Accenture Interview Experiences

ISB Consulting Club

Class of 2006

Compiled by:

Ruchi Bansal
Simran Khara
Gaurav Balhara
Amrit Singh

Index
Atul Singh
Namit Puri
Arun Neelkantan

Name
Company Interviewed
With
Name of Interviewer and
designation
Round
(First/Second/Third
round)
Personal interview
questions (with indicative
answers if you choose to
share them)

Narration of the case

interview (please be as
descriptive as possible)

Atul Singh
Accenture
B.V. Sriraman
First & Second
Tell me something about yourself.
I had prepared a little story around the major points on my resume.
Hometown School (Interest) IIT (Why?) TCS (Why?) ISB
(Why?)
What makes you think about joining consulting after you
complete your MBA?
Aim to influence critical business decisions for major companies
based on established and evolving analytical theories explored
during my MBA. Consulting offers exposure to diverse set of
companies and hence, provides a unique opportunity to learn and
contribute.
Most significant achievement to date and why do you consider it
so?
A non-academic achievement from my undergraduate school.
Off my resume, he delved into my work experience within the IT
division of risk management systems at a global investment bank.
He asked me about the business significance of that system and my
role in the organization.
I explained the nuances of the risk management system I supported
and how my role fitted in the business. The interviewer had
prepared grounds for a market estimation case outsourcing of
such risk management components by major banks in India. He
was particularly vague about the fact that it was risk management
at banks and not just investment banks.
I decided to conduct market estimates on two counts: total dollar
value and the number of outsourcing opportunities. I took time-off
to structure my thoughts. I drew a tree identifying different
categories of banks (retail, investment etc), value of transactions in
each category, number of transactions in them, consequently, total
value of transactions, associated risk exposures, cost of managing
such risk exposure and hence, the expected cost advantages
through outsourcing and as a result, the dollar value of such a
market.
At several stages of the interview, I kept validating my assumptions
and engaging the interviewer in a discussion rather than a
monologue.
Next, we discussed a market entry strategy case for a chain trying
to open a hyper-mart in the outskirts of a major city.
This case was meant to measure my creative abilities (for whatever
its worth!!!) and sense of proportion.
For every stated strategy, I was asked to validate its financial
viability. I had to continuously keep stating my assumptions and

What do you think went

right for you in the in this
interview?

What do you think went

wrong in this interview?

Any tips for the future

batches based on this
interview experience.

then doing calculations on a rough sheet of paper.

For example, we could run a shuttle service between the city center
and the store; charge INR 50 per person both ways. How much
would it cost per year; what additional sales it could generate and
hence, could it be profitable. There were a number of other such
issues discussed.
I kept peeling steps one by one and kept clarifying assumptions. I
ensured that I got a buy-in from the interviewer about my
assumptions before proceeding with any numerical calculation.
This was particularly useful in engaging the interviewer in a
dialogue rather than proceeding in a monologue.
At one stage, I complicated the discussion by using a few technical
terms. The interviewer did not understand them or, at least,
appeared not to understand them. I had a tough time explaining
the stuff because often the most obvious things become difficult to
put into words. As a result, a dialogue for about 5 minutes was offtrack, utterly useless and potentially damaging.
Based on my mistake, do not try to be adventurous with stuff you
are familiar with. More so in a situation where you have been
forced into facing questions on a familiar industry. Start from the
basics!

* For sake of brevity, the material for 2 case interviews is merged into one.
Round-3 was a telephonic interview with a Senior Engagement Manager at a remote location. It
was primarily a fit interview followed by a short sales force incentive based case interview.
Round-4 was a telephonic interview with the Country Manager of Accenture. It was only a fit
interview.

Namit Puri
General:
I had 5 rounds of interview (4 with interviewers present at campus and one telephonic round). I
was given cases in each of these on supply chain, economics, a disguised case, a finance case and
a case based on my experience. In some of these, I was tested for the usual stuff (rigor, structure,
synthesis) and also little twists thrown in to check your fundas.
The personal round was more about my work experience and a typical fit.
Cases
Case 1:
The first case was more of a warm up. A firm which was being given tax SOPs (16% of the
product cost) for 10 years to set up a factory in Uttaranchal. Should it do it or not?
A)Preliminary questions:
I enquired about the firm. What products does it make? Where are the markets? What are the
exit barriers in shutting down those manufacturing locations?
Structure:
The broad factors in Internal and External which had to be looked at were:
1. Internal Supply Chain
a. Effect of setting this unit on total supply chain costs
i. Inbound costs
ii. Outbound costs
iii. Processing cost
iv. Cost effect on other units because of capacity shifting out
b. Variability and response time lag to supply to the market
2.

Internal--Labor
a. Availability of skilled labor? Skilled was the key here
b. Cost of labor
c. As other manufacturers were also setting factories there was bound to be a
supply constraint of skilled labor.

3.

Political, Economic and Law in the new area

a. What is the guarantee with change in Govt these SOPs would not be taken back?
b. Other SOPs which could come in? Other duties which can be brought in?
c. Infrastructure situation: How will a poor infrastructure affect the total cost
processing ( electricity ) / supply chain costs--- transit time and its variability.
d. Impact of law other problems in the area and the impact of these

4.

Is the competition doing it? Impact on you if you dont do it and the competition does it.

It turned out that it was not a good idea.

Case 2:

B) A bulk chemical manufacturer who supplies chemicals manufacturers of APIs is losing money.
How should it reverse this.
Preliminary questions:
I enquired about the business. API is a component of a drug like a crocin. (This is what I could
decipher from the loads of jargon he threw at me). It was a deliberate attempt by the interviewer
throughout the interview --- he kept on throwing several compound names at me and explaining
the complex manufacturing process.
Industry specific--- The manufacturers of APIs really value a continuous supply.
The revenue side was explored and it appeared that nothing could be done to Improve it
Cost Side:
To simplify, I drew a tree and a block diagram. It turned out that a major component was the raw
material which was being sourced from China. The raw material prices were very cyclical and
varied almost 50% throughout the year.
Methods:
1. Look at inventory norms --- cost of carrying extra inventory and cost of lost sales.
2. Look at alternate sources of the same raw material
3. Look at a substitute raw material
4. Cut costs in other areas
5. Look at financial solutions like forwards etc.
The next step was to look at the manufacturing efficiency. This entailed a study of manufacturing
process and benchmarking with the rest of the industry.
Case 3:
A cement manufacturer is losing money. How would you turn it around?
c) Preliminary questions:
Understood the main drivers of the industry. It turns out that the cement industry worked as a
cartel. As a cartel prices, they set different prices in different states. Economics fundas checked: In
a perfect market the prices between the two states should differ only by the transportation cost.
How does a cartel make money? It controls the supply in such a manner that the profit function is
maximized.
Draw the graphs: ( Hint : OPEC fundas taught in micro eco)
Next Q: How do you define in which market, how much should be supplied? It was actually an
LP. So explained the concept, the interviewer was satisfied with it.
Next Q: If multiple factories in different parts of the country were to supply different markets
(different prices and transportation costs), how would you decide it? Just carrying the LP
further, I explained the concept theoretically. LSCM Term 5 helped me here The next was to
look at the supply chain incentives and how the distributors stocked. What were there incentives
and opportunity costs..

How could the cartel be broken? Could distributors get arbitrage profit here?
Case 4:
When do u use a P/E multiple? When do you use DCF? Value Airtel. Which method. What are
the other alternative methods of valuing it? How will it differ from lets say valuation of Coal
India?
Case 5:
How will u set up a market of reused Monte Blanc Pens?
It is very easy in this case to fall into a trap of 4C, 4P and triad framework (market attractiveness,
risk and competency of the company).But the trick here was where would the supply come from?
Only two class of people would buy it: Connoisseurs of such stuff and people who buy for
investment.
It was a supply constraint industry and cannot be established.

Arun Neelkantan
Case 1:
Your client is an integrated manufacturer of copper bars. Their profits have been declining for the
last 5 years. How do you address it?
Main Points:
The client mines the copper, melts it and makes copper bars and sells it to industries. He has 2
mining units and 2 plants in India for this purpose. There are some synergies associated with the
integrated units.
The client has 10% of the market share. There are 2 other competitors with 45% market share
each. They are making profits but they import their copper ore from other countries i.e. they are
not integrated manufacturers.
The customer demand is 300,000 tonnes/annum. The retail price is Rs 150,000 per tonne.
The client operates the mining and smelting units as 2 disparate units with transfer pricing based
on market price. The market price of copper ore is Rs 120,000 /ton. The cost of mining is Rs
80,000 /ton. The cost of smelting is Rs 37,000 /ton. Based on this you can calculate that the
smelting unit is making a loss of Rs 7,000/ton. The capacities of the plant are 25,000 tons each.
This leads to a capacity utilization of 60% (based on 10% market share).
The competitors smelting cost is only Rs 15,000 /ton. They have 2 plants of 300,000 tons each. The
capacity utilization is 90% - they serve the Indian and the export market.
Based on this, there are economies of scale associated with the industries. There might also be
cost advantages based on the raw material procurement. So the client can look at closing one of
his plants and doing operational improvements to reduce the cost of smelting.
Case 2:
There is a freight and logistics company and is looking to enter into the Indian market? Should
they?
Main Points:
There is market potential. The main clients are 80% B2B and 20% B2C. Getting information is
difficult in Indian scenario. The mainly transport 2 kinds of packages less than 10 tons and
greater than 10 tons. Transporting to larger companies (essentially larger packages) might reduce
the cost but the price you charge will also be lower. The cost of serving B2C market might be
higher but you can charge a higher price for them. So you have to make a tradeoff to determine
which market to target.
To enter the market, you will have to set up warehouses at appropriate locations to minimize
transportation cost or you can acquire an existing player.