Information technology major Accenture Plc’s headcount increased sequentially for the third straight quarter in Q4FY24.
On December 19, Accenture reported that its headcount increased by 24,697 employees to 7,99,000 in Q1FY25. Accenture follows a September-August financial year.
The company increased its data and artificial intelligence (AI) workforce to approximately 69,000, against its goal of 80,000 by the end of fiscal year 2026.
"We did add about 24,000 people in the first quarter, which is really reflective of the momentum that we see in our business... and what you see is the continued high utilisation rates at around 90 percent," Chief Financial Officer Angie Park told analysts after declaring the first quarter results.
Park added that Accenture will continue to hire for the demand that it sees and the skills that it needs. She added that most of the hiring was concentrated in India.
The hiring also implies that Accenture is seeing better demand compared to previous quarters. The company had added a comparable number of employees in the previous quarter.
Given that a substantial portion of Accenture's workforce is based in India, its results often serve as an indicator of the broader trends and potential outcomes within the over-five-million-strong Indian IT sector.
The Dublin-headquartered firm's attrition rate increased by 1 percentage point to 12 percent for the quarter.
The addtion of 24,000 employees two quarters in a row by the world's largest IT services company bodes well for the sector which has seen a decline in headcount over past several quarters.
IT companies have said hiring will resume as and when demand picks up pace.
Q1FY25 Performance
Meanwhile, Accenture increased its revenue forecast for fiscal year 2025 due to a lower impact from foreign exchange on its results in U.S. dollars, which will be approximately negative 0.5 percent compared with the previously expected impact of 1.5 percent.
Shares of the company rose 5 percent in premarket trading.
The world's largest IT company beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue on December 19, on the back of growing demand for its services to help clients adopt AI-powered tools.
Accenture's first-quarter revenue stood at $17.7 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $17.12 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company said its "strong Q1FY25 results reflect broad-based revenue growth across all markets and industry groups".
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