Accenture vs Thoughtworks

Accenture plc is a multinational management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company. Accenture common equity is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol ACN, and was added to the S&P 500 index on July 5, 2011. Accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. The division's origins are in a 1953 feasibility study for General Electric. GE asked Arthur Andersen to automate payroll processing and manufacturing at GE's Appliance Park facility near Louisville, Kentucky. Arthur Andersen recommended installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer, which resulted in the first commercially owned computer installation in the United States in 1954. Joseph Glickauf, an early pioneer of computer consulting, held a position as head of Arthur Andersen's administrative services division for 12 years.

ThoughtWorks is a privately owned global software development and products company. The company is closely associated with the movement for agile software development, and has contributed to a range of open source products. In the late 1980s Roy Singham founded Singham Business Services as a management consulting company servicing the equipment leasing industry in a Chicago basement. According to Singham, after two-to-three years, Singham started recruiting additional staff and came up with the name Thoughtworks in 1990.