ACN — FY2026 Annual Financial Report Analysis

Accenture's fiscal 2026 (the year ended August 31, 2026) closed with revenue of $74.18 billion, up 6.5% from $69.67 billion, and diluted earnings per share of $13.56, up 11.6% from $12.15. Every full-year number landed above the guidance management gave in June. The bigger surprise was the fourth quarter: revenue grew 7% in local currency (the growth rate with exchange-rate moves stripped out), well above the 1%–5% range the company had guided to and more than double the third quarter's 3%. The less flattering parts are that a big step-up in acquisitions and a doubling of long-term debt sit behind the year, collections slowed, and the fiscal 2027 outlook implies slower earnings growth than fiscal 2026 delivered.

This analysis is based on the October 1, 2026 earnings release (Exhibit 99.1 to Accenture's 8-K). The full annual report (10-K), with management's discussion of results, headcount, costs by type and legal matters, has not been filed yet, so those details are not covered here.

At a glance

• Q4 revenue $18.68 billion, +7% in local currency — above the top of the $17.75–$18.40 billion guided range, after a Q3 that grew only 3%.
• Adjusted EPS $13.97, +8% — about a third of the $1.04 increase ($0.33) came from having fewer shares after buybacks, and a higher tax rate took $0.24 back.
• $11.5 billion returned to shareholders vs $11.6 billion of free cash flow — while $4.9 billion went on acquisitions, funded partly by $5 billion of new debt.

Fiscal 2026 results

"bps" means basis points; 100 basis points equals 1 percentage point. Operating margin is the share of revenue left after the cost of delivering work and running the company, before interest and tax. Book-to-bill is new contracts signed divided by revenue recognized; above 1.0 means the company signed more work than it billed. The release does not give fiscal 2025 bookings in dollars, only the growth rate.

The fourth quarter: a beat that changes the story

The 46% jump in GAAP EPS is mostly an accounting comparison: the year-ago quarter carried $615 million of business optimization (mainly severance) costs, worth $0.78 a share. Against the adjusted year-ago figure of $3.03, EPS rose 9%, which is the meaningful number.

The revenue beat was broad. In local currency, all three regions grew 7%, and every industry group grew: Communications, Media & Technology +11%, Health & Public Service +9%, Financial Services +6%, Resources +6%, Products +4%. Consulting (project work) and managed services (multi-year outsourcing contracts) both grew 7%. Health & Public Service is notable: it grew only 2% for the full year and was flat in Q3, when the federal business was costing about a point of company-wide growth. The release does not explain the Q4 turnaround or break out the U.S. federal business, so whether that drag has eased will have to wait for the 10-K.

Currency also cut the other way this time. A stronger dollar reduced reported Q4 revenue by about 0.8%, versus the roughly 0.5% management had assumed, so the dollar growth rate (6%) understates the underlying growth (7%).

Takeaway: The fourth quarter broke the pattern of the first three. Through Q3, Accenture's earnings growth was coming mostly from cost control, buybacks and a weak dollar while local-currency revenue grew around 3%. In Q4 local-currency revenue grew 7% across every region, industry and type of work, with currency a headwind rather than a help. The open question is how much of that came from the $4.9 billion of acquisitions made this year — a figure more than three times last year's — which the release does not separate out.

What the headline numbers hide

Acquisitions and debt did more of the work this year. Accenture spent $4.94 billion on businesses and investments (net of cash acquired) in fiscal 2026, against $1.47 billion in fiscal 2025, and $1.94 billion of that came in the fourth quarter alone. Goodwill (the premium paid over the book value of acquired businesses) rose to $26.8 billion from $22.5 billion. The release gives no split between organic growth and growth bought through acquisitions, so part of the Q4 acceleration may be bought revenue rather than stronger demand for the existing business. Long-term debt roughly doubled to $10.0 billion from $5.0 billion after $4.98 billion of net borrowing in Q4. Interest expense rose 33% to $303 million.

Shareholder returns used up all of free cash flow. Free cash flow (cash from operations minus spending on property and equipment) was $11.62 billion. Accenture returned $11.5 billion — $7.5 billion of buybacks and $4.0 billion of dividends — and on top of that spent $4.94 billion on acquisitions. Cash still rose to $12.8 billion from $11.5 billion, because of the new debt. Cash minus total debt fell from about $6.3 billion to about $2.7 billion. That is still a strong balance sheet, but the $11.5 billion pace was helped by borrowing, and the fiscal 2027 target of "at least $9.5 billion" is lower.

Cash conversion was good for the year, weak in Q4. Full-year operating cash flow of $12.36 billion was 1.45 times net income of $8.52 billion, helped as usual by $2.10 billion of share-based pay (a non-cash cost). But Q4 operating cash flow fell to $3.10 billion from $3.91 billion: changes in working capital added just $2 million against $1.27 billion a year earlier.

Clients are paying more slowly. Receivables and contract assets rose 9.0% to $16.33 billion, faster than revenue's 6.5%, and days services outstanding (roughly how many days it takes to collect from clients) rose to 50 from 47. Acquired businesses bring their own receivables, so some of this is mechanical, but DSO was 48 at the end of Q3, so it rose again in the fourth quarter.

GAAP vs adjusted. The only adjustment is business optimization costs: $307.5 million in fiscal 2026 (all in Q1, finishing a severance program begun in Q4 fiscal 2025) and $615.3 million in fiscal 2025. Because last year's charge was twice as large, GAAP EPS growth (11.6%) looks better than adjusted (8.0%). The adjusted figure is the better guide to the underlying trend.

Where EPS growth came from. Of the $1.04 rise in adjusted EPS, higher revenue and operating results contributed $1.05, a 2.4% lower diluted share count added $0.33, lower non-operating income cost $0.10, and a higher tax rate (24.9% adjusted, from 23.6%) cost $0.24. Operating improvement alone covered the whole increase; buybacks added about a third on top, and the higher tax rate and lower non-operating income took roughly the same amount back.

Asia Pacific profits fell while its revenue grew. Asia Pacific revenue rose 7% in dollars, but adjusted operating income fell 4% to $1.80 billion and the adjusted margin dropped to 17% from 19%. In Q4 alone, Asia Pacific operating income was $382 million, down 17% from $463 million adjusted a year ago, and its margin fell to 14% from 18%. Americas (adjusted operating income +10%) and EMEA (+12%) carried the company-wide margin gain. The release gives no reason; Q3's filing blamed higher facility and technology costs in the region.

Did last time's read hold up?

Partly not, and that is useful to know. Our Q3 report argued that the underlying trajectory was slower than the reported numbers: local-currency growth of 3%, a thin 1.03 book-to-bill, a Q4 guide whose low end was 1%, and a currency tailwind about to reverse. The currency call was right (a −0.8% effect in Q4), but the slowdown did not show up: Q4 local-currency growth was 7%, and Q4 book-to-bill was 1.2. Our point that EPS would keep growing faster than revenue did hold: adjusted EPS +8% vs local-currency revenue +5% for the year, and Q4 EPS +9% (vs adjusted) on dollar revenue +6%.

Against the June guidance, fiscal 2026 beat on every line:

The two items we flagged to watch — whether non-payroll costs (subcontractors, facilities, technology), which grew 16% in Q3, keep outrunning revenue, and the U.S. Department of Justice investigation at Accenture Federal Services — are not covered in the earnings release. Both should be addressed in the 10-K.

Fiscal 2027 outlook

For the first quarter of fiscal 2027 (September–November 2026), Accenture guides revenue of $18.95–$19.60 billion, 2%–6% in local currency, with currency reducing results by about 1%. The quarterly dividend rises 5% to $1.71, a smaller increase than fiscal 2026's 10%. The board added $6.0 billion of buyback authority in September, taking the total to about $6.9 billion.

Our read. The guidance is cautious in a specific way. Revenue growth of 3%–6% brackets fiscal 2026's 5%, but adjusted EPS growth of 3%–6% is below fiscal 2026's 8%, with flat currency, a smaller buyback and higher interest costs all likely contributors. Margin expansion of 10–30 basis points is in line with the 20 basis points delivered this year. The low end of Q1's 2% guide is also well below Q4's 7%, which suggests management is not treating Q4 as the new run rate. The key test in the 10-K, and in Q1 results in December, is how much of the 7% came from acquired businesses. If organic growth is still near Q3's 3%, the fiscal 2027 range will need acquisitions to reach its midpoint. The other test is collections: if DSO keeps rising, the $11.0–$11.8 billion free cash flow guide becomes harder to meet.