Accenture (NYSE:ACN) reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $18.7 billion, up 7% in local currency and above the top end of its guidance range, as broad-based growth across markets, industries and service lines helped offset a demand environment that Chief Executive Officer Julie Sweet said had not “meaningfully changed” for discretionary spending.
For the full fiscal year ended Aug. 31, Accenture generated $74.2 billion in revenue, an increase of 5% in local currency, and reported $84.5 billion in bookings. The company issued fiscal 2027 guidance for 3% to 6% local-currency revenue growth, including an expected 2% to 2.5% contribution from acquisitions.
Fourth-Quarter Results and Bookings
Sweet said Accenture recorded 37 clients with bookings above $100 million during the quarter. She attributed the company’s performance to large-scale reinventions, ecosystem-driven work and data and AI work embedded across its services.
“Growth was broad-based across markets, industries, and both types of work,” Sweet said. “We once again took significant market share.”
Consulting revenue rose 7% in local currency to $9.3 billion, while managed services revenue increased 7% to $9.4 billion. Across geographic markets, local-currency revenue increased 7% in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific.
CFO Angie Park said high-single-digit growth in technology-managed services and operations contributed to managed services growth. Fixed-price work, including outcome-based work, accounted for more than 65% of bookings and continued to grow.
Accenture reported fourth-quarter operating income of $2.9 billion and an adjusted operating margin of 15.3%, up 20 basis points from the adjusted margin a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share rose 9% to $3.29. Fourth-quarter free cash flow was $2.8 billion.
Fiscal 2026 Performance and Capital Deployment
For the full year, Accenture’s adjusted operating margin expanded 20 basis points to 15.8%, while adjusted EPS grew 8% to $13.97. Free cash flow rose 7% to $11.6 billion.
The company said it absorbed an approximately one-percentage-point impact from its federal business, which sunset at the end of the third quarter. Managed services revenue grew 6% in local currency for the year, compared with 3% local-currency growth in consulting revenue.
Accenture returned a record $11.5 billion to shareholders during fiscal 2026, a 38% increase from the prior year. It also deployed $4.9 billion across 17 acquisitions, invested $1 billion in research and development and spent $1 billion on learning and development.
During the fourth quarter, the company repurchased 17.6 million shares for $2.3 billion at an average price of $131.89 per share and paid a quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share. The company ended the year with $12.8 billion in cash, compared with $11.5 billion a year earlier, following a $5 billion debt offering in the fourth quarter.
Sweet said about $3 billion of capital related to Cyber OT acquisitions, including Dragos, shifted into September from the fourth quarter because of regulatory timing. Accenture also closed acquisitions including Ookla, Whalar and COMWARE during the quarter, and announced agreements to acquire McCoy and Industries eXcellence Group.
AI Demand, Ecosystem Strategy and Workforce
Sweet said clients remain at varying stages of AI readiness, with much of Accenture’s current work centered on building digital cores, data foundations and enterprise AI stacks needed to deploy AI at scale. Nearly 100 additional clients initiated their first advanced AI projects with Accenture during the fourth quarter, bringing the fiscal-year total to more than 400.
The company said it now has nearly 110,000 AI and data professionals, exceeding its prior goal to expand that workforce from 40,000 to 80,000 by the end of fiscal 2026. Employees completed 46 million hours of training during the year.
Sweet said Accenture views AI as a tailwind despite productivity gains from AI-enabled delivery and faster technology implementations. “We continue to believe the opportunities related to AI are greater than the impact of AI-related efficiencies in our business,” she said.
Revenue associated with Accenture’s top 10 ecosystem partners represented more than 60% of fiscal 2026 revenue and grew 6%, outpacing overall company growth. For its eight emerging AI and data partners, bookings more than tripled and revenue more than doubled from fiscal 2025.
The company plans to begin reporting its top 10 ecosystem partners and emerging AI and data partners as one combined group starting in fiscal 2027, adding Dell to the group because of its role in private AI.
Fiscal 2027 Outlook
For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Accenture forecast revenue of $18.95 billion to $19.6 billion, representing local-currency growth of 2% to 6%. The outlook assumes foreign exchange will reduce reported revenue by about 1% compared with the prior-year first quarter.
For the full fiscal year, the company projected:
- Local-currency revenue growth of 3% to 6%, with foreign exchange expected to be roughly neutral.
- Operating margin of 15.9% to 16.1%, representing 10 to 30 basis points of expansion.
- Diluted EPS of $14.39 to $14.81, up 3% to 6% from adjusted fiscal 2026 EPS.
- Operating cash flow of $11.9 billion to $12.7 billion and free cash flow of $11 billion to $11.8 billion.
- At least $9.5 billion in shareholder returns, including dividends expected to rise 5% per share and $5.5 billion in share repurchases.
Park said the company expects to deploy about another $5 billion on acquisitions in fiscal 2027, in addition to the roughly $3 billion of Cyber OT transactions that moved into the first quarter. She said the planned investment reflects opportunities intended to accelerate Accenture’s growth strategy, though the final amount will depend on deal opportunities and timing.
Management said the fiscal 2027 outlook assumes a continued dynamic macroeconomic environment. At the high end of the range, Accenture assumes discretionary spending is stable to modestly improving; at the low end, it allows for deterioration. The company also expects continued direct pressure from the Middle East business, which Park said is roughly $1 billion on an annualized basis.
Sweet said Accenture expects to hire in every market in fiscal 2027, though at a lower rate than fiscal 2026, partly because of AI-related efficiencies. The company also expects to continue hiring entry-level employees while changing the work performed by those employees.
About Accenture (NYSE:ACN)
Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) is a global professional services company that helps organizations improve performance, modernize operations and respond to technological and market changes. Its services span strategy and consulting, technology, operations, and managed services, with expertise across industries including communications, financial services, health care, public service, retail, manufacturing and resources.
The company provides digital transformation, cloud migration, data and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, systems integration and technology implementation services.
