Ethics and csr at accenture

detail project work on the csr and ethical activities at accenture

1. 1 | P a g e


A PROJECT REPORT ON CSR & ETHICS




SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:
Prof. Venkatesha Murthy Dwijraj Jodha 2013B16
Mohit Singhal 2013B28
Gulam Dhalla 2013B30
Pratik Sadhu 2013B32
Shekhar Dahiya 2013B49
Varun Varshney 2013B64
Siddharth Bhardwaj 2013B69

2. 2 | P a g e


TABLE OF CONTENTS:


Topic
Page No
Accenture Overview……………………………………………………………………. 3
Accenture's Ethics and Compliance Program……………………………………….. 4
CSR practices in the Accenture……………………………………………………….

7
Past CSR Activities Undertaken ……………………………………………………..

9
Major Allegations faced by Accenture………………………………………………..

12
Major Controversies faced by Accenture in the recent past…………………………

13
Financial Analysis Of Accenture Initiative…………………………………………..

14
Field Research…………………………………………………………………………

18
References:………………………………………………………………………………

20

3. 3 | P a g e

Accenture
At a Glance
Industry: Computer Services
Founded: 1995
Country: Ireland
CEO: Pierre Nanterme
Employees: 259,000
Sales: $30.09 B

Profile
Accenture is engaged in providing management consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The
Company's business is structured around five operating groups, which together consists of 19
industry groups serving clients in industries globally. The Company's segment includes
Communications, Media & Technology, Financial Services, Health & Public Service, Products and
Resources. Accenture helps organizations assess how to maximize their performance and works with
them to achieve their vision. We develop and implement technology to improve our clients’
productivity and efficiency – and may run parts of their business. Ultimately, it enable clients to
become high-performance in businesses.

Top Leadership



Pierre Nanterme
Chairman & CEO





Marjorie Magner
Lead Director

4. 4 | P a g e

Accenture's Ethics and Compliance Program
Operating with integrity every day is the Accenture Way. Accenture’s commitment to doing business
ethically and legally is the foundation for the company’s culture, which is shaped by our six core
values–
Client Value Creation
One Global Network
Respect for the Individual
Best People
Integrity
Stewardship



Stewardship
Fulfilling our obligation of building a better, stronger and more durable company for future generations,
protecting the Accenture brand, meeting our commitments to stakeholders, acting with an owner mentality,
developing our people and helping improve communities and the global environment.

Best People
Attracting, developing and retaining the best talent for our business, challenging our people, demonstrating a
“can-do” attitude and fostering a collaborative and mutually supportive environment.

Client Value Creation
Enabling clients to become high-performance businesses and creating long-term relationships by being
responsive and relevant and by consistently delivering value.

One Global Network
Leveraging the power of global insight, relationships, collaboration and learning to deliver exceptional service
to clients wherever they do business.

Respect for the Individual
Valuing diversity and unique contributions, fostering a trusting, open and inclusive environment and treating
each person in a manner that reflects Accenture’s values.

Integrity
Being ethically unyielding and honest and inspiring trust by saying what we mean, matching our behaviors to
our words and taking responsibility for our actions.

5. 5 | P a g e

Accenture’s Ethics & Compliance program is designed to
foster the highest ethical standards and a commitment to compliance with the law and
policy,
prevent, detect, report and address any allegation of misconduct, and
comply with applicable laws and standards.

Accenture has adopted a framework designed to achieve these objectives, which includes
Visible support of our senior leadership,
Regular and periodic risk assessments,
Written standards and controls,
On-going training and communications,
Auditing, monitoring, and response procedures.


High Performance delivered- ethically
When it comes to ethics and ethical values, Accenture believes that in order to excel, a high
performance organization’s foundation must be built on strong ethical standards even in dire
economic times. Implying these words to actions Accenture happens to be one of the most ethical
firms consistently. A report by Ethisphere states that Accenture is On World’s Most Ethical
Companies for 3 years consecutive. Word all over is the same. Going through various employee
forums/blogs and interviewing Current and previous employees, collecting their valuable viewpoints
we wish to confirm that Accenture holds true to its words that Accenture is based on solid ethical
foundations internally externally.

6. 6 | P a g e

Accenture has developed a framework accordingly which includes:
on-going training and communications
written standards and controls,
auditing, monitoring, and response procedures
proper support of senior leadership
regular and periodic risk assessments

The ground rules:
Every year Accenture publishes its own: Accenture Code of Business Ethics, Zero Tolerance Policy,
social media policy. Besides this it holds up a business ethics and compliance programs whose
objectives are:
foster the highest ethical standards and a commitment to compliance with the law
and policy,
prevent, detect, report and address any allegation of misconduct, and (iii)
comply with applicable laws and standards.

Another program that has been recently introduced is Training on Respecting the Confidential
Information and Intellectual Property of Others which every employee needs to address to whose
objectives are:
Recognize the confidential information and intellectual property of others, and the restrictions
on its use.

Understand how misuse of this information can have severe monetary and reputational risks
and consequences for business, and individuals.

Avoid negative outcomes by following best practices, policies and legal obligations.

7. 7 | P a g e

CSR practices in the Accenture










































ironment

Corporate Citizenship
Corporate citizenship is fundamental to
Accenture’s character and the way we run
our company as a high-performance business.
It is anchored in our core values, our Code of
Business Ethics and, ultimately, reflected by
our people who live and work in communities
around the world. From Skills to Succeed to
the environment, Accenture and our people
do things the Accenture Way, creating long-
term value for the communities where we live
and work and, ultimately, increasing
competitiveness for both business and the
world as a whole.


Skills to Succeed
Skills to Succeed draws on one of Accenture’s
core competencies—training talent—to help
address the need for skills that open doors to
employment around the world. It is a key
aspect of how we embed corporate social
responsibility into our business. We exceeded
our original Skills to Succeed goal and
increased our impact: by 2015, we plan to
equip 500,000 people globally with the skills to
get a job or build a business.
500,000 by 2015


Environment
They run and grow their business on an
environmentally sustainable basis, cultivating
eco-efficient practices that include energy
management and resource conservation.
Environment leads across geographies actively
manage and monitor our resource conservation
and energy, water and waste management
practices. Because more than 80 per cent of
our environmental footprint consists of carbon
emissions generated from air travel and
electricity, they are committed to addressing
both of these as we work to improve our
environmental performance.

8. 8 | P a g e

Energy management

They proactively manage energy use throughout the locations. Since fiscal 2009, their energy
efficiency programs have helped us save approximately 250,000 Megawatt hours of electricity,
which also avoided nearly 160,000 tons of carbon. In addition, in fiscal 2012,

• Accenture's global ISO 14001 certification was renewed for the 66 sites in scope, including
five new sites.
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED),
• Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and Green
Star 6.To reduce our use of office electricity; we began implementing Remote Energy Monitoring
(REM) technologies in fiscal 2010, prioritizing high-consumption locations.


















Disaster Relief
Recent examples of our disaster relief efforts include the following:
Following the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan, Accenture and its people mobilized
support of more than $US2 million to aid disaster relief and reconstruction efforts in the
Philippines
In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami devastating Japan in March 2011, Accenture
coordinated an employee giving campaign, directing more than US$700,000 in donations
toward the Japanese Red Cross Society Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Relief fund.
Following the series of floods that hit Queensland in December 2010, Accenture facilitated
multi-country employee giving toward the Australian Red Cross campaign, and mobilized
Communities and Giving

Accenture Development Partnerships is a
group within Accenture that provides strategic
advice and technical and project management
support to nonprofit organizations,
nongovernmental organizations, foundations
and donor organizations operating in the
development sector.. Accenture employees
who volunteer and are chosen for this
program accept a salary reduction while
serving on assignments ranging from three to
six months, primarily in developing countries.

9. 9 | P a g e

local employee volunteering initiatives to assist with the cleanup at the local level.
Accenture
Relief provided during uttrakhand disaster



PAST CSR ACTIVITIES-UNDERTAKEN
They have tie ups with IDA INDIA:: which is a non-profit grass root level animal protection
organization, dedicated towards establishing and defending the rights of all non - human living
creatures. In Defense of Animals, India was born on 31st October 1996. Immediately the project
of neutering of street dogs was taken up. The frequent visits include spending time with the
animals and distribution of goodies
Tieups with an NGO “Hope Foundation” as a part of CSR initiative.HOPE foundation is a
compassionate but non-sectarian charity in India that changes lives by harnessing the
compassion and commitment of dedicated staff and volunteers to deliver sustainable, high-
impact, community-based services to the poor and needy.

10. 10 | P a g e




About SAKAAR OUTREACH:
They carry out voluntary work for Sakaar Outreach which is involved in the advancement of
women and children from educationally and economically challenged sections of society.
Sakaar Outreach is working towards empowerment of women through education, HIV/AIDs
and healthcare.
They have parivartan committee which has worked for the nourishment of underprivileged
kids specially in the area of ,councling sports,monetary and non monetory help

11. 11 | P a g e

Tree plantation Drive in Accenture



Cook & Sell event is being organized to lend a helping hand for the HELPAGE People

12. 12 | P a g e


Major Allegations faced by Accenture.
Norman Rille and Neal Roberts. Rille, a former manager for Accenture and Roberts
have filed the lawsuit in 2004 in U.S. District court for the eastern district of
Arkansas for a case of Kickbacks given by IT companies and Vendors to Accenture
to provide them confidential information about Government customers for which
Accenture was consultant.

Avanade which is the joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture was sued by
ScanSource company in 3 Jan, 2013 which sales barcode scanners , portable data
collection terminals.


The reason behind this was as Avanade provided AX –ERP system (Enterprises Resource
planning ) to complete the jobs of ScanSource but according to ScanSource it was not able
to meet the requirement and Avanade lied about it which led to higher losses for Scansource.

Accenture Gurgaon , India staff filed a case of sexual harassment against team
leader and Hr manager in Nov 2013. She has also decided to petition National
Commission for Women to intervene on her behalf. In reaction to this , Accenture
Spokesperson has said that investigation is in process and whoever is found of
guilty would be expelled and penalized severely.




Resolutions taken by Accenture:



In first allegation mentioned above , Accenture Paid U.S. $63.675 Million to Settle False
Claims Act Allegations filed by Whistle-blowers.
Rest of three allegations are under investigation.
On August 2011, Accenture analyst employed
at Chicago office was found dead on his desk
and he was unnoticed for 4 days which led to
allegation against Accenture as evil empire.

13. 13 | P a g e

Major Controversies faced by Accenture in the recent past

1. Headquarters in a tax heaven
In 2002 Accenture was identified by the General Accounting Office of the U.S.A as a
publicly traded federal contractor that was incorporated in a tax haven country. Accenture
was incorporated in Bermuda and is criticized for being a U.S. based company trying to avoid
U.S. taxes. Even before its incorporation in Bermuda, Accenture was operating as a series of
related partnerships and corporations controlled by its partners through a mechanism of
contracts with a Swiss coordinating entity.

2. Loss of sensitive data
In 2007, Accenture was involved in a high profile case concerning loss of sensitive data being
used in the development of a government information system for the states of Ohio and
Connecticut in U.S.A. The information was stored on a backup computer tape. The data on
the stolen tape included social security numbers of all state employees, details of state lottery
winners who had not cashed their winnings, bank account details of state agencies, all of
which could total to billions of taxpayer dollars. The computer tape with the sensitive
information was stolen from the car of an intern with the company. The intern who refused to
resign claiming he was being made a scapegoat, was fired by the company.

3. Movement of jobs outside the U.S.
Accenture being a U.S. based company was criticized for moving a lot of jobs outside the
U.S. to countries like India and the Philippines. This has helped the company to reduce cost
and increase profit margins in outsourcing deals with major U.S. companies but has resulted
in the loss of work and employment for U.S. citizens. As of today, Accenture employs more
people in India than in the U.S.

4. Sexual Harassment Scandal
In 2013 a 27 year old former employee of Accenture in Gurgaon alleged that she was sexually
harassed by senior colleagues. Among those were her team leader and HR Manager. She
claimed that she was handed her termination letter in September because she had raised her
voice against the harassment.

14. 14 | P a g e

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF ACCENTURE INITIATIVES

Skills to succeed
Accenture launched a new corporate citizenship initiative, which focuses on building the skills of the
people and through it getting them employment, which will contribute to the economies of different
nations. Accenture initiated this effort in 2009, and has promised to invest $100 million for the same
for the period of 3 years (from fiscal year 2011 to 2013). Accenture invested $44.5 million of the
same investment in year 2011 itself. Accenture focuses on enhancing skills and getting employment to
250,000 people across the world by 2015. The total number of initiatives around the world is 200+.
Through the investment in year 2009, 2010 and 2011, Accenture has already provided employment to
160,000 people across the globe.. In 2011, Accenture committed $1.93 million for running programs
in India. Various contributions by region across the globe, in terms of investment made are given
below.

15. 15 | P a g e

FY09 FY10 FY11
Revenues ( US $ millions) 21,577 21,551 25,507
Global Workforce 177,000 204,000 236,000

Skill to Succeed
People equipped with skills 162,000
Total Accenture and
Accenture Foundations
Contributions (US $
thousands) 48,286 34,127 44,506
Accenture Foundations
Contribution (US $
thousands) 6,258 5,043 6,890
Accenture Contribution (US
$ thousands) 42,027 29,803 37,616

By Region (US $
thousands)
Americas 11,283 2,725 6,519

Europe, Middle East,
Africa 21,875 15,342 16,110
Asia Pacific 1,692 2,008 5,303

Accenture Development
Partnership - Global 7,177 9,008 9,683

By Type (US $
thousands)
Cash 12,497 9,025 13,516
In-Kind 28,040 18,444 22,285
Time 1,490 1,614 1,815


Environment:
Accenture also focuses on environmental concerns. They are concerned on the reduction of carbon
footprint per employee. The carbon emission majorly comes from business travel, office energy use
etc. In 2009 they had 25% reduction of carbon emission per employee and they wish to achieve 30%
by 2011. They reduced their business travel by switching to telepresence next generation video
conferencing technology, which required them to pay for it. They also introduced green building
techniques and operations around the world. In 2010, through improved energy efficiency they saved
36,400,000kWh, which almost helped them save US $4.1 million. While in 2011, through initiative
they saved 63,400,000 kWh which helped them save US $7.8 million. They also reduced landfills by
99%, through disposing laptops and computers (38000 or 173 metric tons) by responsible disposal
vendor.

16. 16 | P a g e


FY09 FY10 FY11
Total Carbon
emission per
employee

3.0

3.0

2.8
Global
Workforce

177,000

204,000

236,000
Total Carbon
emission (metric
tons)

541,552

563,540

627,631
By Source
Air Travel

278,107

304,342

348,710
Other Business Travel

73,970

64,200

64,782
Office Electricity

176,323

182,328

204,036
Other Energy

13,152

12,670

10,103

People:
Accenture also provides training to its employees. Accenture is also one of a few companies which
have almost 35% of women workforce. Also they promote their employees to donate certain sum for
giving back to community, like to Uttrakhand relief funds and Japan earthquake relief funds.

FY09 FY10 F11
Total Training Spending (US
$thousands)

794,218

591,229

810,387
Average training Hours per employee 67 42 52
Employee Donations (US $ thousands)

9,918

8,612

7,006
Women in workforce 36% 35% 35%
Women Newhires 37% 34% 34%
Women Senior Executives 16% 16% 17%


Supply Chain
Accenture prompts its suppliers to comply with the standards they follow. Also majority of their
suppliers are either Minority owned business or women owned business. Like in India, Accenture
works Self-employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), which now supplies stationary to
Accenture.

17. 17 | P a g e

FY09 FY10 FY11
Revenue (in millions) 21577 21551 25507
Total Procurement spend with
diverse suppliers 16% 21% 23%
Total diverse procrement spend
(in thousands) 266488 308535 408728

By Type (in
thousand)

Minority Owned
business 81907 114824 193085

Women-Owned
business 65851 81663 123597
Small Business 92461 81223 62004

Other type
Business 26268 30823 30043

18. 18 | P a g e

Field Reserch.
We have taken interview of two Accenture employee and what they feel about Accenture Ethics
values and CSR activities :
Interviewee:
MR. Vivek Kumar Pande
MR. Rahul Gupta
Email:
Email :
Phone No: Phone No:
Software Engineer at Accenture Gurgaon (DDC2) location.









Accenture is providing training in field of code of Business Ethics through online medium. Please
find below screenshot extract from Accenture Data Base.


“Accenture is giving me all opportunities to
work for society .In the past year I have
volunteered for NGO :National Association of
blind ,Hauz Khas Delhi. On ethics stand
“Accenture follow its core values very strictly
,and we are encouraged to complete all
ethics training within due period of time
through online portal
”mylearning.accenture.com”
“Accenture is one of the most ethical
companies I have ever encountered. I am
proud to work here. It has high ethics ,
Great Industry, Great people. Specifically
in my project , I am encouraged to secure
client data. My project “Intertek” has
been actively participating in CSR
activities like helping underprivileged
kids in their education, providing them
monetary and no n monetary help to build
their successful career through the
association of NCR Based NGO “Salaam
Baalak Trust.”

19. 19 | P a g e




















References:
https://mylearning.accenture.com
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/445543/microsoft_accenture_joint_venture_avanade_
sued_over_alleged_erp_project_failure/
http://www.accenture.com/us-en/company/governance/board-directors/Pages/index.aspx
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/445543/microsoft_accenture_joint_venture_avanade_
sued_over_alleged_erp_project_failure/
http://www.accenture.com/us-en/pages/index.aspx
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/molestation-heat-on-accenture-execs/article1-
1148519.aspx
http://exposingevilempire.com/accenture/accenture-analyst-dead-at-desk-for-4-days/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accenture
http://www.wipro.com/newsroom/Wipro-supports-NV-Energys-future-plans-of-growing-its-
distribution-business

20. 20 | P a g e

http://www.webfosys.com/blog/wipro-plans-to-focus-on-banking-services-for-2013/
http://www.zdnet.com/wipros-ceo-maps-out-a-future-for-it-services-firms-7000025612/
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/wipros-azim-premji-ecology-is-one-of-our-big-bets-for-the-future/