October 17, 2012
Accenture Helps AXA Optimize its Finance Function in Europe
PARIS; Oct. 17, 2012 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) is helping AXA, one of the world’s leading insurers, streamline its finance function across its European operations. The program has been implemented in France, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK, and is expected to be implemented in Germany and Switzerland by early 2013 and in Belgium by early 2014.
Under the multi-year technology and management consulting agreement, which began in 2009, Accenture is helping AXA develop and implement a common finance and reporting information technology (IT) system based on SAP® solutions. Accenture is also providing management consulting services that help AXA design and implement centralized finance and accounting (F&A) processes, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, month-end close and balance sheet reconciliations.
“This program is helping us increase consistency in our accounting principles, optimize costs and allows our finance teams to focus on analyzing information rather than on gathering and reconciling data” said Virginie Babinet, AXA Finance and Procurement solutions managing Director within AXA Group Solutions. “Accenture’s insurance industry knowledge and expertise in finance operations, combined with its in-depth understanding of SAP solutions and track record of large systems integration projects, make it the best business partner for this project.”
“Our research has found that 70 percent of companies with high-performing finance organizations exceed their peers in overall business performance,” said Eric Veron, managing director for Accenture’s Insurance practice in France. “By transforming its finance function, AXA is not only satisfying essential compliance and cost control needs, but helping move this function to the forefront of the business, where it can help drive high performance across the organization.”
“Finance functions are facing significant challenges from multiple directions,” says Steve Culp, managing director, Accenture Finance & Risk Services. “Continued market and economic volatility, waves of new regulatory requirements and demands from businesses to turn ever-increasing volumes of data into insightful information are driving the finance function to once again raise their game.”
Accenture Finance and Risk Services serves more than 500 financial institutions worldwide, helping them improve the performance of their finance and risk management functions.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with 257,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About the AXA Group
The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 163,000 employees serving 101 million clients in 57 countries. In 2011, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 86.1 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 3.9 billion. AXA had Euro 1,065 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2011.
The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISN FR 0000120628 – Bloomberg: CS FP – Reuters: AXAF.PA). AXA’s American Depository Share is also quoted on the OTC QX platform under the ticker symbol AXAHY.
The AXA Group is included in the main international SRI indexes, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD, and is a founding member of the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance.
Company website: www.axa.com.
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Media Contacts:
Accenture
Francois Luu
+ 33 6 60 53 84 28
Sean Conway
Accenture
+ 917 452 6444