Talk:Accenture

Request re: services listed in introduction

Hi all! Recent edits by an IP editor replaced the previous wording in the introduction that neutrally summarized Accenture's services. The resulting wording is both inaccurate as it does not reflect Accenture's current services, and is not in line with Wikipedia's guidelines that discourage the use of jargon and capitalized text to describe service types in the introduction. Here's the current problematic wording:

Accenture plc, stylised as accenture, is an Irish-domiciled multinational professional services company that provides services in Management Consulting, Data Science & Analytics, Digital Marketing, Technology Delivery and Operations Outsourcing.

I'd like to ask if editors would consider updating the introduction to fix these issues. As Accenture's service offerings have recently changed, but there's not yet any appropriate sourcing available to confirm the details, I'd like to share a few options here for consideration:

• Option 1: Simply reverting to the previous wording; while slightly out-of-date it does give a general overview of Accenture's services and meets Wikipedia's standards

• Option 2: Replacing with the following, which would bring the text up to date with Accenture's current service breakdown: "provides services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations"

• Option 3: Remove the specifics about services in the introduction and end the first sentence after "professional services company". Ie. the first sentence would read: Accenture plc, stylised as accenture, is an Irish-domiciled multinational professional services company.

Dormskirk: Since you've reviewed my requests here before, would you be willing to take a look at this? What do you think would be best to do here? Thanks in advance, 16912 Rhiannon (Talk · COI) 21:25, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi - I have gone for option 3 which keeps in simple. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 21:35, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Thanks so much for taking a look at this, Dormskirk. Hope you're keeping well! 16912 Rhiannon (Talk · COI) 01:29, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

recent history listing of acquisions

As it appears this company is quite active, we should consider consolidating recent history into coherent paragraphs so does not become one long list of acquisitions. Earnsthearthrob (talk) 21:53, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Awards & recognition 2020 update request

Hi all! Once again, I'm here with some updates on behalf of Accenture as part of my work with Beutler Ink. This time I have a few different updates to ask about, so I'm going to break them up into individual requests for ease of review.

First up, the Awards section:

• The following award is quite minor and I'd like to suggest removing it, in favor of keeping this section focused on notable awards and recognition: Best in KLAS Overall Healthcare Management Consulting Firm
• The 2019 and 2020 Fortune rankings are not yet included. Please can the following be added:

In 2019, Accenture was ranked No. 298 on the Fortune Global 500 list.

In 2020, Accenture was ranked No. 279 on the Fortune Global 500 list.

Also, would it make sense to remove the earlier rankings when adding these? Or just adding the most recent?

• The following can be updated: In 2019, Ethisphere Institute recognized Accenture for the 12th time.

I suggest updating this entry to replace 2019 and 12th, to read: In 2020, Ethisphere Institute recognized Accenture for the 13th time.

Please note: the link in the source is the same as the 2019 one but the content has been updated by Ethisphere to the 2020 honorees

• Similarly, the following can be updated as the link is the same, but now reflects 2020 rankings: Fortune named Accenture one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For from 2009 to 2019.

My proposed update is as follows: Fortune named Accenture one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For from 2009 to 2020.

• Can the Forbes ranking also be updated or added for 2020?:

In 2020, Accenture was ranked No. 205 on the Forbes Global 2000.

• Likewise, can the DiversityInc. ranking be updated or added for 2020?:

In 2020, the firm was ranked No. 5 in the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc.

Dormskirk: Wondering if you might have a few moments to take a look at this since you have reviewed my requests here before? For full transparency, confirming I have a conflict of interest since this request is made on behalf of Accenture as part of my work with Beutler Ink. Thanks in advance! 16912 Rhiannon (Talk · COI) 15:26, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

References
References

Done, I think. Please let me know if I have got anything wrong. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 15:46, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Awards & recognition

Hello! I noticed back-and-forth editing that removed the Awards & recognition section. I'd like to ask others, including User:Dormskirk, who has frequently helped keep Awards & recognition up-to-date, to consider reinstating the section, or see if some of the more notable recognition (such as Fortune Global 500, Forbes Global 2000, Fortune's Most Admired Companies), could be merged elsewhere in the article instead of being deleted altogether. I bring up this discussion on behalf of Accenture as part of my work at Beutler Ink (as disclosed above) as User:16912 Rhiannon has in the past. Thanks, Inkian Jason (talk) 15:53, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

I think the catalyst for the issue was that some fairly trivial awards such as IT items were being added. I would be OK with adding a very short list of (say) five or six items if other editors agree. I am copying MrOllie for a view. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 15:59, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

@Dormskirk: Thanks, I've asked for feedback from MrOllie as well, here. Inkian Jason (talk) 15:50, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

I could support this if it is limited to a short list of notable awards. - MrOllie (talk) 16:24, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. I have added the six most recent awards back in. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 16:55, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

@Dormskirk and MrOllie: Thank you, both, for weighing in here. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:31, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

November 2020 update request

I'd like to propose some improvements to this Wikipedia article, which I'm submitting on behalf of Accenture as part of my work at Beutler Ink (as disclosed above). For this request, I propose updating two paragraphs in History, and one in Marketing, branding and identity to provide additional context surrounding certain topics.

Specifically, I propose:

1. Adding a sentence (in green text) to the following paragraph in History: "In June 2018, Accenture generated controversy over the amount the firm has been charging to recruit 7,500 Customs and Border Protection officers. Under the $297 million contract, Accenture had been charging the US Government nearly $40,000 per hire, which is more than the annual salary of the average officer. According to a report published by the DHS Office of Inspector General in December 2018, Accenture had been paid $13.6M through the first ten months of the contract. They had hired two agents against a contract goal of 7,500 hires over 5 years. The report was issued as a 'management alert', indicating an issue requiring immediate attention, stating that "Accenture has already taken longer to deploy and delivered less capability than promised". The contract was terminated in 2019."
2. Adding a sentence (in green text) to the following paragraph in History: "In February 2019, contractors from Accenture's Austin, Texas location who performed content moderation tasks for Facebook wrote an open letter to Facebook describing poor working conditions and a "Big Brother environment" that included restricted work breaks and strict non-disclosure agreements. A counselor in the Austin office stated that the content moderators could develop posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the work, which included evaluating videos and images containing graphic violence, hate speech, animal abuse, and child abuse. Accenture issued a statement saying the company offers opportunities for moderators to advance, increase their wages, and provide input "to help shape their experience"."
3. In Marketing, branding and identity, replacing "As of 2019, Accenture is currently engaged in a lawsuit with The Hertz Corporation. Hertz sued Accenture in April over a contract where Accenture was hired to build a website and app for Hertz. On 12 September, both parties appeared before the judge and provided oral arguments on the legitimacy of Hertz's complaint and Accenture's motion to dismiss. On 15 November, fact discovery is likely to be completed according to schedule, with expert witness depositions finished by 31 January 2020, and a pre-trial conference on 21 February." with "The Hertz Corporation sued Accenture in April 2019 over a contract where Accenture was hired to build a website and app for Hertz. On 12 September, both parties appeared before the judge and provided oral arguments on the legitimacy of Hertz's complaint and Accenture's motion to dismiss. In October 2019, a judge dismissed with prejudice Hertz's claim that Accenture violated Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The judge declined to determine at that time whether an agreement limits the damages available to Hertz for its breach of contract claim." The live article text includes outdated court scheduling and lacks information on a judge dismissing Hertz's accusation that Accenture violated Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

References

@Dormskirk: Since you have reviewed edit requests in the past, I'm wondering what you think of these proposed updates.

Thanks! Inkian Jason (talk) 17:04, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

Most of the proposed changes look not unreasonable to me but it would be good if other editors could also take a look. I suggest you use the edit request template. Best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 17:12, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

@Dormskirk: OK, no problem and thanks for replying. I've added the template as suggested. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:18, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

@MrOllie: Do you care to review this request? I'm trying to add context to a few topics that are in the live article. Dormskirk said "Most of the proposed changes look not unreasonable" but was hoping another editor could also review. I added {{edit request}} on Nov. 2 and posted a message at WikiProject Business on Nov. 11, but there have been no responses so far. Thanks in advance for considering, Inkian Jason (talk) 16:25, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

The queue is backlogged but does move. Please have patience. - MrOllie (talk) 16:32, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

Y Done Inkian Jason, with minor changes to the formatting of citation dates to conform with date-month-year format. Sdrqaz (talk) 00:04, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for your assistance. Inkian Jason (talk) 15:47, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

{{UDP}}

I have added an {{undisclosed paid}} tag to this article in connection with WP:Sockpuppet investigations/Yoodaba and WP:Sockpuppet investigations/VentureKit, both of which are large UPE operations. The following editors are blocked as members of those farms and should have their edits reviewed:

• MolehillMtn
• Saviprinz
• SkyHamster9519
• Tuskflux
• Quizbizet
• ESofmind
• Shadygulf

In addition, other suspicious accounts have been involved. Noting for the record:

• Nupur Chine
• Epictechmaster

Best, Blablubbs|talk 15:25, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

Hello, User:Blablubbs, thank you for starting this discussion. As disclosed at the top of this page, I have been paid by Beutler Ink to suggest improvements to this Wikipedia article on behalf of Accenture. Previously, my former colleague User:16912 Rhiannon worked on the article on behalf of the company, too. We've fully complied with the site's COI editing guidelines and disclosure requirements, so I was surprised to see this tag added to the page. However, after reviewing the edits of the accounts you've listed above, I understand the issue. I have reviewed all of the edits made by these users and provided a summary below:

• User:MolehillMtn made this minor edit on July 24, 2020 and this edit on January 24, 2021.

• User:Saviprinz made this edit on October 13, 2020.

• User:SkyHamster9519 made this edit on May 14, 2020, this edit on June 10, 2020, and this edit on September 4, 2020.

• User:Tuskflux made this edit on April 8, 2020

• User:Quizbizet made this edit on March 11, 2020.

• User:ESofmind made this edit on March 3, 2020.

• User:Shadygulf made this edit on February 24, 2020.

• User:Nupur Chine made this edit on October 5, 2020, this edit on October 5, 2020, and this edit on October 5, 2020.

• User:Epictechmaster made this edit on January 20, 2020.

As you can see, some of these edits are quite minor (punctuation, wikilinking, etc), and the majority are focused on acquisitions. Perhaps some contributions are overly detailed, but I would argue most of the changes are neutral. One that sticks out as problematic is this addition of the Leadership section; however, this content has since been removed. This edit explaining Accenture's services is based on the company's website may be WP:PROMO, but has since been removed as well. I would invite you and User:Dormskirk to please take a look and see if any of these changes justify keeping the tag on the article. Or, if there is any content in the current version of the article which is problematic, can you please identify? I understand Dormskirk prefers not to respond to COI edit requests, but since they helped with a few here on the Talk page, I'd like to make them aware of this discussion and hopefully help decide if the tag is required. If there are any major neutrality concerns, I'd like to help address. I understand the tag serves a purpose, but hopefully my summary here expedites the investigation into these edits and the tag can be removed if the content is deemed generally appropriate. Thanks again, Inkian Jason (talk) 19:07, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Hi Jason, thanks for your reply. I unfortunately don't have the time and energy to review all the edits myself right now, but I do have two spontaneous thoughts: First, I want to note that I'm not accusing you or Beutler of any sort of misconduct; I appreciate the work you are doing to edit Wikipedia in compliance with our COI guidelines. This may well be a case of another PR firm being retained by someone with a financial stake in Accenture – I frankly have no idea what exactly is going on, but the level of activity suggests that it isn't random.

Second, the neutrality concerns: Both of these farms are usually relatively good at not inserting overtly promotional content into articles; Yoodaba especially usually deals in things like mergers and acquisitions, with bigger "red flag" edits interspersed between them. The essential question to ask when reviewing edits and creations by these farms are usually due weight (which can come down to placement within the article) and encyclopaedic relevance of additions. There is a tendency of sockfarms like this to turn Wikipedia articles from encyclopaedia entries into what amounts to bulleted lists of company press releases, sometimes "laundered" through some industry publication – though this isn't quite as much of a concern on an article like this, where editing activity is higher than with most targeted articles. Best, Blablubbs|talk 19:28, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

@Blablubbs: Thanks. I understand you've not accused Beutler Ink of wrongdoing, but I'd still like to offer to address any concerns in order to have the tag removed. I'm hoping User:Dormskirk will weigh in here, otherwise, where should I go to find an editor who is willing to review the edits and make a judgement on the tag's necessity? Inkian Jason (talk) 19:38, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Hi - As you have rightly noted, I no longer respond to edit requests as the whole area is toxic. I suggest that you use the {{request edit}} template. I am aware that there are currently some 200 requests waiting to be reviewed, presumably because other experienced editors have opted out of providing help as well. I suggest you try and be patient. Apologies and best wishes. Dormskirk (talk) 19:48, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Recommended fix

@Blablubbs: I analyzed the edits by the accounts you identified above and prepared the following for you. You'll see a link to each edit, a summary of the edit, and recommended fixes where possible. Six of the edits have already been reverted, so no action is needed. I recommend reverting seven others and streamlining one with shorter text and a new source in order to remove the tag.

User:MolehillMtn

• This minor edit on July 24, 2020 added a comma. If this is contributing to the need for the UDP template, I suggest editors revert this edit.
• This edit on January 24, 2021 added a 2020s: Current events subheading as well as mention of Accenture's $3 billion commitment to a division called Accenture Cloud First, led by Karthik Narain. I suggest editors streamline that sentence and use a new source by replacing with the following, or similar: "In September 2020, Accenture invested $3 billion in its new Accenture Cloud First unit."

User:Saviprinz

• This edit on October 13, 2020 added mention of Accenture's acquisition of Myrtle Consulting Group. Accenture completes numerous acquisitions each year, not all of which need to be reflected on Wikipedia. I suggest editors revert this edit.

User:SkyHamster9519

• This edit on May 14, 2020 to add a Leadership section has been reverted. No action needed.
• This edit on June 10, 2020 added mention of Accenture's Gekko acquisition. Accenture completes numerous acquisitions each year, not all of which need to be reflected on Wikipedia. I suggest editors revert this edit.
• This edit on September 4, 2020 added wikilinks to the above edit. I suggest editors revert this edit.

User:Tuskflux

• This edit on April 8, 2020 added mention of Accenture's Revolutionary Security acquisition. Accenture completes numerous acquisitions each year, not all of which need to be reflected on Wikipedia. I suggest editors revert this edit.

User:Quizbizet

• This edit on March 11, 2020 added mention of Accenture's ESR Labs acquisition. Accenture completes numerous acquisitions each year, not all of which need to be reflected on Wikipedia. I suggest editors revert this edit.

User:ESofmind

• This edit on March 3, 2020 added a Klas Research award. This edit has been reverted. No action needed.

User:Shadygulf

• This edit on February 24, 2020 added mention of plans to shut down Accenture's media auditing arm. While I'm not opposed to this information in the article, if this individual edit contributes to the UDP banner, I suggest editors revert this edit.

User:Nupur Chine

• This edit on October 5, 2020 added duplicate information on Accenture's ranking on Fortune's 'Most Admired Companies' list and Fortune Global 500 (the info was already in the article prior to Nupur Chine's edit). This edit has been reverted. This edit on October 5, 2020 added back those rankings, which were reverted again. This edit on October 5, 2020 added back the entire Awards and recognition list after being removed by another editor, which was then reverted. The entire Awards and recognition was then streamlined by User:Dormskirk based on a discussion on the Talk page. Therefore, there was really no net change as a result of Nupur Chine's edits here. No action needed.

User:Epictechmaster

• This edit on January 20, 2020 added a lengthy photo caption, which was very quickly reverted. No action needed.

References

I hope this helps. Accenture and Beutler Ink have put great effort into following Wikipedia's conflict of interest rules while seeking updates to this article. If undisclosed paid editing by others' sockpuppetry or suspicious accounts has called into question the integrity of this article, I think it's best to remove those edits. The one exception to absolute removal is the sentence about Accenture Cloud First, as it is a significant business investment, so I proposed we improve that particular item. However, if editors think it's cleaner to simply remove that detail, I'm OK with that, too. Thanks again, Inkian Jason (talk) 18:03, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

I concur.  Implemented, thanks. Blablubbs|talk 17:05, 12 March 2021 (UTC)