THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW:Bill Green, chairman and CEO, Accenture. Interview: UNA McCAFFREY

BILL GREEN, a man who knows a thing or two about the business world, says the key to being a good consultant is an ability “to see around corners”.

Of course, he means it in the figurative sense but a glance around the corner from Accenture’s fancy offices in Dublin’s Grand Canal Quay tells its own story.

There, in all its unfinished glory, is one of the capital’s many temples of recession – a five-star hotel that was meant to be a jewel in the Docklands crown but thus far is showing no sign of sparkling.

Accenture’s building, on the other hand, is very swish, all wood and polish and fresh coffee to honour the big boss who has been in town all week. Despite the autumnal rain and the ever-visible economic downturn, this is no place for depression, particularly when Green is around.

Enthusiasm is his stock in trade and he even manages to find good things to say about the economy, despite the empty building sites and packed dole queues all around the country.

“I find the attitude here to be pretty good,” he says, highlighting in particular the energy among the younger members of Accenture’s 1,400 Irish staff.

“The thing I find about Ireland is that they almost relish renewal here,” acknowledging that we may need to “recalibrate” in a few areas such as salaries and the cost of living if recovery is truly to be embraced.

He points out, though, that raising one’s sights is infectious and says we should all prepare for a “rocket ride” once Ireland’s unparalleled work ethic kicks in again.

He should know. This is a man who heads a multibillion-dollar global corporation, stands over 177,000 staff in more than 120 countries and travels almost all the time. He is a walking, talking work ethic.

A day in the life of Bill Green begins “a little before six” and ends “some time after the sun goes down”.

He reckons that to lead a company, you can be one of three things: a visionary, an operator who “turns the crank” or a “client guy”. “I’m a client guy,” he says, “it’s my DNA.” This means that more than half of Green’s day has something to do with clients. “CEO stuff” fills the rest.

This “stuff”, when combined with all the moving around the world, means Green manages to spend a mind-blowingly short eight nights a month at home near Boston, and he has travelled like this for more than 20 years.

He is a career Accenture man and has been at the group’s helm for the past five years, guiding it through recession. Last year, this saw the firm deliver revenues of $21.6 billion, (€14.6 billion) down 8 per cent on the year before but not to an extent that sets it apart from its peers for the wrong reasons.

“I’ll lay those results up against anybody,” says Green, displaying some of the battle-hardiness that must come from 32 years in the company.

Since he reached the top spot, Accenture has doubled in size, growing particularly rapidly in hot-spot economies such as India.

He claims that the last two recessionary years have not been any more difficult for the company than usual, suggesting that what is asked of consultants has simply changed. This means that for clients, a focus on attracting customers has become a focus on retaining them.

Likewise, improving costs has, surprise, surprise, climbed to the top of the agenda, along with perfecting strategy.

Accenture does not just dish out the medicine without tasting a drop for itself. Green accepts that everybody wants to pay less for services these days, but says this just makes Accenture more focused on delivering results. He points to a US insurance company where Accenture “saved them $800 million”, adding that much of the firm’s remuneration is based on the value it creates.

“We try fundamentally to provide outcomes,” he says, describing one of the group’s strengths as “consistency of service no matter where we go”.

Green is very keen on the idea of Accenture not being seen as a “fair-weather friend” to its clients, thus giving the impression that flexibility on bill payments might be allowed in tough times.

The critical thing to remember about a downturn, he says, is that it’s not about how the environment has changed but about how you manage the change, or take “the trip” that exposes a company’s weaknesses.

“Never be afraid to change, even when you’re on top of your game,” he says. “The outside world is going to continue to raise the bar – our job is to raise our game.”

One of the Accenture board’s most recent innovations has been a corporate flit from Bermuda to Dublin, leaving the aforementioned Grand Canal Square hosting the global headquarters of the corporation.

The move followed a clampdown by US president Barack Obama on US companies channelling their profits through perceived overseas tax havens. Green doesn’t want to be grouped together with the wave of companies that have taken a similar path, however, saying the move to Ireland doesn’t bring any financial advantages for the corporation because it pays taxes where it generates profits.

He says Bermuda, Accenture’s home since 2000, was chosen “mostly because we’re neutral” and because of the island’s English legal system. The main reason for leaving was “a lot of bad press about certain locations around the world”.

“At the end of the day, it’s not a big deal for us,” says Green, adding that Ireland was selected as the new home because it is in Europe, is “business-friendly” and because the company “needed to be a place where our people were”.

As for the reception back home, Green says he has encountered “not a peep” of negative feedback in the US about the move. “People recognise we’re a global company.”

There is little argument against this: Accenture works almost everywhere bar the moon.

More parochially, Green and his Dublin-based colleagues say the Irish business has been holding its own amid the turmoil, having added rather than lost a few blue-chip clients over the past 12 months.

Government business represents, however, about one-third of what the company does here (remember the millions spent on PPARs?) and there is “pressure on expenditure right across the public service”.

The company has five arms in total (communications and technology, financial services, products, resources and public service), a combination that has traditionally sheltered it against economic hiccups.

Green has personally run three of these business units during his career and, based on his undeniable zeal, appears to have weathered the whole thing rather well.

“I continue to learn every day and, after 32 years, I continue to have fun every day,” he says, enthusiastic to the core.

ON THE RECORD

Name: Bill Green

Position: chairman and chief executive of Accenture

Family: Married with a son aged 21 and a daughter aged 23.

Hobbies: Definitely not golf.

Something you might expect: He joined Accenture straight out of college.

Something that might surprise: He enjoys trapping lobster and trying to catch tuna off Cape Cod in his scarce spare time.