NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Microsoft has awarded Accenture (NYSE:ACN) a seven-year contract extension to continue providing finance and accounting (F&A) and procurement business process services. Accenture will leverage artificial intelligence, automation and analytics capabilities to deliver better business insights and help Microsoft increase productivity and efficiency.
Under the new contract – which extends Accenture’s services through 2025 – Accenture will continue to provide Microsoft with procurement, accounts payable, financial and accounting services for its more than 120 subsidiaries worldwide. The original contract was awarded in 2007, when Microsoft began to standardize its finance, accounting and procurement processes globally for an initiative called OneFinance.
Accenture will leverage artificial intelligence technologies to interpret supplier inquiries and execute follow-up processes automatically, which is designed to improve customer service by accelerating response times and increasing accuracy. Accenture will also apply advanced predictive and prescriptive analytics to provide data-driven insights, further improving the effectiveness of compliance activities and increasing the accuracy of global cash forecasting.
“Our longstanding collaboration with Accenture has enabled us, through our OneFinance initiative, to standardize our finance and accounting processes across 120 countries, improving compliance and control across our operations and reducing related costs by 30 percent,” said Grace Lao, general manager for Microsoft Finance Operations. “Building on the past nine years, we look forward to continuing to innovate and drive new transformation projects together with Accenture designed to reinvent Microsoft’s productivity and business processes.”
Sean McNamara, managing director for Accenture’s Communications, Media & Technology business, said, “Our relationship with Microsoft is one of the industry’s great examples of what two organizations can achieve in a long-term, sustained collaboration that’s focused on driving business outcomes. The intelligent automation and analytics capabilities that underpin our finance, accounting and procurement business process services can enable Microsoft to further automate processes and get business insights faster, paving the way for future growth.”
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 384,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.