The Scoop...

History: Can't we all get along? (Well, no.)

The consulting practice at Andersen (formerly Arthur Andersen) was merely a gleam in the eye of parent organization Andersen Worldwide in 1989, when it decided to spin off Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) and professional services firm Andersen into separate-but-equal companies. Today, Andersen has its own highly regarded business consulting practice, rapidly growing from virtually no revenues in the early 1990s to an almost $2 billion practice with more than 12,000 consultants in 2001. As for its former sibling, Accenture, the memories of the bitter split are slowly fading. In August 2000, after a long arbitration to determine the terms of the nasty breakup, Accenture was given permission to leave with a minimal, $1 billion penalty, provided they relinquish their name (which was Andersen Consulting). So it happened like this: Andersen Consulting became Accenture, Arthur Andersen became Andersen, and Arthur Andersen Business Consulting is now Andersen's business consulting practice.

The birth of Andersen's business consulting practice

The roots of the conflict go back to 1952, when Andersen accountants first installed an electrical system - believed to be the first commercial application of a computer - for General Electric. Andersen's consulting group continued to grow until 1989 when the firm was split into two units, one of which, Accenture (then Andersen Consulting) would focus its energies on systems consulting. Andersen, with its own business consulting practice, would see to the small and mid-size markets. In the next few years, as services began to overlap tension began rising between the two sister firms.