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Accenture interviews are comprised of case interviews and behavioral or fit interview questions. If you are interviewing for Accenture’s Strategy group, you will also be given a special type of interview called the Accenture Potentia Interview.
If you have an upcoming Accenture interview, we have you covered. We’ll cover in detail:
Accenture is a massive professional services firm that provides management consulting, IT consulting, and back office outsourcing. Within management consulting, Accenture is broken down into three groups: Strategy, Operations, and Digital.
Accenture Strategy is the group that is most similar to McKinsey, BCG, and Bain in the type of work that they do. The Operations and Digital group is focused more on implementation rather than on pure strategy.
Depending on the office and group that you are applying for, there will be two to three rounds of interviews. Each round will have anywhere from one to three 1-hour interviews. Your interviews will be a mix of case interviews and behavioral or fit interview questions.
Below is an example of what your interview process could look like:
One important thing to note is that if you are applying for a role in Accenture Strategy, one of your interviews will be a special type of interview called the Potentia interview.
You’ll be interviewed by more senior people as you go through the different rounds of interviews. In the first round, you’ll be interviewed by consultants or managers. In the final round, you’ll be interviewed by managing directors and senior managing directors.
We’ll cover all of the different types of interview questions in detail in the next few sections.
An Accenture case interview, also known as a “case” for short, is a 30 to 60-minute exercise in which you and the interviewer work together to develop a recommendation or answer to a business problem.
These business problems can be anything that real companies face:
Accenture case interviews simulate what the consulting job will be like by placing you in a hypothetical business situation. Cases simulate real business problems that consulting firms solve for their clients. Many Accenture case interviews are based on actual projects that interviewers have worked on.
While consulting projects typically last between 3 to 9 months, case interviews condense solving the business problem into just 30 to 45 minutes.
Accenture case interviews can cover any industry, including retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services, energy, education, healthcare, government, and technology.
They can also cover a wide range of business situations, including entering a new market, launching a new product, acquiring a company, improving profitability, and growing revenues.
Although Accenture case interviews cover a wide range of industries and business situations, no technical or specialized knowledge is needed.
Unless you are interviewing for a consulting firm that specializes in a particular industry or function, cases are designed to be solved by someone that has general business knowledge.
Nailing your Accenture case interviews is critical to get a job at Accenture. There is no way to get a Accenture job offer without passing your case interviews.
Accenture case interviews assess five different qualities or characteristics: logical and structured thinking, analytical problem solving, business acumen, communication skills, and personality and cultural fit.
1. Logical and structured thinking: Consultants need to be organized and methodical in order to work efficiently.
2. Analytical problem solving: Consultants work with a tremendous amount of data and information in order to develop recommendations to complex problems.
3. Business acumen: A strong business instinct helps consultants make the right decisions and develop the right recommendations.
4. Communication skills: Consultants need strong communication skills to collaborate with teammates and clients effectively.
5. Personality and cultural fit: Consultants spend a lot of time working closely in small teams. Having a personality and attitude that fits with the team makes the whole team work better together.
All of these five qualities can be assessed in just a 30 to 60-minute Accenture case interview. This is what makes case interviews so effective in assessing consulting candidates.
Accenture case interviews, also known as case study interviews, are candidate-led. This means that you will be expected to drive the case. You will be suggesting what areas to explore, what analyses to do, and what next steps should be.
Accenture cases last between 30 to 45 minutes. They tend to be based on real business situations, often drawn from an actual project that your interviewer worked on.
In Accenture’s case interview workbook, they state that success in their case interviews does not depend on finding the correct answer. Instead, you are assessed on:
In addition to these hard skills, there are also soft skills that you will be assessed on. These are:
Accenture suggests following six different steps to solve an Accenture case interview.
(Source: Accenture Case Interview Workbook)
1. Listen to the case
In this step, the interviewer will give you a description of the case problem. This description can be as short as a few sentences or as long as a full page of detailed information.
During this step, make sure you are taking notes on the most important pieces of information. You should focus on understanding the context, company, and the objective.
2. Clarify the problem
Understanding the business problem and objective is imperative to successfully solving the case. Answering or addressing the wrong business problem is the quickest way to fail a case interview.
Therefore, ask clarifying questions to better understand the business situation and issue. Afterwards, make sure that you confirm or verify the objective of the case with the interviewer. This ensures that you will start the case on the right track.
3. Decompose the problem
Next, you’ll need to break down the problem in an exhaustive and logical way. You can do this by creating an issue tree or framework.
A framework is a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into simpler, smaller components. Think of a framework as brainstorming different ideas and organizing them neatly into different categories.
Accenture provides a few examples of frameworks that you can use to get you started thinking about how to solve different types of cases.
(Source: Accenture Case Interview Workbook)
We recommend that you do not just memorize these frameworks and use them in your interviews. Instead, use these frameworks as background knowledge to help you make your own frameworks that are tailored to the specific case that you are solving for.
For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks.
4. State your hypotheses
After decomposing the problem, you should list out potential hypotheses that answer or address the business problem. A hypothesis is an educated guess on the answer based on the data and information that you have so far.
A hypothesis helps guide your analysis and keeps you on track. It ensures that you are spending your time answering the right questions and conducting the right analyses.
5. Test your hypotheses
Once you have a hypothesis, you’ll answer questions or conduct analyses to refine your hypothesis.
Sometimes, your hypothesis will be completely wrong and you’ll need to develop another hypothesis to test. Other times, your hypothesis will be generally right and you’ll need to refine and narrow down your hypothesis further.
This is an iterative process. Your hypothesis should be constantly changing and becoming more refined as you progress through the case. Once you have developed meaningful support for your hypothesis, you will move onto the final step.
6. Summarize your findings
In this step, you’ll present your recommendation and provide the major reasons that support it. It is also good to include potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data.
Afterwards, the interviewer may tell you what actually happened with the case or project that they worked on. Don’t worry if your methodology or answer does not match what actually happened. Remember, you are not assessed on your answer, but the overall process.
Learn case interviews in 30 minutes
We've compiled all of the different steps of solving an Accenture case interview into a more easily digestible 30-minute video. We highly recommend watching the video below in its entirety.
Accenture states that there are three types of cases you may see in your interviews:
The “Great Unknown” and “Back of the Envelope” are the most common types of cases.
The “Great Unknown” Case
For this type of case, very little information will be provided to you on the case background. For “Great Unknown” cases, you’ll be tested on your ability to probe for details, which requires having a structured framework.
Examples of cases:
The “Parade of Facts” Case
For this type of case, a significant amount of details on the case background will be provided to you, some of them unnecessary. For “Parade of Facts” cases, you’ll be tested on the ability to synthesize and identify key issues.
Example of a case:
The “Back of the Envelope” Case
This type of case asks a market sizing or estimation question. Very little information will be provided, but a clear question will be asked.
“Back of the Envelope” cases primarily test your analytic abilities. It requires a structured, logical thought process and competency in working with numbers and making calculations.
Examples of cases:
We've compiled additional examples of Accenture case interviews below. These case interviews were actual cases given in previous Accenture interviews.
Example #1: A consumer electronics company is looking to introduce a new smartwatch to the market. How should they launch this new product?
Example #2: A global logistics company wants to streamline its supply chain operations. How can they lower their costs?
Example #3: A pharmaceutical company is considering discontinuing a particular drug from its portfolio. Evaluate the reasons behind the decision and assess the financial implications.
Example #4: A non-profit organization focusing on wildlife conservation is facing funding challenges. Recommend initiatives to enhance long-term sustainability of fundraising.
Example #5: A financial services firm is considering adopting blockchain technology for its operations. What are some considerations that they should think through?
Example #6: A leading e-commerce platform wants to enhance its customer experience. How can they improve customer satisfaction and loyalty?
Example #7: A software company that currently serves small and medium-sized businesses wants to expand into the enterprise market. Should they enter this new market?
For more practice, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases.
Below are six of the most useful Accenture case interview tips for acing your case interviews.
Tip #1: Take your time and don’t rush into speaking
Structure your ideas and thinking before you start talking. If needed, talk through the problem out loud so that the interviewer can follow your thought process.
Tip #2: Be flexible
There may be times when the case will take a different direction than anticipated. You may also need to completely change your approach or hypothesis. It is important that you are open-minded and adaptable throughout the case.
Tip #3: Use visual aids
To make your communication even more clear and easy to follow, use visual aids to your advantage. When presenting your framework, turn your paper around so that it faces the interviewer. When outlining a process, use a whiteboard if there is one available.
Tip #4: Be 80/20
The 80/20 principle states that 80% of the results comes from 20% of your effort. You will not have the time to answer every single question in a case interview. Therefore, take an inventory of all of the information that you have and focus on diving deeper into the areas that will have the greatest impact.
Tip #5: Pay attention to cues from the interviewer
Remember that case interviewers are meant to be collaborative. You should listen closely to what the interviewer has to say. They may provide you with hints to help you out. They may also give you feedback on your approach or structure to help steer you in the right direction. Don’t dismiss what interviewers have to say.
Tip #6: Showcase your individuality
A case interview is an opportunity to showcase your personality and experiences. If you have unique insights based on your previous work experiences, make sure that you bring it up. This can help separate your answer from other candidates.
There are seven steps to preparing for Accenture case interviews.
1. Understand what a case interview is
The first step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to understand exactly what case interviews are.
When you are familiar with what case interviews are, it is important to know what a great Accenture case interview performance looks like.
Knowing what a great Accenture case interview performance looks like will facilitate how quickly you learn case interview strategies in the next step.
Before continuing onto the next step, you should be familiar with:
2. Learn the right strategies
Now that you have sufficient background knowledge, the next step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to learn the right strategies to build good case interview habits.
It is much more effective to learn the right case strategies the first time than to learn poor strategies and try to correct them later.
The quickest, most efficient way to learn these strategies is to go through our Comprehensive Case Interview Course.
If you prefer reading case interview prep books instead, the three I recommend are:
Hacking the Case Interview provides strategies on exactly what to do and what to say in every step of the case interview. It is a concise and straight to the point guide. I recommend this book as the first book to read for beginners.
Case Interview Secrets teaches core concepts such as the issue tree, drill-down analysis, and a hypothesis driven approach. It illustrates these concepts through stories and anecdotes. If you have read Hacking the Case Interview, I recommend also reading this book to get perspectives from a second author. Check out our full review of Case Interview Secrets.
Case in Point provides a ton of specific and complex frameworks. However, you likely won’t be using many of these in an actual case interview because many of them are overly complex and specific. If you have time, it may be useful to skim through this book. Check out our full review of Case in Point.
At the bare minimum, read either the first or second book. If you have the time, read the first two books so that you can get strategies from two different authors.
Make sure to spend sufficient time learning the right strategies before starting to practice cases. It is ineffective to practice cases if you have no idea what strategies to practice and refine.
Before moving onto the next step, you should at least have strategies for the following parts of a case interview:
3. Practice 3-5 cases by yourself
Once you have learned the right strategies, the next step in Accenture case interview prep is to practice.
When practicing case interviews, it is usually better to practice with a case interview partner than to practice by yourself. Casing with a partner better simulates the real case interview experience.
However, when you are just starting to practice, I recommend doing the first 3 – 5 cases by yourself.
There are three reasons for this:
4. Practice 5-10 cases with a partner
The next step in preparing for Accenture case interviews is to case with a partner.
Casing with a partner is the best way to simulate a real case interview. There are many aspects of case interviews that you won’t be able to improve on unless you practice live with a partner.
When practicing cases with a partner, ensure you are spending enough time after cases to deliver feedback.
For a case that takes around 30 – 40 minutes, spend at least 15 – 20 minutes for feedback. Much of your learning and improvement will come from these feedback sessions.
Do not move onto the next step until you have done at least 5 – 10 cases and are beginning to feel comfortable with case interviews.
5. Practice with a former or current consultant
At this point, I highly recommend asking former or current consultants to give you a practice case. This will significantly help you prepare for case interviews.
Doing a mock case with a former or current consultant is highly advantageous because they know exactly how to run cases and give feedback. You’ll receive incredibly helpful feedback that your previous case partners likely missed.
If you feel that you are plateauing with your case partner, that is a sign you should do a mock case interview with a former or current consultant.
You can find former or current consultants among:
I would not ask a consultant that is involved with the consulting recruiting process for a case too prematurely. Although these practice cases are not evaluative, some firms will actually make note of how well you perform during the practice case.
At this point, you will have accumulated a long list of improvement areas from all of the different people you have cased with.
6. Work on your improvement areas
In this step of preparing for Accenture case interviews, you will work on strengthening and fine-tuning your improvement areas. Examples of common improvement areas include:
Try to focus on improving one thing at a time. This is much more effective than trying to improve everything at once.
For some areas, such as math, it will be better to work independently. For other areas, such as learning to proactively lead the case, it will be better to work with a case partner.
If you are looking for more cases, look at the resources listed in step four. If you are looking for specific drills or practice problems for a particular part of a case interview, check out The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook.
Do not move onto the next step until you have finished working on all of your improvement areas.
7. Stay sharp
If you have progressed this far, congratulations! You have almost finished preparing for Accenture case interviews.
Once you feel that you have no more improvement areas to work on, the key is to not burn yourself out by doing too many unnecessary cases.
While each case that you do makes you slightly better, there is a point when doing too many cases can create case fatigue right before your interview. Case fatigue can negatively impact your interview performance.
On the other hand, you also don’t want to go weeks without having done a case. You may end up forgetting strategies or become rusty and slow.
Once you have achieved case mastery, I recommend doing no more than 2 cases per week in the weeks leading up to your interview. This ensures that you remain sharp for case interviews, but don’t have case fatigue.
The Accenture Potentia interview is a 1-hour interview given to candidates that are applying for a role in Accenture Strategy. Here is the structure of the Accenture Potentia Interview:
The purpose of the Potentia interview is to challenge your strategic thinking. There is no right or wrong answer. There are also no calculations or math involved.
Instead, the interviewer is assessing you on the structure and organization of your answer and your creativity.
Tips for the Accenture Potentia Interview:
In addition to case interviews, you will likely be asked a few behavioral or fit interview questions. There are ten questions that are most commonly asked.
1. Why are you interested in working at Accenture?
How to answer: Have at least three reasons why you’re interested in working at Accenture. You could mention that you loved the people that you have met from Accenture so far. You can talk about Accenture’s massive global presence and expertise in nearly any industry or function. You can speak to how Accenture provides strategy and implementation, so you can see the impact of your work.
2. Why do you want to work in consulting?
How to answer: Again, have three reasons why you’re interested in consulting. You could mention the fast career growth opportunity, the opportunity to develop soft and hard skills, or the level of impact that you can make by working with large companies on their most challenging issues.
3. Walk me through your resume.
How to answer: Provide a concise summary of your work experience, starting with the most recent. Focus on emphasizing your most impressive and unique accomplishments. At the end, tie your experiences to why you are interested in consulting.
4. What is your proudest achievement?
How to answer: Choose your most impressive, unique, or memorable accomplishment. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work.
5. What is something that you are proud of that is not on your resume?
How to answer: This is a great opportunity to highlight an accomplishment that is not related to your professional work experience. Perhaps there is a non-profit that you volunteer at, a side project or business that you work on, or a hobby that you have won awards or recognition for. Choose something that is impressive and interesting.
6. Tell me about a time when you led a team.
How to answer: If possible, choose a time when you directly managed a person or a team. For this question and the following questions, make sure that you structure your answer. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work. This is known as the STAR method and is commonly used to answer behavioral or fit interview questions.
7. Give an example of a time when you faced conflict or a disagreement.
How to answer: When answering this question, focus on emphasizing the steps you took to resolve the conflict or disagreement. Speak to the interpersonal skills you had to use in order to mediate the situation. Interviewers want to know that you are a great mediator and that you can handle conflict in a constructive way.
8. Tell me about a time when you had to persuade someone.
How to answer: Choose a time when you were able to change someone’s mind. Focus on emphasizing the steps that you took to persuade that person and what impact and results this had. Interviewers want to know that you are a great communicator and a good people person.
9. Describe a time when you failed.
How to answer: Choose a time when you failed to meet a deadline or did not meet expectations. Focus on emphasizing what you learned from the experience and how you used that experience to deliver even better results in the next opportunity that you got. Interviewers want to see that you don’t get discouraged from failure and that you treat those experiences as learning opportunities.
10. What questions do you have for me?
How to answer: This is a great opportunity to get to know the interviewer on a more personal level. Ask them questions about their experience in consulting or their career. Express genuine interest in what they have to show and ask follow-up questions. The more you can get the interviewer talking about themself, the more likely they will have a positive impression of you.
For a step-by-step guide on how to best answer all of these questions and more, check out our complete guide on consulting behavioral interview questions.
Here are the resources we recommend to land an Accenture consulting offer:
For help landing consulting interviews
For help passing case interviews
For help passing consulting behavioral & fit interviews