Accenture?

[Mordac]

Not quite true - Andersen Consulting split from Arthur Andersen in 1989, the two companies were bitter rivals for most of the 90's - but when Arthur Andersen moved back into consultancy (far more profitable than audit) AC went to court, which resulted in a payment being made to AA from AC, and AC had to change the name to Accenture. In hindsight, a good move for Accenture given AA's subsequent troubles. Most of the AA people in the UK are now with Deloitte.

Not quite, as I recall the split happened because AA had more partners, but AC made (much) more money. The AC partners decided to split because they didn't like sharing their profits with the AA people, who always got the top jobs in the parent organisation (Andersen Worldwide). AA went into consulting themselves, albeit on a smaller scale and often in niche areas like HR (or Human Capital as they called it).

[interested]

Not quite, as I recall the split happened because AA had more partners, but AC made (much) more money. The AC partners decided to split because they didn't like sharing their profits with the AA people, who always got the top jobs in the parent organisation (Andersen Worldwide). AA went into consulting themselves, albeit on a smaller scale and often in niche areas like HR (or Human Capital as they called it).

Yes, I think you're right. The original agreement was that whoever made the most profit, had to pay the other party 15%. AC did that more or less every year and eventually got fed up with it. Then when AA went back into consulting, AC got really fed up and that's when they went to court.

[Mr Crosby]

Is this based in Warwick?

I know people at both Warwick and Newcastle.

[oxtailsoup]

No its not Warwick

[stan2484]

I have worked as a Permie for Accenture and to be honest they are no better or worse than any other big IT company I have worked for in the past, good rates and working conditions, admin can be a bit of a nightmare but on the whole ok, they pay up to contractors no questions asked and do expect their pound of flesh.

3 months is the standard contract length they offer.

[monkey magix]

* Work long hours
* Spend a lot of time on clients sites - meaning away from home and in hotels
* Only get taught how to use Excel and Powerpoint (advanced level)
* Have to have an endless supply of double cuffed shirts and cufflinks
* Need to sound as if you come from public school
* Need to operate in JFDI mode all the time
* Openly discuss hotel bonus points and airmiles at lunch

lol , hit the nail on the head. I'm currently a permie with them but looking to hand in resignation this week due to all the above. My only concern is due to working as a consultant for 7 years (2yrs CSC, 3 years small consulantcy, 2 Accenture) my skills/industry experience are a bit too varied for contract work with good rates. This is mainly due to JFDI mentality of consultancy.

Is this a real problem or just me worrying?

[cojak]

3 months contracts are becoming the norm for IT consultancies at the moment - it's this Agile development fad that's doing the rounds. Privateeye calls it (fr)Agile, which sums it up really...

[Mordac]

I have worked as a Permie for Accenture and to be honest they are no better or worse than any other big IT company I have worked for in the past, .

Sums it up really. I've seen most of the big ones (ooh snigger, matron) in action and they are all much of a muchness (i.e. mostly crap, some - Crap Gemini & Atos for example - crapper than others). EDS is the only one I've never had direct involvement with (I took avoidance measures from an early stage) however I know enough people who have to know they'd be on the "most crappest" list. Accidenture (for that is really their name) are better than most at extracting excess cash from their clients and themselves from litigation. Allegedly. If you have to, you have to. I wouldn't bother, the talent pool starts to get very shallow at the rates they tend to pay.

[oxtailsoup]

Well the first week went well. No problems, long hours, very switched on Project Manager, some switched off consultants. Not too bad really. Hours were very long though.

The rate is excellent and the client is prestigious and appears very happy with Accenture. I have no problems with it on my CV.

[Mordac]

the client is prestigious and appears very happy with Accenture.

They might be happy now...