DALLAS and NEW YORK; Jan. 29, 2007 - Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has signed a seven-year agreement with Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) to provide a broad range of human resources services. Outsourcing of certain services to Accenture is part of Kimberly-Clark's global competitive improvement initiatives, which were announced in July 2005. Other terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Accenture will provide Kimberly-Clark with administrative services in the areas of recruitment, payroll administration, workforce reporting, employee data management, and training and development. The latter includes scheduling, tracking and reporting of training activities for the company's North American workforce. In addition, Accenture will deploy an enhanced portal to provide Kimberly-Clark's workforce integrated human resource information including on-line benefit and educational materials.
"Attaining and maintaining market leadership requires us to be even more effective in the delivery of non-strategic human resource activities," said Ian Maginnis, Kimberly-Clark vice president of Business Support Delivery. "This agreement will allow us to better focus our resources on innovation, brand-building and other capabilities that will drive long-term sustainable growth."
Christian Marchetti, global managing director of Accenture HR Services, said, "Industry leaders increasingly understand the business value of outsourcing non-strategic elements of human resources as they look to attract, retain and maximize the performance of the workforce. With this agreement, Kimberly-Clark is well-positioned to concentrate on its core objectives of driving market innovation and accelerating growth."
Bill Read, client partner in Accenture's Consumer Goods & Services practice, added: "Accenture and Kimberly-Clark, working as partners, will now establish a long-term program leveraging new technologies and capabilities that will standardize and streamline processes for K-C's overall human resources activities."
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 150 countries. Every day, 1.3 billion people-nearly a quarter of the world's population-trust K-C brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend,
Kimberly-Clark holds the No. 1 or No. 2 share position in more than 80 countries. For more information about the company's 135-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com.
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 approximately 146,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$16.65 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2006. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
