Accenture case interview: 4 practice cases with worked examples (2026)

The Accenture case interview is usually a live, interviewer-led business problem of 20 to 40 minutes, commonly with a technology, digital or implementation angle: should a client invest in a platform, why is a programme behind plan, how would you roll a change out? It is used most for strategy and management consulting roles; technology roles often lean more on behavioural and technical questions. Expect competency questions alongside the case, and in some countries an online assessment first. Some graduate processes add a case presentation or an assessment centre. Formats vary by country, role and year, so check your invitation.

What sets the Accenture case apart is where the conversation goes after the numbers. An MBB interviewer might stop at 'should they do it?'. An Accenture interviewer is likely to keep going: what would the client need to build or buy, how long would it take, who has to change how they work, and what would make the programme fail? Preparing only for the strategic answer leaves the second half of the interview to improvisation.

Two cases in our library are written in the Accenture style. We add two digital and telecom cases written in BCG's style because they test the same skills: reading a digital funnel, unit economics of customers, and the cost of growth. All four have guided walkthroughs.

Start with Fenmore: the maths is a year-by-year payback table, and the case shows how one assumption can carry an entire business case. Brookmere is the best rehearsal for a programme-rescue question.

The core method is the same everywhere: clarify, structure, analyse, recommend. What changes is the subject matter and how far past the recommendation the interviewer takes you. The table shows tendencies, not rules; strategy roles at Accenture are commonly reported to run cases closer to the MBB style.

Fenmore Bank weighs a small-business app

The prompt. Fenmore Bank, a regional bank with 50,000 small-business customers, is losing them to digital banks at twice the rate of three years ago. The digital team wants to build a mobile-first app for $16m. Does it pay back within the bank's four-year hurdle, and should Fenmore go ahead? Ask why customers leave: attrition is 12% a year, up from 6%, and most leavers cite the digital experience. Each customer brings about $2,000 of revenue a year.

A fitting structure. A product business case is adoption × value per active user, less cost, laid out by year. Adoption: active users over time, the plan against peers. Value per user: customers kept, cost to serve avoided, cross-sell, paid tools. Cost: one-off build plus annual run cost. Then payback against four years, and the delivery route and its risks.

The calculations. Turn shares into users on 50,000 customers. The plan: 10,000 active users in year 1, 20,000 in year 2, 30,000 from year 3. The peer median: 5,000, then 12,500, 17,500 and 20,000 from year 4. At maturity the plan assumes 30,000 users against 20,000, 50% more than the median comparable bank achieved, and double the peers in year 1.

AccentureFenmore Bank weighs a small-business appNew Product · Medium

Fenmore Bank weighs a small-business app

Finish it: value per user, payback on the plan and at peer adoption, and build against partner.

Interviewer

Fenmore Bank is a regional bank with 50,000 small-business customers, and it is losing them to digital banks at twice the rate it did three years ago. The digital team wants to build a mobile-first app for small businesses at a cost of $16m. The CEO asks whether it pays back within the bank's four-year hurdle, and whether Fenmore should go ahead. How would you approach it?

Start the caseGuided, step by step

Brookmere Water's smart meter rollout stalls

The prompt. Brookmere Water serves 720,000 households. Twelve months into a three-year, $180m programme to fit every household with a smart meter, it has installed 144,000 meters against a plan of 240,000, and the programme director warns the budget will be exceeded. What is going wrong, how big is the overrun, and how do we get back on track? Ask how the contractor is paid: $500 per installer-day, whether visits succeed or not.

A fitting structure. A driver tree for output: installers × visits per installer-day (travel and time on site) × share of visits completed × working days. Find the broken driver against plan, then the reasons behind it. Then forecast cost at completion line by line, build a recovery plan by driver, and retest the business case.

The calculations. Plan: 450 ÷ (12 + 24) = 12.5 visits a day × 80% = 10 installs. Actual: 450 ÷ (21 + 24) = 10 visits × 60% = 6 installs. Check against the progress figure, at 20 working days a month: 100 installers × 6 × 20 × 12 months = 144,000 meters. It ties out.

AccentureBrookmere Water's smart meter rollout stallsOperations · Medium

Brookmere Water's smart meter rollout stalls

Finish it: why visits fail, the cost at completion, the recovery plan and the business case.

Interviewer

Our client, Brookmere Water, is a regional water utility serving 720,000 households. Twelve months into a three-year, $180m programme to fit every household with a smart meter, it has installed 144,000 meters against a plan of 240,000, and the programme director warns the budget will be exceeded. The COO wants to know what is going wrong, how big the overrun will be, and how to get the programme and its business case back on track. How would you approach this?

Start the caseGuided, step by step

These two are written in BCG's candidate-led style. Run them as they are, then rehearse the Accenture follow-up at the end: what would the client need to build, and how would you roll it out?

Larkfield sets out to double online sales

The prompt. Larkfield is a mid-market fashion retailer with 220 stores. Store sales have been flat at about $1.2bn for four years while online has grown to $300m, and the new CEO has promised the board to double online revenue within three years. Ask about constraints: the board will not accept online growth at the expense of company profit, and the marketing team's plan is to double paid search and social spend.

A fitting structure. Online revenue = visits × conversion × average order value, net of returns. Split the growth into momentum (the market's growth) and new levers: traffic, conversion, order value, and moving existing store customers online. Then check each lever's effect on profit, because delivery and returns make online less profitable.

The calculations. Online growth: $238m to $300m in three years is about 8% a year, the same as the online fashion market. At that pace online reaches about $300m × 1.08 × 1.08 × 1.08 ≈ $378m in three years. The target is $600m, so about $222m has to come from something other than momentum. Online is 20% of Larkfield's $1.5bn today.

BCGLarkfield sets out to double online salesGrowth Strategy · Medium

Larkfield sets out to double online sales

Written in BCG's style. Finish it: the funnel against peers, margin by channel and the customers Larkfield already has.

Interviewer

Larkfield is a mid-market fashion retailer with 220 stores and a growing online business. Store sales have been flat at about $1.2bn for four years, while online has grown to $300m. The new CEO has promised the board she will double online revenue within three years. How would you help her get there?

Start the caseGuided, step by step

Halcyon Mobile grows its way to lower profit

The prompt. Halcyon Mobile is the third-largest mobile operator in its market. In two years its subscriber base has grown 12.5% to 9 million, yet EBITDA has fallen by about a third. What is going on, and what should Halcyon do? Ask about the plans and pricing: three postpaid plans at $45, $30 and $15 a month, unchanged since 2023, and handset offers extended to the $15 plan in 2024.

A fitting structure. EBITDA = service revenue (subscribers × ARPU) less cost of service, network and overheads, and acquisition cost (handset subsidies and commissions). Behind it sit the subscriber flows (gross additions less churn) and the mix of plans.

The calculations. EBITDA fell $318m (32%). Acquisition cost (subsidies plus commissions) rose from $340m to $665m, up $325m: more than the whole fall. Churn explains why: 2.0% × 12 × 9.0m ≈ 2.16m leavers a year, against 1.25% × 12 × 8.0m = 1.2m in 2023. Net additions were 0.5m in both years, so Halcyon now spends about $1,330 of acquisition cost per net addition, against $680.

BCGHalcyon Mobile grows its way to lower profitProfitability · Medium

Halcyon Mobile grows its way to lower profit

Written in BCG's style. Finish it: the plan mix, the cost of churn and what a value customer is worth.

Interviewer

Halcyon Mobile is the third-largest mobile operator in its market. Over the past two years it has grown its subscriber base by 12.5% to 9 million, yet EBITDA has fallen by about a third. The CEO cannot understand how a growing business is making less money. What is going on, and what should Halcyon do?

Start the caseGuided, step by step

Accenture sells strategy, consulting, technology and operations work, and much of it ends in something being built, bought or run. Its cases are commonly reported to reflect that. Three shapes come up again and again: a business case for a technology investment, a programme that is late or over budget, and a growth or cost question where data or automation is part of the answer.

You do not need to be an engineer for a strategy or management consulting role. You do need to talk sensibly about what technology does for the business: what a platform replaces, what it costs to run, how long it takes to deliver, and who has to change how they work. Technology consulting roles may test more, so ask the recruiter whether the interview includes technical questions.

• Can you lay out a year-by-year payback with a ramp-up, and interpolate the year it turns positive?
• Do you find the assumption a business case rests on, and benchmark it before trusting the answer?
• Can you build a driver tree for a programme's output and say which driver broke?
• Can you compare build, buy and partner on criteria, like-for-like cost and risk?
• Does every recommendation end with a pilot, an owner, a measure and the main delivery risk?
• Do you have behavioural stories about learning something new quickly, working with a team under pressure and making a client or customer better off?

1. Start with Fenmore: redo the first exhibit's maths, then run the case guided.
2. Run Brookmere live with the AI interviewer, out loud and timed at about 30 minutes.
3. Run Larkfield and Halcyon live, then add two minutes on how you would implement your answer.
4. After each case, check yourself against the list above and drill the weakest skill before the next one.
5. If your process includes a case presentation or a group exercise, our Deloitte guide covers how to handle written and group formats.