· 9 min read
Accenture Case Interview: Workbook, Process and Examples
How Accenture's case interview works in the US, UK and Australia, what its official Case Interview Workbook covers, plus a worked case with all the math shown.
An Accenture case interview gives you a business problem and asks you to clarify it, break it down, test hypotheses and recommend what the client should do. Accenture's Case Interview Workbook says they typically last 45 to 60 minutes, with 30 to 45 on the case itself, but that workbook is marked Copyright 2018. Whether you get a case depends on your country and role: the US hiring page says the number of interviews "depends on the role," and the UK graduate site adds a case study interview only for certain programmes.
Soreno isn't affiliated with Accenture. Every process fact here comes from Accenture's own pages (its US, UK and Australia sites and the workbook PDF), and we name the country for each.
What Accenture publishes about its process
Accenture doesn't publish one global process. Here's what its pages say, by country:
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| US hiring process page | Interviews happen by phone, video or in person, and "The number of interviews you'll have depends on the role." For some roles there's an online activity on "technical skills, natural strengths or decision-making process." For technical roles, the same page describes a coding assessment that usually takes 30 to 90 minutes. |
| US careers blog FAQ (January 28, 2020) | "The first step in our interview process is the phone screening interview." After that it depends on the role. For the case, it points to the workbook. |
| UK graduate Support Hub (Accenture's UK early-careers site, linked from accenture.com/gb-en) | Application, then the Discovery Portal online assessment (untimed, about 60 to 90 minutes), then a Task Based Interview with a recruiter on work scenarios, then an in-person Business Strengths Interview with a Manager or Managing Director (about 50 to 60 minutes). Strategy, AI & Data and Digital Engineering, Manufacturing & Supply Chain programmes add a case study interview at that final stage. |
| Australia careers blog (undated) | For graduate roles, group case studies are "a common assessment task," usually after the phone screening. Groups get about 1.5 hours on the case, then present for 5 to 10 minutes to around 30 to 50 people and take assessors' questions. |
What Accenture doesn't publish, on any page we found: how many case rounds to expect, whether cases are interviewer-led or candidate-led, a separate US process for Accenture Strategy, or separate processes for Song, Technology or Operations. Ask your recruiter about any additional interview format named in your invitation.
What's in Accenture's Case Interview Workbook
Accenture's Case Interview Workbook is a 24-page PDF. The file name says FY19 and the last page says Copyright 2018, so it's old (one practice prompt asks you to estimate the price of oil "in the year 2000"). Accenture still links it from its US and UK interview tips pages. Copies on Scribd and other document sites aren't official, so use the accenture.com link.
Here's what it covers:
- What a case interview is. It says cases tend to be real business situations, often drawn from the interviewer's project experience.
- Myths and facts. There's no single right answer, and you don't need industry knowledge, just sound common sense.
- A six-step process: listen to the case, clarify the problem, decompose it (with an issue tree that's mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive), state hypotheses, test them and summarize.
- Interpersonal evaluation criteria: poise, communication, flexibility and intangibles like energy, initiative, decisiveness and genuine interest in the firm.
- Three case types, each with an example outline.
- Sample frameworks: profitability, the 4 P's, Porter's Five Forces, the 3 C's, SWOT and a growth matrix.
- Fourteen practice prompts, such as a furniture retailer whose sales grew 25% while profits fell, and the value of a New York City taxi medallion.
Its core line: your success doesn't depend on finding a single correct answer, but on how you define the problem, structure the analysis, handle the numbers and communicate.
The three case types and how to open each
The workbook says the "Great Unknown" and "Back of the Envelope" are the most common types and calls the "Parade of Facts" relatively rare. The middle column is Accenture's; the right column is our advice.
| Type | What the workbook says | Your first minute |
|---|---|---|
| Great Unknown | Provides very little information and tests whether you can probe for details | Ask three or four clarifying questions about the objective, the market and the client before you structure anything |
| Parade of Facts | Gives a lot of detail, "some unnecessary," and tests whether you can distill the key issues | Say out loud which facts you'll set aside and which you'll use, then confirm the question you're answering |
| Back of the Envelope | An estimate that tests comfort with numbers | Don't interrogate the interviewer. The workbook says to think through your steps instead, then state your starting assumption and calculate as you go |
For the estimation type, our market sizing interview questions give you more reps.
Interviewer-led or candidate-led
Accenture doesn't use either label, and its material points to a mix. The workbook has you lay out the framework and explain which analyses you'd do. The interviewer may then ask you to calculate, or steer you toward a different approach. Accenture's US blog post Secrets to a successful case-study interview (January 9, 2023) says the interviewer might spend the first half on your experience or start straight with the case, so "be prepared to participate in whatever discussion the interviewer has in mind."
So drive the structure yourself, but take hints the moment they come.
Worked example (ours, fictional): route software for a parcel courier
This is our own practice case. The company and every number are made up. It opens like a Great Unknown, and the fact sheet includes noise so you also practice sorting facts.
Prompt. Larkspur Parcel, a regional courier with 300 delivery vans, is deciding whether to buy route-optimization software. The COO asks: should we?
Clarify. Ask what the goal is (profit, and the board wants payback within two years) and what the vendor claims (8% fewer kilometers).
Structure. Compare benefits with costs. Benefits split into fewer kilometers (fuel and maintenance) and freed driver time (more stops on the same shifts). Costs are an annual licence and a one-time integration.
Fact sheet (handed over when you ask for data):
- 300 vans, each driving 200 km per working day, 250 working days a year
- Fuel and maintenance cost $0.40 per km
- Drivers work fixed 8-hour shifts, average 30 km/h while driving, and a stop takes about 4 minutes. For this exercise, assume one overflow parcel per stop and no extra driving beyond the optimized routes
- Larkspur pays a subcontractor $5 a parcel to deliver about 600 overflow parcels a day; delivering one more parcel on its own van costs about $1
- Licence: $1,200 per van per year. Integration: $600,000 once
- Larkspur rebranded last year, the vendor is launching a customer-tracking app, and the head of operations still prints paper route sheets
Math, spoken as you'd say it:
- Annual distance: 300 vans × 200 km × 250 days = 15,000,000 km.
- Fuel savings at 8%: 1,200,000 km × $0.40 = $480,000 a year.
- Licence: 300 × $1,200 = $360,000 a year. Net fuel benefit: $120,000 a year, so the $600,000 integration takes 5 years to pay back. That fails the two-year bar.
- For fuel and maintenance savings alone to cover the licence, Larkspur needs $360,000 ÷ $0.40 = 900,000 km saved, which is 6% of its driving.
- Freed time: 8% of 200 km is 16 km a van per day. At 30 km/h that's 32 minutes, and at 4 minutes a stop that's 8 more stops per van. Across 300 vans: 2,400 extra stops a day, far more than the 600 overflow parcels.
- Bringing overflow in-house saves $5 − $1 = $4 a parcel: 600 × $4 × 250 days = $600,000 a year.
- Total: $120,000 + $600,000 = $720,000 a year. Payback: $600,000 ÷ $720,000 = 0.83 years, about 10 months.
Stress test. At half the claim (4%), fuel savings are 600,000 km × $0.40 = $240,000, or $120,000 short of the licence. But 4% still frees 8 km, 16 minutes and 4 stops per van, so 1,200 stops of capacity so all 600 overflow parcels fit under our routing assumptions. Net: $600,000 − $120,000 = $480,000 a year, and payback is $600,000 ÷ $480,000 = 1.25 years, or 15 months. The overflow needs only 2 stops per van (8 minutes, or 4 km), a 2% reduction.
| Scenario | Fuel net of licence | Overflow savings | Annual net benefit | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor claim (8%) | +$120,000 | $600,000 | $720,000 | 10 months |
| Half the claim (4%) | −$120,000 | $600,000 | $480,000 | 15 months |
Risks to name. Drivers may ignore the suggested routes. The subcontract may also have a minimum volume.
The 30-second recommendation:
"Buy it, but justify it on capacity, not fuel. At the vendor's 8% claim, Larkspur nets $720,000 a year and pays back the $600,000 integration in about 10 months. Even at half the claim it's $480,000 a year and 15 months, inside the board's two-year bar. Fuel savings barely cover the licence, so the case only works if the 600 overflow parcels a day actually move onto Larkspur's vans. I'd pilot it on 30 vans for two months to measure the real reduction and check the subcontract's exit terms. Dispatch needs training first, since operations still runs on paper route sheets."
For more practice on the payback step, see our break-even analysis examples. Our frameworks for case interviews shows how to adapt a structure when a case doesn't fit one neatly.
The fit and behavioral side
Accenture's US post on behavioral interviews (July 5, 2022) recommends the STAR method and says Accenture looks for "collaboration, leadership and problem-solving skills, ability to learn, business acumen and emotional resilience." One of its example questions asks about a time you embraced a new system, process, technology or idea at work, so have that story ready. In the UK, the final Business Strengths Interview explores "your natural strengths and what motivates you." Our behavioral interview questions for consulting article has example answers.
A prep plan by the stage you're facing
This is our plan, built on the stages Accenture names. Skip rows that don't apply.
| Stage (where Accenture names it) | What to practice |
|---|---|
| Phone screening (US) | A two-minute version of your background and a specific reason for Accenture and the role |
| Discovery Portal (UK) | Accenture says you can't prepare for it. Block 60 to 90 quiet minutes and do it in one sitting |
| Task Based Interview (UK) | Talking through how you'd handle a client situation, step by step, out loud |
| Group case study (Australia) | A timed 1.5-hour case with friends, ending in a 5 to 10 minute presentation, and making sure someone keeps time |
| Case study interview | The workbook's 14 practice prompts, split across the three types, plus full cases like Larkspur where you finish with a 30-second recommendation |
When you run out of practice partners for the case rounds, Soreno's consulting track runs voice AI mock case interviews where you choose interviewer-led or candidate-led format, so you can rehearse both. It shows exhibits live, asks follow-up questions and gives you a rubric-graded report, and its drills cover market sizing and consulting math. It doesn't have an Accenture-specific case library and doesn't simulate group cases, the Discovery Portal or online tests.