Accenture logs 6% revenue rise on AI demand

BENGALURU: Accenture reported revenues of $18.7 billion for the first quarter (Sept-Nov) of the 2026 financial year, marking a 6% increase in dollar terms and 5% growth in local currency. The performance came in at the top end of the company's guided range of $18.1-18.7 billion, which had implied 1-5% growth in local currency.

The performance comes amid steady enterprise spending and rising adoption of AI-led transformation projects. Accenture follows a Sept-Aug financial year. The company also exceeded its operating margin guidance, closing the quarter at 17%, compared with the projected 15.7% to 15.9%, representing an improvement of 10 to 30 basis points over the previous financial year. New bookings grew 10% in local currency to $20.9 billion, including 33 clients with quarterly bookings of over $100 million, reflecting continued momentum in large deals.

For the second quarter, Accenture guided revenue in the range of $17.3 billion to $18 billion, factoring in an estimated foreign exchange headwind of about 3.5% and local currency growth of 1% to 5%. It also maintained its full-year local currency revenue growth guidance at 2% to 5%. The firm expects an inorganic contribution of about 1.5% this year and plans to invest around $3 billion in acquisitions.

Advanced AI bookings for the quarter stood at $2.2 billion, nearly doubling from the first quarter of last year and rising sequentially from the previous quarter of FY2025. The company highlighted a sharp surge in advanced AI demand and signalled that it will no longer report AI revenues separately, as AI-led projects are increasingly embedded across its core offerings rather than remaining stand-alone initiatives.

"We introduced the metrics in Q3 FY23 just months after GenAI burst onto the scene, initially to seize the reality of the opportunity and to demonstrate our early leadership," said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet.


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