Accenture Reports First-Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results

Key Terms

free cash flow financial

Free cash flow is the amount of money a company has left over after paying all its expenses and investing in its business, like buying equipment or updating facilities. It shows how much cash is available to reward shareholders, pay down debt, or save for future growth. This helps investors understand if a company is financially healthy and able to grow.

gaap operating margin financial

GAAP operating margin is a measure that shows how much profit a company makes from its main business activities, after expenses, according to official accounting rules. It helps investors see how efficiently a company is running and whether it can stay profitable over time. Think of it like checking how much money a store keeps from each sale after paying all the bills.

adjusted operating margin financial

Adjusted operating margin shows how much profit a company makes from its core business activities, after removing unusual or one-time costs and income. It helps investors see the company's true profitability by providing a clearer picture, similar to removing unexpected expenses to understand the regular performance. This metric is useful for comparing companies or tracking performance over time, as it highlights consistent earning power.

diluted earnings per share financial

Diluted earnings per share is a measure of a company's profit allocated to each share of stock, taking into account all possible shares that could be created through stock options, convertible bonds, or other securities. It shows the lowest possible earnings per share if all these potential shares were issued, helping investors understand the worst-case scenario for their ownership. This figure matters because it provides a more conservative view of a company's profitability per share.

basis points financial

Basis points are a way to measure small changes in interest rates or percentages, where one basis point equals 0.01%. For example, if a loan's interest rate increases by 50 basis points, it's gone up by 0.50%. They help people understand tiny differences in rates that can add up over time, making financial comparisons clearer.

non-gaap financial measures financial

Non-GAAP financial measures are numbers companies use to show their financial performance that exclude certain expenses or income. They help investors see how the company might perform without one-time costs or other unusual items, giving a different perspective from official reports. However, since they can be adjusted, they don’t always tell the full story and should be looked at alongside standard financial figures.

Accenture delivers strong new bookings and revenue growth at the top of the company’s guided range, with strong profitability and free cash flow; Confirms outlook for fiscal 2026 revenue growth, and adjusted operating margin and EPS

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Accenture (NYSE: ACN) reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 ended November 30, 2025.

All comparisons are to the first quarter of fiscal 2025, unless noted otherwise.

Accenture Chair and CEO Julie Sweet
“I am very pleased with our $21 billion in new bookings, including 33 clients with quarterly bookings greater than $100 million. We delivered revenue growth of 5% in local currency, at the top of our guided range, while continuing to gain market share. We also strengthened our leadership in advanced AI and deepened our ecosystem partnerships to help clients realize value. These results reflect our strategy to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients. On behalf of our leadership team, I want to thank our clients, ecosystem partners and people who make these results possible.”

First Quarter Fiscal 2026 Key Metrics

• New bookings of $20.9 billion, an increase of 12% in U.S. dollars and 10% in local currency
• Advanced AI new bookings of $2.2 billion
• Revenues of $18.7 billion, an increase of 6% in U.S. dollars and 5% in local currency
• GAAP operating margin of 15.3%, a decrease of 140 bps compared to operating margin of 16.7% in the first quarter of fiscal 2025; adjusted¹ operating margin expanded 30 basis points to 17.0%
• GAAP diluted earnings per share of $3.54, a 1% decrease from GAAP diluted earnings per share of $3.59 in the first quarter of fiscal 2025; adjusted earnings per share increased 10% to $3.94
• Free cash flow of $1.5 billion
• Total cash returned to shareholders of $3.3 billion, reflecting $2.3 billion in repurchases or redemptions of 9.5 million shares, and cash dividend payments of $1.0 billion, or $1.63 per share, a 10% increase

Fiscal 2026 Business Outlook Highlights

• Company continues to expect full-year revenue growth to be 2% to 5% in local currency. Excluding an estimated 1% impact from its U.S. federal business, company continues to expect revenue growth to be 3% to 6% in local currency
• Now expects GAAP operating margin to be 15.2% to 15.4%, an expansion of 50 to 70 basis points; continues to expect adjusted operating margin to be 15.7% to 15.9%, an expansion of 10 to 30 bps
• Now expects GAAP diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $13.12 to $13.50, an 8% to 11% increase; continues to expect adjusted EPS to be in the range of $13.52 to $13.90, a 5% to 8% increase

¹Adjusted financial measures presented in this release are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude business optimization costs recorded in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 and the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 as further described in this release.

Conference Call and Webcast Details
Accenture will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. EST today to discuss its first quarter fiscal 2026 financial results. To participate in the teleconference, please dial +1 (877) 883-0383 [+1 (412) 317-6061 outside the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada] and enter access code 1422495 approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the call. The conference call will also be accessible live via webcast on the Investor Relations section of the Accenture website at accenture.com. A replay will be available on this website following the call.

About Accenture
Accenture is a leading solutions and services company that helps the world’s leading enterprises reinvent by building their digital core and unleashing the power of AI to create value at speed across the enterprise, bringing together the talent of our approximately 784,000 people, our proprietary assets and platforms, and deep ecosystem relationships. Our strategy is to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients and to be the most client-focused, AI-enabled, great place to work in the world. Through our Reinvention Services we bring together our capabilities across strategy, consulting, technology, operations, Song and Industry X with our deep industry expertise to create and deliver solutions and services for our clients. Our purpose is to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity, and we measure our success by the 360° value we create for all our stakeholders. Visit us at accenture.com.

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Rachel Frey

Accenture Media Relations

+1 917 452 4421

rachel.frey@accenture.com

Alexia Quadrani

Accenture Investor Relations

+1 917 452 8542

alexia.quadrani@accenture.com

Source: Accenture