Jim Wadia
Encyclopedia
Jamshed "Jim" Wadia was a CEO of Arthur Andersen
in August 1997, a post from which he resigned on August 7, 2000 due to his inability to favorably steer the then impending spinning off of Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture
, one of the largest consulting firms in the world at the time.
, India
, a qualified British Chartered Accountant,studied law in Switzerland
. He joined Arthur Andersen's consulting practice in England
in 1977 and after a fast rise through the company, became the CEO in 1997 at the age of 49.
Wadia's appointment was notable for the fact that he was the first non-accountant to run the firm that was established on its honest auditing practices. He was nominated as one of the top 25 consultants of the year 2000 by Consulting Magazine.
while awarding the former $1.2 billion in back payments and with the ruling that Andersen Consulting could no longer use the Andersen name. Within four hours of the ruling Wadia resigned. Jim Wadia would provide insight on his resignation years later at a Harvard Business School case activity about the split. It turned out that the Arthur Andersen board passed a resolution saying he had to resign if he didn't get at least an incremental $4 billion out of the $14.5 billion demanded by Arthur Andersen in the law suit (either through negotiation or via the arbitrator decision) for the consulting practice to split off, hence his quick resignation once the decision was announced.
of Linklaters
as its first Chief Operating Officer
. After almost exactly 3 years, Wadia left the firm in November 2004. It is said that he joined the firm expressly to implement a £30 million SAP
ERP
system. There was no intent of hiring another COO after his exit from the firm.
Jim Wadia is also a member of Royal Society for Arts and of Prince's Youth Business Trust Advisory Council.
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations...
in August 1997, a post from which he resigned on August 7, 2000 due to his inability to favorably steer the then impending spinning off of Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture
Accenture
Accenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...
, one of the largest consulting firms in the world at the time.
Career with Arthur Andersen
He was born in MumbaiMumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, a qualified British Chartered Accountant,studied law in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. He joined Arthur Andersen's consulting practice in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1977 and after a fast rise through the company, became the CEO in 1997 at the age of 49.
Wadia's appointment was notable for the fact that he was the first non-accountant to run the firm that was established on its honest auditing practices. He was nominated as one of the top 25 consultants of the year 2000 by Consulting Magazine.
Resignation from Arthur Andersen
In August 2000, Arthur Andersen was directed to spin-off Andersen Consulting by the International Chamber of CommerceInternational Chamber of Commerce
The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise....
while awarding the former $1.2 billion in back payments and with the ruling that Andersen Consulting could no longer use the Andersen name. Within four hours of the ruling Wadia resigned. Jim Wadia would provide insight on his resignation years later at a Harvard Business School case activity about the split. It turned out that the Arthur Andersen board passed a resolution saying he had to resign if he didn't get at least an incremental $4 billion out of the $14.5 billion demanded by Arthur Andersen in the law suit (either through negotiation or via the arbitrator decision) for the consulting practice to split off, hence his quick resignation once the decision was announced.
Career After Arthur Andersen
On 1 November 2001, Wadia joined the global law firmLaw firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of Linklaters
Linklaters
Linklaters LLP is a global law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom and a member of the 'Magic Circle' of leading UK law firms. Linklaters is the world's fourth largest global law firm by revenue. In 2009/10 it received total revenues of £1.18 billion and profits per equity partner of £1.2...
as its first Chief Operating Officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
. After almost exactly 3 years, Wadia left the firm in November 2004. It is said that he joined the firm expressly to implement a £30 million SAP
SAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
system. There was no intent of hiring another COO after his exit from the firm.
Jim Wadia is also a member of Royal Society for Arts and of Prince's Youth Business Trust Advisory Council.
See also
- Accenture's splitting from Arthur Andersen