Accenture beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue on Thursday, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that help clients integrate the technology to enhance productivity. However, it will stop disclosing standalone advanced AI bookings and revenues, saying the metric has become less meaningful as AI is increasingly embedded across nearly all client work.
The IT consulting firm reported revenue of $18.74 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $18.52 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
New bookings during the quarter increased 12 percent to $20.9 billion, with consulting bookings of $9.88 billion and managed services bookings of $11.06 billion.
Advanced AI new bookings rose to $2.2 billion in the quarter.
Accenture Chair and CEO Julie Sweet said, "“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.”
Shares of IT consulting firm were up 2.7% at $281.15 premarket after beating revenue estimates.
Operating margin for the quarter declined to 15.3 percent from 16.7 percent a year earlier, reflecting business optimisation costs.
Segment, regional performance
Consulting revenues rose 4 percent year-on-year to $9.41 billion, while managed services grew faster at 8 percent to $9.33 billion.
Geographically, revenues from the Americas increased 4 percent to $9.08 billion. EMEA revenues grew 8 percent to $6.94 billion, while Asia Pacific rose 7 percent to $2.73 billion.
Among industry groups, financial services led growth with a 14 percent increase in revenues, followed by communications, media and technology, which grew 9 percent.
Health and public service revenues were flat year-on-year.
Outlook unchanged
Accenture maintained its full-year fiscal 2026 outlook, continuing to expect revenue growth of 2 to 5 percent in local currency. Excluding an estimated 1 percent impact from its US federal business, revenue growth is expected to be 3 to 6 percent in local currency.
The company now expects the operating margin to be in the range of 15.2 to 15.4 percent, for the full year.
Standalone AI bookings, revenue disclosures to end
The decision to discontinue Gen AI revenue numbers will take effect from the current quarter, making the first quarter of fiscal 2026 the last period in which the company separately reports advanced AI bookings and revenue figures.
The company said demand for AI continues to mature rapidly, with clients moving beyond standalone proofs of concept toward scaled, end-to-end solutions that integrate multiple forms of AI.
As a result, isolating revenue and bookings tied specifically to advanced AI no longer reflects how demand is evolving or the full scope of AI-driven work being delivered. AI capabilities are now embedded across a wide range of consulting and managed services engagements, making separate disclosure less representative of the value being created.
The shift also comes as Accenture expands its AI footprint across clients and internal operations. The company has surpassed 1,300 advanced AI clients to date, deployed more than 3,000 reusable AI agents, and commenced company-wide agentic AI training during the quarter. It is nearing its target of 80,000 AI and data professionals globally.
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