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Managing Risk Ranks as the Top Priority for Senior Executives, Accenture Study Finds


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For the first time in three years, workforce-improvement issues did not top list

NEW YORK; Sept. 19, 2006 – Managing risk ranks as the top priority for senior executives, according to a global study released today by Accenture. This is a change from the study’s findings during the last three years, which ranked workforce-improvement issues as the top issue.

The study, which Accenture conducts annually, comprised interviews with 436 senior executives in major companies in North America, Europe and Asia to identify the areas of greatest concern to senior management, understand how their priorities shift over time and identify key forces behind the issues.

“This latest study illustrates that companies realize they must address the increased risks associated with geo-political instability, globalization, aggressive growth, increased competition and the information explosion,” said Walt Shill, managing director of Accenture’s Strategy practice. “These risks have ushered in a new era in corporate strategy in which high performance companies are those that sense potential issues and opportunities, and then respond and execute their strategies more quickly.”

In each of the three prior years’ annual surveys, workforce-improvement issues ranked at the top of the executives’ priority list. This included attracting and retaining skilled staff, and changing organizational culture and employee attitudes. In the latest study, however, external competitive issues have moved to the head of the list.

Top 10 Current Business Issues for Senior Executives

1. Managing risk
2. Achieving growth while increasing profitability
3. Acquiring new customers
4. Using IT to reduce costs and create value
5. Changing organizational culture and employee attitudes
6. Increasing customer loyalty and retention
7. Improving workforce performance
8. Increasing shareholder value
9. Applying innovation to stay ahead of the competition
10. Attracting and retaining skilled staff

While human-resource issues have dropped in the latest study, Shill believes they remain big priorities. “Human resource issues are embedded in the issues at the top of the list,” he said. “For example, to effectively manage risk, a company needs to have – and retain – the industry’s top talent.”

About the study
As part of an annual study to identify senior executives’ top concerns, Accenture conducted a survey of 436 senior executives at many of the world’s largest companies across all major industries and the public sector in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, China and Canada. Respondents included executives at the highest levels of senior management (“C-suite” executives) as well as heads of key functional areas, such as human resources.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 133,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$15.55 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005. Its home page is www.accenture.com.



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