January 20, 2014

Accenture to Expand Its Salesforce Capabilities in Europe with Acquisition of ClientHouse

JENA, Germany; Jan. 20, 2014 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced plans to expand its Salesforce capabilities in Europe by entering into an agreement to acquire ClientHouse, an independent provider of salesforce.com and Veeva Systems solutions based in Jena, Germany. The acquisition will strengthen Accenture’s position as a leading global provider of Salesforce implementation services and as a global leader in Software as a Service (SaaS) implementations.

ClientHouse is a salesforce.com Cloud Alliance Partner and operates one of the longest-standing Salesforce training centers in Europe. The company is also a strategic alliance partner of Veeva Systems, which offers cloud-based CRM solutions tailored to the needs of the life sciences and biotech companies. The acquisition will broaden the range of skills and capabilities Accenture can offer to clients in life sciences and other industries to develop market-leading cloud solutions from these leading SaaS providers.

Accenture is recognized by an independent industry analyst firm as the global leader in Salesforce implementation services and is the leading service provider on many of salesforce.com’s largest transformational projects. Accenture has more than 2,400 people skilled in Salesforce.

Jack Ramsay, Accenture’s Emerging Technologies Delivery lead for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, said: “Demand for salesforce.com services is growing rapidly in Europe as more companies adopt digital strategies to collaborate better with customers and partners, drive greater operational efficiencies, and accelerate the development of innovative new products and services. Acquiring ClientHouse will reinforce our global leadership position in delivering Salesforce implementation services and will help propel our SaaS business in Germany and Europe.”

André Klose, co-founder and head of professional services, ClientHouse, said: “By joining Accenture and expanding their market-leading Salesforce implementation and SaaS capabilities, we can offer our vision in transforming business processes leveraging industry best-practices and leading-edge SaaS technologies to an even wider range of clients.”

Anne O’Riordan, global senior managing director, Accenture Life Sciences, said: “This acquisition further confirms our commitment to help our life sciences clients solve today’s critical business issues and deliver better business and patient outcomes. ClientHouse’s expertise will augment what we offer to our clients who are determined to leverage the latest technology, work more effectively across their entire stakeholder ecosystems and drive the kind of innovation necessary to remain competitive in a dynamic and life-changing industry.”

ClientHouse’s employees will join Accenture’s global SaaS business. They will work closely with Accenture’s global industry groups to deliver SaaS development, implementation, and training services.

Additionally, Accenture plans to continue to leverage ClientHouse’s office in Jena as a center of excellence and training center for clients as well as its staff of professionals. The Jena center will also continue to serve as an authorized Salesforce training center.

Founded in 2003, ClientHouse focuses on CRM cloud solutions targeting the life science and other industries. ClientHouse’s clients include pharmaceutical companies, logistic providers, and high tech businesses based in Germany and Switzerland but with global operations, as well as subsidiaries of international companies.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing requirements. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 281,000 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$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These include, without limitation, risks that: the company and ClientHouse will not be able to close the transaction in the time period anticipated, or at all, which is dependent on the parties’ ability to satisfy certain closing conditions; the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for the company; the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; the company’s business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company’s services and solutions, and a significant reduction in such demand could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if the company is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; the markets in which the company competes are highly competitive, and the company might not be able to compete effectively; the company could have liability or the company’s reputation could be damaged if the company fails to protect client and/or company data or information systems as obligated by law or contract or if the company’s information systems are breached; the company’s results of operations and ability to grow could be materially negatively affected if the company cannot adapt and expand its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings by new entrants; as a result of the company’s geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue geographic expansion, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; the company’s Global Delivery Network is increasingly concentrated in India and the Philippines, which may expose it to operational risks; the company’s results of operations could materially suffer if the company is not able to obtain sufficient pricing to enable it to meet its profitability expectations; if the company’s pricing estimates do not accurately anticipate the cost, risk and complexity of the company performing its work or third parties upon whom it relies do not meet their commitments, then the company’s contracts could have delivery inefficiencies and be unprofitable; the company’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; the company’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; the company’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; the company’s alliance relationships may not be successful or may change, which could adversely affect the company’s results of operations; outsourcing services and the continued expansion of the company’s other services and solutions into new areas subject the company to different operational risks than its consulting and systems integration services; the company’s services or solutions could infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company might lose its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others; if the company is unable to protect its intellectual property rights from unauthorized use or infringement by third parties, its business could be adversely affected; the company’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; the company might not be successful at identifying, acquiring or integrating businesses or entering into joint ventures; the company’s profitability could suffer if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful, and the company may not be able to improve its profitability through improvements to cost-management to the degree it has done in the past; many of the company’s contracts include payments that link some of its fees to the attainment of performance or business targets and/or require the company to meet specific service levels, which could increase the variability of the company’s revenues and impact its margins; changes in the company’s level of taxes, and audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in the company’s treatment as an Irish company, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s results of operations and financial condition; if the company is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; if the company is unable to collect its receivables or unbilled services, the company’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected; the company’s share price and results of operations could fluctuate and be difficult to predict; the company’s results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; any changes to the estimates and assumptions that the company makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; the company may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.

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Contacts:

Peter Y. Soh
Accenture
+ 703 947 2571
peter.y.soh@accenture.com

Jens R. Derksen
Accenture
+ 49 30 89047 61393
jens.derksen@accenture.com