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FY2004 Annual Report · Accenture
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High Performance Starts Here
Annual Report 2004

High Performance Starts Here
Annual Report 2004

Annual Report 2004 

How is it that a select number of companies and government organizations consistently 
outperform their peers and deliver value to stakeholders, regardless of circumstances? 
Accenture’s hypothesis is that these enterprises, seemingly so different in external detail, 
actually share common underlying behaviors and characteristics that can be identified, 
measured and replicated. Accenture’s High Performance Business initiative is dedicated  
to investigating this premise and applying what we learn to help our clients become 
high-performance organizations.

When it comes to high performance, what we promise our clients is what we promise 
our shareholders. The Accenture Annual Report 2004 provides an overview of this High 
Performance Business story.

www.accenture.com

Contents
Accenture at a Glance 
Financial Highlights 
Letter from Our Chairman 
Letter from Our Chief Executive Officer 
Delivering High Performance to Our Clients 
  Barclays 
  BP Petrochemicals 
Telecom Italia 

  Neptune Orient Lines 
  Victoria State Government 
  Pfizer 
Fiscal 2004 Financial Performance 
Maximizing Our Investment in People 
Financial Statements 
Financial Notes 
Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Team 
Shareholder Information 

Cover Foldout
1
3
4
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
30
36
38
39
40

On the Cover
Collaboration among Accenture people from around  
the world helps drive high performance for our clients  
and accelerates Accenture’s own journey to high 
performance. Pictured in discussion are, from the left, 
Jan Jochen, Frankfurt; Vanessa Monestel, Paris; Monica 
Kovach, New York; and Ned Nicol, London.

 
Accenture—At a Glance

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology 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. The company has more than 100,000 people in 48 countries.

High Performance Starts Here 

Accenture’s success has been based on balanced, 
organic growth in a select number of markets. Each 
area of focus is chosen for expansion potential, for 
diversification of geographic and sector risk, and for 
complementary fit with the rest of our offerings. 
Accenture’s business includes:

•  Outsourcing—including application outsourcing, 
infrastructure outsourcing and business process 
outsourcing (BPO). Our BPO businesses are organized 
by functional areas (human resources, finance 
and accounting, learning and procurement) and by 
industry (airline, utilities, insurance and government).

•  Five operating groups—Communications & High 

Tech, Financial Services, Government, Products and 
Resources—together comprising 18 industry groups.

•  Five consulting service lines—Customer Relationship 

Management, Human Performance, Finance & 
Performance Management, Strategy and Supply 
Chain Management.

•  A Global Delivery Network of more than 40 centers, 

providing technology and outsourcing services  
around the world.

•  Technology professionals who leverage leading-
edge technologies, applications and our systems 
integration expertise to help clients identify new 
opportunities and drive business improvements. 

•  Accenture Technology Labs—a technology research 
and development organization combining deep 
technical and scientific expertise with business 
know-how.

•  Alliances with established and early-stage tech- 
nology companies whose offerings or capabilities 
complement our own. 

For more information on Accenture’s organization 
and capabilities, go to www.accenture.com/services.

Revenues Before Reimbursements1
US Dollars in Millions  
Years Ended August 31

Compound Annual Growth Rate
1989–2004

 16%

2004 
2003 
2002 
2001 
2000 
1999 
1998 
1997 
1996 
1995 
1994 
1993 
1992 
1991 
1990 
1989 

$ 13,673
  11,818
  11,574
  11,444
  9,752
  9,550
  8,215
  6,275
  4,942
  4,001
  3,220
  2,833
  2,583
  2,256
  1,876
$  1,433

Revenues Before Reimbursements by Operating Group

2004 

Percent 
Change 

2003 

Percent 
Change  

2002 2 

Percent
Change 

Communications & High Tech 
Financial Services 
Government 
Products 
Resources 
Other 

  Total Revenues Before Reimbursements 

$  3,741 
  2,771 
  1,995 
  2,979 
  2,178 
9 
$ 13,673 

14% 
18 
26 
14 
11 
(20) 

16% 

$  3,290 
  2,355 
  1,582 
  2,613 
  1,966 
12 

$ 11,818 

3% 
0 
20 
(3) 
(2) 
20 

2% 

$  3,182 
  2,366 
  1,316 
  2,696 
  2,005 
9 

$ 11,574 

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

1% 

Revenues Before Reimbursements by Geography

EMEA 3 
Americas 
Asia Pacific 

  Total Revenues Before Reimbursements 

2004  

Percent 
Change 

2003 

Percent 
Change  

2002 

Percent
Change 

$  6,572 
  6,133 
968 
$ 13,673 

23% 
8 
22 

16% 

$  5,353 
  5,671 
794 

$ 11,818 

8% 
(3) 
2 

2% 

$  4,963 
  5,836 
775 

$ 11,574 

11% 
(5) 
(8) 

1% 

$14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

20012

$  3,238
  2,627
  1,003
  2,624
  1,933
19

$ 11,444

2001

$  4,484
  6,113
847

$ 11,444 

1

  This chart reflects revenues before reimbursements (“net revenues”). 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 disclosed separately in our Consolidated Income Statements.

  Data presented for the twelve months ended August 31, 1997, and prior periods are derived from unaudited financial information.

2

3

  2002 and 2001 operating group revenues before reimbursements have been restated to conform with current-year presentation.

  EMEA includes Europe, Middle East and Africa.

  US dollar amounts in millions.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Accenture delivered strong results in fiscal 2004.
Twelve months ended August 31, 2004 

Growth in revenues before reimbursements

16%
 12.9%
16%

Growth in diluted earnings per share

Operating income as a percentage of revenues before reimbursements

$1.5B

Free cash flow 
Defined as operating cash flow of $1.8 billion net of property and equipment additions of $0.3 billion

 74%

From our initial public offering in July 2001 until the end  
of fiscal 2004, Accenture delivered a 74 percent return  
to shareholders during a time when the S&P 100 index  
declined 14 percent.

Fiscal 2004 results would rank Accenture at the top  
relative to the S&P 100 companies:

1st

5th

6th

56% return on invested capital

17% return on assets

59% return on equity

See Financial Notes on page 38.

2

From Our Chairman

Joe W. Forehand, Chairman

probing on issues as diverse as financial controls, 
growth strategies, leadership development, risk 
management and ethics and compliance have made 
Accenture even stronger.

I am also excited about the opportunity to continue  
to work with our clients and client teams, as well  
as contribute to our business strategy. Bill and I are 
very pleased to be able to represent Accenture to 
our clients and the global community and to further 
strengthen our leadership position at this dynamic  
time for our business.

I am honored to be a member of this great team  
and look forward to working with Bill in continuing  
to build Accenture’s legacy of success.

To Our Stakeholders:

Accenture had a phenomenal year in fiscal 2004, 
exceeding most of our own goals and performing at  
the highest levels compared with the world’s leading 
companies. We accomplished a lot in a challenging 
environment, and I’m extremely proud of all members of 
the Accenture team around the world. Their efforts give 
meaning to the words “High Performance Delivered.”

Looking ahead, I am very pleased that Bill Green has 
succeeded me as Accenture’s chief executive officer. 
His strong leadership, knowledge of our business and 
passion for our people and clients make him especially 
suited to lead our company. In the following pages,  
Bill will share with you what sets Accenture apart.

With Bill now our CEO, I continue to chair the board  
of directors. Our board has shown extraordinary leader-
ship. Our directors have guided us as well as challenged 
management on the journey from our initial public 
offering to being a well-managed public company. 
Their focus on good governance and their continuous  

Joe W. Forehand
Chairman
December 15, 2004

3

From Our Chief Executive Officer

Bill Green, Chief Executive Officer

To Our Stakeholders:

It is my pleasure to share this annual report with all of 
you. I’m honored to lead this great enterprise and proud 
of the entire Accenture team for the results we deliv-
ered in fiscal 2004. Despite the challenging economic 
environment we faced, especially early in the year, we 
executed our strategy and demonstrated our ability to 
help our clients in both the commercial and government 
sectors achieve high performance. 

When we look at our own performance as a company, 
we are serious about driving it to the highest level 
within our industry. This is critical to being a credible 
partner with our clients in helping them achieve their 
desired business outcomes and realize their aspirations. 

Over the past several years, we’ve set the bar high and 
delivered even more. In fact, we have the highest return 
on invested capital (ROIC) relative to the companies 
in the S&P 100. (See Financial Notes on page 38.) We 
have delivered higher total return to shareholders since 
going public in July 2001 compared to the S&P 100 and 
S&P 500 indices. In that same period, we’ve expanded 
our operating margins and grown earnings per share on 
average more than 10 percent per year.

We’re proud of our results, yet we know from our  
own High Performance Business research that it is 

4

challenging to stay on top year after year. As we con- 
tinue on our own journey to high performance, we have 
several areas of focus: delivering exceptional results to 
our shareholders, helping our clients achieve high perfor- 
mance and maximizing the capabilities of our people. 

Delivering results to our shareholders

Let me share our fiscal 2004 results in detail. Reve- 
nues before reimbursements (“net revenues”) were 
$13.67 billion, an increase of 16 percent in US dollars 
and 9 percent in local currency. Our net revenue growth 
for fiscal 2004 would rank Accenture 25th relative to 
the companies in the S&P 100. 

We had net revenue increases in each of our five oper-
ating groups and across all three geographic regions. 
Our consulting business grew 7 percent in US dollars 
and was flat in local currency.

Also, our outsourcing business continued to grow.  
Outsourcing net revenues increased 35 percent in  
US dollars and 28 percent in local currency, and out-
sourcing is now 37 percent of our total business. 

Overall, we continue to stay on course with our four key  
financial objectives: growing revenue ahead of our indus- 
try; maintaining/enhancing operating margins; achieving  
double-digit growth in earnings per share (EPS); and 
maintaining a strong balance sheet and cash flow.  

Accenture is on its own exciting  
journey to achieving and sustaining  
high performance.

Our continued focus on driving efficiencies throughout 
our organization, improving our selling processes and 
increasing our utilization rates all contributed to our 
success. We have a healthy balance sheet, a strong 
cash position and a promising outlook for fiscal 2005. 

Helping our clients achieve high performance

A key factor to our success is our strategy to help our  
clients become high-performance businesses and gov-
ernments. You’ll read more about the concept of High 
Performance Business in this report, but essentially 
high performers consistently exceed their peers in rev-
enue, profit growth and total return to shareholders. 

The notion of achieving and sustaining high perfor-
mance is a powerful concept. It resonates with our 
clients and the industry executives I meet with person-
ally. They understand this outcomes-oriented approach 
and believe it dramatically differentiates Accenture 
from any of our competitors. Our success is measured 
by our clients’ success. 

We’re confident we have the right strategy and have 
demonstrated that we can execute it fully. We bring 
the best of Accenture to our clients by collaborating 
with our alliance partners, leveraging our strengths  
in execution and delivery, and harnessing our expertise 
in the area of technology innovation. 

An impressive example is our work with the US govern-
ment on its United States Visitor and Immigrant Status 
Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, one of the 
largest technology programs ever undertaken by the US 
government. The Accenture-led “Smart Border Alliance” 
was selected in June 2004 by the U.S. Department of 
Homeland Security to develop and implement a new  
border management system to be deployed at the more 
than 300 air, land and sea ports of entry. (See the story 
at the top of page 7.) 

Another example of our unique approach and differen-
tiation is our Global Delivery Network. With more than 
40 delivery centers, we’re able to deliver a variety of 
technology services including applications development 
and maintenance, software reengineering, systems 
integration and business process outsourcing to clients 
around the world. Clients such as DuPont, Providian, 
Royal & SunAlliance and XM Satellite Radio lever-
age this network, which brings together the right mix 
of people, skills and capabilities working under indus-
trialized processes and practices. The network enables 
Accenture to quickly meet clients’ needs virtually 
anywhere in the world. 

Accenture also remains a leader in the area of tech-
nology innovation, and we spent a total of $272 million  
on R&D in fiscal 2004. Whether ideas or patented  

5

innovations come from our capability groups, our work 
with clients or the Accenture Technology Labs (our 
dedicated technology R&D organization), Accenture 
people at all levels continually seek to understand new 
technologies and create innovative and practical indus-
try applications for our clients. 

For example, at Galp Energia, Portugal’s leading energy 
company, we developed and implemented Galp BioPay, 
a payment system based on a customer’s biometric 
identification—in this case, his or her fingerprint. Galp’s 
gas station network is the first in the world to use this 
type of payment system, which is dramatically reducing 
customer transaction times, as well as preventing card 
identity theft and other costly forms of fraud. 

Working with the Dulles Greenway in the United States,  
a privately owned toll road in northern Virginia, we 
have developed a solution to identify vehicles by taking 
digital photographs of something they already have—
their license plates. Customers simply drive through 
“open” tollbooths without stopping. An account is cre-
ated for each vehicle and the owner is billed at a later 
time, eliminating the need for tollbooths or transponder  
devices mounted inside the vehicle. This solution will 
help improve road networks and enable surrounding 
communities to decrease traffic congestion, reduce 
harmful vehicle emissions and reduce service costs. 

6

Maximizing the capabilities of our people

Accenture is a business that runs on the ideas, knowl-
edge and know-how of the people who work here. And 
in a people-focused business, we have an obligation 
to ensure that every person at Accenture is educated, 
energized and inspired to drive our High Performance 
Business agenda forward.

We take professional development seriously, and in 
fiscal 2004 we invested more than $400 million in 
developing what we believe are the best people on the 
planet in doing what we do. Our leadership develop-
ment program, which builds on the idea of “leaders 
teaching leaders,” continues to be successful. Also 
during the fiscal year, more than 10,000 people 
attended our core curricula training courses, which are 
individually tailored to the distinct needs of Accenture’s 
workforces and the services our clients need. 

We take growth and career opportunities seriously as 
well. To ensure that our people have clarity regard-
ing their careers, we have a series of programs under 
way to better define career paths, professional growth 
opportunities and rewards for our people at all levels 
across all our workforces. 

We also realize how important it is to foster an ethical  
work environment and relationships built on trust.  

US-VISIT: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Nothing but high performance is acceptable when it comes  
to one of the primary and most visible mandates of the  
U.S. Department of Homeland Security: border management.  
In June 2004, the department selected Accenture to lead 
an alliance to design and implement the United States 
Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-
VISIT) program, which will help manage the entries and 
exits of non-US citizens, verify visitor identities, and  
support visa and immigration compliance.

Together, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials 
and the Accenture-led team, called the “Smart Border 
Alliance,” will design a system that transforms border  
management through the integration of databases, 
streamlined procedures, international data-sharing efforts 
and biometric technologies that support the work of US 
officials at home and abroad. A signature feature is the 
“Integrated Travel Folder,” a new type of person-centric, 
electronic profile that provides real-time information on 
the status of visitors to the United States.

US-VISIT will help secure America’s borders while facili-
tating trade and travel, as well as ensure the integrity 
of the immigration process while protecting individuals’ 
privacy—all defined by jointly determined measures. 

Our core values, along with our Ethics and Compliance 
Program and Code of Business Ethics, are designed to 
help ensure that everyone at Accenture acts in the best 
interests of our clients and our company at all times.

Finally, we know how powerful and precious our brand 
is and how critical it is to live our brand each day. 
As a testament to our people “living the brand,” we 
improved our ranking in BusinessWeek’s “Best Global 
Brands” from No. 52 in 2003 to No. 50 in 2004. We will 
continue to strengthen our brand equity through our 
integrated marketing program featuring world-champion 
golfer Tiger Woods, which has been extremely success-
ful in driving our “High Performance Delivered” brand 
positioning into the marketplace. 

Taking Accenture to the next level

Just like the clients we serve, Accenture is on its own 
exciting journey to achieving and sustaining high  
performance. We are defining what that means for  
us, not only relative to our industry, but also as one  
of the world’s high-performing companies.

I want to express my thanks and appreciation for the 
100,000-plus men and women of Accenture around the 
world. They are the true “heart and soul” of this enter-
prise, and we could not have achieved our results this 
year without their energy, passion and determination  

to drive our strategy in the marketplace and do what  
is right for our clients and our business.

I also want to thank Steve James and Jack Wilson,  
two Accenture board members and executives on our 
leadership team who retired at the end of August.  
Steve will continue his relationship with Accenture in 
an advisory role as international chairman, focusing  
on key clients, external relations and coaching our 
operations management. Together, Steve and Jack 
served Accenture for more than six decades, play-
ing key roles in helping Accenture become one of the 
world’s leading companies, and they both served on  
our board of directors from its inception in 2001. 

I believe we have an exciting year ahead, and I look  
forward to working with Joe Forehand, the board 
of directors and the entire leadership team to take 
Accenture to the next level of growth, innovation  
and high performance in fiscal 2005. 

William D. Green
Chief Executive Officer
December 15, 2004

7

High Performance Delivered

What we promise our clients is 

what we promise our shareholders.

No single element creates a high-performance business. It takes a special mix of factors, 
which have to be discovered and harnessed, then maintained and renewed. As we 
investigate and capture the drivers of business excellence on behalf of clients, we also 
apply that insight to ourselves so that we can deliver high performance to our investors.

9

Accenture delivers high performance 
to the marketplace.

10

High-performance businesses and governments around the world consistently outperform  
their peers, by quantifiable standards and through economic cycles as well as new generations  
of leadership. They create long-term value for all of their stakeholders—whether investors,  
customers, employees or citizens. We find that they see themselves not as being at an 
end point, but instead as being on a journey. The following pages present six examples 
of how Accenture is helping clients on their paths to high performance. For more client 
examples, go to www.accenture.com/client_successes.

We operate as a global partner with the 
world’s leading companies.

Number of software applications 
migrated to Accenture from  
Barclays’ UK retail bank 

 300+

Barclays

12

Barclays is one of the 10 largest 
banks in the world in terms  
of market capitalization, and 
operates in more than 60 coun-
tries. Barclays and Accenture 
have had a relationship for 
several decades. 

Barclays’ strategy to achieve 
high performance includes a 
number of current initiatives 
with Accenture across Europe 
and Africa. In the United 
Kingdom, the bank’s strategy 
required improvement in the 
agility, efficiency and capability 
of its retail and commercial IT 

environment, through selective 
outsourcing. To that end, in  
June 2004 Barclays signed a  
six-year contract for Accenture 
to manage its IT applications 
development function related to 
its commercial and retail bank-
ing systems. This is the largest 
outsourcing deal ever signed by 
the Accenture Financial Services 
operating group.

In Spain, Barclays selected 
Accenture to help it transform 
its customer relationship manage- 
ment function. The Accenture 
solution integrates all the sales 
management tools from various 
product channels into a single 
customer-centered system—the 
Multi-channel Delivery Platform. 

It has led to major efficiencies  
in time spent by relationship 
managers—as much as 70 percent 
in commercial transactions.

Accenture also has a number of 
other engagements with Barclays,  
including the application develop- 
ment and infrastructure renewal 
for its next-generation branch 
network in the United Kingdom, 
as well as business integration 
work for Barclays Spain’s recent 
acquisition of Banco Zaragozano. 

Customer Sean Gallagher uses a 
Barclays ATM in London. Accenture 
is managing the development of 
Barclays’ software applications to 
support state-of-the-industry retail 
banking services.

13

We help turn ideas into commercial reality.

Days to develop breakthrough 
railcar GPS business system 
from concept to prototype

 152

BP Petrochemicals 

Accenture worked with BP 
Petrochemicals to deploy wireless 
two-way communications devices 
mounted on railcars that let  
BP Petrochemicals employees  
track the company’s hazardous- 
chemicals shipments throughout 
North America.

14

The success of the concept project  
led to a subsequent seven-month  
pilot within one of the company’s  
North American rail sub-fleets. 
Within parent BP, the project 
won the prestigious “Innovation 
Award” and “Human Energy 
Award” in the company’s own 
Digital & Communications 
Technology Helios award program, 
which honors achievements that 
best support BP’s brand values.

BP Petrochemicals, a subsidiary 
of BP p.l.c., is one of the world’s 
leading petrochemicals suppliers, 
operating large-scale manufac-
turing plants in the United States,  
Europe and Asia, and serving a 
global customer base. Accenture 
has worked with parent BP  
since 1989.

Accenture teamed with BP 
Petrochemicals North America  
to pioneer a custom-built global 
positioning and monitoring 
system for its hazardous- 
chemicals rail fleet. Believed  
to be a worldwide first in the 
chemicals industry, the solution 
relies upon the use of wireless 
two-way communications 
devices, solar panels and 
attached sensors on railcars. 

Additional Web-based software 
lets the company access and 
monitor real-time information 
on the location, temperature, 
product conditions and status  
of any shipment.

BP Petrochemicals’ high-perfor-
mance objective was to unlock 
value from its rail operations,  
in terms of rail asset utilization, 
supply chain efficiencies and 
hazardous materials tracking. 
Working with BP, Accenture 
built the proof-of-concept in five 
months, using ideas from current 
prototype developments already 
under way at Accenture Technology 
Labs. The project also leveraged 
Accenture’s network of technology  
partners and the deep chemicals 
industry supply chain knowledge 
of the Accenture Resources 
operating group.

15

Accenture helped Telecom Italia 
transform service relationships  
with customers who together hold 
more than 20 million accounts. 
Customers such as Federica Foltran 
benefit from streamlined Telecom 
Italia service and the introduction 
of new services.

Telecom Italia

We bring clients closer to 
their customers.

Percentage of Telecom Italia 
customer service inquiries 
now resolved in one call

 80+

16

Telecom Italia is the largest 
telephony operator in Italy,  
with a wide range of services 
and products, and a growing 
presence in selected European 
and Latin American markets. 
Accenture has worked with 
Telecom Italia since 1993.

In 2002, a change in ownership 
at Telecom Italia was the catalyst 
for a major revamping of the 
company’s business. One of the 
new management’s first priorities 
was customer service, an area  
in which Telecom Italia faced a 
history of diminished satisfaction 
levels. Part of the challenge was 
outdated information technology: 
The organization’s customer 

relationship management (CRM) 
process alone used multiple 
systems, which were only par-
tially integrated and required 
extensive navigation to resolve 
customer issues.

Under an aggressive two-year 
master plan, Telecom Italia and 
Accenture transformed the 
company’s CRM operations. 
During that period, Accenture 
collaborated with Telecom Italia 
to redesign, integrate and 
upgrade processes, systems  
and infrastructure. End-to-end 
processes were simplified to 
meet the needs of more than 
12,000 customer service repre-
sentatives and 5,000 sales 
professionals. A single CRM 
platform has replaced legacy 
systems for managing approxi-
mately 20 million customer 
accounts.

The new CRM system is helping 
Telecom Italia on its journey to 
achieve high performance. With 
the support of the new system, 
Telecom Italia was able to launch 
more than 300 new products  
and services in a one-year period. 
With its current approach, more 
than 80 percent of customer 
inquiries are now resolved in a 
single telephone call.

17

Neptune Orient Lines 

We help clients focus on their 
core capabilities.

Cost savings commitment to 
NOL Finance & Accounting 
over eight years

 30%

18

Singapore-based Neptune Orient 
Lines (NOL) is an integrated 
transport solutions company 
providing its global customers 
with high-quality container 
shipping services as well as  
end-to-end supply chain man-
agement and logistics services. 
Accenture has worked with the 
company since 2002.

NOL’s continued future as a 
high-performance business rests 
upon increased attention to its 
core capabilities of global 
transportation and supply chain 
management. In 2002, NOL 
signed an eight-year agreement 
with Accenture to consolidate 

and manage its global accounts 
payable, accounts receivable and 
fixed assets functions. NOL’s 
objectives are reduced non-core 
expenses and access to best-of-
breed finance and accounting 
practices. Accenture has com-
mitted to and is delivering cost 
savings of 30 percent against 
previous levels over the contract 
period, as well as jointly defined 
service-level objectives.

More than 200 Accenture 
employees—chosen for language 
skills, multicultural experience 
and customer service orientation— 
support NOL around the clock 
and throughout the world, in  
19 languages. These employees 
work directly with NOL’s own 
clients daily, a demonstration  

Accenture manages NOL Group’s 
transaction-based finance func-
tions, allowing NOL’s own finance 
team to focus on creating value 
for the company’s core logistics 
and global container transporta-
tion businesses. APL is the container 
transportation arm of NOL.

of the high degree of trust in  
the relationship.

The Accenture Shared Services 
Center in Shanghai is the  
physical hub of the work with 
NOL. But in partnering with 
Accenture, NOL also benefits 
from our long track record in 
finance and accounting, our 
outsourcing experience, and the 
geographic flexibility and scale 
offered by more than 40 delivery 
centers around the world.

19

We continue to expand long-standing 
client relationships.

Client cost savings from 
implementing HR shared 
services with Accenture

 30%

Victoria State Government 

20

The Victoria State Government in 
Australia provides an extensive 
range of services to more than  
5 million citizens. Accenture has 
worked with Victoria since 1994.

In 1995, Victoria’s two central 
government departments—Premier  
and Cabinet, and Treasury and 
Finance—identified an opportu-
nity to establish a shared services 
capability to help them become 
high-performance enterprises. 
Human resources (HR) was 
selected as a target function for 
efficiency improvements along 
with finance and information 
technology. The goals were to 
provide access to high-quality 

professional HR services, deliver 
specified cost efficiencies, and 
allow the departments’ internal HR  
specialists to focus on their core 
responsibility of providing high-
level strategy and policy advice. 

In 1996, Accenture won the 
initial five-year contract to 
provide HR support services. 
Accenture’s solution created a 
new, consolidated service deliv-
ery model that gives the two 
departments’ 1,100 employees 
access to a single contact 
management center for all HR 
matters, including payroll and 
benefits, performance manage-
ment and more. The model has 
enabled the departments to 
reduce transaction times signifi-
cantly while maintaining high 
quality and consistency.

The contract, which has since 
been extended twice, is believed 
to be one of the world’s longest- 
running HR outsourcing agree-
ments. In 2004, the Victoria 
government expanded its relation- 
ship with Accenture by adding  
the Department for Victoria 
Communities to the agreement. 
In another demonstration of  
confidence, the departments have  
invited Accenture to participate 
more actively in services such as 
advising on complex industrial 
relations issues and measuring 
return-on-investment of training 
initiatives.

Victoria State Government employee 
Penni Fisher consults with Accenture’s 
Leigh Maynes outside the Old Treasury  
Building in Melbourne. Accenture 
provides consolidated human resources  
services to several of the government’s  
departments.

21

We deliver innovative solutions to enable 
clients to manage scale.

Efficiency improvements  
delivered to Pfizer through tax  
organization transformation

 40%

Pfizer 

22

Pfizer is one of the world’s 
leading health care companies, 
and one of the five largest 
companies in the world in terms 
of total market capitalization in 
any industry. Accenture has 
teamed with Pfizer since 1992.

Pfizer’s dedication to high 
performance is aptly contained 
in its mission to “become the 
world’s most valued company.” 
After Pfizer acquired Pharmacia 
in 2003, Accenture worked 
closely with Pfizer to help the 
company realize value from the 
resulting combined corporate  
tax division that had grown 
significantly in both global 

responsibilities and complexity. 
Accenture’s approach combined 
business solutions—for improved 
governance and transparency  
in process, data and knowledge 
management—with technology 
integration and organizational 
alignment.

Within a year of engagement, 
Accenture had collaborated with 
Pfizer to complete the design 
and implementation of a new 
Pfizer tax service platform. Among  
other capabilities, the solution 
created a virtual work space by 
developing a user portal that 
integrates document manage-
ment, reporting and analysis, 
process automation and ”balanced 
scorecard” performance metrics.

The new capabilities are designed 
to enable Pfizer’s tax division to 
better manage the increased scale  
of company operations spanning 
thousands of tax jurisdictions 
and hundreds of legal entities. 
Accenture’s tax transformation 
work is part of a larger relation-
ship with Pfizer that includes a 
number of post-merger integra-
tion projects in recent years. 
These projects range from IT 
infrastructure integration to 
accounting process and system 
harmonization.

Pfizer’s tax division is responsible 
for collecting data around the world 
on dozens of best-selling Pfizer 
products—including Celebrex, Viagra 
and Lipitor. Accenture helped Pfizer 
efficiently manage the increased 
tax complexity created by Pfizer’s 
acquisition of Pharmacia. 

23

William Westerman and Tanya Leake 
from Accenture Technology Labs 
discuss an upcoming Innovation 
Workshop at the Palo Alto, California, 
location. Leaders from some of the 
world’s largest organizations attend 
these workshops to discuss tech-
nology trends and collaborate with 
our R&D team. 

Accenture brings  
high performance home.

24

The essential high-performance business challenge for any organization is learning  
how to balance today and tomorrow. Leading organizations not only meet their  
current commitments to clients and other stakeholders, they also anticipate tomorrow’s 
developments—investing, testing and preparing for brand new markets to emerge.  
If necessary, they reinvent themselves entirely. How do we know? We’ve done it 
ourselves, as our financial performance demonstrates.

In fiscal 2004, our results affirmed the relevance of our  
High Performance Business approach.

In the marketplace, our objective  
is to help our clients achieve 
sustained improvement in business 
performance. Within Accenture,  
our goal is the same. We strive to 
apply what we learn from our work 
with clients to improve our perfor- 
mance and, in the process, put 
distance between ourselves and  
our competitors.

In fiscal 2004, our results affirmed 
the relevance of our High Perfor-
mance Business approach. We 
increased revenues, new bookings 
and employee headcount. These 
accomplishments are due to the 
investments and difficult deci-
sions we made in previous years, 
and in turn are the foundation for 
what we believe will be even more 
impressive performance ahead.

The balanced and widespread 
nature of our growth is just as 
important as the rates of increase. 
We achieved double-digit growth 
across all five of our operating 

groups and have won several large, 
multiyear agreements. Further, our 
work with clients today often com-
bines business consulting, systems 
integration and outsourcing.

Our clients

Accenture’s high performance is based  
on strong client relationships—with 
leading companies and government  
entities. During fiscal 2004, a number 
of signature engagements—note-
worthy for financial scale, global 
reach or pioneering nature—confirmed  
this approach.

Accenture secured two major 
contracts with the UK National 
Health Service to help the organi-
zation improve patient health care  
in northeast and eastern England.  
Also, we signed an IT outsourcing 
agreement with Diageo—one of  
the world’s leading premium drinks 
businesses—to develop, implement 
and support its enterprise resource 
planning systems on a global  
basis. Further, Accenture achieved 

26

Number of our top 100 clients  
in fiscal 2004 that have been  
clients for at least five years

93

record-breaking new bookings of 
$20.1 billion during fiscal 2004, 
including agreements with clients 
such as Scandinavian telecom 
provider Telenor, consumer elec-
tronics retailer Best Buy, online 
Marketplace eBay, apparel icon 
Levi Strauss & Co. and Finland-
based metals group Outokumpu 
Oyj. (See Financial Notes on  
page 38.) 

We also continued our work to 
enable high performance among 
the world’s most advanced tech-
nology organizations. In the United 
Kingdom, Accenture signed a 
technology outsourcing agreement 
to manage and upgrade the IT 
infrastructure of QinetiQ, the 
largest independent research and 
development organization in Europe. 
This agreement will allow recently 
privatized QinetiQ to focus on 
expanding the commercial oppor-
tunities of its extraordinary R&D 
legacy, which includes radar, carbon 
fiber and flat-panel display screens.

Cultivating distinctive capabilities

We are proud of these and all of 
our client relationships, but we 
are well aware of the potential 
risk posed by competitors. As they 
attempt to imitate or follow our 
direction, Accenture’s continued 
high performance will come from 
the development of distinctive and 
not-easily-duplicated capabilities. 
These proprietary assets will not 
only propel increased revenues and 
margins, but also differentiate us 
from technology-centric rivals.

To give our clients access to  
innovative, patent-protected tech-
nology solutions and prototypes, 
we continued to invest in research 
and development during fiscal 
2004, primarily through Accenture 
Technology Labs. Additionally, to 
create and disseminate innovative 
thinking, we increased the profile 
of our “think-and-act tank,” the 
Institute for High Performance 
Business, which conducts rigorous 

original research programs  
structured to deliver innovative  
and commercially compelling 
insight to senior executives.

At the forefront of outsourcing

Our client relationships require  
continuous investment. We have 
built a global network of more 
than 40 delivery centers serving 
hundreds of clients. This ready 
infrastructure offers multisite  
flexibility, standardized processes 
and tools, and consistent skills 
and reliability. Our most recently 
opened center in Mauritius adds  
an additional geographic option  
to a network designed to cover  
all markets. 

As outsourcing models have matured  
and proliferated, we have remained 
at the forefront. We have, for 
example, forged new ways of struc-
turing outsourcing agreements, 
with innovative gain-sharing and 
self-funding features.

27

Our changing business mix 

Percent of Total Revenues Before Reimbursements  
Years Ended August 31

Consulting 

Outsourcing

18%

24%

32%

82%

76%

37%

68%

63%

2001*

2002*

2003*

2004

* 2001–2003 revenues before reimbursements by type of work have been restated to conform 
with current-year presentation.

Our BPO businesses continue to 
offer business solutions in selected 
functional disciplines and industries.  
Through business process outsourc-
ing, we have helped our clients:

•  Complete more than 10 million 
online human resources trans-
actions.

•  Provide training in nine languages  
to more than 1 million users in 
143 countries.

•  Perform revenue accounting for 
32 airlines, including six of the 
world’s 10 largest.

•  Provide pension funds administra-
tion for 600,000 members and 
20,000 employees.

•  Process more than 1 million 

insurance policies.

•  Provide finance and accounting 
services in 37 languages to  
client operations in more than  
49 countries.

In all these cases, BPO clients have 
benefited from the advantages of 
standardization and economies  
of scale.

Alliances and partnerships

Accenture extends its High Perfor-
mance Business strategy through 
a powerful network of alliances 
and partners that includes both 
well-established and early-stage 
technology companies. We have 
actively built and managed this 
network to provide clients with 
sourcing choices, speed-to-market 
opportunities, preferred pricing and 
access to the very best specialized 
technology.

During fiscal 2004, we extended 
the benefits of our alliances. 
Our Avanade joint venture with 
Microsoft strengthened through a 
number of key client engagements. 
We pursued major initiatives with 
SAP, including the transition of our 
own global accounting and finan-
cial infrastructure to an SAP-based 

28

While meeting our current commitments  
to stakeholders, we continue to build the  
Accenture of tomorrow.

difficult economic cycles, to rein-
vent our business when necessary, 
to make difficult decisions and to 
maintain fiscal discipline. From our 
roots in IT consulting, Accenture 
has become an organization with 
the depth and breadth to take on 
the most complex, long-term  
business challenges anywhere.

While we cannot know what the 
Accenture of five years from now 
will look like, we do know that 
we’ve structured our fast-paced 
business in a manner that enables 
us to continually redefine our-
selves to be relevant to our clients 
and the challenges of a changing 
marketplace. 

system—one of the largest initia-
tives of its kind. We also continued 
to focus on information security 
through alliances with companies 
such as RSA Security.

Building Accenture,  
today and tomorrow

While meeting our current commit-
ments to stakeholders, we continue 
to build the Accenture of tomorrow. 
We believe our results reflect our 
ability to optimize our core consult-
ing business model and our expan- 
sion into high-growth areas such  
as business process outsourcing.

Today, clients are turning to  
Accenture to put major transfor-
mation initiatives in place and to 
help them concentrate on core 
activities through outsourcing  
of transformation initiatives, busi-
ness processes, applications and 
infrastructure.

Accenture consistently has demon-
strated the ability to grow through 

29

Accenture invests in its people to 
benefit clients, shareholders and 
communities.

30
30

At the Accenture Delivery Center in 
Prague, employees provide services 
to clients throughout Europe, often 
as part of a global outsourcing  
contract. Pictured here (from left  
to right) are Branislav Pazurik, 
Martina Opltova, Lydia Fichnova, 
Petra Casenska and Mihai Hleuca. 

Our ability to deliver high performance to clients and apply its principles within 
Accenture rests directly on recruiting, training and retaining the very best employees.  
We consider ourselves an organization of motivated people doing extraordinary  
things. The pages that follow portray who we are and how we work together—in 
collaboration with clients, within Accenture and as citizens of the world around us. 

31

While Accenture employees are diverse as individuals,  
they embody a remarkably global and uniform culture.

Leading enterprises are defined by 
the combined strengths of their 
people, and high performance is 
embedded in their organizations 
and cultures. While Accenture 
employees are diverse as individu-
als, as a collective organization 
they embody a remarkably global 
and uniform culture—innovative, 
collaborative, committed, flex-
ible and smart. At Accenture, 
we consider our own journey to 
achieve high performance “living 
the brand.”

Accenture strives to hire the best  
people, trains them well and rewards  
them for delivering high perfor-
mance. At fiscal year end, the total 
number of our employees worldwide  
stood at more than 100,000, up from  
83,000 the previous year. Our 
employees are deployed organiza-
tionally in a matrix structure, which 
balances the perspectives of global 
operating groups and specialized 
capability groups with the more local  
outlook of geographic-market teams. 

Training and development

To enable and sustain the delivery  
of high performance to shareholders  
and clients, Accenture invests con-
tinuously in its people. In fiscal 2004, 
we invested more than $400 million 
in formal professional development, 
leveraging that outlay through the 
increased use of computer-based 
training programs. The latest avail-
able peer comparison study told us 
that Accenture employees spend  
50 percent more time in training 
than the industry average.

Accenture also invests heavily in 
technology and training across our 
locations to achieve the highest 
quality certification levels assigned 
by independent organizations. 
Within our Global Delivery Network, 
investment in Six Sigma certification 
drives continuous improvement, and 
this type of training is characteris-
tic of the employee curriculum at 
Accenture. The Accenture eSourcing  
Capability Model, developed in  

32

Number of Accenture employees  
as of August 2, 2004

 100,000

Juan Manuel De La Torre Álvarez in our Mexico City 
office was among the 861 employees who joined 
Accenture on August 2, 2004, putting the company  
over the 100,000 mark. More than 30,000 people  
joined the company in fiscal 2004. 

collaboration with Carnegie Mellon 
University, offers the world’s first 
industrywide certification standards 
for outsourcing service providers. 

Because the nature of Accenture’s 
work requires a client-specific 
combination of consulting, systems 
integration and operational service 
skills, with every assignment our 
professionals are challenged to 
stretch and collaborate. Sometimes, 
this means geographic mobility, as 
new project teams are assembled 
from the best available professionals  
in our global network. In other cases,  
it means readiness to encounter 
a wide range of different project 
challenges. We believe this team-
work benefits our clients through 
the constant flow of new insight 
gained from Accenture colleagues 
and multiple client engagements.

Market confirmation

Our achievements have been rec-
ognized by a number of third-party 
citations and awards. In the United 

Kingdom, Accenture was named 
the No. 3 company on The Times’ 
[London] “Top 100 Graduate  
Employers” list. That rank was 
based on a survey of 16,000 UK 
university students that assessed, 
among other factors, training and 
development opportunities as well 
as overall corporate reputation. In 
the United States, Accenture was 
named to Working Mother mag-
azine’s “100 Best Companies for 
Working Mothers” for the second 
straight year, in recognition of a 
number of initiatives, most notably 
a US policy upgrade of maternity 
leave from six weeks to eight. 
Accenture also was ranked 33rd in 
Black Collegian magazine’s “Top 50 
Diversity Employers” and ranked 
27th in Fortune’s “50 Most Desir-
able MBA Employers 2004.”

Corporate citizenship

For Accenture, corporate citizenship  
is about good business sense, 
enlightened employment practices  

and a commitment to make a differ- 
ence in the communities in which 
we operate. We consider our cor-
porate community involvement an 
integral extension of our employee 
initiatives. To that end, Accenture 
directs a structured program to 
contribute to the world around us. 
During fiscal 2004, our approach 
became more focused on three 
areas of activity—educating people, 
alleviating poverty and crossing 
cultural divides—and on technology 
enablement in those areas.

In our corporate citizenship invest-
ment initiatives—as in our client 
work—we focus on projects that 
have measurable outcomes and 
sustainable benefits. We seek to 
support initiatives, either global  
or local, where our contributions 
will build sustainability rather than 
build dependency. Such projects 
may include elements that lead 
to either self-financing or the 
structural transfer of skills to an 
organization.

33

In our corporate citizenship investment initiatives— 
as in our client work—we focus on projects that have 
measurable outcomes and sustainable benefits. 

A portfolio of support

Our global corporate citizen-
ship investment initiatives focus 
on multicountry programs sup-
ported by funds from Accenture 
Foundations around the world. For 
example, a grant made in 2004 
is enabling Aidmatrix to expand 
food relief efforts globally as well 
as enhance capacities for disaster 
relief and medical-supply aid. Other 
grants went to Learning@Europe 
for a program that uses innovative 
technology to teach children across 
cultures, and to Women’s World 
Banking to support economic-
participation workshops for female 
entrepreneurs in underdeveloped 
markets.

We encouraged and supported  
local programs that also have 
community volunteering com-
ponents—including Junior 
Achievement in the United States, 
Canada and elsewhere, Enfants  
du Mekong in France, NPower in 

the United States and the Prince’s 
Trust in the United Kingdom.

Non-monetary contributions

Importantly, Accenture’s corporate  
citizenship approach involves non-
monetary contributions such as 
expertise, technology know-how 
and organizational capabilities. We 
often link grants or gifts to the 
involvement of Accenture people,  
in the belief that the greatest  
contributions we have to offer are 
the skills, experience and enthu-
siasm of our people. In Spain, for 
example, this approach has led to 
an extensive structured program 
in which employees can volunteer 
to participate in pro bono projects 
with leading international non- 
governmental organizations.

Another example is our involvement 
with a Voluntary Service Overseas 
(VSO) program. Through the VSO 
Business Partnerships Scheme, 
qualified Accenture employees  
have been taking unpaid leaves  

34

Accenture employee Louise Mackeson-Sandbach is  
pictured with children in Phnom Penh as she studies the  
Khmer language. As part of the Voluntary Service Overseas 
Business Partnerships Scheme, Mackeson-Sandbach, based 
in the United Kingdom, went to Cambodia to help its  
Department of Fisheries create community fisheries that  
help support individual livelihoods.

of absence to bring business skills  
to specific projects in Africa, Asia 
and Eastern Europe. Accenture was 
the first corporate member of VSO 
and helped pioneer the Business 
Partnerships Scheme. A grant from 
the Accenture Foundations sup-
ports involvement of Accenture 
people from the United Kingdom, 
Netherlands, Germany, Italy and  
the United States.

Further, through Accenture  
Development Partnerships,  
Accenture makes high-quality 
consulting services available to 
organizations working in the  
development sector, on the basis 
of cost recovery against much-
reduced fees. Qualified Accenture 
employees apply to participate  
and typically are assigned to a 
project in a developing country for 
a six-month assignment, making a 
personal contribution through  
a substantial reduction in salary.  
In Bangladesh, for example,  
Accenture employees from  

South Africa and Ireland have 
teamed with the largest local 
affiliate of the humanitarian non-
governmental organization CARE 
International to locally mobilize 
CARE’s new, deeper approach to 
achieving sustainable development.

Many of our employees indicate 
that they come to Accenture to do 
interesting, challenging work that 
truly makes a difference. They  
want to tackle complex, business- 
critical problems and leave a 
lasting impact. Our volunteer 
corporate citizenship programs 
provide Accenture employees with 
the opportunity to fulfill these 
aspirations in non-traditional envi-
ronments, using and strengthening 
the same skills and character traits 
they offer Accenture clients and 
colleagues.

For more information about our 
corporate citizenship initiatives, 
please go to www.accenture.com/
corporate_citizenship.

High performance starts  
with our people

For Accenture, high performance 
is more than an aspiration for our 
work with clients. It is the com-
mitment of Accenture people to 
each other, to our neighbors in the 
communities where we live and 
work, to our shareholders and to  
all those with whom we interact.  
It’s High Performance Delivered.

35

Twelve  

Percent of 
Months Ended   Revenues Before 
Reimbursements 

August 31, 2004 

Twelve  

Percent of 
Months Ended   Revenues Before 
Reimbursements

August 31, 2003 

$ 13,673 
  1,440 

  15,113 

100% 
11 

111 

$ 11,818 
  1,579 

  13,397 

100%
13

113

64
13

77
12
11

100

13.1

14
5

9
(5)

4%

  9,057 
  1,440 

  10,497 
  1,488 
  1,340 
29 

  13,355 

  1,759 
3 
38 
— 
(2) 

  1,799 
576 

  1,223 
(532) 

$  691 

$  1.25 

$  1.22 

553,298,104 

1,002,813,443 

66 
11 

77 
11 
10 

98 

12.9 

13 
4 

9 
(4) 

5% 

  7,508 
  1,579 

  9,087 
  1,459 
  1,319 
(19) 

  11,846 

  1,551 
10 
20 
32 
— 

  1,613 
566 

  1,047 
(549) 

$  498 

$  1.06

$  1.05

468,592,110

996,754,596

Consolidated Income Statements

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 and reorganization costs (benefits)  

  Total operating expenses 

Operating Income 
Gain on investments, net 
Interest, net 
Other income  
Equity in losses of affiliates 

Income Before Income Taxes 
Provision for income taxes 

Income Before Minority Interest 
Minority interest 

  Net Income 

Earnings Per Share
Basic 

Diluted 

Weighted Average Shares
Basic 

Diluted 

36

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Consolidated Balance Sheets

Assets
Current Assets
Cash and cash equivalents 
Restricted cash  
Short-term investments  
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 

  Total Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity 

August 31, 2004 

August 31, 2003

$ 2,553 
— 
285 
  1,662 
  1,015 
  582 

  6,097 

340 
644 
907 

  1,891 

$ 7,988 

$  32 
524 
980 
  1,508 
  1,369 

  4,413 

2 
  1,160 

  1,162 

941 

  1,472 

$ 7,988 

$ 2,332
83
—
  1,416
829
377

  5,037

33
650
739

  1,422

$ 6,459

$  46
573
677
974
  1,038

  3,308

14
  1,381

  1,395

924

832

$ 6,459

US dollar amounts in millions, except share and per share data.

The complete text of Accenture’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 31, 2004, 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.

37

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Note concerning page 27
New Bookings—We provide information regarding our  
bookings because we believe doing so provides useful trend 
information regarding changes in the volume of our new 
business over time. Information regarding our new bookings 
is not comparable to, nor should it be substituted for, an 
analysis of our revenues over time.

Forward-looking statements and certain factors that 
may affect our business
We have included in this report forward-looking statements 
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act 
and Section 21E of the Exchange Act relating to our opera-
tions and results of operations that are based on our current 
expectations, estimates and projections. 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.

Trademark references
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 represent or imply the 
existence of an association between Accenture and the  
lawful owners of such trademarks.

Financial Notes

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.

Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures
The Accenture Annual Report 2004 contains certain non-
GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) measures 
that our management believes provide our shareholders 
with additional useful information. The non-GAAP measures 
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. 

Notes concerning page 2 and 4
Total Return to Shareholders—Accenture’s Total Return 
to Shareholders is calculated as the closing stock price on 
August 31, 2004, divided by the closing stock price on  
July 20, 2001, minus 1. 

Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)—Accenture’s Return 
on Invested Capital 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 GAAP. Accenture’s Return on Invested 
Capital for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2004, is defined 
as Operating Income of $1.759 billion, adjusted by the annual 
effective tax rate of 32 percent, which equals $1.196 billion, 
of which the product is then divided by the average capital 
of $2.131 billion, yielding a 56 percent ROIC metric. Aver-
age 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, 2003, and August 31, 2004, 
and that entire sum divided by 2 to obtain the average of 
$2.131 billion. 

Return on Assets (ROA)—Accenture’s Return on Assets for 
the fiscal year ended August 31, 2004, is defined as Income 
Before Minority Interest of $1.223 billion, divided by average 
assets of $7.223 billion, yielding a 17 percent ROA metric. 
Average assets is defined as the sum of assets at August 31, 
2003, and August 31, 2004, divided by 2 to obtain the aver-
age of $7.223 billion. 

Return on Equity (ROE)—Accenture’s Return on Equity for 
the fiscal year ended August 31, 2004, is defined as Income 
Before Minority Interest of $1.223 billion, divided by average 
Shareholders’ Equity plus Minority Interest of $2.084 billion, 
yielding a 59 percent ROE metric. Average Shareholders’ 
Equity plus Minority Interest is defined as the sum of  
Shareholders’ Equity plus Minority Interest at August 31, 
2003, and August 31, 2004, and that entire sum divided  
by 2 to obtain the average of $2.084 billion. 

38

Board of Directors

Executive Leadership Team

Joe W. Forehand
Chairman 
Accenture 

William D. Green 
Chief Executive Officer  
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. 

Joel P. Friedman
President–BPO Businesses 
Accenture

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

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

Robert I. Lipp 3, 4
Executive Chairman  
The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc.

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

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

Masakatsu Mori
Chairman–Accenture Japan Ltd. 
Accenture

Carlos Vidal 4
Managing Partner–Geographic  
Strategy & Operations  
Accenture

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

1

  Audit Committee
2  Compensation Committee
3  Nominating & Governance Committee
4  Finance Committee

R. Timothy Breene
Chief Strategy Officer and Group Chief 
Executive–Business Consulting 
Boston

Martin I. Cole 
Group Chief Executive–Government 
Hartford

Joellin Comerford 
Group Chief Executive– 
Outsourcing & BPO Businesses 
New York

Pamela J. Craig
Senior Vice President–Finance 
New York

Karl-Heinz Floether
Group Chief Executive– 
Financial Services  
Frankfurt

Mark Foster 
Group Chief Executive–Products  
London

Robert N. Frerichs 
Chief Quality & Risk Officer  
Los Angeles

William D. Green 
Chief Executive Officer  
Boston

James Hall
Managing Partner– 
Technology & Systems Integration  
London

Jane S. Hemstritch
Managing Director–Asia Pacific  
Melbourne

David R. Hunter
Senior Partner–Strategic Programs  
Sydney

Michael G. McGrath 
Chief Financial Officer  
Palo Alto

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

Gill Rider
Chief Leadership Officer  
London

Stephen J. Rohleder 
Chief Operating Officer  
Washington, D.C.

Basilio Rueda
Managing Partner– 
Global Delivery Network  
Madrid

Douglas G. Scrivner 
General Counsel and Secretary  
Palo Alto

Jill B. Smart
Managing Partner–Human Resources  
Chicago

David C. Thomlinson 
Group Chief Executive–Resources  
London 

Carlos Vidal
Managing Partner–Geographic  
Strategy & Operations  
Madrid

Diego Visconti 
Group Chief Executive– 
Communications & High Tech  
Milan

39

Shareholder Information

Stock Listing

Investor Relations

Accenture Ltd 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 
  www.nationalcitystocktransfer.com

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 tele-
communication 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.

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 on 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 or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange 
Commission (the “SEC”) pursuant to Section 13(a) or 
15(d) of the Exchange Act. We also make available 
through our website other reports filed with or fur-
nished to the SEC under the Exchange Act, including 
our proxy statements and reports filed by officers and 
directors under Section 16(a) of that Act, as well as  
our Code of Business Ethics. 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.

40

 
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Copyright © 2004 Accenture
All rights reserved.

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