Why does FY27 imply organic deceleration, and what separates the low and high ends?

Management pointed to backlog layering, large deals and a solid pipeline, then tied the range primarily to alternative discretionary-spending scenarios. “at the top end of the range we have allowed for a stable to slightly improving discretionary spend environment, while at the bottom, we allow for deterioration.”

Is competitive pricing becoming more aggressive?

Pricing was stable for FY26 overall but weaker in many Q4 areas; intense competition is incorporated into the FY27 margin outlook. “in Q4, we saw lower pricing in many areas of our business.”

How does 5% headcount growth reconcile with AI and non-FTE delivery models?

Accenture is adding talent in growth areas while improving revenue per person; it expects continued but slower hiring, including entry-level roles. “next year, we do expect to hire, but it will be at a lower rate in part due to AI.”

ACN

Accenture (ACN) Q4 FY26 earnings call: guidance and Q&A

Q: What drove Q4 upside and how does it inform FY27?

Management attributed the upside to small deals, faster mobilization, selected acquisition and federal overdelivery, and PTO carryover, while stressing that no one item was material. “So we saw an uptick in small deals. We were able to mobilize faster for some of the new contracts.”

Earnings call· Aug 2026 (Q4 FY26)· Information Technology· Oct 1, 2026

Source: earnings call transcript

Executive summary

Accenture Q4 FY26 — Broad growth and AI scale support a resilient FY27 setup

Accenture exited FY26 with broad-based execution and growing AI relevance, while the demand backdrop itself remained largely unchanged. Management is leaning into acquisitions, ecosystem depth and delivery productivity to compound growth, but its FY27 posture prudently embeds pricing pressure, geopolitical drag and discretionary-spend risk.

Highlights

Q4 local-currency growth was 7% across every market and both types of work, finishing above the top of guidance.
Q4 bookings reached $22.2B, including a record $12.8B in managed services and 37 clients with quarterly bookings above $100M.
FY26 bookings were $84.5B, with 141 quarterly client bookings above $100M—12 more than FY25.
FY26 adjusted EPS rose 8% to $13.97, adjusted operating margin expanded 20 bps to 15.8%, and free cash flow increased 7% to $11.6B.
Emerging AI/data-partner bookings more than tripled and revenue more than doubled; Accenture finished with nearly 110,000 AI/data professionals versus its 80,000 three-year goal.

Concerns

Direct Middle East conditions worsened in Q4; the affected business is roughly $1B annualized and the FY27 outlook assumes the headwind continues.
Pricing was stable for FY26 overall but lower across many areas in Q4, and the FY27 outlook assumes continued intense competition.
Q4 days services outstanding rose to 50 days from 48 days sequentially and 47 days a year earlier.
FY26 revenue absorbed an approximately 1 percentage-point drag from the federal business that sunset at the end of Q3.
The low end of FY27 guidance allows for deterioration in discretionary spending, while managed-services bookings remain inherently lumpy.

Guidance & targets

Category	Target	Timeline	Confidence
Q1 FY27 revenue	$18.9B-$19.6B high materiality	Q1 · FY27	High
Q1 FY27 FX impact	Approximately negative 1% medium materiality	Q1 · FY27	High
Q1 FY27 local-currency revenue growth	2%-6% high materiality	Q1 · FY27	High
FY27 FX impact	Approximately flat medium materiality	FY27	High
FY27 local-currency revenue growth	3%-6% high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 inorganic revenue contribution	2%-2.5% high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 operating margin	15.9%-16.1%; expansion of 10-30 bps high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 effective tax rate	24.5%-26.5% medium materiality	FY27	High
FY27 diluted EPS	$14.39-$14.81; growth of 3%-6% high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 operating cash flow	$11.9B-$12.7B high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 property and equipment additions	Approximately $900M medium materiality	FY27	High
FY27 free cash flow	$11B-$11.8B high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 free cash flow to net income ratio	1.2-1.3 medium materiality	FY27	High
FY27 acquisition deployment	Another approximately $5B high materiality	FY27	Medium
FY27 shareholder returns	At least $9.5B; approximately 75% of operating cash flow high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 dividend per share growth	5% medium materiality	FY27	High
FY27 share repurchases	$5.5B high materiality	FY27	High
FY27 weighted average share count	Approximately 3% reduction medium materiality	FY27	High
FY27 hiring rate	Positive hiring, below the FY26 rate medium materiality	FY27	Medium
Timing of pushed managed-services deals	Expected sometime in FY27 medium materiality	FY27	Medium
FY27 Middle East business trend	Continued headwind; no growth at high end and deterioration allowed at low end medium materiality	FY27	Medium
FY27 federal business contribution	Significant contributor medium materiality	FY27	Medium

Segment performance

Segment	Revenue	YoY	QoQ	Margin
Consulting Q4 growth matched the company-wide pace; large-scale transformation demand supported the business.	Q4 $9.3B; FY26 $36.9B	Q4: +6% USD, +7% local currency; FY26: +5% USD, +3% local currency	—	—
Managed Services Q4 growth was driven by high-single-digit growth in technology managed services and operations; FY26 reflected mid-single-digit technology managed-services growth and high-single-digit operations growth. Technology managed services revenue growth: high single digits in Q4 and mid-single digits in FY26Operations revenue growth: high single digits in Q4 and FY26	Q4 $9.4B; FY26 $37.3B	Q4: +7% USD and local currency; FY26: +8% USD, +6% local currency	—	—
Americas Growth was led by high tech, software and platforms, utilities, and banking and capital markets, and was driven geographically by the United States.	—	+7% local currency	—	—
EMEA Growth was led by public service, banking and capital markets, and software and platforms, with the United Kingdom and Italy the principal country drivers.	—	+7% local currency	—	—
Asia Pacific Growth was led by public service, insurance, and communications and media, and driven by Japan, Australia and Singapore.	—	+7% local currency	—	—

ACN operating KPIs by quarter

ACN operating KPIs stated on its earnings calls, by fiscal quarter
KPI	Feb 2025 Q2 FY25	May 2025 Q3 FY25	Aug 2025 Q4 FY25	Nov 2025 Q1 FY26	Feb 2026 Q2 FY26	May 2026 Q3 FY26	This call Aug 2026 Q4 FY26	Change vs prior quarter
Bookings	$20.9B Our clients continue to prioritize large-scale transformations, and we are their reinvention partner of choice as reflected in our bookings of $20.9 billion, including 32 clients with quarterly bookings greater than $100 million. Source: earnings call transcript	$19.7B Our clients continue to prioritize large-scale reinventions as reflected in our bookings of $19.7 billion, including 30 clients with quarterly bookings greater than $100 million. Source: earnings call transcript	$21.3B New bookings were $21.3 billion for the quarter, representing 6% growth in US dollars and 3% growth in local currency, which is on top of the 24% growth in Q4 of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	$20.9B We are very pleased with our results as we continue executing our strategy to help our clients reinvent every part of their enterprise reflected in our bookings of $20.9 billion, including 33 clients with quarterly bookings greater than $100 million. Source: earnings call transcript	$22.1B We had record bookings of $22.1 billion, bringing H1 bookings to a total of $43 billion. Source: earnings call transcript	$19.3B New bookings were $19.3 billion for the quarter, a 2% decrease in US dollars and 3% in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	$22.2B We had $22.2 billion of bookings in Q4, reflecting the relevance of Accenture to our clients and demonstrating again our strong competitive position. Source: earnings call transcript	+15%
Bookings GenAI	$1.4B We had another milestone quarter in GenAI with $1.4 billion in new bookings and approximately $600 million in revenue. Source: earnings call transcript	$1.5B We are a leader in Gen AI with another milestone quarter of $1.5 billion in bookings and over $700 million in revenues, bringing our Q3 year-to-date GenAI bookings to a total of $4.1 billion and revenue to $1.8 billion. Source: earnings call transcript	—	—	—	—	—	+7.1%
Employees Data and AI	~72K We increased our data and AI workforce to approximately 72,000, continuing progress against our goal of 80,000 by the end of FY 2026. Source: earnings call transcript	~75K We increased our data and AI workforce to approximately 75,000, continuing progress against our goal of 80,000 by the end of FY '26. Source: earnings call transcript	77K Today, we have 77,000 AI and data professionals. Source: earnings call transcript	—	85K+ We now have over 85,000 AI and data professionals already exceeding our goal of 80,000 professionals by the end of fiscal 2026. Source: earnings call transcript	—	—	—
Book-to-bill ratio	1.3 ratio New bookings were $20.9 billion for the quarter, a 3% decrease in US dollars and flat in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1.3. Source: earnings call transcript	1.1 ratio New bookings were $19.7 billion for the quarter, a 6% decrease in US dollars and 7% in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1.1. Source: earnings call transcript	1.2 ratio Overall book-to-bill was 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	1.1 ratio New bookings were $20.9 billion for the quarter, representing 12% growth in US dollars and 10% growth in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1.1. Source: earnings call transcript	1.2 ratio New bookings were a record $22.1 billion for the quarter, representing 6% growth in US dollars and 1% growth in local currency, with an overall book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	1 ratio New bookings were $19.3 billion for the quarter, a 2% decrease in US dollars and 3% in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	1.2 ratio New bookings were $22.2 billion for the quarter, a 4% increase in US dollars and 5% in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	+20%
Bookings Consulting	$10.5B Consulting bookings were $10.5 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.3. Source: earnings call transcript	$9.1B Consulting bookings were $9.1 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	$8.9B Consulting bookings were $8.9 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	$9.9B Consulting bookings were $9.9 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	$11.3B Consulting bookings were $11.3 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.3. Source: earnings call transcript	$10.3B In Q3, consulting bookings were $10.3 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.1. Source: earnings call transcript	$9.4B Consulting bookings were $9.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	-8.7%
Book-to-bill ratio Consulting	1.3 ratio Consulting bookings were $10.5 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.3. Source: earnings call transcript	1 ratio Consulting bookings were $9.1 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	1 ratio Consulting bookings were $8.9 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	1 ratio Consulting bookings were $9.9 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	1.3 ratio Consulting bookings were $11.3 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.3. Source: earnings call transcript	1.1 ratio In Q3, consulting bookings were $10.3 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.1. Source: earnings call transcript	1 ratio Consulting bookings were $9.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	-9.1%
Bookings Managed Services	$10.4B Managed services bookings were $10.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	$10.6B Managed Services bookings were $10.6 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	$12.4B Managed Services bookings were $12.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.4. Source: earnings call transcript	$11.1B Managed services' bookings were $11.1 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	$10.8B Managed Services bookings were $10.8 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	$9.1B And in Managed Services bookings were $9.1 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	$12.8B Managed Services bookings were a record $12.8 billion after our previous record in Q4 of last year with a book-to-bill of 1.4. Source: earnings call transcript	+40.7%
Book-to-bill ratio Managed Services	1.2 ratio Managed services bookings were $10.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	1.2 ratio Managed Services bookings were $10.6 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	1.4 ratio Managed Services bookings were $12.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.4. Source: earnings call transcript	1.2 ratio Managed services' bookings were $11.1 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	1.2 ratio Managed Services bookings were $10.8 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.2. Source: earnings call transcript	1 ratio And in Managed Services bookings were $9.1 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.0. Source: earnings call transcript	1.4 ratio Managed Services bookings were a record $12.8 billion after our previous record in Q4 of last year with a book-to-bill of 1.4. Source: earnings call transcript	+40%
Days services outstanding	48 days Days services outstanding were 48 days compared to 50 days last quarter and 43 days in the second quarter of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	47 days Days services outstanding were 47 days compared to 48 days last quarter and 43 days in the third quarter of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	47 days Days services outstanding were 47 days compared to 47 days last quarter and 46 days in the fourth quarter of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	51 days Days services outstanding were 51 days compared to 47 days last quarter and 50 days in the first quarter of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	46 days Days services outstanding were 46 days compared to 51 days last quarter and 48 days in the second quarter of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	48 days Days services outstanding were 48 days compared to 46 days last quarter and 47 days in the third quarter of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	50 days Days services outstanding were 50 days compared to 48 days last quarter and 47 days in the fourth quarter of last year. Source: earnings call transcript	+4.2%
Employees	—	~790K And just on our headcount, right, we ended our Q3 with about 790,000 people. Source: earnings call transcript	779K+ Thank you, Alexia and to everyone joining this morning and thank you to our more than 779,000 reinventors around the world for your extraordinary work and commitment to our clients. Source: earnings call transcript	<784K And really wanted to start today by thanking our nearly 784,000 people around the world for your extraordinary work and your commitment to our clients, which enabled us to deliver another strong quarter. Source: earnings call transcript	786K+ Thank you, Alexia, and everyone joining us this morning, and thank you to our more than 786,000 people for your extraordinary work. Source: earnings call transcript	798K+ Thank you, Alexia, and everyone joining us this morning, and thank you to our more than 798,000 people for your extraordinary work. Source: earnings call transcript	814K+ and thank you to our more than 814,000 reinventors around the world for your extraordinary work and commitment to our clients. Source: earnings call transcript	—

Operating figures the company stated on at least two of the calls shown, checked against each call's transcript. Click a figure to read the sentence. A dash means it was not stated that quarter.

Orderbook & backlog

Quarterly new bookings $22.2B Q4 FY26

+4% USD and +5% local currency

Overall book-to-bill was 1.2; management said large deals layer into revenue over multiple years.

Consulting bookings $9.4B Q4 FY26

Book-to-bill was 1.0.

Managed Services bookings $12.8B Q4 FY26

Record, surpassing the prior Q4 record

Quarterly book-to-bill was 1.4; trailing-four-quarter book-to-bill was 1.2. Previously pushed deals did not cause the Q4 record and are expected sometime in FY27.

Annual new bookings $84.5B FY26

+5% USD and +3% local currency

Full-year book-to-bill was 1.1; 141 quarterly client bookings exceeded $100M, 12 more than FY25.

Product announcements

Product	Type	Timeline	Details
Full-lifecycle services for open-weight models	launch	Available as of Q4 FY26
Ecosystem partner disclosure	update	Beginning FY27

Deals & partnerships

Ookla Expansion into a new growth area and non-FTE commercial model

Acquisition of a network-intelligence, competitive-benchmarking and customer-experience analytics company, adding a non-FTE commercial model and deeper communications-and-technology capabilities.

Whalar Creator and social-agency capability acquisition

Acquisition of a creator and social agency to expand Accenture Song's functional capabilities in a high-growth area.

[ Comware, ] Japan mid-market technology-services expansion

Acquisition of an end-to-end technology-services provider with SAP, CRM and manufacturing expertise serving Japan's mid-market. The counterparty name is reproduced verbatim because the transcript appears ASR-garbled.

McCoy European mid-market SAP capability expansion

Agreement to acquire a Dutch SAP-transformation partner focused on mid-market companies.

Industries Excellence Group Engineering capability acquisition

Agreement intended to deepen engineering skills within Accenture's supply-chain and engineering business.

Dragos and other cyber OT acquisition targets Cyber and operational-technology capability expansion Approximately $3B

Cyber operational-technology transactions shifted from Q4 FY26 into September because of regulatory timing.

FedEx Expanded transformation and managed-services relationship

Accenture's role expanded from cloud migration into the One FedEx digital core, enterprise-wide AI fluency, additional managed services and modernization.

BP AI-enabled global marketing transformation

Accenture Song is helping BP build a global, AI-enabled marketing engine and replace hundreds of regional processes with a scalable operating model.

PPC Group Enterprise-wide AI transformation

Enterprise AI transformation spanning power generation, customer experience, renewables and corporate functions.

Palantir AI delivery and forward-deployed-engineer partnership

Accenture operates a business group with Palantir, trains and delivers forward-deployed engineers, and scales repeatable offerings across clients.

Anthropic Nonexclusive AI-safety and security relationship

Anthropic selected Accenture for AI, security and AI-safety expertise; the relationship is nonexclusive.

Capital programs

AI safety business build-out announced $1B

Start: FY26

Accenture said the investment will build out its AI-safety business, including a safety lab and team. The initiative was discussed in connection with enterprise demand and work for frontier-model labs.

Risks & headwinds

Middle East headwind Q4 FY26 and FY27

Approximately $1B annualized exposure; direct impact worsened in Q4.

Mitigation:The FY27 range embeds continuation; the top end assumes no growth and the low end allows deterioration.

Pricing pressure and intense competition Q4 FY26 and FY27

Pricing was stable for FY26 overall but lower in many Q4 areas.

Mitigation:Management embeds intense competition and current pricing expectations in the 10-30 bps FY27 operating-margin expansion target.

Soft discretionary spending FY27

No numeric market contraction disclosed.

Mitigation:The high end of guidance assumes stable to slightly improving conditions, while the low end allows deterioration; Accenture is focusing on large-scale reinventions and areas where clients continue to spend.

Managed-services booking lumpiness Ongoing

Q4 Managed Services book-to-bill was 1.4 and trailing-four-quarter book-to-bill was 1.2.

Mitigation:Management emphasizes trailing-four-quarter book-to-bill and revenue guidance rather than quarterly bookings.

AI-driven delivery and renewal deflation FY27 and longer term

No direct deflation amount disclosed.

Mitigation:More scope, new work and broader transformations are expected to offset AI productivity passed to clients.

Working-capital deterioration Q4 FY26

DSO increased to 50 days from 48 days QoQ and 47 days YoY.

Mitigation:Continued focus on collections and cash conversion; no specific additional action stated.

Federal business sunset drag FY26, with expected improvement in FY27

Approximately 1 percentage-point impact on FY26 revenue growth.

Mitigation:Management expects the federal business to become a significant FY27 contributor and cited recent relevant wins.

What to watch in Q1 FY27

Q1 revenue trajectory

Q1 FY27

Current Q4 local-currency growth of 7%

Target $18.9B-$19.6B and 2%-6% local-currency growth

Why it matters

Tests whether broad Q4 momentum can persist against cautious discretionary-spending assumptions.

reflects an estimated 2% to 6% growth in local currency.

Find out whether ACN delivers this. Inve re-checks your case every morning.

Q&A highlights

What drove Q4 upside and how does it inform FY27?

Management attributed the upside to small deals, faster mobilization, selected acquisition and federal overdelivery, and PTO carryover, while stressing that no one item was material.

“So we saw an uptick in small deals. We were able to mobilize faster for some of the new contracts.”

asked by Tien-Tsin Huang · answered by Julie T. Sweet and Angie Park

2 min read 7 chapters

Detailed narrative

Broad-based Q4 execution

Growth was broad across all three markets, industries and both consulting and managed services. Q4 outperformance reflected an uptick in small deals, faster contract mobilization, acquisition and federal overdelivery, and PTO carryover that preserved delivery capacity; management said no single factor was material. The underlying discretionary-spending environment did not meaningfully change.

AI-led reinvention demand

Large-scale reinventions, ecosystem work, and data and AI remained the principal growth engines. Management framed AI as embedded throughout broader transformations rather than as a stand-alone project category, with many clients still building digital cores, data foundations and enterprise AI stacks. Clients are also using managed services to combine transformation with greater certainty around outcomes.

Measured client outcomes

Client examples showed AI moving from enterprise functions into industry value chains. A pharmaceutical implementation of Faculty's Frontier platform reduced clinical-trial scenario work from 10 days to 10 minutes, improved enrollment-forecast accuracy by 60%, and identified designs that could shorten trials by up to three months; management noted that each day of delay can cost up to $1M in lost revenue.

These examples supported Accenture's claim that domain expertise and technology integration are central to monetization.

Ecosystem strategy and disclosure change

Accenture's ecosystem position spans hyperscalers, SaaS vendors, frontier-model developers, and emerging data-and-AI companies. Management said clients face more technology choices and integration decisions as models and agentic features proliferate, strengthening demand for orchestration and implementation. Starting in FY27, Accenture will combine reporting for its top ecosystem partners and emerging AI/data partners, add Dell to the group, and provide the update annually.

Inorganic growth strategy

Acquisitions are being used to scale existing high-growth capabilities and enter newer non-FTE areas such as network intelligence, data centers and cyber OT. Management expects these assets to contribute more to organic growth over time than their near-term revenue contribution alone suggests.

DLV, the data-center acquisition, was described as growing at a very high double-digit rate after the speaker corrected an initial 'high single digits' statement.

Delivery model and workforce rotation

Management expects AI productivity to lower implementation effort and increase delivery efficiency, but believes new scope and new categories of work will more than offset the deflation. Revenue per person increased in FY26, while hiring is expected to continue in every market at a slower rate, including continued entry-level hiring. Like-for-like renewal pace and duration were described as steady despite greater AI-enabled productivity commitments.

FY27 scenario framing

The FY27 range assumes continued intense competition and lower pricing in many areas of the business. The high end contemplates stable to slightly improving discretionary spending, while the low end allows deterioration; the direct Middle East headwind is assumed to persist. Backlog layering, a solid pipeline and continued large-deal demand provide visibility, but management emphasized that managed-services bookings will remain lumpy.

Summary of the company's earnings call; see how call summaries are prepared. Not investment advice.