and interpretation 47

Data analysis with interpretation 47-66

IV Summary of findings 67V Recommendations and suggestions 70 Conclusion 71 Bibliography 72 Annexure 73-76

Chapter I

Introduction and Literature Review

Introduction to the topic:

Advertising Effectiveness of Accenture.

The word advertising comes form the Latin word "advertere meaning” to turn the minds of towards".Some of the definitions given by various authors are:

According to William J. Stanton, "Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting toan audience a non-personal, Sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product ororganization."

According to American Marketing Association "advertising is any paid form of non-personalpresentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor".

Advertising is used for communicating business information to the present and prospectivecustomers. It usually provides information about the advertising firm, its product qualities, place ofavailability of its products, etc. Advertisement is indispensable for both the sellers and the buyers.However, it is more important for the sellers. In the modern age of large scale production, producerscannot think of pushing sale of their products without advertising them. Advertisement supplementspersonal selling to a great extent. Advertising has acquired great importance in the modern worldwhere tough competition in the market and fast changes in technology, we find fashion and taste inthe customers.

Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product or service; it also involvesattractively making it accessible to target customers. Companies must also communicate with theirpresent and potential customers. Every company is inevitably cast into the role of communicatorand promoter.

I’ve chosen this particular topic so as to get an insight into the effectiveness of the efforts made byAccenture to communicate to the public about their services and also to get a clearer picture so asto see if whether the audience understood the message that was portrayed in Accenture’s

advertising campaign.

Review of literature

Review of literature is both a summary and an explanation of the completed and current knowledgeof a particular topic as found in textbooks and journal articles.

There are two kinds of literature reviews at the under graduate level; one that students are asked towrite as a stand-alone assignment in a course, often as a part of their training in the researchprocesses in their field, and the other that is written as part of an introduction to, or preparation for, alonger work, usually a thesis or a research project.

The focus and perspective of your review and the kind of hypothesis or thesis argument you makewill be determined by what kind of review you are writing.

One way to understand the differences between these two types is to read published literaturereviews or the first chapters of theses and dissertations in your own subject area. Analyze thestructure of their arguments and note the way they address the issues.

The literature review I am attaching to my research project is a review asked to be written as a partof the stand-alone assignment in course, as a part of my training in the research process in mymarketing field.

Zigmond, Dan., Dorai-Raj, Sundar., Interian, Yannet & Naverniouk, Igor (Dec2009) MeasuringAdvertising Quality on Television. Journal of Advertising Research

ISSN: 00218499

Abstract: This article sheds light on a new measure of television ad quality that is based onaudience retention by the way of using logistic regression techniques to stabilize such scores asagainst the expected behavior of the audience. By adjusting features such as the time of day, thenetwork, recent user behavior, and various household demographics, by taking all these factors intoconsideration the authors are able to isolate ad quality. The article introduces the model used in thecurrent Google TV Ads product and two new competing models that has some improvement. Theauthors have also devised metrics for calculating a model's predictive power and variance, allowingthem to determine which of the models performs best. The article concludes with discussions ofretention score applications for advertisers to evaluate their ad strategies and as a potential aid infuture ad pricing.

Kaikati, Jack G. (2003) Lessons from Accenture' s 3Rs: rebranding, restructuring and repositioning.Journal of Product and Brand Management.

ISSN: 10610421

This article studies Accenture's reincarnation by emphasizing the main lessons that might beimitated by other companies thinking of going down the three step process of rebranding,restructuring and repositioning. Its goals are three-fold. Firstly, it traces the company's legacy andaccentuates the splitting of its consulting and accounting activities and how it pioneered thisprocess. Second, it examines the three pillars that helped Accenture transform. Which involverebranding, restructuring and repositioning campaigns. Lastly, it recognizes Accenture's two leaderswho transformed the company from being merely good to being truly great and incredible in arelatively short time.

Nunes, Paul F. & Merrihue, Jefferey (2007) The Continuing Power of Mass Advertising. MITSLOAN MANAGAEMENT REVIEW.

ISSN: 15329194

Abstract: For the past many years, marketers have been urged to embrace one-to-one marketingand to offer micro-segmented consumers customized products and services through targetedoutreach. While the "market of one" approach can pay off, says the author, it requires a significantupfront investment, including: implementing customer relationship management softwareapplications; filtering, enhancing and cleaning customer data; and personalizing interactions (e-mail, billing, offers and so on). These activities take time and coordination of multiple parts of theorganization (marketing, customer service, sales, information technology), which can be dauntingfor companies trying to react quickly to a changing environment. In addition, those systems haveoften produced disappointing results because their use was not well integrated with corporatestrategy. Also, micro-marketing strategy, on its own, is too narrow. Companies still need to reachbroad groups of people with messages that are not dependent on an individual's decision to openan envelope (whether virtual or physical), pick up the phone or click on a box. But broad-based,broadcast media is ineffective and expensive. Fortunately, there are alternative solutions, such asone-to-one targeting and the broadcasting of 30-second television spots. The author's research ontrends in marketing spending and consumer attitudes about advertising reveals four strategiesavailable to companies that want to reach broad groups of people without breaking their marketingbudget. The strategies are liberally illustrated with examples of Nike, Microsoft, UBS, Delta, Sony,Procter & Gamble, Citibank, Nextel, Honda, Nokia and McDonald's, among others.

Miller, Felicia M. & Laczniak, Gene R. (2011) The Ethics of Celebrity-Athlete Endorsement. Journalof Advertising Research.

ISSN: 00218499

Celebrity athletes are a mainstay of popular culture and an increasingly important part of themarketing ecosystem. As product endorsers, they can influence brand attitudes and sales but alsohave broader societal implications for the firm.

The recent string of bad behavior by celebrity athletes raises important ethical questions aboutfirms that use the famous and infamous to endorse branded products. The conceptual frameworkpresented in the current study provides a theoretical approach-based on virtue ethics-for evaluatingthe retention of tainted celebrity affiliates.

This framework is applied to three well-known situations to examine the ethical implications of whatinitially were good choices for firms, their brands, and their consumers. The overarching goal of thisarticle is to stimulate managers to think more deeply about the interconnections between their corecompany values, the athlete endorsers they select, and the ultimate effect of those decisions ontheir brands in the marketplace if things go wrong.

Bruce, Norris I., Peters, Kay. & Naik, Prasad A. (Dec 2012) Discovering How Advertising GrowsSales and Builds Brands. Journal of Marketing Research.

ISSN: 00222437

Advertising nudges consumers along the think-feel-do hierarchy of intermediate effects ofadvertising to induce sales. Because intermediate effects-cognition, affect, and experience-areunobservable constructs, brand managers use a battery of mind-set metrics to assess howadvertising builds brands. However, extant sales response models explain how advertising growssales but ignore the role of intermediate effects in building brands. To link these dual contributionsof advertising, the authors propose an integrated framework that augments the dynamicadvertising-sales response model by integrating the hierarchy, dynamic evolution, and purchasereinforcement of intermediate effects. Methodologically, the new approach incorporates theintermediate effects as factors from mind-set metrics while filtering out measurement noise, extractsthe factor loadings, estimates the dynamic evolution of the factors, and infers their sequence in anyhypothesized hierarchy by embedding their impact in a dynamic advertising-sales response model.

The authors apply the proposed model and associated method to a major brand to discover thebrand's operating hierarchy (advertising → experience → cognition → affect ↔ sales). The resultsprovide the first empirical evidence that intermediate effects are indeed dynamic constructs, thatpurchase reinforcement effects exist not only for experience but also for other intermediate effects,and that advertising simultaneously contributes to both sales growth and brand building. Thus, bothresearchers and managers should consider using the proposed framework to capture advertising'sdual contributions of building brands and growing sales.

Chang, Klarissa T. T.; Chen, Wen; Tan, Bernard C. Y. (Nov2012) Advertising Effectiveness in SocialNetworking Sites: Social Ties, Expertise, and Product Type IEEE Transactions on EngineeringManagement.

ISSN: 00189391

Social networking sites (SNSs) have gained immense popularity. This phenomenon has creatednew marketing opportunities for companies to leverage on online networks. In particular, SNSsallow the conceptualization of a new type of product endorser: the “friend.” However, theeffectiveness of friends as endorsers on SNS remains unknown compared with other types ofproduct endorsers. This paper investigates the impact of three critical factors on advertisingeffectiveness in SNS: tie strength, endorser expertise, and product type. Using a 2 × 2 × 2experimental design, the authors found interaction effects among these factors. For hedonicproducts, strong-tie endorsers were more effective than weak-tie endorsers in influencing purchaseintention. However, for utilitarian products, high-expertise endorsers were more effective than low-expertise endorsers. Based on these results, the authors discuss key theoretical and practicalimplications for research on SNS advertising.

Keshari, Pragya; Jain, Asha & Jain, Sangeeta. (Oct2012) CONSTITUENTS OF ADVERTISINGEFFECTIVENESS: A STUDY OF SELECT SERVICE ADVERTISEMENTS. Journal of ServicesResearch.

ISSN: 09724702

Advertising plays important role in promoting a product or service. It is an integral part of IntegratedMarketing communication. It not only helps in selling the product but also contribute in developing afavorable image for the product or service in the market. Although creating advertisements forservices always remain challenging for advertisers. Because of unique nature of services, it isdifficult for them to persuade the customers about the benefits and features of the services. Thepresent paper is an attempt to explore the factors that makes service advertising more effective.The data required for the purpose of study was collected from male and female consumers ofdifferent age-groups from Indore city. Factor analysis using SPSS software was done to arrive atthe results. The results of the study indicated that attractive visuals, believability, informationalcontent, relevance, memorability and persuasiveness are the factors that make a serviceadvertising more effective.

Antioco, Michael; Smesters, Dirk; Le Boedec, Aline. (Mar2012) Take Your Pick: Kate Moss or theGirl Next Door? The Effectiveness of Cosmetics Advertising. Journal of Advertising Research.

ISSN: 00218499

In the last several years, marketers have started to use "nonidealized" models in advertisements(i.e., "Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty"). Little is known, however, about the effects of"nonidealized" advertising on consumers and whether this type of advertising-when compared toidealized advertising-is truly beneficial for the branded products promoted in these ads. Based on asample of 347 French women exposed to either idealized or "nonidealized" models, the authorsestablished that the way these advertising models have an effect on brand responses-specifically,the attitude toward (and the purchase intention of) a brand-operates through a dual-process model.When a viewer had a high sense of self-esteem, it was crucial that both processes be understoodsimultaneously: the effect of the portrayed model's body image on the brand responses can besuppressed by the model-evaluation process. The authors also note that consumers' agesinfluenced the self-evaluative process following a quadratic function. Their place of residence (i.e.,urban versus rural) influenced the self- and model-evaluation processes.

NELSON-FIELD, KAREN; RIEBE, ERICA; SHARP, BYRON.(Jun2012) What's Not to "Like?”.Journal of Advertising Research.

IISN: 00218499

A marketer with a Facebook Fan base has at least some ability to advertise to that audience. Whatquality of reach, however, does this sort of "earned media" deliver? The landmark discovery byAndrew Ehrenberg of the negative binomial distribution (NBD) implies that the most effectiveadvertising requires media that reach across both heavy and light buyers of the brand. This articleinvestigates the buying concentration of the Facebook Fan base of two different brands (both FastMoving Consumer Goods (FMCG) categories) and compares it to the brands' actual buying bases.The buyer base of each of the brands is distributed in the typical NBD, whereas the Fan basedelivered by Facebook is skewed in an opposite pattern-skewed toward the heaviest of the brands'buyers- making the quality of Facebook's reach appear rather unappealing.

Cheong, Yunjae; De Gregorio, Federico; Kim, Kihan. (2010) The Power of Reach and Frequency Inthe Age of Digital Advertising. Journal of Advertising Research.

ISSN: 00218499

The article presents advertising research on how advertising agencies and media buying services

evaluate the research on Internet advertising and other forms of advertising in traditional massmedia during their advertising media planning. A survey of advertising executives who serve asdirectors of media buying for agencies is considered. It was found that for advertising andtraditional mass media, planning remained based on traditional criteria such as the frequency ofadvertising and a measurement of its audience, while for Internet advertising, qualitativeassessments and cost-based evaluations were more often used.

Introduction to the industry

INDIAN ADVERTISING INDUSTRY

Size of the INDUSTRY

• Television Current size: Rs 148 billionProjected size by 2010: Rs 427 billion; CAGR:24%

• Filmed entertainment :Current size: Rs 68billion :Projected size by 2010: Rs 153 billion;CAGR: 18%

• Print Media:Current size: Rs 109 billion:Projected size by 2010: Rs 195 billion; CAGR:12%

Geographicaldistribution All the major cities in India

Output per annum The Indian advertising industry is expected to grow by13 %in 2010 to Rs 21,145 crore.

Market Capitalization Market cap of around $5 billion

History

Advertising is one of the key activities for potential business and is equallyimportant as producing something using raw material, or as capital,manpower, planning, organizing etc. products or services. Publicizing that thebusiness offers to the targeted customers is called advertising, which formsthe integral part of marketing, and an essential precondition for selling.Advertising is done with vast population and requires organizing and applyinghuman skill and talent and technology backed media.

Advertising companies use multifaceted talents and ideas to carry out successful campaigns. With hugeinnovative development of electronic media, advertising has grown as an organized industry, offering a lot ofemployment opportunities. Indian Advertising Industry has been reshaped by regulatory and technologicalchanges over the past times, as before it did not have many opportunities. With the advent of radio, TV, Printand outdoor it has been able to gain much potential. The development involved the deregulation of FM radio,Direct to Home broadband, the implementation of conditional access system (CAS) and foreign directinvestment has made the industry much faster than before. Indian Advertising industry is increasingly attractingthe attention of many foreign Companies and communication agencies, by opening business avenues for thesmall and medium marketing agencies in India.

After facing rugged recession, the Indian advertising industry must now begin to look at ways and means torejuvenate its sagging market share, according to industry experts. After growing at nearly 20 per cent year onyear for five years, the advertising market dipped in 2009 by as much as 10%. Just 0.4% of GDP iscontributed by advertising market. Its time to grow now and make up for the lost time with sharp strategies andplans to develop brands, markets, creativity, media markets and research according to researchers.

Brief introduction

Indian advertising industry is talking business today and has evolved from being a small-scale business to afull-fledged industry. It has emerged as one of the major industries and tertiary sectors and has broadened itshorizons be it the creative aspect, the capital employed or the number of personnel involved. Indian advertisingindustry in a short span of time has carved a niche for itself and placed itself on the global map.

Indian advertising Industry which has an estimated value of Rs.13, 200-crore has made jaws drop and seteyeballs gazing with some astonishing pieces of work that it has given in the recent past. The creative mindsof the Indian advertising industry incorporates have come up with some mind-boggling concepts and work thatcan be termed as masterpieces in the field of advertising.

In the year 2009 the industries attrition rate is as high as 20-25 % which was sober in that sense. According toindustry executives the attrition rate is below 5 %, implying that most had to stay put and deliver on their briefsin their respective agencies.

The ads shown to us are sometimes innovative and sometimes theyreally get on your nerves, especially when they are repeated time andagain and especially when they are repeated twice. This happens whenthere is something sponsored by them say a tennis match or an awardceremony, etc. Advertisements usually amaze people with their creativityand presentation whereas some are really horrible in the depiction oftheir ideas. Most of the times however we find quite interesting andappealing ads. The Indian ad agencies have some of the most creativeand talented people around which is attested by the fact that globalcompanies are approaching Indian ad agencies to handle their mediacampaigns.

Market capitalization

At the last Cannes Awards, the president of the Jury was Piyush Pandey, Group President and NationalCreative Director of Ogilvy and Mather conveyed that India, is quickly becoming a viable online advertisingcenter. There is expectation that the online advertising market in India to heat up. As Lionel Lim, Sun's VP andMD (Asia South), recently stated, "Over the next three to four years, we want to help create up to 100 dot-comcompanies in India, each with a market cap of around $10 billion. That is, perhaps, the biggest investment wecan make in this country.

Size of the industry

The size of Indian Advertising Industry depends on the following factors and industries.

• Television Current size: Rs 148 billion Projected size by 2010: Rs 427 billion; CAGR: 24%

• Filmed entertainment :Current size: Rs 68 billion :Projected size by 2010: Rs 153 billion; CAGR:18%

• Print Media: Current size: Rs 109 billion :Projected size by 2010: Rs 195 billion; CAGR: 12%

• Radio: Current size: Rs 3 billion: Projected size by 2010: Rs 12 billion; CAGR: 32%.

• Music Current size: Rs 7,000 million crore projected size by 2010: Rs 7,400 million; CAGR: 1%.

• Live entertainment :Current size: Rs 8,000 million, Projected size by 2010: Rs 18,000 million; CAGR:18%

• Out-of-home Advertising: Current size: 9000 million, Projected size by 2010: 17,500 million; CAGR:14%.

• Internet Advertising: Current size: Rs 1.6 Billion, Projected size by 2010: Rs 7.5 billion; CAGR: 50%.

Total contribution to the economy/ sales

The turnover of Indian Advertising Industry is less than 1% of the national GDP of the country as compared to2.3% of share of US to the GDP, which indicates the tremendous growth potential for India. The Indianadvertising industry is expected to grow by 13 %in 2010 to Rs 21,145 crore. According to the PITCH-MadisonMedia Advertising Outlook 2010 analysis, the Indian advertising pie is expected to be worth about Rs 21,145crore this year, a 13 % increase over the previous one. The Indian media and advertising industry clocked asize of Rs 18,670 crore in 2009 and that saw a dramatic drop of 10 percentage points compared to 2008,where the industry was worth Rs 20,717 crore.Total advertising market grew 17% in 2008 and is projected toincrease.

Top leading Companies

• Ogilvy and Mather

• J Walter Thompson India

• Mudra Communication Pvt. Ltd

• FCB-Ulka Advertising Ltd

• Rediffusion-DY&R

• McCann-Erickson India Ltd

• RK Swamy/BBDO Advertising Ltd

• Grey Worldwide (I) Pvt. Ltd

• Leo Burnett India Pvt. Ltd

• Contract Advertising India Ltd

Employment opportunities

There are tremendous opportunities in Indian Advertising Industries in the country and abroad. Theopportunities include that of account planner, executive, copywriter, visualizer, creative art director, animator,multimedia expert, photographer, printer, TV producer, media planner, web developer jobs, web planner, andmarketing professional. Candidates qualified in Commercial Art have great opportunities. MBAs can also playa significant role in client servicing. However, individual creativity and ability for innovation are more importantthan academic degrees. The advertising industry always has a perennial demand of talent.

SOME IMPORTANT YEARS IN ADVERTISING HISTORY

1780- Modern advertising history began with classified advertising. Ads appeared for the first time in print inHickey’s weekly newspaper, the Bengal Gazette.

Newspaper studios trained the first generation of visualizers and illustrators to produce advertisements forthe print media.

1905- B Dattaram & Co, one of the early companies making advertisements for newspapers was launchedin Mumbai.

1920 – 1922- Years of the Swadeshi movement

1920 – 1929- The first foreign owned ad agencies were set up.

1931- The first ad agency, the National Advertising Service was established.

1951- The Indian Society of Advertisers was formed.

Latest developments

• The global Advertising Industry as far as scale of operations and scope is concerned the turnover isclose to USD 450 billion annually. Indian Advertising Industry contributes less than 1.5% which is next toChina and Russia. The Global Ad Industry is expected to reach a growth rate of 2% in 2010 which isbetter than 2009 while Indian Ad Industry in contrast estimates to reach the growth rate of 10% figuringabout Rs.23700 crores. The reasons are because of the IPL, Foot ball World Cup and theCommonwealth Games.

• India contributes to 17 % of the world population but is only 0.7% of the world advertising market soit has huge potential to grow in future.

• Experts reveal that total advertisement spending by the political parties would be around Rs 800crore. The Congress and the BJP alone could spend over Rs 400 crore on ads on television, radio andnewspapers. Most of the ads appear on going to general entertainment and regional TV channels andhardly a small proportion in News channels.

• Worldwide Partne rInc are the Ninth largest global network of more than 90 marketing andcommuniation agencies in about 50 countries which has recently tied up with Indian PressmanAdvertising and Marketing Ltd following repeated enquires about India .

• Indian advertising spends as a percentage of GDP -- at 0.34% which is comparatively low, asopposed to other developed and developing countries, where the average is around 0.98%, whichrequires a lot space for development and enhancements in the Indian Advertising Industry.

Introduction to the Company

Formation and early years

Accenture originated as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm ArthurAndersen. The division's origins are in a 1953 feasibility study for General Electric. GE asked ArthurAndersen to automate payroll processing and manufacturing at GE's Appliance Park facility nearLouisville, Kentucky. Arthur Andersen recommended installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer,which resulted in the first commercially owned computer installation in the United States in1954. Joe Glickauf was Arthur Andersen's project leader responsible for the payroll processingautomation project. Now considered to be the father of computer consulting, Glickauf headed ArthurAndersen's Administrative Services division for 10 years.

Splitting from Arthur Andersen

Through the 1990s, there was increasing tension between Andersen Consulting and ArthurAndersen. Andersen Consulting was upset that it was paying Arthur Andersen up to 15% of itsprofits each year (a condition of the 1989 split was that the more profitable unit – AA or AC – paidthe other this sum), while at the same time Arthur Andersen was competing with AndersenConsulting through its own newly established business consulting service line called ArthurAndersen Business Consulting. This dispute came to a head in 1998 when Andersen Consultingclaimed breach of contract against Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC) and ArthurAndersen. Andersen Consulting put the 15% transfer payment for that year and future yearsinto escrow and issued a claim for breach of contract. In August 2000, as a result of the conclusionof arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce, Andersen Consulting broke allcontractual ties with AWSC and Arthur Andersen. As part of the arbitration settlement, AndersenConsulting paid the sum held in escrow (then $1.2 billion) to Arthur Andersen, and was required tochange its name, resulting in the entity being renamed Accenture.

Perhaps most telling about who had "won" the decision was that four hours after the arbitrator madehis ruling, Arthur Andersen CEO Jim Wadia suddenly resigned. Industry analysts and businessschool professors alike viewed the event as a complete victory for Andersen Consulting. Jim Wadiawould provide insight on his resignation years later at a Harvard Business school case activityabout the split. It turned out that the Arthur Andersen board passed a resolution saying he had toresign if he didn't get at least an incremental $4 billion (either through negotiation or via thearbitrator decision) for the consulting practice to split off; hence his quick resignation once thedecision was announced.

Accounts vary on why the split occurred – executives on both sides of the split cite greed andarrogance on the part of the other side, and executives on the Andersen Consulting side maintainedbreach of contract when Arthur Andersen created a second consulting group, AABC (ArthurAndersen Business Consulting) which began to compete directly with Andersen Consulting in themarketplace. Many of the AABC firms were bought out by other consulting companies in 2002,most notably, Hitachi Consulting and KPMG Consulting, which later changed its name to Bearing

Point.

Andersen Consulting's change of name proved to be fortuitous as it avoided the taint when ArthurAndersen was effectively dissolved as a result of its role in the later Enron scandal.

Emergence of Accenture

On January 1, 2001 Andersen Consulting adopted its current name, "Accenture". The word"Accenture" is supposedly derived from "Accent on the future". Although a marketing consultancywas tasked with finding a new name for the company, the name "Accenture" was submitted by KimPetersen, a Danish employee from the company's Oslo, Norway office, as a result of an internalcompetition. Accenture felt that the name should represent its will to be a global consulting leaderand high performer, and also intended that the name should not be offensive in any country in whichAccenture operates.

Initial public offering

Accenture's banner hanging on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building for its initial publicoffering on July 19, 2001.

On July 19, 2001, Accenture offered initial public offering (IPO) at the price of $14.50 per sharein New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); Goldman Sachsand Morgan Stanley served as its leadunderwriters. Accenture stock closed the day at $15.17, with the day's high at $15.25. On the firstday of the IPO, Accenture raised nearly $1.7 billion.

Head Quarters

Bermuda headquarters

In October 2002, the Congressional General Accounting Office (GAO) identified Accenture as oneof four publicly traded federal contractors that were incorporated in a tax haven country. The otherthree, unlike Accenture, were incorporated in the United States before they re-incorporated in a taxhaven country, thereby lowering their U.S. taxes. Critics, most notably former CNN journalist Lou

Dobbs, have panned Accenture's incorporation in Bermuda because they viewed Accenture ashaving been a U.S.-based company trying to avoid U.S. taxes. The GAO itself did not characterizeAccenture as having been a U.S.-based company; it stated that "prior to incorporating in Bermuda,Accenture was operating as a series of related partnerships and corporations under the control ofits partners through the mechanism of contracts with a Swiss coordinating entity."

Ireland headquarters

Accenture announced on May 26, 2009 that its Board of Directors unanimously approved changingthe company’s place of incorporation to Ireland from Bermuda and would become Accenture plc.

The company cited several reasons for the change:

• Ireland's sophisticated, well-developed corporate, legal and regulatory environment

• Ireland's long history of international investment and long-established commercialrelationships, trade agreements and tax treaties with European Union member states, theUnited States and other countries where Accenture does business

• Ireland's stable political and economic environment with the financial and legalinfrastructure to meet Accenture's needs

The change was approved and became effective on September 1, 2009, the beginning of thecompany's 2010 fiscal year.

While Ireland is the company's headquarters for tax and legal purposes, much of the clericaladministration occurs in the United States, mainly New York City and Chicago.

Operations

A worldmap showing the 54 countries where Accenture has operations as of 2012 (coloured inblue)

Accenture organizes its services and people in these three primary cross-functional groupings.Accenture client engagement teams typically consist of a combination of industry experts, capability

Workforces

The four workforces serve clients in the areas of consulting, technology, and outsourcing, as well asthe company itself. This is almost always an internal designation as it is commonplace for Accentureemployees to work in blended teams for a variety of reasons.

• Consulting: Focus on management consulting, process design work and theapplication of technologies to business. Responsible for sales, delivery, and leadership ofmost of Accenture's project-based work. Contains Accenture Technology Labs. Levels areAnalyst to Senior Executive.

• Services: Most focus on outsourcing engagements in the areas of businessoperations, IT, applications development and maintenance, help desk services, and HR. Canalso work on Consulting-led projects. Levels are H through A (reverse alphabetical order,lowest to highest) and Senior Executive.

• Solutions: The Accenture Technology Solutions subsidiary focuses on the specifictechnology skills needed to deliver projects or outsourcing arrangements. Comprises the

majority of Accenture's employees in delivery centers in developing countries like Brazil,India, and the Philippines. Levels are Programmer to Senior Executive, with slight regionalvariations.

• Enterprise: Focus on managing and supporting all activities across Accenture'sbusiness, including legal, security, facilities, marketing, and client financial management.Levels are Junior Assistant to Senior Executive.

Operating Groups

As most consulting firms, Accenture operates in a matrix structure. The first axis is dedicated to theoperating groups, or industries of its clients. The five Operating Groups comprise 19 industrygroups, which focus on industry evolution, business issues, and applicable technologies.

§ Communications, Media & Technology: Communications, Electronics and HighTech, Media and Entertainment

§ Financial Services: Banking, Capital Markets, Insurance

§ Products: Automotive, Air, Freight & Travel Services, Consumer Goods & Services,Industrial Equipment, Infrastructure & Transportation Services, Life Sciences, Retail

§ Resources: Chemicals, Energy, Natural Resources, Utilities

§ Health & Public Service: Health, Public Sector, Non-profit, International Organizations,Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Growth Platforms

The second axis is the growth platforms, which broadly refers to the functional or technical domainsin which Accenture's client-facing people specialize their skills, develop and use Accenture'smethodology, and create and deliver solutions to clients.

§ Consulting: This growth platform is focused on business solutions, processes, andchange management in the areas of Customer Relationship Management, Finance &Performance Management, Process & Innovation Performance, Risk Management,Strategy, Supply Chain Management, and Talent & Organization Performance.

§ Technology: This growth platform brings together the full range of systems integration,technology consulting, and IT outsourcing skills. Specialties include enterprise solutions,system integration, technical architecture, business intelligence, infrastructure consulting, and

technology research/development. Most people in the Services and Solutions workforcesare aligned under the Technology growth platform.

§ Outsourcing: This growth platform focuses on the full range of Business ProcessOutsourcing (BPO) services to enable high performance, including function-specific servicessuch as procurement, HR and finance and accounting, as well as services geared to theneeds of specific industries such as utilities, insurance and health care.

Recognition for Being a Great Employer

Accenture employees aren't the only people recognizing Accenture as a terrific place to build acareer. The recognition Accenture receives reinforces the value we place on our people and theirpersonal and professional growth.

In 2012, Great Place to Work Institute included Accenture in Germany on its 100 Best list, andrecognized Accenture with a special Diversity award.

• Bloomberg BusinessWeek's/Universum's Ideal Undergraduate Employers2012 student survey ranked Accenture No. 40 in IT, No. 71 in Engineering and No. 79 inBusiness, marking our sixth consecutive appearance on the list (2007-2012).

• Accenture was recognized by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)as an Outstanding Employer. Accenture also received this award in 2008.

• In 2012, Accenture was ranked No. 7 (up from No. 8 in 2011) on Hay Group's2011 Global Top 20 Best Companies for Leadership list, which marks Accenture’s fourthconsecutive appearance on the list (2008-2011).

WORK ENVIRONMENT IN ACCENTURE

Inclusion & Diversity at Accenture

“Diversity is essential to our ability to deliver high performance to clients. Our global workforce givesclients access to a rich range of talent, representing different styles, perspectives and experiences.This diversity is a critical strength that we work hard to maintain and foster. It makes us a bettercompany on every dimension.

At Accenture, we take the widest possible view of inclusion and diversity, going beyond gender,race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to create a workenvironment that welcomes all forms of differences. Each employee is a respected member of ourteam; we recognize and value individual similarities and differences. Our workforce is a reflection ofthe clients we serve, the suppliers we do business with and the communities in which we operate.

Inclusion and diversity are fundamental to our culture and core values, fostering an innovative andcollaborative work environment that helps our people to be successful and enables Accenture toeffectively compete in the global marketplace.”

Pierre NantermeChief Executive Officer

Accenture has cultural values and has a diverse environment and most importantly pays a lot ofattention to women working in the company.

Accenture's commitment to attracting, retaining and advancing the women who work with them iscritical to being a high-performance business and supports their broad commitment to an inclusiveand diverse workplace. In March 2012, they introduced a new global women’s theme—Definingsuccess. Your way. As more women pursue careers in business and technology, Accenture hascreated unique programs to support our women, including:

Women's Mentoring Programs, which pair female executives with senior executive mentors, includevirtual workshops and provide networking tips to help ensure the advancement of women atAccenture.

Accenture Women’s Network—Defining success. Your way. —a global internal website connectswomen across the company with one another and provides resources that can help them definetheir vision of success through education, tools and multimedia. The online forum offers women aplace to share experiences, advice and insights.

International Women’s Day has been observed at Accenture since 2001. Through Accenture’sactivities and events at offices and client sites, International Women’s Day underscores ourdedication to engaging the best people from diverse backgrounds to deliver high performance.