Accenture has started monitoring employee usage of artificial intelligence (AI) tools as part of how it decides on top-level promotions, as consulting firms encourage reluctant employees to adopt them.
The Dublin-based company told associate directors and senior managers that advancement to leadership positions required “regular implementation” of AI, according to people familiar with the matter and an internal email reviewed by the Financial Times.
This month, Accenture began collecting data on individual weekly logins to AI tools for some senior employees.
“The use of our key tools will provide visible input into talent discussions” in leadership-level promotion decisions this summer, the email said. The New York-listed group says it has trained more than 550,000 people in generative AI.
The tools include AI Refinery, which helps companies “turn raw AI technology into useful business solutions,” and SynOps, “an innovative human-machine operations ‘engine’ that optimizes the synergies between data, applied intelligence, digital technology, and talent to help organizations transform their business operations,” Accenture said.
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The move highlights the challenges consulting groups face in convincing senior employees and partners to adapt to AI.
Three executives from the Big Four accounting and consulting firms said convincing senior executives and partners to adopt AI tools has proven more difficult than it is for younger employees. One person described it as an exercise in “chilling.”
Older senior executives are often less familiar with technology and more entrenched in established ways of working, leading executives to take a so-called “carrot and stick” approach, executives said.
A person familiar with the change at Accenture said he was not directly affected but said he would “quickly quit” if it did. They and another person criticized the usefulness of the tools Accenture requires employees to use, arguing that some tools are “broken slop generators.”
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Employees in 12 European countries are exempt from the policy, as are employees in Accenture’s units that handle U.S. federal government contracts and certain joint ventures. The company has approximately 800,000 employees worldwide.
Accenture is rushing to complete a sweeping restructuring announced last June that will combine strategy, consulting, creative, technology and operations into a single unit called Reinvent Services.
CEO Julie Sweet said last year that Accenture would “retire” staff who could not adapt to the AI era. The company has since referred to its employees as “innovators” to emphasize their ability to advise customers on AI.
Last month, Accenture acquired London-based AI startup Faculty to improve its ability to help clients “reinvent core and critical business processes” by deploying AI.
But Accenture has struggled to adapt to the overall downturn in the consulting industry. The company’s stock price has fallen 42% in the past 12 months, reducing its market value to around $137 billion (116 billion euros). The peak amount reached more than $260 billion as demand surged during the pandemic.
Accenture says: “Our strategy is to be our customers’ preferred reinvention partner, the most customer-focused, AI-powered, and great place to work.
“To serve our clients most effectively, we need to deploy the latest tools and technology.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026
