Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd., the world's largest consulting company, is cutting onepercent of its work force, or about 760 people, against a backdrop of weak technology spending, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

Reuters reported that the reductions are aimed at managers and partners, largely in the United States, spokeswoman Roxanne Taylor said. Accenture employs 76,000 people and does business in 47 countries.

The cuts will most likely be completed by the end of its current, fiscal third quarter, Taylor said.

But by the end of its fiscal year ending in August, Accenture will have a net headcount increase above 76,000.

"Although we're having a reduction, at the same time we're recruiting people," Taylor said.

The Hamilton-based company is recruiting at all levels: analyst, consultant, manager, senior manager, associate partner and partner, Taylor said.

The cuts are not due to employee performance issues, she said, adding that the reductions are aimed at eliminating redundancies at the consulting firm, whose computer-services practice installs software and computers and combines different types of computer systems.

The company said in January it plans to hire another 1,500 workers in India, more than doubling the size of its technology centre there as clients seek more value for the money that they spend on consulting services.

Competitor Electronic Data Systems Corp. said in October that it would lay off about 5,700 workers in the face of slack demand for computer services.

The shares of Accenture fell 38 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $13.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.

They have declined 54 percent in the past year.