Accenture plc Files 2024 Annual Report

Ticker: ACN · Form: 10-K · Filed: Oct 10, 2024 · CIK: 1467373

Sentiment: neutral

Topics: annual-report, 10-K, financials

Related Tickers: ACN

TL;DR

ACN filed its 2024 10-K. All good.

AI Summary

Accenture plc filed its annual report for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2024. The company, incorporated in Ireland with its principal executive offices in Dublin, is registered with the SEC under file number 001-34448. Its Class A ordinary shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ACN.

Why It Matters

This filing provides a comprehensive overview of Accenture's financial performance and business operations for the past fiscal year, offering insights for investors and stakeholders.

Risk Assessment

Risk Level: low — The filing is a standard annual report and does not indicate any immediate or unusual risks.

Key Players & Entities

FAQ

What is the fiscal year end date for Accenture plc's annual report?

The fiscal year end date is August 31, 2024.

What is Accenture plc's commission file number?

Accenture plc's commission file number is 001-34448.

Where are Accenture plc's principal executive offices located?

Accenture plc's principal executive offices are located at 1 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland.

What is the trading symbol for Accenture plc's Class A ordinary shares?

The trading symbol for Accenture plc's Class A ordinary shares is ACN.

On which exchange are Accenture plc's Class A ordinary shares registered?

Accenture plc's Class A ordinary shares are registered on the New York Stock Exchange.

Filing Stats: 4,363 words · 17 min read · ~15 pages · Grade level 15 · Accepted 2024-10-10 06:43:59

Key Financial Figures

Filing Documents

Risk Factors

Item 1A. Risk Factors 18

Unresolved Staff Comments

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 32

Cybersecurity

Item 1C. Cybersecurity 33

Properties

Item 2. Properties 34

Legal Proceedings

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 34

Mine Safety Disclosures

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 34 Part II

Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 35

[Reserved]

Item 6. [Reserved] 36

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 37

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 49

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 50

Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 50

Controls and Procedures

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 50

Other Information

Item 9B. Other Information 51

Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections

Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 51 Part III

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 52

Executive Compensation

Item 11. Executive Compensation 52

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters 53

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 53

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 54 Part IV

Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 55

Form 10-K Summary

Item 16. Form 10-K Summary 57

Signatures

Signatures 58 Table of Contents ACCENTURE 2024 FORM 10-K Part I 1 Part I Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (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 "may," "will," "should," "likely," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates," "positioned," "outlook" 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 below under the section entitled "Risk Factors." Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this report 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 our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, historical, current, and forward-looking sustainability-related statements may be based on standards for measu

Business

Item 1. Business Overview Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world's leading organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 774,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world's leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360 value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360 value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Fiscal 2024 Highlights We serve clients and manage our business through three geographic markets: North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Growth Markets. These markets bring together all of our capabilities across our services, industries and functions to deliver value to our clients. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, our Latin America market unit will move from Growth Markets to North America. With this change, North America will become the Americas market and Growth Markets will become the Asia Pacific market. We go to market by industry, leveraging our deep expertise across our five industry groups—Communications, Media & Technology, Financial Services, Health & Public Service, Products and Resources. Our integrated service teams meet client needs rapidly and at scale, leveraging our network of more than 100 innovation hubs, our technolog

Business 3

Item 1. Business 3 During fiscal 2024, we continued to make significant investments—in strategic acquisitions, in research and development (R&D) in our assets, platforms and industry and functional solutions, in patents and pending patents and in attracting, retaining and developing people. These investments help us to further enhance our differentiation and competitiveness in the marketplace. Our disciplined acquisition strategy, which is an engine to fuel organic growth, is focused on scaling our business in high-growth areas; adding skills and capabilities in new areas; and deepening our industry and functional expertise. In fiscal 2024, we invested $6.6 billion across 46 strategic acquisitions, $1.2 billion in R&D, and $1.1 billion in learning and professional development, including 44 million training hours. Our Strategy The core of our growth strategy is to be our clients' reinvention partner of choice, delivering 360 value to our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Our strategy defines the areas in which we will drive growth, build differentiation and enable our clients to transform their organizations through technology, data and AI to create value every day. We aspire to be at the center of our clients' business and help them reach new levels of performance and to set themselves apart as leaders in their industries. We define 360 value as delivering the financial business case and unique value a client may be seeking, and striving to partner with our clients to achieve greater progress on inclusion and diversity, reskill and upskill our clients' employees, help our clients achieve their sustainability goals, and create meaningful experiences, both with Accenture and for the customers and employees of our clients. We bring industry specific solutions and services as well as cross industry expertise and leverage our scale and global footprint, innovation capabilities, and strong ecosystem partnerships together with our assets and p

Business 4

Item 1. Business 4 Key enablers of our growth strategy include: Our People— As a talent- and innovation-led organization, across our entire business our people have highly specialized skills that drive our differentiation and competitiveness. We care deeply for our people, and are committed to a culture of shared success, to investing in our people to provide them with boundaryless opportunities to learn and grow in their careers through their work experience and continued development, training and reskilling, and to helping them achieve their aspirations both professionally and personally. We have an unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity. Our Commitment— We are a purpose-driven company, committed to delivering on the promise of technology and human ingenuity by continuously innovating and developing leading-edge ideas and leveraging emerging technologies in anticipation of our clients' needs. Our culture is underpinned by our core values and Code of Business Ethics, which are key drivers of the trust our clients and partners place in us. Our Foundation— Our Leadership Essentials set the standard for what we expect from our people. Our growth model, which leverages our global sales, client experience and innovation, while organizing around geographic markets and industry groups within those markets, enables us to be close to our clients, people and partners to scale efficiently. Our enduring shareholder value proposition is also a key element of the foundation that enables us to execute on our growth strategy through the financial value it creates. Geographic Markets Our geographic markets—North America, EMEA and Growth Markets—bring together integrated service teams, which typically consist of industry and functional experts, technology and capability specialists and professionals with local market knowledge and experience, to meet client needs. The geographic markets have primary responsibility for building and sustaining long-term client rel

Business 5

Item 1. Business 5 Services We bring together skills, capabilities, industry experience and functional expertise to help our clients achieve tangible outcomes and create 360 value. Strategy & Consulting We work with C-suite executives, leaders and boards of the world's leading organizations, helping them reinvent every part of their enterprise to drive greater growth, enhance competitiveness, implement operational improvements, reduce cost, deliver sustainable 360 stakeholder value, and set a new performance frontier for themselves and the industry in which they operate. Our deep industry and functional expertise is supported by proprietary assets and solutions that help organizations transform faster and become more resilient. Underpinned by technology, data, analytics, AI, change management, talent, learning and sustainability capabilities, our Strategy & Consulting services help architect and accelerate all aspects of an organization's reinvention. Technology We provide innovative and comprehensive services and solutions that span cloud; systems integration and application management; security; intelligent platform services; infrastructure services; software engineering services; data and AI; automation; and global delivery through our Advanced Technology Centers. We continuously innovate our services, capabilities and platforms through early adoption of new technologies such as generative AI, blockchain, robotics, 5G, edge computing, metaverse and quantum computing. We provide a range of capabilities that addresses the challenges faced by organizations today, including how to achieve reinvention, manage change and develop new growth opportunities. We are continuously innovating and investing in R&D for both existing and new forms of technology. Our focus in our Accenture Labs includes furthering innovation beyond traditional boundaries, such as science and space technologies. Our innovation hubs around the world help clients innovate at unmatched speed,

Business 6

Item 1. Business 6 technology. We leverage the combined power of strategy, data and AI (including generative AI), ecosystem partnerships, and our ability to scale and manage programs on behalf of our clients. By doing so, we enhance our creative processes, solve client challenges more effectively, and provide solutions that are designed to be advanced, ethically sound and sustainable to help our clients reinvent how they engage with their customers. Table of Contents ACCENTURE 2024 FORM 10-K

Business 7

Item 1. Business 7 Industry Groups We believe the depth and breadth of our industry expertise is a key competitive advantage which allows us to bring client-specific industry solutions to our clients to accelerate value creation. Our industry focus gives us an understanding of industry evolution, business issues and trends, industry operating models, capabilities and processes and new and emerging technologies. The breadth of our industry expertise enables us to create solutions that are informed by cross industry experience. We go to market through the following five industry groups within our geographic markets. Communications, Media & Technology FY24 Revenues of $10.8B Percent of Group's FY24 Revenue 40% 18% 42% Communications & Media High Tech Software & Platforms B2C and B2B communications service providers (both fixed and mobile), MVNO (mobile virtual network operators) and network infrastructure companies inclusive of edge and IOT connectivity infrastructure, cable and satellite communications, broadcasters and TV networks, gaming, print, online and traditional publishing, entertainment, sports, content producers (including studios), content aggregators and streaming live events (sports) and media infrastructure providers, integrated advertising agencies and creative Enterprise technology, hardware, and associated manufacturing; consumer technology, electronics, batteries, and associated manufacturing; network equipment and device providers and manufacturers, data centers; semiconductor including silicon design and development, foundries, capital equipment, and manufacturing; medical equipment companies and manufacturers Cloud-based enterprise and consumer software companies, large language model owners; both subscription and ad-driven consumer platforms spanning ecommerce, social, media, advertising and gaming Financial Services FY24 Revenues of $11.6B Percent of Group's FY24 Revenue 69% 31% Banking & Capital Markets Insurance Retail and

Business 8

Item 1. Business 8 Our work with clients in the U.S. federal government is delivered through Accenture Federal Services, a U.S. company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture LLP, and represented approximately 37% of our Health & Public Service industry group's revenues and 17% of our North America revenues in fiscal 2024. Products FY24 Revenues of $19.6B Percent of Group's FY24 Revenue 46% 34% 20% Consumer Goods, Retail & Travel Services Industrial Life Sciences Food and beverage, household goods, personal care, tobacco, fashion/apparel, agribusiness and consumer health companies; supermarkets, hardline retailers, mass-merchandise discounters, department, quickserve and convenience stores and specialty retailers; aviation; and hospitality and travel services compani

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