Accenture Is A Bermudian Company

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

31 July 2001

Accenture, once known as Arthur Andersen, has 75,000 employees and operates in 46 countries throughout the world, something it brags about continually. Less well-known, though is that Accenture is based offshore. The company, which turned itself into a limited company this year, filed a statement with the papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission last February showing that the company is registered as a Bermuda corporation that owns an operating company in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The following statement, filed with the SEC, explains Accenture's corporate structure:

'Following our transition to a corporate structure, Accenture Ltd will be a Bermuda holding company with no material assets other than Class I and Class II common shares in our subsidiary, Accenture SCA, a Luxembourg société en commandite par actions. Accenture Ltd’s only business will be to hold these shares and to act as the sole general partner of Accenture SCA. As the general partner of Accenture SCA and as a result of Accenture Ltd’s majority voting interest in Accenture SCA, Accenture Ltd will control Accenture SCA’s management and operations and will consolidate Accenture SCA’s results in its financial statements. We will operate our business through subsidiaries of Accenture SCA.'

Bermuda imposes no income tax or capital gains tax on its corporate residents. Luxembourg is also of course a low-tax jurisdiction and often used for holding company purposes.

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