Having made a fortune by telling others how to adapt to newfangled tech, from the internet to cloud computing, Accenture now faces the same predicament.
Who is consulting good for? Consultants, obviously. Chief executives, who can blame failure on bad outside advice and take credit for successful counsel. Also, for the industry’s one listed behemoth, its shareholders.
Between the start of 2015 and the end of 2024, Accenture, which split off from its accounting sibling in 2000 and went public a year later, generated a total return (including dividends) of about 370 per cent, handily outdoing not just the S&P 500 index but also Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, rival redoubts of advisory smugness. As America’s sharemarket climbed to a record high in February, the firm was worth $US250 billion ($380 billion), more than either investment bank.
