Accenture rides offshoring wave

Accenture, the outsourcing and consulting company, is planning to hire up to 30,000 workers across China, India and the Philippines.

Board members announced their intentions to strengthen offshore business in a conference call last week.

Accenture currently employs 19,000 people in the three countries. The company said that, depending on demand, it could grow that number to between 30,000 and 50,000 over the next three years.

"We have recently made an important decision in our offshore strategy to dramatically expand our global delivery network," said Steve Rohleder, Accenture's chief operating officer. "We're actively recruiting in key locations throughout our global delivery network. Our approach is to defend and extend our position in the marketplace.

Rohleder added that the company is not limited to expanding in those three countries.

"If we get into a situation, for example, in India where a specific city has reached saturation from a salary standpoint and from a cost structure standpoint, we have the flexibility to move and to grow a different location — not only within India or China or the Philippines but also outside, say in eastern Europe or Latin America," he said. "And we have actually started that process as well."

The company made the announcement as it stated that its net revenue for its fiscal third quarter that ended on 31 May was $4.08bn (£2.30bn), the highest in the company's history.