Accenture Narrows Revenue Guidance In Q3, Upbeat On AI

Accenture Plc. has narrowed its revenue forecast for the year ended August 2024 to 1.5% to 2.5%, while its generative artificial intelligence deals gain steam, recording $2 billion in revenue.

The Dublin-headquartered tech firm's third-quarter revenue fell 1% year-on-year to $16.5 billion, according to an exchange filing. Its guidance has been narrowed from 1-3% predicted last quarter. Its projection this quarter bakes in a full-year foreign-exchange impact of -0.7%. Accenture follows the September–August fiscal.

Accenture’s performance may provide an indication of what Indian IT companies can expect. India's IT industry has witnessed subdued growth momentum amid macroeconomic headwinds. 

However, Accenture’s generative AI new bookings stood at over $900 million for a total of $2 billion year-to-date. This signals that Indian IT firms, too, could gain from Gen AI deals, even as their capabilities aren't on par with Accenture. So far, only Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. has quantitatively indicated its Gen AI deal wins.

In Q3, Accenture's new bookings stood at $21.1 billion, with consulting bookings of $9.3 billion and managed services bookings of $11.8 billion. Operating margin rose 180 basis points year-on-year to 16.0%. 

Revenue from North America was $7.83 billion, an increase of 1% year-on-year. The metric fell 2% over a year ago for the Europe, Middle East and Africa markets to $5.78 billion. For its growth markets, revenue fell 4% year-on-year to $2.86 billion. 

The company expects operating margin for fiscal 2024 to range between 14.8% and 15%, an expansion of 110 to 130 basis points from the preceding fiscal.