Accenture is providing Microsoft with a range of finance and accounting (F&A) and procurement services under a seven-year, $185 million business process outsourcing (BPO) agreement. The agreement outsources some of Microsoft’s transactional finance activities and consolidates services currently provided by other vendors.

The finance and accounting services Accenture provides cover accounts payable, travel and expense and record-to-report functions, including fixed assets, general ledger, treasury and statutory reporting. The procurement service Accenture provides is requisition-to-purchase-order processing.

Accenture will ultimately provide these services to Microsoft in 92 countries and 36 languages outside the United States, leveraging Accenture’s Global Delivery Network, which includes delivery centers across five continents.

“I am pleased with the progress and speed of the transition to Accenture,” said Frank Brod, Microsoft chief accounting officer. “After a few months into the program, we are live with approximately 30 percent of the geographies and are on track for the remainder of the effort.”

“At Microsoft we’re constantly evaluating our internal processes and determining how we can improve operations. This effort will help streamline Microsoft global finance operations, reduce costs, standardize processes and reduce the time spent on transactional tasks, giving Microsoft global finance employees more of an opportunity to make a bigger impact on our business every day,” said Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell.

“High-performing businesses like Microsoft are increasingly recognizing the economy and synergy of outsourcing multiple business functions to a single provider,” said Kevin Campbell, Accenture’s group chief executive – Outsourcing. “By doing so, they can substantially improve business outcomes and achieve significant cost efficiencies.”

Select services are being built on the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform, a multi-language, multi-currency enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that automates and streamlines core business functions to show a comprehensive view of a company’s business processes. The application’s adaptability is enabling Accenture to tailor its F&A services to Microsoft’s specific business needs.