Accenture plc (ACN) — Company Research

Last Updated: 5 November 2026

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) is the world's largest listed IT services and consulting company, with about 814,000 people serving more than 9,000 clients. In fiscal 2026 (year to 31 Aug 2026) revenue rose 6% in US dollars (5% in local currency) to $74,183.4m, GAAP diluted EPS rose 12% to $13.56 and adjusted EPS rose 8% to $13.97. Free cash flow was a record $11.62bn and $11.5bn went back to shareholders. For fiscal 2027 management guides to 3–6% local-currency revenue growth and GAAP EPS of $14.39–$14.81. The shares fell to a 52-week low of $118.15 in June 2026 on worries that AI will shrink demand for consulting labour, then jumped about 16% on the Q4 results on 01 Oct 2026. Every figure here comes from Accenture's own releases and SEC filings.

1. Company Snapshot

2. Investment Thesis: Bull vs Bear

Bull Case

• Cash machine: FY2026 operating cash flow was $12,363.3m against capex of only $742.7m, giving free cash flow of $11.62bn, and $11.5bn was returned through $7.5bn of buybacks and $3.99bn of dividends.
• Bookings momentum: FY2026 new bookings reached $84.54bn with a record 141 bookings of $100m or more, and Q4 book-to-bill was 1.2.
• Deep AI partner network: Accenture runs dedicated business groups with NVIDIA, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Cloud, Databricks and Palantir, and says it has delivered more than 18,000 advanced AI projects since Nov 2022.
• Insiders buying: On 26 Oct 2026 CEO Julie Sweet bought 12,200 shares for about $3.0m in the open market, outside a pre-set trading plan, and director Paula Price also bought.

Bear Case

• AI pressure on the people-based model: The share price more than halved from its Jan 2026 high to a $118.15 low in Jun 2026 on fears that AI tools will cut the amount of paid consulting and outsourcing work clients need.
• Growth leaning on acquisitions: Management said only about 3% of FY2026 growth was organic, and FY2027 guidance includes 2–2.5 points from acquisitions, with about $8bn of deals planned for the year.
• Softer pricing: Pricing was described as stable over FY2026, but management flagged lower pricing in many areas in Q4.
• Debt doubled: Long-term debt rose to $9,998.7m at 31 Aug 2026 from $5,034.2m a year earlier after a new bond issue in Jul 2026, mainly to fund acquisitions such as Dragos.

3. Business Segments

Accenture reports three geographic segments. It also discloses revenue by type of work (Consulting $36,883.3m, 49.7%; Managed Services $37,300.1m, 50.3%) and by industry group. The split below uses FY2026 revenue of $74,183.4m from the Q4 FY2026 earnings release.

By industry group in FY2026: Products $22,450.8m (30.3%), Health & Public Service $15,170.7m (20.5%), Financial Services $13,959.2m (18.8%), Communications, Media & Technology $12,673.6m (17.1%) and Resources $9,929.2m (13.4%). Communications, Media & Technology grew fastest, up 10% in local currency.

4. Business Model & Moat

How it makes money. Accenture sells people-based services. Consulting covers strategy, technology projects, systems integration and design work, usually priced on time and materials or fixed fees. Managed Services covers multi-year contracts to run applications, infrastructure, cyber security and business processes for clients. Managed Services became the larger half of revenue in FY2026 (50.3%) and gives more repeat income because contracts run for several years.

Scale and client relationships. With about 814,000 staff and more than 9,000 clients, Accenture can staff very large programmes across many countries at once. It booked 141 single client deals of $100m or more in FY2026, a size few rivals can handle. Multi-year managed services contracts tie Accenture into clients' day-to-day operations, which makes switching costly.

Partner ecosystem. Accenture works as an implementation partner for major software and cloud platforms (including Microsoft through Avanade, SAP, Workday, Dell and Google Cloud) and has set up business groups with AI firms. Software vendors rely on firms like Accenture to install their products, which brings Accenture a steady flow of work.

Buying capability. Accenture spends heavily on acquisitions ($4.9bn on 17 strategic deals in FY2026) to add skills quickly, for example Dragos in industrial cyber security, Faculty in AI and McCoy in SAP for mid-sized companies. Its own business-unit network outside the core (Dragos, Faculty, Accenture Construct, LearnVantage and others) made up about 6% of FY2026 revenue.

Where the moat is tested. Most revenue still depends on billing for staff time. If AI tools let clients do more with fewer consultants, Accenture has to move to outcome-based pricing and AI-led delivery to protect profit per head. FY2026 adjusted operating margin still improved to 15.8% from 15.6%.

5. Financial Health

Annual figures come from Accenture's fourth-quarter earnings releases and 10-K filings (SEC XBRL). Adjusted EPS excludes business optimisation costs (mainly severance) and, in FY2023, an investment gain; FY2022 had no adjustments. Dividends per share are those paid in each fiscal year. Long-term debt is the year-end balance excluding the current portion.

Quarterly results, most recent first. Accenture's fiscal quarters end in November, February, May and August.

Cash flow and balance sheet. FY2026 operating cash flow was $12,363.3m and purchases of property and equipment $742.7m, giving free cash flow of $11,620.6m (FY2025: $10.87bn). Depreciation was $580.5m, amortisation of intangible assets $658.6m and other amortisation $6.6m ($1,245.8m in total). GAAP operating income was $11,406.0m (15.4% margin); adjusted operating income was $11,713.5m (15.8%). At 31 Aug 2026 Accenture held $12,831.5m of cash and $6.3m of short-term investments against $9,998.7m of long-term debt and $113.1m of current debt (mostly commercial paper). It spent $4,940.9m on acquisitions in the year. FY2027 guidance (01 Oct 2026) is local-currency revenue growth of 3–6%, operating margin of 15.9–16.1%, GAAP EPS of $14.39–$14.81, free cash flow of $11.0–$11.8bn and at least $9.5bn of capital returned. Follow the shares on ChartsView Live Charts.

6. Valuation

Raw metrics, November 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

7. What Are They Building

AI services at scale. In Jun 2023 Accenture committed $3bn over three years to data and AI and set a goal of doubling its AI workforce; the FY2026 10-K says it now has nearly 110,000 AI and data practitioners, beating that goal. It reported generative AI bookings of $5.9bn in FY2025 and $2.2bn of advanced AI bookings in Q1 FY2026, then stopped reporting AI separately, saying AI is now part of almost all of its work. Management said about 100 clients started their first advanced AI work in Q4 FY2026 and more than 400 in the year.

AI partner business groups. Accenture runs dedicated groups with NVIDIA (including its AI Refinery platform, launched in 2024 and extended to industry-specific versions in Jan 2025), Anthropic (set up in Dec 2025), OpenAI (Dec 2025), Databricks, Google Cloud and Palantir. On 18 Sep 2026 Accenture and Anthropic agreed to build a joint team of embedded AI safety evaluators, with each company expecting to invest at least $1bn over five years.

Industrial cyber security. The roughly $4.2bn purchase of a majority stake in Dragos plus runZero and NetRise, announced 18 Jun 2026, closed in Sep 2026. It gives Accenture a large operational-technology security business for utilities, energy and manufacturing. On 20 Oct 2026 Accenture, Dragos and the SANS Institute launched a foundation with about $10m of initial funding to strengthen cyber defences at US utilities.

Investor Day targets. At its first Investor Day in four years (14 Oct 2026) Accenture targeted mid-single-digit local-currency growth in FY2027 and FY2028, rising to mid-to-high single digits in FY2029, with operating margin up 10–30 basis points a year and about $8bn of acquisitions in FY2027.

8. Competitive Landscape

Accenture's FY2026 revenue of $74.2bn is now roughly level with Deloitte's and well ahead of the listed Indian and European IT services groups. Its 5% local-currency growth compares with low-single-digit growth at TCS and Infosys and about 4–5% at Cognizant. Discuss the sector on the ChartsView Forum.

9. Leadership & Insider Activity

Julie Sweet is Chair and CEO and signed the FY2026 10-K on 16 Oct 2026. Angie Park became CFO in Dec 2024. In 2026 most insider filings were share awards, tax withholding and pre-planned (10b5-1) sales. The notable exception came on 26 Oct 2026, when the CEO and a director bought shares in the open market, the only purchases of the year. Recent transactions from SEC Form 4 filings:

10. Key Risks

• Technology disruption (Strategic): AI coding and automation tools could reduce the number of billable hours clients pay for, squeezing revenue in both consulting and managed services if Accenture cannot shift to outcome-based pricing fast enough.
• Pricing pressure (Competitive): Management noted lower pricing in many areas in Q4 FY2026, and rivals such as Infosys and Cognizant have cut growth guidance, which could lead to tougher price competition for large deals.
• Acquisition execution (Operational): Accenture plans about $8bn of acquisitions in FY2027 after $4.9bn in FY2026, and goodwill has risen to $26.8bn. Poor integration or overpaying could lead to impairments.
• Higher leverage (Financial): Long-term debt roughly doubled to $10.0bn in FY2026. Cash of $12.8bn still exceeds total debt, but the balance sheet is less conservative than it was.
• Government spending (Regulatory): US federal contract cuts reduced FY2026 growth by about 1 point. Further changes in public-sector budgets in the US or Europe could hurt Health & Public Service, Accenture's second-largest industry group.
• Currency and macro (Macro): About half of revenue is earned outside the Americas. A stronger US dollar or a downturn in corporate IT budgets would reduce reported revenue and new bookings.

11. Recent Developments

• 26 Oct 2026 — CEO buys shares. Julie Sweet bought 12,200 shares for about $3.0m and director Paula Price bought 800 shares, both in the open market and outside pre-set plans.
• 20 Oct 2026 — Construction and utility cyber moves. Accenture bought Miami construction consultancy Avicado for Accenture Construct, and with Dragos and the SANS Institute launched a foundation for US utility cyber defence.
• 14 Oct 2026 — Investor Day targets. Accenture targeted mid-single-digit local-currency growth in FY2027 and FY2028, rising margins each year, about $8bn of FY2027 acquisitions, 5% dividend growth and at least $5.5bn of FY2027 buybacks.
• 05 Oct 2026 — More acquisitions close. Accenture completed its purchase of Denmark's Mjølner Informatics (about 400 people), followed by Italy's Alfahealth on 08 Oct 2026 and the UK's Sagacity Solutions on 13 Oct 2026.
• 01 Oct 2026 — Q4 FY2026 beat. Q4 revenue of $18.68bn (+7% local currency) beat the guided range of $17.75–$18.40bn, full-year free cash flow reached $11.62bn and FY2027 guidance was set at 3–6% local-currency growth. The shares rose about 16% on the day.
• 30 Sep 2026 — Dividend raised and buyback topped up. The board raised the quarterly dividend 5% to $1.71 and added $6.0bn of share repurchase authority, taking the total to about $6.9bn.
• 18 Sep 2026 — Anthropic safety partnership. Accenture and Anthropic agreed to build a team of embedded AI evaluators, each expecting to invest at least $1bn over five years.

For the macro data that moves IT services shares, see the ChartsView Economic Calendar.

12. Key Dates

• 13 Nov 2026 — Payment of the $1.71 quarterly dividend to holders of record on 13 Oct 2026.
• Expected Dec 2026 — Q1 FY2027 results (quarter to 30 Nov 2026). Date not yet announced; last year's equivalent was 18 Dec 2025. Guidance is revenue of $18.95–$19.60bn.
• Expected Dec 2026 — Declaration of the next quarterly dividend, for payment in Feb 2027.
• 28 Jan 2027 — Annual general meeting of shareholders.
• Expected Mar 2027 — Q2 FY2027 results (quarter to 28 Feb 2027).

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