Have been hearing rumours for a few days about Accenture - that they are losing up to 60% of their human capital consultants, and that they are abolishing their Director grade and telling current directors to either take a demotion or leave... Anyone know what's going on?

I think you may have picked up the tail end of some chinese whispers there. There is a bit of attrition especially in Business Consulting to the big accountancy firms who are getting into consulting again, but nothing like 60%. We have just got rid of the Partner Grade - they are now Senior Executives - but there were certainly no demotions. There was a very simple mapping old to new. The director grade is very specific and only applies to people working in line roles in outsourcing engagements.