They say that a consultant is someone who tells you the time after borrowing your watch. With Accenture, it is like they "borrow" your Rolex, convince you that a Rolex is no good, makes you sell the Rolex at half price, then makes you buy a Timex at double the price of a new Rolex, make a mistake in setting the time zone and tell you the wrong time.
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Of course, this is a joke you tell on Thanksgiving dinner..
If you look closely, the raison-d'etre of consulting is to provide career insurance for the c-suite.
By hiring a consulting firm, the executive will surely reap the usual benefits that you hear about in their marketing material but what you don't realize is the unique feature that is sought: to shield himself from any mistake or mishap that could derail his career.
This blame is always placed on the consultant and the latter is always happy to oblige. Besides, he knows that once a new executive comes along he will get hired again, to do the same thing all over again.
I wonder how much they pay their employees to come and write positive comments to try to beat back the hate
Oh, if things were so easy to explain...
Unless you've been an executive trying to deliver a project, you'll probably never understand why consulting exists, and your views will reflect what you wrote in the header.
If this were a fake business, it would die in no time. But the consulting business grew from small projects between two World Wars to almost a trillion dollars right now ($350B in Management Consulting and about $650K for IT Consulting). There is a type of project that fits perfectly with what Accenture and similar companies have to offer, and it often includes the need to assemble a large team very quickly and meet deadlines and contractual requirements with the least amount of risk.
I've done it both as a consultant and as a client, and if used properly, consulting services can provide a shiton of value. You need to know what you are doing, what you want from the consultant, and you need to manage them as much as they manage you. Every single project I've done with the help of consultants was a success. We were careful with partner selection and even more careful with overseeing what's going on in the project.
You can downvote this post all you want, and you can keep criticizing consulting, but the sheer fact that the market has voted and businesses keep funneling more money into consulting projects is all you need to know here. Your rant almost sounds cute - maybe a user or two will take the troll bait and support you, but it doesn't make your premise any stronger or your argument any more logical.
Accenture is a scam..Their greatest strength is to be able to provide an instant workforce to companies with large scale projects. Giving solid business advice not so much