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Accenture

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FY2003 Annual Report · Accenture
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Destination: High Performance

Annual Report 2003

Annual Report 2003

What does it take to be a true leader in industry 
or government? How do you maintain that position
once you reach it? Accenture has launched a global
strategic business initiative to answer these questions
and to help our clients achieve lasting leadership. 

This year’s annual report—Destination: High
Performance—explains this initiative in detail,
including how we continue to transform our own
business to deliver innovation, enabling higher 
levels of performance for our clients, shareholders 
and employees.

Throughout the report, we showcase clients that 
already have begun their high-performance journeys
and demonstrate how Accenture’s unique combina-
tion of consulting, technology and outsourcing
capabilities are helping them to get there. Please 
see “Accenture—At a Glance” starting on the inside
cover foldout and continuing on page 31 for more
about our company. 

Contents
Accenture—At a Glance  . . . . . . Cover Foldout & 31
Letter from the Chairman & CEO  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Financial Highlights  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Destination: High Performance  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Accenture as a Corporate Citizen  . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Financial Statements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Board of Directors and Executive Committee  . . . 34
Shareholder Information  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
About Accenture  . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover

The Accenture Annual Report 2003 contains several non-GAAP
measures that our management believes provide our shareholders
with additional useful information. We have identified these
measures, our reasons for providing these measures and brief
reconciliations to relevant GAAP measures at relevant points
throughout this annual report. The non-GAAP measures referred 
to in this annual report should not be considered in isolation or
as alternatives to net income as indicators of company performance
or as alternatives to cash flows from operating activities as
measures of liquidity. For more detailed explanations of the
assumptions and methodologies behind these reconciliations,
please visit www.accenture.com/investor. 

All amounts throughout this annual report are stated in 
US dollars except where noted.

All references to years in this annual report, unless otherwise
noted, refer to our fiscal years, which end on August 31.

About the cover: Designed by renowned architect
Santiago Calatrava, the Campo Volantin Footbridge
in Bilbao, Spain, is a graceful and dynamic symbol 
of how ingenuity and expertise combine to create
high performance.

Leaders know there’s 
no looking back.

They only set their sights higher—miles above the
competition—where opportunities become clear. 

At Accenture, this is the only vantage point 
we’ve ever known. 

And we continue to transform our company to
achieve even higher performance—for ourselves 
and for our clients.

In a challenging 2003, we met or exceeded 
key targets, achieving:

• $16.1 billion in new bookings.

• 2 percent growth in revenues 

before reimbursements.

• $1.05 diluted earnings per share. 

• $1.3 billion in free cash flow 

(63 percent growth over prior year).

Accenture—At a Glance

Accenture is one of the world’s leading management 
consulting, technology services and outsourcing companies.
We help deliver innovation that enables clients to become
high-performance businesses and governments.

We use our industry and business process knowledge, our
service offering expertise and our insight into existing
and emerging technologies to identify new business and
technology trends. We help clients:

• Identify and enter new markets.
• Increase revenues in existing markets.
• Improve operational performance.
• Deliver their products and services more 

effectively and efficiently. 

Growth Platforms and Services
Underpinning our emphasis on high-performance business
are three growth platforms:

• Grow business consulting services.
• Extend leadership in systems integration 

and technology services.

• Accelerate growth in business process 

outsourcing services.

Services we offer include:
• Business consulting.
• Systems integration.
• Application outsourcing.
• IT infrastructure outsourcing.
• Business process outsourcing.

We are differentiated in the marketplace because we:

• Build enduring, trust-based partnering 

relationships with clients.

• Focus on value creation and business outcomes.
• Harness deep industry, process and technology
expertise and unrivaled large-scale, complex 
change capabilities.

• Seamlessly integrate consulting and outsourcing
capabilities across the full life cycle of business 
transformation.

• Leverage our proprietary assets and global delivery 

network for quality, speed and lower costs.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration 

and teaming.

• Attract and develop the best talent.

Accenture Quick Facts

Our Clients: 

• We serve 87 of the Fortune
Global 100, more than two-
thirds of the Fortune Global 
500 and government agencies 
in 24 countries.

• Of our top 100 clients in fiscal
2003, 93 have been clients for
at least five years. 

• Of our top 25 clients in fiscal
2003, 20 have been clients for
at least 10 years.

• All 10 of our top 10 clients in
fiscal 2003 have been clients
for at least 10 years.  

Global Presence:
More than 110 offices in 48 countries

Our People: 
More than 83,000 worldwide

Research & Development: 
$250 million in fiscal 2003

Training Investment: 
$391 million in fiscal 2003 
(3.3 percent of revenues 
before reimbursements)

Intellectual Property: 
Have been issued more than 
100 patents in the last three years;
more than 950 applications pending

Heritage:
More than 50 years of 
innovative experience

Management Team: 
Average 24 years of experience 
with Accenture

Our Brand: 
Ranked 52nd most valuable global
brand by BusinessWeek

Through Business Process Outsourcing,
We Help Our Clients:

• Manage benefits administration
for more than 800,000 client
employees and pensioners.
• Manage customer receivables, 

collecting approximately 
$30 billion of customer debt 
in fiscal 2003 alone.

• Handle more than 100 million
inbound customer calls and
process more than 50 million
customer bills annually.

•  Perform more than 29 million 
electricity and natural gas
meter readings annually.

Industry-focused Operating Groups
Our business is structured around five operating groups, which together comprise 18 industry groups serving clients in
every major industry. Our industry focus gives us an understanding of industry evolution, business issues and applicable
technologies, enabling us to deliver innovative solutions to clients. Through Business Consulting, Technology & Outsourcing
and Business Process Outsourcing, we develop and offer the skills necessary to lead in the marketplace (see page 31).

Communications 
& High Tech
• Communications
• Electronics & 
High Tech 

• Media &

Entertainment

Financial
Services

• Banking
• Capital Markets
• Insurance

Government

Products

Resources

Serving these sectors:
• Defense 
• Postal
• Education
• Revenue
• Human Services
• Immigration/

Justice/Security
• Election Services

• Automotive
• Health Services
• Industrial
Equipment

• Pharmaceuticals &
Medical Products
• Retail & Consumer
• Transportation &
Travel Services

• Chemicals
• Energy
• Forest Products
• Metals & Mining
• Utilities

Business Consulting

Technology & Outsourcing

Business Process Outsourcing

Revenues Before Reimbursements(1)
US Dollars in Millions
Years Ended August 31

$12,000

10,500

9,000

7,500

6,000

4,500

3,000

1,500

0

Compound Annual Growth Rate
1989-2003=16.3%

$11,818

1989 1990  1991  1992  1993  1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002  2003

(1) This chart reflects revenues before reimbursements. Reimbursements include travel and out-
of-pocket expenses and third-party costs, such as the cost of hardware and software resales.
Reimbursements are included in revenues, and an equivalent amount of reimbursable expenses
is included in cost of services. Reimbursements and reimbursable expenses are separately
disclosed in our Consolidated Income Statements.

•  Provide more than 12 million

learning hours in nine languages
to more than 400,000 users in
93 countries.

•  Process 100 million airline 
passenger reservations and
more than 100 million airline
passenger boardings annually.

Industry Analysts Identify Us 
as a Leader in: 

• Business process transformation.
• Outsourcing.
• IT services.
• Customer relationship 

management.

• Supply chain management.
• Technology research 
and development. 

• Web services.
• SAP services.

Joe W. Forehand, Chairman & CEO

To Our Stakeholders:

2

Evolution. . .change. . .transformation. These concepts
are woven deep into the fabric of our culture and are
part of what has made Accenture a leader in our
industry. For more than a decade, we have continually
responded to shifts in the marketplace before our
competition. In doing so, we have remained relevant 
to our clients and have built a vibrant company
where people want to work.

In fact, our business—at its simplest level—has two
dimensions: our clients and our people. 

We are committed to delivering quality and value to our
clients, and we are very proud of the clients we serve.
We work with many of the world’s largest companies,
including 87 of the Fortune Global 100 and more
than two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500. In fiscal
2003, approximately 49 percent of our revenues
before reimbursements came from companies and
government entities outside the Fortune Global 500.

We also are committed to developing a diverse talent
pool, the very best in our industry. I am proud of our
more than 83,000 employees—they are the true change

The time has come for us to raise the bar in 
our industry once again. We believe that the 
best way to deliver on our commitments to our 
shareholders is by helping our clients become 
high-performance businesses.

agents who rise to the challenges in the marketplace
and in our internal business each day. Their resiliency
and ability to embrace change is remarkable. 

Not surprisingly, change is upon us. Although we
are proud of our marketplace success and track
record of delivering innovation, quality and results
to our clients, the time has come for us to raise the
bar in our industry once again. We believe that the
best way to deliver on our commitments to our
shareholders is by helping our clients become high-
performance businesses. And, we believe we have
the right business model and growth platforms to
position us for long-term growth. 

over the prior fiscal year. We ended the fiscal year
with a strong fourth quarter, growing revenues before
reimbursements 12 percent in US dollars and 5 per-
cent in local currency. This was our first double-digit
increase in quarterly revenues before reimbursements
since our initial public offering and our first positive
local currency growth in five quarters. Also, new book-
ings remained strong in fiscal 2003 at $16.1 billion. 

We continued to grow our outsourcing business 
significantly—by 37 percent in US dollars and 32
percent in local currency over last year—bringing
outsourcing to 30 percent of total revenues before
reimbursements, up from 23 percent in fiscal 2002. 

Results and Accomplishments
In our second full year as a public company, we
achieved solid performance, despite one of the worst
economic downturns of the last three decades.

Revenues before reimbursements for fiscal 2003
were $11.8 billion, an increase of 2 percent in US
dollars and a decrease of 4 percent in local currency

Our diluted earnings per share in fiscal 2003 were
$1.05, compared with $0.56 in fiscal 2002. In fiscal
2002, losses on investments and restructuring costs
reduced earnings per share by $0.35. Excluding those
charges, diluted earnings per share in fiscal 2003
increased 16 percent over the prior fiscal year. Opera-
ting income for the fiscal year was $1.55 billion, or
13.1 percent of revenues before reimbursements. This
was a 12 percent increase over the prior fiscal year.

3

Performance Relative to 2003 Targets

Key Metric

2003 Target

2003 Actual
Performance

New Bookings

$16.0 billion 

$16.1 billion

Growth in
Revenues Before
Reimbursements 

Diluted Earnings 
Per Share

0-2 percent 

2 percent

$1.05 

$1.05

Free Cash Flow

$1.0 billion 

$1.3 billion 

I am particularly pleased with our cash flow growth
and our strong balance sheet. Operating cash 
flow was $1.5 billion. Free cash flow, defined as
operating cash flow net of property and equipment
additions of $212 million, was $1.3 billion, up $501
million from the prior year. Also, we ended the year
with $2.4 billion of cash, cash equivalents and
restricted cash.

We achieved a 73 percent return on invested 
capital(1) for fiscal 2003, which would rank Accenture
No.1 relative to the companies in the S&P 100.
Finally, we are committed to generating industry-
leading EVA®(2), which was 9.5 percent of revenues
before reimbursements for fiscal 2003. 

Our financial results have strengthened Accenture’s
shareholder value during a period of economic uncer-
tainty, and we continue to outperform our industry. 

In addition to our financial accomplishments, we
achieved several notable recognitions last year.
Fortune magazine ranked Accenture America’s third
“most admired” company in our industry, and we

4

improved our position to 52nd in BusinessWeek’s
ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands.

Last year, we put a spotlight on diversity, and I was
proud to accept, on behalf of our company, the
2003 Catalyst Award for our innovative approaches

Notes:
(1) Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) is equal to the tax-adjusted operating

income divided by total average capital. Accenture believes that reporting
ROIC provides investors with greater visibility of how effectively Accenture
uses the capital invested in its operations. Note that ROIC is not a measure
of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles.
Accenture’s Return on Invested Capital for the fiscal year ended August 31,
2003, is defined as Operating Income of $1.551 billion, adjusted by the
annual effective tax rate of 35.1 percent, which equals $1.007 billion, of
which the product is then divided by the average capital of $1.381 billion,
yielding a 73 percent ROIC metric. Average capital is defined as the sum of
Shareholders’ Equity, Minority Interest, Short-Term Debt and Long-Term
Debt from the Balance Sheets at August 31, 2002, and August 31, 2003,
and that entire sum divided by 2 to obtain the average of $1.381 billion.

(2) EVA represents Economic Value Added. Accenture believes reporting 

EVA results provides investors with greater visibility of economic profit.
EVA is not a measure of financial performance under generally accepted
accounting principles. Accenture’s EVA for the fiscal year ended August 31,
2003, is defined as Operating Income of $1.551 billion less $411 million of
capital charges, $15 million of option expense and $2 million of invest-
ment gains. EVA of $1.127 billion divided by $11.818 billion of revenues
before reimbursements yields a 9.5 percent EVA metric. 

EVA® is a registered trademark of Stern Stewart & Co.

Our financial results have strengthened 
Accenture’s shareholder value during a period 
of economic uncertainty, and we continue to 
outperform our industry.

to recruiting and advancing women. We also were 
recognized as one of Working Mother magazine’s
100 Best Companies for Working Mothers. 

During fiscal 2003, we invested $391 million in
training to ensure we equip our people with the
skills to compete in a rapidly changing market. 
Our leadership development program, which 
builds on the idea of “leaders teaching leaders,” 
has been an enormous success, with more than
1,700 of our partners having participated to date.
We are now expanding this program to our other
executive levels.

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge 
and thank our employees for their energy and 
for their commitment to serving our clients and
helping us run a world-class company. Looking
ahead, I believe we have sound fundamentals,
including a strong balance sheet, a commitment 
to controlling costs, good business prospects and
the right people—all of which will help us fuel
growth and maintain our market leadership.

Enabling High Performance
The other key to growth is our business strategy. We
are continually on a journey to evolve our strategy
and raise the bar in our industry. 

Our strategy has always been rooted in what our
clients tell us is most important to them—and that
is to help them look for ways to create sustainable
value for their customers, employees, shareholders
and citizens, in a volatile environment. Quite simply,
we help our clients achieve not just incremental
improvements through projects or programs, but
also improvements in overall business outcomes.

Today, we are taking our strategy to the next level
with the idea of helping our clients become high-
performance businesses. High-performance businesses
are leaders. They see opportunity amidst chaos. They
put insight into action. And they have the courage to
change before change is thrust upon them. 

High performance is about closing the gap between
what an organization currently is achieving and what
it has the potential to achieve. So, we are bringing

5

our insight to clients to help them identify gaps and
opportunities, then plan courses of action that will
enable them to perform at the highest level. 

In our conversations with business leaders—and in
testing this idea with clients—we found there is not
only a demand for enabling high performance, but
also that the market views Accenture as the most
credible provider in our industry. We are committed
to developing a clear understanding of what makes
an organization truly high performing.

There are a few key factors behind this demand 
for high performance. In the coming years, leaders
will need to manage more things more precisely,
with a narrower margin for error than ever before.
More specifically, they will be called upon to manage
seemingly paradoxical values—like having a flexible
workforce while also building employee loyalty; or
driving global change imperatives throughout the
company while also empowering local management;
or having a willingness to enter new markets, while
also creating a disciplined culture of risk management.

6

Internally, we are aligning all our capabilities, thought
leadership, image and brand initiatives, and training
around high performance. This attention allows us 
to increase the range of issues we can help clients
address and increase our focus on business outcomes.
Plus, we have begun and will continue global research
on what enables organizations to become high-
performance businesses. To build awareness for our
new “high performance delivered” brand positioning in
the marketplace, we launched an integrated marketing
program, including a new global advertising campaign
featuring world-champion golfer Tiger Woods.

To learn more about how we are helping companies
become high-performance businesses, I encourage
you to read the client stories described in our report.
Also, see page 27 for additional details on our global
integrated marketing program. 

Strategy for Growth
Underpinning our emphasis on high performance are
three growth platforms that represent the capabilities
that will help us deliver on our promises to our clients. 

Revenues Before Reimbursements(1)
US Dollars in Millions
Years Ended August 31

$11,444

$11,574

$11,818

$9,752

2000

2001

2002 

2003

(1) This chart reflects revenues before reimbursements. Reimbursements

include travel and out-of-pocket expenses and third-party costs, such as
the cost of hardware and software resales. Reimbursements are included
in revenues, and an equivalent amount of reimbursable expenses is
included in cost of services. Reimbursements and reimbursable expenses
are separately disclosed in our Consolidated Income Statements.

The first is to grow business consulting. In this area
we draw upon our deep industry skills, our large-scale,
complex change capabilities, and innovations in our
service lines and industry programs to build long-
term, trusted relationships that drive client value. 

Growing this part of our business is critical, and 
we want to achieve double-digit growth in business
consulting over the next three years. We have iden-
tified fast-growing areas like supply chain, customer
transformation, security, IT optimization, and finance
and performance management, in which we can
bring innovation to a wide range of clients. For
example, we are working with Lloyds TSB to assist 
it with Basel II regulation compliance. By leveraging
its infrastructure with minimal cost, we will help
Lloyds TSB manage dramatic regulatory changes
over the next five to 10 years. 

The second growth area is to extend our leadership
in systems integration and technology services. We
are focused on delivering more innovation and
value to the CIO. 

We want to be the best at delivering technology-
enabled business solutions, while also meeting client
demands for lower costs in developing and main-
taining their technology applications. For example,
we have been helping build and support Caterpillar’s
new global Dealer Business System by applying the
technology skills of our global delivery centers in
Manila and Buenos Aires to meet the needs of this
long-standing client. 

We also are leveraging our technology vision to 
create new innovations and solutions using emerging
technologies such as radio frequency identification,
mobility and insight technologies. Through information
technology outsourcing—including both infrastructure
and applications outsourcing—we are not only helping
clients reduce operating costs, but also enabling
improved enterprise outcomes across a wide variety
of business processes. 

Our third growth platform is to accelerate growth 
in business process outsourcing, or BPO, a rapidly
expanding marketplace in which we have established
an early leadership position. BPO uses all of our

7

High-performance businesses are leaders. They see
opportunity amidst chaos. They put insight into action.
And they have the courage to change before change
is thrust upon them. 

capabilities and extends the market overall for our
services. I like to think of BPO as providing “business
performance outcomes.”

In fiscal 2003, we nearly doubled our BPO revenues
before reimbursements. We formalized and expanded
our portfolio of BPO businesses, including Accenture
Business Services for Utilities—which offers a full
suite of outsourced business services at reduced costs
to utilities across North America. In just 18 months,
Accenture Business Services for Utilities already is
providing business services to more than 6 million
customers, more than any utility in North America.

independent board members in November supports
our plan to transition the composition of our board
to a majority of independent directors. All of our
directors provide valuable oversight and direction to
the strategy and management of Accenture. For more
information, visit www.accenture.com/governance.

Fiscal 2004 promises to be another exciting year for
Accenture. Speaking on behalf of our employees
around the world, we are motivated and enthusiastic
about growing our business and outperforming our
competition once again. We have the right strategy,
the right people and a bold, new market positioning
that will set us apart. 

The Journey Ahead
As we look ahead, we will build on the trusted rela-
tionships we have with our clients, our people and 
all our stakeholders. As part of that accountability, 
we remain committed to our core values and we take
corporate governance very seriously. We are commit-
ted to continually enhancing our board of directors
and our corporate governance framework to reflect
best practices. The addition of our two newest 

8

Joe W. Forehand
Chairman & CEO
December 15, 2003

Financial Highlights

Revenues by Operating Group

Communications & High Tech
Financial Services
Government
Products
Resources
Other

Total Revenues Before Reimbursements

Reimbursements

Total

Revenues by Area

Americas
EMEA(2)
Asia Pacific

Reimbursements

Total

Total Revenues Before Reimbursements

2003

Percent
Change

2002(1)

Percent
Change

2001(1)

Percent
Change

$ 3,290 
2,355 
1,582 
2,613 
1,966 
12 
11,818
1,579 
$13,397

3%
0
20
(3)
(2)
20

2%

$ 3,182 
2,366 
1,316 
2,696 
2,005 
9 
11,574 
1,531 
$ 13,105

(2)%
(10)
31
3
4
(51)

1%

$ 3,238 
2,627 
1,003 
2,624 
1,933 
19 
11,444 
1,618 
$13,062

15%
12
26
23
16
39
17%

2003

Percent
Change

2002

Percent
Change

2001

Percent
Change

$ 5,671 
5,353 
794 
11,818 
1,579 
$13,397

(3)%
8
2
2%

$ 5,836 
4,963 
775 
11,574 
1,531 
$ 13,105

(5)%
11
(8)
1%

$ 6,113 
4,484 
847 
11,444 
1,618 
$13,062

17%
21
4
17%

2000(1)

$ 2,806 
2,344 
797 
2,130 
1,661 
14 
9,752
1,579
$11,331 

2000

$ 5,223 
3,714 
815 
9,752 
1,579
$11,331 

Revenues Before Reimbursements by Consulting and Outsourcing 

Percent of Total Revenues Before Reimbursements

Percent Growth

Consulting

Outsourcing

Consulting

Outsourcing

100

80

60

40

20

0

16%

17%

23%

30%

84%

83%

77%

70%

40

30

20

10

0

-10

15%

9%

1%

37%

33%

28%

-7%

-10%

2000

2001(3)

2002(3)

2003(3)

2000

2001

2002

2003

Notes:
(1) 2002, 2001 and 2000 operating group revenues before reimbursements have been restated to conform with current-year presentation.
(2) EMEA includes Europe, Middle East and Africa.
(3) Consulting revenues before reimbursements in 2001, 2002 and 2003 include other revenues before reimbursements.

US dollar amounts in millions for the years ended August 31, 2000-2003.

9

Destination: High Performance

It’s not enough to simply rise above today’s challenges. Accenture and its clients are taking 
business and government to a whole new level. Here’s how. . . 

The era of “wait-and-see” management is over. Emerging from one 
of the most bruising economic periods in recent history, leaders in busi-
ness and government are brushing off the dust and asking themselves:
What does it really take to achieve and sustain high performance?
All have been quick to realize that the answer does not lie in simply
finding new ways to cut costs or increasing their technology spending. 

Accenture saw the change coming. We moved early and fast to help
our clients find new ways to lead, not merely stay afloat, in this chang-
ing environment. For example, Accenture’s bold move into business
process outsourcing in the 1990s has been a transforming force for
many clients seeking to refocus their businesses. Our ability to consis-
tently evolve ahead of the market’s needs is one of our hallmarks and a
big reason for our own growth in 2003, despite the major challenges 
of a sluggish economy. 

Working with clients around the globe, we have found that the aspira-
tion of becoming a high-performance business resonates strongly.
Rather than merely dealing with today’s issues—or addressing oppor-
tunities one by one—businesses and governments today seek more

10

Destination: High Performance

integrated, long-term business solutions to achieve leadership. We
believe Accenture is in a unique position to address this need—and, in
so doing, raise the bar for performance in our own industry—through
our High Performance Business strategic initiative. 

What Is a High-
performance
Business?

At Accenture, the term “high performance” is both a definitive 
destination and a continuous quest for sustainable leadership. 
In our view: 

High-performance businesses are those that effectively balance
today’s needs and tomorrow’s opportunities. They consistently
outperform their peers over a sustained time frame, across busi-
ness cycles, industry disruptions and changes in CEO leadership.

As many CEOs and companies have discovered, this is not an easy 
goal to achieve. But those that have reached and maintain this 
summit are able to deliver significantly higher returns to their 
shareholders over time. 

12

During 2003, we began extensive global research on what makes these
high-performance companies tick—both in the context of the industries
in which they compete and mastery of those business functions that
drive high performance. Based on this ongoing research, we are creating
a practical, solutions-oriented framework to help businesses and gov-
ernments achieve high performance in any economic environment. 

While the blueprints for achieving these results will differ from 
industry to industry—and among various business functions—our
research shows that there are several key traits that high-performance 
businesses possess:

• They have unique industry insights, enabling them to distinguish
the most powerful drivers of current and future business value.
Microsoft, an Accenture client for more than 17 years, is an excel-
lent example of this trait, as the company has helped to define
the course of information technology for nearly three decades.
Most recently, we helped Microsoft to identify new markets and
solutions for its Office 2003 software suite.

High-performance 
businesses are those 
that effectively balance
today’s needs and 
tomorrow’s opportunities.

A History of Leading the Way
Accenture has earned a reputation for evolving ahead of market needs. In fact, our history of innovation
dates back to 1954 with the installation of the first business application on a computer at General Electric
Appliance Park. Our High Performance Business initiative is just the next logical step in our evolution.

In the 1980s:
Leader in systems 
integration. Best-in-
class delivery of 
projects, integration 
of business needs and
information technology.
Known for flawless 
execution—delivering
solutions on time and
on budget.

In the 1990s:
Leader in business 
integration—helping
clients align their people,
processes and technolo-
gies with their strategies.
Defined the marketplace,
building on our flawless
execution and focus on
business outcomes. 
Best-in-class delivery 
of complex, large-scale
change programs.

In the early 2000s:
Leader in value delivery.
Tangible outcomes for
clients that made a
measurable impact on
top- and bottom-line
performance. Grew
business process 
outsourcing (BPO) 
business and developed
global delivery network.

Today:
Taking the lead in 
helping clients become
high-performance 
businesses. Raising the
bar again; drawing on
previous stages of our
evolution. Enabling 
businesses to outperform
their peers, regardless
of business or economic
conditions. Creating
future value.

13

Destination: High Performance

High-performance
businesses consistently
outperform their peers
over a sustained 
time frame, across 
business cycles, 
industry disruptions
and changes in 
CEO leadership.

• They create decision-making structures and processes that are
able to quickly transform insights into action. The Defense
Logistics Agency (DLA) knows how critical this capability is, as 
it continually strives to find faster, more effective ways to provide
more than $14 billion in supplies and services to American armed
forces personnel around the globe. Accenture is helping the DLA
achieve this goal by streamlining its operations and adopting new
technologies to provide life-sustaining essentials to more than 
3 million US troops.

• They achieve business function mastery through continuous

innovation in strategic core competencies. To strengthen its posi-
tion as a high-performance business, Dell continues to upgrade its
already world-class manufacturing infrastructure. Aiming to “build
more systems with less inventory,” Accenture and Dell developed
and implemented a supply chain solution that allows Dell to operate
on no more than two hours of inventory at a time. Now in place 
in Dell’s plants around the world, the program paid for itself five
times over during its first 12 months of operation.

Continued on Page 19 

New York City 311
Destination: Breaking Down Bureaucracy in the Big Apple

When New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office, he vowed to bring government
closer to the people. It would not be easy for a city that needed 14 pages in the phone
book just to list its municipal services. Bloomberg and his team wanted to purge that
bureaucracy, creating a single 311 number for New Yorkers to access non-emergency
services 24 hours a day. 

Working closely with the city’s Department of Information Technology and
Telecommunications, Accenture took the nation’s largest 311 project live in just seven
months. As a result, New York City residents now need to dial only three digits to
obtain the help they need in 171 different languages. Launched in March 2003, the
widely praised service expects to field nearly 5 million calls by the end of 2003.

14

NYC 311 is available 24 hours a day to assist callers
like Michael Peter Evans. Aided by more than 35
Accenture volunteers, the service even stayed up 
and running during New York’s August blackout.

Wyeth and Accenture are reengineering the pharmaceutical
company’s R&D program so that research scientists like 
Scott Cosmi (left) and Grace Johnston (center), and biologist
Thomas Kenney (right), are able to get their new discoveries
to patients faster.

Wyeth
Destination: A New Model for Clinical Research and Development

The genomics revolution has the opportunity to change medicine forever—but only 
if companies learn to change with this revolution. Leading the way, Wyeth has joined
forces with Accenture to completely reengineer its research and development process.
Results at the global pharmaceutical company have been impressive, including a 400
percent increase in drug discovery productivity over the past three years.

In April 2003, Wyeth expanded this groundbreaking relationship by tapping Accenture 
to manage its clinical data management operations, enabling Wyeth’s clinical staff to
focus on more critical functions. The bold move aims to deliver equally bold results,
including an 80 percent reduction in clinical trial cycle times and a 30 percent 
reduction in contracted costs.

17

Nicoletta Cremona shops at La Rinascente in 
Milan—just one of Gruppo Rinascente’s more than
1,850 retail locations, which include department
stores, supermarkets and mega-markets.

Destination: High Performance
Continued from Page 14

We are creating a 
sustainable path to
growth—one that will
lead to an even more
exciting and profitable
future for all of our
stakeholders. 

• They extend business function mastery through effective out-
sourcing and partnering. The City of Copenhagen is focused on
improving the services it provides to citizens and employees. By
outsourcing its payroll and pensions functions to Accenture, the
city has been able to achieve both goals—providing more efficient
HR support to its staff, while freeing up valuable time and
resources to improve government services in the Danish capital.

• They are obsessed with winning the battle for the customer. It’s not
easy to stay in tune with the needs of customers in more than 200
countries. So, partnering with Accenture, Samsung undertook a com-
prehensive study of its global markets, resulting in a plan to focus
marketing investments on specific products and in countries where
the potential was greatest. The long-term project not only helped
Samsung get closer to its customers, it was instrumental in helping
the company become one of the world’s fastest-growing brands.

• They use information technology as a tool to innovate, creating
more effective business models while simultaneously increasing

Gruppo Rinascente
Destination: Creating a Strategic Advantage through Business Process Outsourcing

Italian retailer Gruppo Rinascente has an eye fixed on growth. But to expand, the €6.1
billion (US$7 billion) company needed to find a way to invest more time and capital on
developing extraordinary retail innovations rather than expending them on everyday
administrative tasks. Accenture—drawing in part upon the expertise of Accenture Finance
Solutions and Accenture HR Services—is helping to make it happen. 

Working with Gruppo Rinascente, we created a shared-services company to manage many
of the retailer’s back-office functions—from accounting and financial reporting to import
and transportation management. The new entity, co-owned by Accenture and Gruppo
Rinascente, is helping the diversified retail group refocus attention on its core businesses,
enhance operating efficiencies and improve the competitive positions of its individual
store brands. 

19

Destination: High Performance

productivity. Singapore Airlines has always sought to maximize
the Internet. But over time, its Web presence mushroomed into 
39 regionally managed websites, creating challenges. Accenture
helped Singapore Airlines consolidate e-commerce efforts in 
one global site, offering customers vastly improved service and
support, contributing to significant growth in online sales over 
the past two years.

The traits of high-performance businesses are illustrated in the client
stories—from a cross section of industries and geographic locations—
throughout this section of our annual report. These stories are a small
sample of the many ways that Accenture is helping companies and
governments move to higher levels of performance. 

Taking High
Performance to
a Higher Level

Our work to date only represents the earliest phases of our High
Performance Business initiative. We know that the true drivers of high
performance are far more complex than a handful of common leader-
ship traits. To unlock these secrets for our clients—and to define what 
Continued on Page 25

London Stock Exchange
JSE Securities Exchange South Africa
Destination: Expanding Revenue Opportunities on a Global Scale 

Despite turbulent financial markets, the London Stock Exchange continues to find new
ways to grow and strengthen its position as a leading provider of equity market services.
A good example: Working with Accenture, the Exchange launched its new Data-X 
information service in 2003, creating a valuable new revenue stream by selling deeper 
and richer real-time and historical data to customers worldwide. 

Accenture also helped the London Stock Exchange expand its global footprint by sharing
its electronic trading platform with the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa. Through 
an innovative technology solution developed by Accenture and client professionals on
both continents, the Johannesburg-based JSE is now able to deliver world-class trading
capabilities to South African companies and financial markets, while providing a source
of increased revenue to the London Stock Exchange. 

20

Built on Microsoft’s .NET framework, Data-X enables
the London Stock Exchange to create new information
products at less cost. Operating expenses are half
those of a traditional mainframe solution.

BC Hydro
Destination: Transforming the North American Utility Industry

BC Hydro is a mid-sized utility with big ideas. The Vancouver-based company signed 
a landmark outsourcing contract with Accenture in 2003 that is designed to save the
electric utility an estimated CDN$250 million (US$187 million) over 10 years and
improve the services it provides to customers. 

As part of the agreement, BC Hydro and Accenture formed Accenture Business Services
of British Columbia Limited Partnership to provide a wide variety of back-office functions—
including customer service, procurement and office management services—to BC Hydro
and other North American utilities. The pioneering new entity will enable these companies
to focus sole attention on managing their core utility businesses, delivering greater value 
to shareholders and customers at a considerably reduced cost.

22

BC Hydro and Accenture have joined forces to help North
American utilities improve service and reduce costs. Here,
Accenture Business Services employee Patty Frederick 
collects data from BC Hydro’s residential meters.

A breakthrough supply chain solution enables Toshiba 
to respond swiftly to the needs of global chip customers—
from toy makers to computer manufacturers. Semiconductor
advances enable people like Charles Champion to catch up
on e-mail from anywhere. 

Destination: High Performance
Continued from Page 20

We will not only 
be defining the 
destination. . .we also
will be providing the
road map to get there.

it takes for businesses to consistently outperform their peers over
time—we are directing our research far deeper. Over the coming year,
we will invest significant capital and resources into global research to:

• Define the specific characteristics of high-performance 

businesses within each of the 18 industry groups we serve.

• Forecast potential changes within each industry and how 
these changes may affect long-standing businesses and 
new competitors.

• Analyze the best practices of high-performance companies and 

define the characteristics of mastery for major business functions.

• Identify new opportunities for innovation by applying leading-

edge practices from one industry (or function) to another.

• Examine the makeup of “high strivers”—businesses and govern-
ments that have not yet reached high-performance status, but 
are well on their way to achieving that goal. 

Through this intensive effort, we will not only be defining the destination—
what constitutes high performance for a particular industry or function—
we also will be providing the road map to get there. 

Toshiba
Destination: Global Supply Chain Mastery to Create a Global Advantage

The semiconductor business runs on speed. To gain an edge, Toshiba—Japan’s No. 1 chip-
maker and a global technology leader—sought an innovative solution to an industrywide
conundrum: How do you provide faster, more reliable chip delivery to customers without
driving up cash-consuming inventories? 

Working with a team of technology partners, Toshiba and Accenture created Global One—
a breakthrough supply chain solution that has enabled Toshiba to provide real-time response
to market needs while keeping production and inventories lean. In addition to providing
24/7 ordering and order-tracking capabilities to customers, Global One has successfully
reduced Toshiba’s delivery time for chip orders and has drastically slashed average days
of inventory. 

25

Destination: High Performance

For example, our initial research into the health care industry identified
five distinct capabilities for high-performance health-plan companies
that had been leaders in their markets from 1990 to 2003. The study
now is being used to help point the way for Accenture health-plan
clients who wish to break into the same tier of elite performers. Similarly,
through our investigations into supply chain management, we deter-
mined that companies that have mastered this crucial function, based
on a variety of criteria, achieved a premium of 7 percent to 26 percent
over their peers in market capitalization, depending on their industry.

Aligning Our
Resources to 
Deliver High
Performance

We are aligning all of our global resources behind the High
Performance Business strategic initiative. We believe the depth and
breadth of our organization coupled with our industry insight and
business function expertise enable us to take on the kinds of broad-
scale, integrated challenges that delivering high performance entails. 

To seize this opportunity, we are focusing on our three growth platforms: 

1) We will continue to grow business consulting services. 

In every field of endeavor,

there are the timid, and there are the tigers.

Go on. Be a Tiger.

Inside the mind of every high performer is a relentless urge to improve, 
to innovate, to prevail. To see how we help high-performance businesses 
reach their goals, visit accenture.com

• Consulting • Technology • Outsourcing

Tiger Woods, 
a name synony-
mous with high
performance, is
the centerpiece
of Accenture’s
new global
advertising 
campaign and 
a symbol of our
new brand 
positioning
focused on high
performance.

26

2) We will extend our leadership in systems integration and

technology services.

3) We will accelerate growth in business process outsourcing services—
the fastest-growing area of our business for the past three years. 

The capabilities required for success in these growth platforms are crucial
to the delivery of high performance. We believe that few, if any, of our
competitors can match our ability to effectively integrate these skills 
on behalf of clients worldwide. In addition, our ongoing research—plus
our experience with clients—will enable us to expand our offerings of
products and services, and to deliver innovation to clients in new ways.  

As we have done successfully in the past, we will seek to “industrialize”
these offerings and services so they can be implemented in a high-
quality manner as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Through
compelling thought-leadership programs, we also will find new ways 
to engage and involve our clients in rich and ongoing dialogues about
high performance to raise awareness and to uncover new opportunities
to create value. (See “Research and Innovation” on page 28.)

Our ongoing research—
plus our experience with
clients—will enable us 
to expand our offerings
of products and services,
and to deliver innovation
to clients in new ways. 

Go on. Be a Tiger.
As we continue to raise the bar
for ourselves and our clients, 
we again are taking the
Accenture brand to the next
level with a global integrated
marketing program focused 
on high-performance business. 
This initiative includes thought-
leadership publications, global
events and sponsorships, and
international conferences. The
linchpin of this initiative is an
advertising campaign featuring
Tiger Woods.

Research shows that executives
believe the name Tiger Woods is

synonymous with high perfor-
mance, strength and mastery.
The campaign’s theme—”Go on.
Be a Tiger.”—recognizes the aspi-
rations of our clients to become
high-performance businesses,
and presents Accenture as the
ideal partner to help clients
achieve and sustain success.

Just as the ads challenge leaders
to boldly take their businesses 
to new levels of performance,
Accenture has led the industry 
in marketplace positioning. In
2003, our second full year doing
business as Accenture, we were

ranked as BusinessWeek’s 52nd
most valuable global brand.

We are widely credited as the
leader in professional services
marketing, beginning with our
first “image initiative” in 1989,
which aggressively used all media,
including television advertising.
We were the first consulting
company to reach our target
audience through global adver-
tising. And, in 2000-2001, our
company accomplished the
largest rebranding and reposi-
tioning initiative undertaken by 
a professional services company. 

27

Destination: High Performance

Mapping Our 
Own Road to 
High Performance

Accenture is also on its own journey to achieve high performance.
So, as we conduct research on behalf of clients, we also are continuously
evaluating the best ways to invest our own resources to consistently
deliver the greatest value to our stakeholders. We believe our pursuit 
of high performance will:

• Enable us to increase global revenues and achieve higher margins.
• Provide us with the potential for developing deeper and stronger

client relationships.

• Position Accenture distinctly in the marketplace, further differenti-

ating us from our technology-centric competitors. 

• Help us create value-added offerings and intellectual property that

will continue to distinguish us from commodity suppliers.

• Create the competitive advantage we need to consistently outper-
form our peers—both in the marketplace and in market valuation. 

While this journey is continuing to evolve, we are very clear about our
destination. Through our High Performance Business strategic initiative,
we are creating a sustainable path to growth—one that will lead to an
even more exciting and profitable future for all of our stakeholders.  

Research and Innovation—Keys to Delivering High Performance
through one-to-one briefings,
High performance is a dynamic
tank of visionaries and business
global conferences, forums and
goal, demanding new tools,
leaders—is one of the contribu-
publications. In 2003 alone,
technologies, knowledge and
tors to this activity. Accenture
Accenture employees led the
solutions. In 2003, Accenture
Technology Labs, our technology
creation of more than 100 
invested $250 million in research
research and development orga-
original research studies, books
and innovation programs to 
nization that has a 16-year track
and bylined articles on subjects
create and commercialize
record of turning technology
ranging from silent commerce
insights and offerings. 
innovation into business results,
and information insight to 
also plays a key role in this area.
how to maximize the value of 
This work enables clients to
business process outsourcing.
have access to innovative,
patent-protected technology
solutions and prototypes.

Through this focused effort, we
gain knowledge of how new and
emerging technologies can be
harnessed to create innovative
business solutions for our clients.

The Accenture Institute for High
Performance Business—our think

Through our thought-leadership
program, we share our insights
with clients and opinion leaders

28

Accenture Technology Labs professionals help clients maximize technology
innovation to improve productivity and discover new sources of growth.
Here, consultant Chris Weseloh works with an in-vehicle telematics proto-
type that demonstrates how drivers can use voice commands to perform
real-time diagnostics on their automobiles. 

Accenture as a Corporate Citizen

Accenture is committed to being a responsible corporate
citizen by working as part of the societies in which we
operate, helping improve the way the world works and
lives. We seek to make a difference by using our resources
and the enabling power of technology to enhance 
education and enterprise and to bridge cultural divides.

We work closely with charities, governments, and the non-
profit and development sectors by applying our skills and
capabilities to address specific challenges and by providing
financial support. Accenture continually is seeking to
develop innovative ways to leverage its resources.

• Enablis is a not-for-profit organization we established
in partnership with Hewlett-Packard and Telesystem
Ltd., with support from the Canadian government,
to channel business knowledge, technologies and
finance to support local enterprise and achieve 
sustainable development. To read more, visit
www.enablis.org.

• Accenture Development Partnerships is a not-for-
profit group that provides Accenture professionals to
carry out projects in developing countries and transi-
tional economies at reduced costs. This arrangement
makes such services more affordable for develop-
ment organizations. For example, Accenture
Development Partnerships has been working in
Namibia with the African Development Foundation
and its local partner NamDef. The team has worked
with NamDef to develop tools to help small- and
medium-sized enterprises—including textile produc-
ers, tourism organizations and an ostrich farm—
compete in national and global markets. To read
more, visit www.accenture.com/adp.

• New Sector Alliance provides experienced Accenture

staff to mentor business school students in the
United States and Europe and team with them 
to deliver consulting assistance to charities and
non-profit organizations. For example, Accenture
volunteers teamed with MIT students from the
Sloan School of Management to help the “Jumpstart”
charity improve its strategy for identifying college
students who can help at-risk preschool children
make good use of early learning programs. To read
more, visit www.accenture.com/newsector.

At the time of the Accenture initial public offering in
2001, Accenture partners made a significant endowment

30

of Accenture shares to fund a global giving program. In
addition, Accenture implemented a local giving program
in each country in which we operate. In 2003, we took 
a major step in focusing these activities through the 
creation of the Accenture Corporate Citizenship Council,
which seeks to maximize the value and impact of our
corporate citizenship activities.

We seek to make a difference by 
using our resources and the enabling
power of technology to enhance 
education and enterprise and to 
bridge cultural divides.

In addition to these global initiatives, Accenture people
around the world are engaged at a local level in a wide
range of community initiatives. For example:

• Accenture staff in South Africa helped fund the

work of an SOS Children’s Village clinic to care for
children infected with HIV.

• In Ireland, Accenture people helped stage the 2003
Special Olympics World Summer Games for 7,000
athletes with learning disabilities.

• Accenture professionals in Nigeria helped run a
week-long residential course aimed at exposing
young Nigerians to important business skills.
• Accenture professionals in Brazil developed a 

website—Estrelas do Amanha (Tomorrow’s Stars)—
to allow teachers from across the country to share
best practices.

• In the United States, 210 Accenture employees

from our Philadelphia office worked with teachers,
students and parents to improve schools and 
facilitate learning.

Looking to the future, we are committed to finding new
ways to combine funding with the skills and experience
of our people to make positive impacts in the communi-
ties in which we live and work. Our relationship with
WorldLinks is an excellent example of this thinking in
action. In a pilot project in India, Accenture professionals
helped the WorldLinks charity set up school-based com-
puter labs and make them financially sustainable by
transforming them into thriving community “telecenters”
in the evenings. Such initiatives have the potential to
make a positive impact on bridging the digital divide.

Accenture—At a Glance: Enablers of High Performance (continued from Cover Foldout)

Capability Groups
Our capability groups—Business Consulting and Technology
& Outsourcing—build world-class skills and capabilities;
develop knowledge capital; and create, acquire and manage
assets to help clients achieve business goals. Our technology
businesses provide specialized technology and infrastructure
capabilities focused on particular technology platforms.

Global Technology Solutions—Builds, deploys and main-
tains solutions focused on application development, 
systems administration and software maintenance.
Includes Avanade, an Accenture business that builds 
customized, scalable solutions for complex electronic
business and enterprise infrastructures based on
Microsoft’s enterprise platform.

Business Consulting Capability Group
Customer Relationship Management—Helps companies
acquire, develop and retain more customers, increase the
value of these customer relationships and enhance the
economic value of their brands.

Finance & Performance Management—Helps clients 
create finance and business performance management
capabilities to drive improved profitability.

Human Performance—Creates and implements strategies
to solve human resources, workforce and culture change
issues crucial to operational success.

Strategy & Business Architecture—Helps clients develop
strategies to deliver current earnings and position them-
selves for the future.

Supply Chain Management—Helps clients improve perfor-
mance by applying leading-edge approaches to operating
model design, sourcing and procurement, demand planning, 
manufacturing, product design and fulfillment.

Accenture Customer Contact Solutions (a BPO solution
unit)—Helps clients enhance revenue and improve service
levels while reducing the cost of sales and service by 
targeting critical dimensions of customer interaction.

Outsourcing & Infrastructure Delivery—Provides full-
service outsourcing solutions, from technology infrastruc-
ture to applications and business process outsourcing.

Business Process Outsourcing
Accenture BPO businesses and solution units develop 
and deliver business process outsourcing services, helping
clients achieve higher performance at lower costs. We
provide clients immediate access to best-in-class processes
and proven, scalable services delivered through our global
network of delivery centers.

BPO Businesses
Accenture Business Services for Utilities—Offers out-
sourced business services to North American utilities. 

Accenture eDemocracy Services—Provides comprehensive
services to election agencies and private-sector entities.

Accenture Finance Solutions—Offers outsourced financial
management services to help clients streamline financial
management and improve working capital and cash flow.

Accenture HR Services—Offers outsourced human
resources services to enable higher levels of employee 
performance, productivity and satisfaction at a lower cost.

Accenture Procurement Solutions (a BPO solution unit)—
Offers outsourced procurement services to help clients
improve sourcing and reduce procurement costs.

Accenture Learning—Improves workforce productivity 
and performance through outsourced transformational
learning solutions.

Technology & Outsourcing Capability Group
Technology & Research—Designs, builds and deploys 
complex technology solutions; our technology research
and development includes Accenture Technology Labs.

Global Business Solutions—Leads our packaged software
development efforts around application suites such as SAP,
PeopleSoft, Siebel and Oracle; provides capabilities such as
enterprise resource planning, enterprise integration, data
warehousing and prepackaged business solution delivery.

Connection to eBay—Offers end-to-end services enabling
manufacturers, distributors and retailers to liquidate unsold
inventory and build significant sales channels on eBay®.

Navitaire—Offers the airline industry a variety of business
services, including reservations, revenue protection, pas-
senger revenue accounting and revenue management.

Solutions Assurance Vie (S.A.V.)—Provides outsourced life
insurance policy design and management services.

31

Consolidated Income Statements

Consolidated Income
Statement
2003

Percent of 
Revenues Before
Reimbursements

Consolidated Income
Statement
2002

Percent of
Revenues Before
Reimbursements

100%
13
113

60
13
73
14
14
1
101

12.0
(3)
0
0
0

9
4

5
(3)

2%

$ 11,818 
1,579 
13,397 

100%
13
113

$ 11,574
1,531
13,105

64
13
77
12
11
0
100

13.1
0
0
0
0

14
5

9
(5)

4%

7,508 
1,579 
9,087 
1,459 
1,300 
— 
11,846 

1,551 
10 
20 
32 
— 

1,613 
566 

1,047 
(549)

$ 498 

$
$

1.06 
1.05 

$ 1,047 
— 
— 
$ 1,047 

$
$

1.06 
1.05 

468,592,110
996,754,596

6,897
1,531
8,428
1,566
1,616
111
11,720

1,385
(321)
(3)
15
(9)

1,068
491

576
(332)

$ 245

$
$

$

$

$
$

0.57 
0.56

576 
69 
284 
929 

0.93 
0.91 

425,941,809
1,023,789,546

Revenues:
Revenues before reimbursements 
Reimbursements

Revenues

Operating Expenses:
Cost of services:

Cost of services before reimbursable expenses
Reimbursable expenses
Cost of services
Sales and marketing 
General and administrative costs 
Restructuring costs

Total operating expenses

Operating Income
Gain (loss) on investments, net(1)
Interest, net
Other income (expense)
Equity in losses of affiliates

Income Before Taxes
Provision for taxes

Income Before Minority Interest
Minority interest

Net Income

Earnings Per Share:
Basic
Diluted

Adjusted Income Before Minority Interest

Adjusted Earnings Per Share:
Basic
Diluted

Weighted Average Shares:
Basic
Diluted

32

Earnings Per Share Adjusted to Exclude 2002 Restructuring Costs and Loss on Investments, Net
Income Before Minority Interest as Reported
Add Back: Restructuring costs, net of tax
Add Back: Loss on investments, net of tax

Consolidated Balance Sheets

August 31, 2003

August 31, 2002 

Assets

Current Assets:

Cash and cash equivalents

Restricted cash(2)
Receivables from clients, net 
Unbilled services
Other current assets

Total current assets

Non-Current Assets:
Investments
Property and equipment, net
Other non-current assets

Total non-current assets

Total Assets

Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity

Current Liabilities:
Short-term debt
Accounts payable
Deferred revenues
Accrued payroll and related benefits
Other accrued liabilities

Total current liabilities

Non-Current Liabilities:
Long-term debt
Other non-current liabilities
Total non-current liabilities

Minority Interest

Shareholders’ Equity

$ 2,332 
83 
1,416 
829 
377 
5,037 

33 
650 
739 
1,422 

$ 6,459

$

46 
573 
677 
974 
1,081 
3,351 

14 
1,416 
1,430 

884 

794 

$ 1,317 
79
1,331
774
551 
4,052

85
717 
625 
1,427 

$ 5,479

$

63 
450 
544 
1,140 
1,130 
3,327 

3 
1,191 
1,194 

519 

439 

Total Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity

$ 6,459

$ 5,479 

Notes:
(1) The 2002 net loss on investments includes a charge for investment writedowns related to the disposal of substantially all our minority ownership interests 

in our venture and investment portfolio.

(2) Restricted cash represents cash available to the Accenture Stock Employee Compensation Trust for open-market share repurchases that will 

be used to fund equity-based awards for Accenture employees.

US dollar amounts in millions for the years ended August 31, 2003 and 2002, except share and per share data.

All amounts throughout this annual report are stated in US dollars except where noted.

The complete text of Accenture’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 31, 2003, including financial statements, footnotes and auditor’s
report, can be viewed via the Internet through the Investor Relations section of our website at: www.accenture.com/investor.

33

Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Joe W. Forehand
Chairman & CEO 
Accenture 

Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corp.

Dina Dublon (2,4)
Executive Vice President and 
Chief Financial Officer
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 

Karl-Heinz Floether
Group Chief Executive- 
Financial Services
Accenture 

William L. Kimsey (1)
Former Chief Executive Officer
Ernst & Young Global, Ltd.

Kedrick D. Adkins
Chief Diversity Officer
Detroit

Robert I. Lipp (3, 4)
Chairman and Chief 
Executive Officer
Travelers Property 
Casualty Corp.

Blythe J. McGarvie (1)
President
Leadership for International
Finance, LLC

Raúl E. Alvarado
Operating Group Chief
Operating Officer-Products
Los Angeles

Jorge L. Benitez
Managing Partner-HR
Matters & Change Programs
and Global People Advocate
Miami

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (2, 4)
Chairman 
Anglo American plc 

R. Timothy Breene*
Chief Strategy Officer 
Boston

Joel P. Friedman
Business Process Outsourcing-
Chief Operating Officer
Accenture

Masakatsu Mori
Chairman-Accenture Japan
Accenture

William D. Green (4)
Chief Operating Officer-
Client Services
Accenture 

Carlos Vidal
Chair-Partner Income
Committee
Accenture

Dennis F. Hightower (2,3)
Former Chief Executive Officer
Europe Online Networks S.A.

Wulf von Schimmelmann (1, 3)
Chief Executive Officer
Deutsche Postbank AG

Stephan A. James
Chief Operating Officer-
Capabilities
Accenture 

(1) Audit Committee
(2) Compensation Committee
(3) Nominating & Governance Committee
(4) Finance Committee

Patrick M. Byrne
Managing Partner-Supply
Chain Management
Washington, D.C.

Kevin Carnahan
Managing Partner-Financial 
Services, Core Europe
Frankfurt

Gianfranco Casati
Managing Partner-Products, 
Europe; Geographic Council 
Chair-Italy, Greece, Central 
and Eastern Europe, Middle 
East and Country Managing 
Director-Italy
Milan

Cherine Chalaby
Managing Partner-Business
Process Outsourcing and
Corporate Development,
Europe
London

Lai Yong Chee 
Regional Managing Director-
North Asia
Beijing

Yew Chye Ching
Regional Managing Director-
South Asia
Kuala Lumpur

David Clinton
President-Accenture HR
Services
London

Martin I. Cole
Managing Partner-Outsourcing
& Infrastructure Delivery
Hartford

Joellin Comerford*
Group Director-Sales
Development
New York

William C. Copacino*
Group Chief Executive-
Business Consulting
Boston

Pamela J. Craig*
Group Director-Business 
Operations & Services
New York

Kevin J. Dixon
Operating Group Chief
Operating Officer-
Government
Brisbane

Juan Domènech
Managing Partner-
Government, Europe, Latin 
America, Africa
Barcelona

Robert N. Duelks
Managing Partner-Financial 
Services, North America
New York

Vernon J. Ellis
International Chairman
London

Eddy J. Fikse
Partner-Resources,
North America
Dallas

Karl-Heinz Floether*
Group Chief Executive-
Financial Services
Frankfurt

Joe W. Forehand*
Chairman & CEO
Dallas

Mark Foster*
Group Chief Executive-
Products
London

34

John G. Freeland
Managing Partner-Customer 
Relationship Management
New York

David R. Hunter*
Group Chief Executive-
Asia Pacific 
Sydney

James E. Murphy
Global Managing Director-
Marketing & Communications
New York

Thomas J. Skelly
Geographic Council Chair- 
United States
Chicago

Robert N. Frerichs
Operating Group Chief
Operating Officer-
Communications & High Tech
Los Angeles

Roger Ingold
Managing Partner-Products,
Latin America and Geographic
Council Chair-Latin America
São Paulo

Joel P. Friedman
Business Process Outsourcing-
Chief Operating Officer
San Francisco

Stephan A. James*
Chief Operating Officer-
Capabilities
Dallas

Benoît Génuini
Managing Partner-Resources, 
Europe, Middle East, Africa,
Latin America and Country
Managing Director-France 
Paris

William D. Green*
Chief Operating Officer-
Client Services and 
Country Managing Director-
United States
Boston

Stanley J. Gutkowski
Managing Partner-
Government, United States
Washington, D.C.

James Hall
Managing Partner-
Technology & Research
London

F. Edwin Harbach
Managing Partner-
Client Satisfaction & Quality
Miami

Jon Harrington
Managing Partner-
Communications & High Tech, 
United States, East and
Canada
New York

Gregg G. Hartemayer*
Group Chief Executive-
Technology & Outsourcing
Chicago

David L. Hill
Managing Partner-
Products, Consumer &
Industrial, Americas
Chicago

José Luis Manzanares*
Group Director-Client Service
Operations
Madrid

Michael J. May
Managing Partner-Strategy & 
Business Architecture
and Managing Partner-
Thought Leadership
New York

Michael G. McGrath*
Chief Risk Officer
Palo Alto

Carol E. Meyer
Managing Partner-
Investor Relations
New York

David Milner
Managing Partner-Financial
Services, Service Lines and
Market Maker-Financial
Services
London

Frank B. Modruson
Chief Information Officer
Chicago

Masakatsu Mori
Chairman-Accenture Japan
Tokyo

William F. Morris
Geographic Council Chair- 
Canada and Country
Managing Director, Canada
Montreal

Tohru Murayama
Regional Managing 
Director-Japan and Country
Managing Director-Japan
Tokyo

Ralf Naef
Managing Partner-Financial
Services, Austria, Switzerland,
Germany and Geographic
Council Chair-Austria,
Switzerland, Germany 
Zurich

Jean-Marc Ollagnier
Managing Partner-Financial
Services, France, Belgium,
Netherlands, Luxembourg 
and Geographic Council
Chair-France, Belgium,
Netherlands, Luxembourg
Paris

Jesus Olmedilla
Managing Partner-
Communications & High
Tech, Europe and Latin
America
Madrid

Thomas H. Pike
Operating Group Chief
Operating Officer-Resources
New York

David B. Rich
Managing Partner-
Communications & High Tech,
United States, West
Dallas

Gill Rider*
Chief Leadership Officer
London

Stephen J. Rohleder*
Group Chief Executive-
Government
Washington, D.C.

Douglas G. Scrivner*
General Counsel and 
Secretary
Palo Alto

Markku Silén
Managing Partner- 
Communications & High Tech, 
Nordic and Geographic 
Council Chair-Denmark,
Norway, Sweden, Finland
Helsinki

Thomas K. Spann
Managing Partner-Products, 
Health & Life Sciences, 
North America
Philadelphia

David C. Thomlinson*
Group Chief Executive-
Resources
London 

Philip Toomey
Operating Group Chief
Operating Officer-
Financial Services
London 

Carlos Vidal*
Chair-Partner Income
Committee; Managing
Partner-Financial Services,
South Europe, Central Europe,
Latin America, Middle East,
South Africa; Geographic
Council Chair-Spain, Portugal,
Africa and Country Managing
Director-Spain
Madrid

Diego Visconti*
Group Chief Executive-
Communications & High Tech
Milan 

Ian Watmore
Geographic Council Chair-
United Kingdom, Ireland and 
Country Managing Director-
United Kingdom
Manchester

Jackson L. Wilson, Jr.*
Chief Executive-Business
Process Outsourcing
Dallas

Harry L. You*
Chief Financial Officer 
Dallas

* Also a member of the Management
Committee and an Executive Officer 
of Accenture

35

Shareholder Information

Stock Listing
Accenture Class A common shares are traded on the 
New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ACN.

Registrar and Transfer Agent
Branch Transfer Agent:
National City Bank
Dept. 5352
Corporate Trust Operations
P.O. Box 92301
Cleveland, OH 44193-0900

Bermuda Transfer Agent:
Reid Management Ltd
Hamilton, Bermuda 

Shareholder Services
Accenture’s branch transfer agent, National City Bank, 
provides services to registered shareholders. National 
City Bank can be contacted in the following ways:

National City Bank
Dept. 5352
Corporate Trust Operations
P.O. Box 92301
Cleveland, OH 44193-0900
Telephone: +1 800 622 6757 
Fax: +1 216 257 8508
E-mail: shareholder.inquiries@nationalcity.com

Hearing-impaired shareholders with access to a
telecommunication device (TDD) can communicate
directly with National City Bank by calling 
+1 800 622 5571 (toll free) or +1 216 257 7354.

Shareholders residing outside the United States should
call +1 216 257 8663.

36

Investor Relations
Investors and securities analysts may contact:

Carol Meyer, Managing Partner–Investor Relations 
Accenture 
1345 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10105
Telephone: +1 917 452 4578
Fax: +1 917 527 6126
E-mail: investor.relations@accenture.com
Investor Relations Hotline: +1 877 ACN 5659 in 
the United States and Puerto Rico; 
+1 703 797 1711 outside the United States and 
Puerto Rico

Corporate Communications
News media and industry analysts may contact:

Roxanne Taylor, Partner–Corporate Communications
Accenture
1345 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10105
Telephone: +1 917 452 5106
Fax: +1 917 527 5387
E-mail: roxanne.taylor@accenture.com

Available Information
Our website address is www.accenture.com. We make
available free of charge through the Investor Relations
section of our website (www.accenture.com/investor) our
Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments
to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after
such material is electronically filed with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission. Printed copies of our Annual
Report on Form 10-K are also available free of charge
upon request from our Investor Relations group. We also
make available through our website other reports filed
with the SEC under the Exchange Act, including our
proxy statements and reports filed by officers and direc-
tors under Section 16(a) of that Act, as well as our Code
of Business Ethics. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines,
Code of Business Ethics and charters of the committees
of our Board of Directors may also be found through 
the Corporate Governance section of our website
(www.accenture.com/governance). We do not intend for
information contained in this annual report or on our
website to be part of the Annual Report on Form 10-K.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, tech-
nology services and outsourcing company. Committed
to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with
its clients to help them become high-performance
businesses and governments. With deep industry and
business process expertise, broad global resources
and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize
the right people, skills and technologies to help
clients improve their performance. With more than
83,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated
revenues before reimbursements of US$11.8 billion for
the fiscal year ended August 31, 2003. Its home page
is www.accenture.com.

Forward-looking Statements and Certain Factors that May Affect Our
Business—We have included in this report and in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K filed with the SEC forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the
Exchange Act relating to our operations and results of operations that 
are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections. Words
such as “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates” and
similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve
risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. 
Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future
events that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results
may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in these forward-
looking statements.

This document makes descriptive reference to trademarks that may be
owned by others. The use of such trademarks herein is not an assertion of
ownership of such trademarks by Accenture and is not intended to repre-
sent or imply the existence of an association between Accenture and the
lawful owners of such trademarks.

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Copyright © 2003 Accenture
All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and 
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.