31 March 2004 Joe Forehand, CEO of technology consulting company Accenture, is to step down after a turbulent five years in charge.

The 32-year veteran of the company will resign on 1 September 2004, but will stay on as chairman.

An internal successor to Forehand has been identified by Accenture’s board, and is likely to be unveiled in April.

The company did not give a specific reason for the leadership change. But the successor faces big challenges, say analysts.

“What course the world’s second-largest consultancy will set next is what makes this change in leadership so intriguing and competitively vital,” says Jess Scheer of consulting analyst Kennedy Information.

During his spell as CEO, Forehand transformed the former Andersen Consulting from a private partnership into a relatively successful publicly listed IT consultancy, despite one of the worst downturns in the history of the IT services industry.

As if to underline this, Forehand’s resignation announcement coincided with record results. Accenture said that strong demand for business process outsourcing services helped grow revenue by 17% to a company high of $3.3 billion in its second quarter. Net income increased slightly to $123.1 million.