Accenture PLC Earnings - Q4 2026 Analysis & Highlights
Accenture delivered strong Q4 2026 results with broad-based growth across markets and services, driven by large-scale AI-enabled reinventions and ecosystem partnerships, while maintaining margin expansion and returning record cash to shareholders amid a dynamic macroeconomic environment.
Key Financial Results
Q4 revenue of $18.7 billion, growing 7% in local currency, above the top end of guided range
Full year fiscal 2026 revenue of $74 billion, growing approximately 5% in local currency and adding approximately $4.5 billion of revenue over FY '25
Q4 operating margin of 15.3%, a 20 basis point increase from adjusted operating margin in Q4 last year
Full year adjusted operating margin of 15.8%, a 20 basis point expansion over adjusted FY '25 results
Q4 diluted earnings per share grew 9% to $3.29, compared with adjusted diluted EPS of $3.03 in the fourth quarter last year
Full year adjusted earnings per share of $13.97, reflecting 8% growth over adjusted FY '25 EPS
Q4 free cash flow of $2.8 billion resulting from cash generated by operating activities of $3.1 billion, net of property and equipment additions of $250 million
Full year free cash flow of $11.6 billion, up 7% year-over-year, reflecting a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.4
Gross margin for the quarter was 32%, compared to 31.9% for the fourth quarter last year
Business Segment Results
Consulting revenues for Q4 were $9.3 billion, up 6% in US dollars and 7% in local currency
Managed services revenues were $9.4 billion, up 7% in both US dollars and in local currency, driven by high-single-digit growth in technology managed services and high-single-digit growth in operations
Full year consulting revenues were $36.9 billion, up 5% in US dollars and 3% in local currency
Full year managed services revenues were $37.3 billion, up 8% in US dollars and 6% in local currency, driven by mid-single digit growth in technology managed services and high-single-digit growth in operations
Americas revenues grew 7% in local currency, led by high-tech software and platforms, utilities and banking and capital markets
EMEA delivered 7% growth in local currency, led by growth in public service, banking and capital markets and software and platforms
Asia-Pacific revenue grew 7% in local currency, driven by growth in public service, insurance and communications and media
Capital Allocation
Q4 share repurchases of 17.6 million shares for $2.3 billion at an average price of $131.89 per share
Q4 quarterly cash dividend of $1.63 per share, for a total of almost $1 billion, representing a 10% increase over last year
Full year record cash returned to shareholders of $11.5 billion, a 38% increase over the prior year, including the $2 billion of additional share repurchases executed in the fourth quarter
Q4 acquisitions deployment of $1.9 billion, with approximately $3 billion of capital related to the Cyber OT acquisitions, including Dragos, shifted into September due to regulatory timing
Full year strategic acquisitions of $4.9 billion across 17 acquisitions
Q4 acquisitions closed include Ookla, a global leader in network intelligence, competitive benchmarking and customer experience analytics
Whalar acquisition closed, a leading creator and social agency recognized for its creative excellence and ability to deliver measurable business outcomes
COMWARE acquisition closed, an end-to-end technology services provider with deep SAP CRM and manufacturing expertise serving Japan's mid-market
Agreement announced to acquire McCoy, a trusted Dutch SAP transformation partner for mid-market companies
Agreement announced to acquire Industries eXcellence Group, which deepens engineering skills as part of supply-chain and engineering business
Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.71 per share to be paid on November 13
Approximately $7 billion of share repurchase authority remaining
Business Segment Results - Bookings
Q4 new bookings of $22.2 billion, a 4% increase in US dollars and 5% in local currency, with an overall book-to-bill of 1.2
Q4 consulting bookings of $9.4 billion, with a book-to-bill of 1.0
Q4 managed services bookings of a record $12.8 billion, with a book-to-bill of 1.4
Full year bookings of more than $84 billion, up 5% in US dollars and 3% in local currency
141 quarterly client bookings greater than $100 million, 12 more than last year
317 diamond clients, the company's largest relationships, at year-end
Fixed priced work, which includes outcome based, is now over 65% of bookings and continues to grow
Industry Trends and Dynamics
Large-scale reinventions, including many driven by AI, drove strong demand
Nearly 100 additional clients initiated their first advanced AI work in Q4, bringing the fiscal 2026 total to more than 400
Clients are at very different stages of readiness for AI adoption
Much of growth comes from continuing to build digital core, data foundations and the enterprise AI stack that clients need to use AI at scale
Many clients are just starting their AI journey
AI demand is broadening because of both the depth and breadth of Accenture's expertise in various functions of an enterprise across industry, process, operating model, data technology, and AI
AI is being embedded in broader transformations clients are undertaking
Green shoots of enterprise-wide AI transformations are appearing where clients have been investing in strong digital cores
Clients continue to move deeper into functions, particularly in areas such as customer experience, supply chain and finance, as they redesign end-to-end processes and ways of working around AI
AI is moving into the core value chain of industries
Top 10 ecosystem partners represented more than 60% of revenue in fiscal 2026, and revenue from that work grew 6%, outpacing Accenture overall
For eight emerging AI and data partners, bookings more than tripled and revenue more than doubled compared with fiscal 2025
Data and AI are now core to all ecosystem partners, both largest partners and emerging data and AI partners
Accenture is the number one partner of the top three frontier companies, and now offers full life cycle services for open weight models
Private and sovereign AI are increasingly important to clients, and Accenture is at the heart of creating these solutions
Competitive Landscape
Growth was broad-based across markets, industries and both types of work, and Accenture once again took significant market share
Accenture continues to operate in a highly competitive environment
Pricing in '26 was overall stable, and at the same time in Q4, lower pricing was seen in many areas of the business
Accenture's largest client relationships continue to expand as clients take on broader, more strategic transformations
FedEx example demonstrates how largest client relationships grow over time, beginning with moving part of applications to the cloud and expanding to building the digital core and enterprise-wide AI fluency programs
Accenture's strong ecosystem position is one of the reasons for confidence in capturing AI opportunities
Accenture has both delivery models (consulting and managed services), which is why it is the number 1 partner for emerging AI and data companies and top ecosystem partners
Palantir FDE model is a growth opportunity for Accenture because it can scale FDEs with Palantir and many other partners
FDEs are used with new pioneering things, and then become repeatable offerings that Accenture can scale to multiple clients
Macroeconomic Environment
Overall demand environment, including discretionary spending, did not meaningfully change
Very dynamic macro environment is expected to continue
Middle East direct impact continued to be a headwind and, in fact, worsened in Q4
Indirect impacts on discretionary spend for product and resources stabilized
Federal business overdelivered in Q4
Overall budgets for most clients who are calendar year-end are only starting now, with more information expected in January and February
Token costs are going down, with new models featuring lower token costs
Even with the increase in spending on AI, which is a net new category, Accenture posted 5% growth
More token cost reduction will enable companies to use AI in more places and at scale, requiring process change and AI stack building that clients turn to Accenture for
Growth Opportunities and Strategies
Accenture uses acquisitions to scale in high growth areas, deepen industry and functional capabilities, and expand into new growth areas which increasingly include businesses with non-FTE commercial models
Ookla acquisition expands into new growth area with a non-FTE commercial model and deepens industry skills in core value chain of comms and tech industries
Whalar acquisition expands functional skills within Song business in a high growth area
COMWARE acquisition helps accelerate strategy to expand in the mid-market
Accenture is investing in platforms and new solutions to embed advanced AI earlier into large-scale reinventions
Proprietary assets and platforms, ecosystem relationships, and ability to deliver work through consulting, managed services or combination of both, allow Accenture to meet clients where they are and help them move at pace
Managed services-led work includes significant consulting and AI expertise, as many clients use this work to both reinvent and get greater certainty around outcomes, including cost savings
Accenture is helping BP build a global marketing engine that combines data, AI and marketing expertise
Accenture is helping PPC Group transform from traditional utility into power tech company, using AI to reinvent and expand into new businesses and markets
Accenture is using conversational AI, including voice and chat agents to handle live interactions in customer experience
Advanced AI is being used to improve demand forecasting across complex distribution networks in supply chain
AI reasoning agents are being built that allow CFOs and finance teams to ask questions in plain English and analyze detailed profit and loss data
Accenture is using Faculties Frontier Platform to improve clinical trial planning for pharmaceutical companies
Opportunities related to AI are greater than the impact of AI-related efficiencies in Accenture's business, and this is expected to continue as AI enables enterprises to do much more
AI is making both Accenture's own delivery and the technologies it implements more efficient
Accenture strategy is to lean into efficiencies precisely because they create value for clients, while continuing to invest and rotate capabilities to capture larger growth opportunities AI creates
Accenture views AI as a tailwind for the company
Accenture will report top 10 ecosystem partners and emerging AI and data partners together as one group, beginning in FY '27, providing this update annually
Dell has been added as an important partner in private AI
Accenture is investing $1 billion over the next five years to build out safety business, including a safety lab and team
Accenture partnership with Anthropic is non-exclusive, and the company expects to continue working with multiple labs
Financial Guidance and Outlook
Q1 fiscal '27 revenue expected in the range of $18.95 billion to $19.6 billion
Q1 guidance assumes FX impact of about negative 1% compared to Q1 of fiscal '26, and reflects an estimated 2% to 6% growth in local currency
Full fiscal '27 revenue expected to be in the range of 3% to 6% growth in local currency over fiscal '26
Inorganic contribution expected of 2% to 2.5% for fiscal '27
Operating margin for fiscal year '27 expected to be 15.9% to 16.1%, a 10 to 30 basis point expansion over adjusted fiscal '26 results
Variability in quarters expected on the way to 10 to 30 basis points of expansion for the year
Annual effective tax rate expected to be in the range of 24.5% to 26.5%
Full year diluted earnings per share for fiscal '27 expected in the range of $14.39 to $14.81, or 3% to 6% growth over adjusted fiscal '26 results
Operating cash flow for full fiscal '27 expected in the range of $11.9 billion to $12.7 billion
Property and equipment additions expected to be approximately $900 million
Free cash flow expected in the range of $11 billion to $11.8 billion
Free cash flow guidance reflects a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.2 to 1.3
Approximately $5 billion in acquisitions expected to be deployed in fiscal '27 based on opportunities seen to accelerate growth strategy
At least $9.5 billion expected to be returned to shareholders, representing approximately 75% of operating cash flow through a combination of dividends growing 5% per share and $5.5 billion in share repurchases
Weighted average share count expected to be reduced by approximately 3% in FY '27
FX impact on results in US dollars expected to be about flat compared to fiscal '26
Guidance assumes continued intense competition, with current expectations baked in
Guidance assumes more of the same in terms of overall budgets and macro environment
Guidance allows for stable to slightly improving discretionary spend environment at the top end of the range, while at the bottom allows for deterioration
Federal business expected to be a significant contributor to early fiscal '27 growth
People and Talent Strategy
More than 814,000 reinventors around the world
46 million hours of training completed by people in fiscal 2026
Nearly 110,000 AI and data professionals, exceeding the three-year goal to double AI and data workforce from 40,000 to 80,000 by the end of fiscal 2026
$1 billion invested in learning and development in fiscal 2026
Headcount expected to grow in every market in fiscal '27, but at a lower rate than fiscal 2026
Entry level hiring expected to continue at higher levels, as Accenture is focused on changing what entry-level workers do
Revenue per person increased in fiscal 2026
