Accenture Lays Off 1,000; Shares Drop 6 Percent

Accenture shares are trading at about $16.52 per share in heavy volume trading, down just more than a dollar from its closing price Monday of $17.57 per share.

A company spokesperson said the layoffs are targeted primarily toward manager level employees and will happen over the next few months. The company offered few details, but said the move is necessary to trim costs amid continued economic turbulence.

Accenture, formerly Andersen Consulting, is also scheduled to discuss its third-quarter fiscal 2002 financial results this Friday, July 12. Additional information about the layoffs, however, probably won't be discussed during the conference call, said the spokesperson.

The job cuts are certainly "significant for the people [being laid off, but not significant in relation to the company, overall," the spokesperson said, since Accenture has 75,000 employees worldwide, and plans to hire several thousand new employees in 2003,