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Driving reinvention, delivering 360° value

2023 Letter to Shareholders

5-MINUTE READ

October 12, 2023

From our Chair and CEO

Our strong results for fiscal 2023 reflect our constant focus on the needs of our clients, the uniqueness and breadth of our services and industry expertise, and the commitment and dedication of our 733,000 talented people.

Julie Sweet / Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Our financial results

We achieved another strong year of financial performance in fiscal 2023, with record new bookings, continued adjusted operating margin expansion and adjusted EPS growth, and very strong cash flow, driving shareholder value creation. These results continue to enable us to deliver 360° value for all our stakeholders.

Revenues

$64.1B

An increase of 8% in local currency and 4% in U.S. dollars

New bookings

$72.2B

A 5% increase in local currency and 1% in U.S. dollars, with a book-to-bill of 1.1

Diluted earnings per share (Adjusted)

$11.67

A 9% increase, after adjusting fiscal 2023 GAAP EPS to $10.77 to exclude the impact of business optimization costs of $1.28 per share and an investment gain of $0.38 per share. On a GAAP basis, full-year FY23 EPS increased 1%

Operating margin (Adjusted)

15.4%

An expansion of 20 basis points, after adjusting fiscal 2023 GAAP operating margin of 13.7% to exclude business optimization costs of 170 basis points. On a GAAP basis, full-year FY23 operating margin decreased 150 bps

Free cash flow

$9.0B

Defined as operating cash flow of $9.5 billion net of property and equipment additions of $528 million

Cash returned to shareholders

$7.2B

Defined as cash dividends of $2.8 billion plus share repurchases of $4.3 billion

For 12 months ended August 31, 2023
 

Other highlights

Our ongoing investments

$2.5B

Deployed across 25 strategic acquisitions to scale our business in high-growth areas, add skills and capabilities in new areas and deepen our industry and functional expertise

$1.3B

Invested in research and development in our assets, platforms and industry and functional solutions

$1.1B

Invested in learning and professional development

Our people, our leadership, our purpose

123,000

We celebrated 123,000 promotions, demonstrating our continued commitment to creating vibrant careers and opportunities for our people

48%

We are now 48% women compared to our goal of 50% by 2025

40M

Delivered approximately 40 million training hours with our digital learning platform

Awards & recognition

21

Consecutive years on the FORTUNE World’s Most Admired Companies list and 10th consecutive year as No. 1 in IT services

70%

Accenture is recognized as a top 10 place to work in eight countries, representing 70% of our people

No. 1

on the Refinitiv Global Diversity & Inclusion Index for the 4th time in 6 years

Comparison of cumulative total return

Line graph comparing the cumulative total returns from 2018 to 2023 for Accenture, the S&P 500 Index, and the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Index. The y-axis represents the return amount, starting at $0 and peaking at $350, while the x-axis shows the years from 2018 to 2023. The graph illustrates varying growth trajectories for each index over the specified period.

August 31, 2018–August 31, 2023

Accenture vs. S&P 500 Stock Index and S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Index

The performance graph to the right shows the cumulative total shareholder return on our Class A shares for the period starting on August 31, 2018, and ending on August 31, 2023, which was the end of fiscal 2023. This is compared with the cumulative total returns over the same period of the S&P 500 Stock Index and the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Index. The graph assumes that, on August 31, 2018, $100 was invested in our Class A shares and $100 was invested in each of the other two indices, with dividends reinvested on the ex-dividend date without payment of any commissions. The performance shown in the graph represents past performance and should not be considered an indication of future performance.

Indexed prices as of August 31

 201820192020202120222023
Accenture$100$119$147$209$181$206
S&P 500 Index$100$103$125$165$146$169
S&P 500 IT Sector Index$100$107$168$218$187$249

Awards & recognition

AVTAR & Seramount Best Companies for Women in India

Top 10 for 8 consecutive years; Hall of Fame since 2020

AVTAR & Seramount Most Inclusive Companies Index in India

“Champions of Inclusion” for 5 consecutive years

Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index

Top scoring company for 2 consecutive years

Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Human Capital Management Awards

Top winner for 8 consecutive years; recognized this year for DEI, Future of Work, HR, Leadership Development, Learning & Development, Sales Performance, Talent Acquisition and Talent Management

BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands

No. 22 with a brand value of $73.6B; marking 18 consecutive years on list

Brand Finance Most Valuable IT Services Brands

No. 1 for the 5th consecutive year with a brand value of $39.9B

Additional information

Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ACN.

Our website address is accenture.com. We use our website as a channel of distribution for company information. We make available free of charge on the Investor Relations section of our website (investor. accenture.com) our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). We also make available through our website other reports filed with or furnished to the SEC under the Exchange Act, including our proxy statements and reports filed by officers and directors under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, as well as our Code of Business Ethics. Financial and other material information regarding Accenture is routinely posted on and accessible at investor.accenture.com. We do not intend for information contained in this letter or on our website to be part of the Annual Report on Form 10-K. This letter and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023 (including the sections of our definitive proxy statement relating to our 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders incorporated by reference), together constitute Accenture’s annual report to security holders for purposes of Rule 14a-3(b) of the Exchange Act.

Rights to trademarks referenced herein, other than Accenture trademarks, belong to their respective owners. We disclaim proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

We have included in this letter “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Exchange Act relating to our operations, results of operations and other matters that are based on our current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections. Words such as “will,” “plan,” “believe” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in these forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that might cause such differences, some of which could be material, include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q (available through the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.accenture.com) under the sections entitled “Risk Factors.” Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this letter or as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them, notwithstanding any historical practice of doing so. Forward-looking and other statements in this document may also address our corporate responsibility progress, plans and goals (including environmental matters), and the inclusion of such statements is not an indication that these contents are necessarily material to investors or required to be disclosed in the Company’s filings with the SEC. In addition, historical, current and forward-looking sustainability-related statements may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future.

This letter contains certain non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) measures that our management believes provide our shareholders with additional insights into Accenture’s results of operations. The non-GAAP measures in this letter are supplemental in nature. They should not be considered in isolation or as alternatives to net income as indicators of company performance, to cash flows from operating activities as measures of liquidity, or to other financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of this non-GAAP financial information to Accenture’s financial statements as prepared under GAAP are included in this report.

All amounts throughout this letter are stated in U.S. dollars, except where noted.

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