Jamshed "Jim" Wadia (born 1947) was a CEO of
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...
in August 1997, a post from which he resigned on 7 August 2000 due to his inability to favorably steer the then impending spinning off of
Andersen Consulting
Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...
, now known as
Accenture
Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...
, one of the largest consulting firms in the world at the time.
Career with Arthur Andersen
He was born in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, to the
Wadia family
The Wadia family is a Parsi family from Surat, India currently based in Mumbai, India. The family rose to wealth in the mid-1700s as ship-builders serving the British East India Company as the latter established its sway over India. During th ...
. He studied accounting and law in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. He joined Arthur Andersen's consulting practice in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1977 and after a fast rise through the company, became the CEO in 1997 at the age of 49.
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 Commerce
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its over 45 million members in over 100 countries have interests spanning every s ...
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 lawsuit (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 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 (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...
of
Linklaters
Linklaters LLP is a multinational law firm, headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1838, it is a member of the "Magic Circle" of elite London-headquartered law firms. It currently employs over 5,000 lawyers across 31 offices in 21 count ...
as its first
chief operating officer
A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...
. 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 is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.
Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...
ERP system.
Jim Wadia is also a member of
Royal Society for Arts and of
Prince's Youth Business Trust Advisory Council.
Wadia Jim
World Economic Forum
See also
* Accenture's splitting from Arthur Andersen
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadia, Jim
1947 births
Living people
Parsi people from Mumbai
Businesspeople from Mumbai
Indian chief operating officers
Wadia family