Global professional services company Accenture has reported its fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2024 results, exceeding analysts estimates after a record US$81.2 billion in bookings for the full year, up 14% in the local currency.

In Q4 the company recorded $20.1 billion in bookings, and $16.4 billion in revenues - up 5% in local currency. Fourth quarter GAAP operating margin was 14.3%, a 230 basis point increase; and the adjusted operating margin was 15.0%, a 10 basis point increase. Q4 GAAP EPS was $2.66, a 24% increase; adjusted EPS was $2.79, a 3% increase.

It made for full year revenues of $64.9 billion, up 2% in local currency, with a GAAP operating margin up 110 basis points to 14.8%. Full year adjusted operating margin was 15.5%, a 10 basis point increase. Full year GAAP EPS was $11.44, a 6% increase; adjusted EPS was $11.95, a 2% increase. Free cash flow was $3.2 billion for the quarter and $8.6 billion for the full year.

"Our performance in fiscal year 2024 demonstrates the resilience and agility of our business model, the power of our scale and reinvention in action. We delivered full-fiscal year new bookings of $81 billion, including a record 125 quarterly client bookings of more than $100 million, and now have 310 Diamond clients, our largest relationships," said Accenture chair and CEO, Julie Sweet.

Accenture is doubling down on its Generative AI rollout, after Generative AI new bookings reached $1 billion for the quarter and $3 billion for the full year.

"We continue to accelerate our leadership in Generative AI, which we believe is the most transformative technology of the next decade, delivering $3 billion in new bookings for the year. Our successful strategy to lead reinvention for clients and continued investments in our business have positioned Accenture for strong growth in fiscal 2025. I want to thank our 774,000 people around the world who work every day to deeply understand the needs of our clients, allowing us to achieve profitable growth and create even more 360 value for all our stakeholders."

By market, North America saw the strongest growth in Q4, recording $7.97 billion in revenues, up 6% in local currency, while EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) reported $5.64 billion, up 2% in local currency and Growth Markets fell 3% to $2.80 billion. The latter is partially due to the revised reporting of Accenture's geographic markets at the start of the year, which saw Middle East and Africa market units consolidated into EMEA.

For the full year, the North American market reported $30.74 billion in revenues, up 2% in local currency, EMEA reported $22.8 billion, flat in local currency, and Growth markets were up 7% in local currency to $11.34 billion.

Looking at the performance of marketing services business Accenture Song, Madison and Wall analyst Brian Wieser said: "Growth during the most recent quarter for Accenture Song equated to a high-single digit level, rebounding further from the mid-single growth rate posted during the May quarter (more-or-less the calendar second quarter of the year) and the low-single digit growth rate observed during the February quarter (close to the calendar first quarter).

"Illustrating the nature of the evolution of competition between Accenture, its peer IT services companies and agencies, on the earnings call Accenture’s CFO discussed some of its work with Mondelez “to transform their marketing organization with Gen AI to help drive consumer behavior. As part of this program, we're standing up a refreshed operating model with a primary focus on upskilling their employees in Gen AI technologies. We are also helping enable a new capability to scale content creation…This work will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of messaging to create more impactful experiences.” That this comment could have been made by almost any traditional agency holding company CEO highlights the overlapping nature of much of the business.

"Although faster growth at Accenture Song can mean that the company is taking share of marketer spend from traditional holding companies, we believe the acceleration is likely more reflective of the ongoing focus by all marketers on IT services-specific marketing capabilities. To the extent that is correct, this acceleration can be interpreted positively for the broader agency sector and business units such as Publicis’ Sapient or independent IT services firms such as Globant."

He noted that comparisons with traditional holding companies were imperfect for several reasons, including the fact that reporting quarters were not aligned, Accenture does not provide organic growth data, internal revenue re-allocations may have been a source of report segment growth, and a lot of Accenture Song's activities drive longtail revenues - such as software-related sales that accrue over time.

Accenture increased its quarterly dividend by 15% to $1.48 per share and the Board of Directors approved $4.0 billion of additional share repurchase authority. For fiscal year 2025, Accenture expects revenue growth of 3% to 6% in local currency and GAAP EPS of $12.55 to $12.91, a 5% to 8% increase from adjusted EPS for fiscal 2024.