Report: Oracle Conducting Due Diligence For Possible Accenture Acquisition Bid

Oracle is reportedly exploring the possibility of acquiring systems integrator and IT consulting company Accenture, a move that would catapult Oracle into the top ranks of IT service providers.

Oracle has hired consultants to conduct due diligence research on the possible synergies of an Oracle-Accenture combination, according to a story published by The Register, a British IT industry media website.

Accenture is already a major Oracle partner and was the first to qualify for Oracle's Diamond partner status. Accenture works with Oracle's database and application software, servers and storage hardware, and cloud services.

[Related: Oracle Brags About Its Cloud Reliability, Performance Advantage Over AWS; Expects Cloud Revenue To Overtake On-Prem Next Year]

Accenture and Oracle have worked together for some 25 years.

In April 2015 Accenture and Oracle jointly created a business group to help customers achieve their digital transformation goals through the use of cloud computing. The Accenture Oracle Business Group, made up of personnel from each company, has developed industry-specific systems built on Oracle's Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service cloud systems and delivered via the Accenture Foundation Platform for Oracle.

Accenture also works with a number of Oracle competitors, including SAP, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce.com.

Accenture reported $32.9 billion in revenue in its 2016 fiscal year ended Aug. 31 and has a market capitalization of $77.5 billion. For its fiscal 2016 ended May 31 Oracle reported $37.0 billion in revenue.

Spokespeople for Oracle and Accenture declined to comment on the report.