Irish-American professional services company, Accenture announced its Q3FY23 results which ended on May 31, 2023. According to Q3FY23, currently employs 732,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.
The company has seen a reduction of 6,000 people from last quarter, Q2FY23 which reported a total headcount of 738,000 employees.
This may be the impact of the 19,000 layoffs announced in the last quarter.
Additionally, according to Reuters, Accenture fanned concerns about dwindling IT. The quarterly revenue forecast was below Wall Street estimates, sending its shares down more than 5%.
Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture said that clients were “holding back on small deals” in the face of an uncertain economic outlook, mirroring remarks from Cognizant Technology Solutions last month.
Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 were $16.56 billion, compared with $16.16 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of 3% in U.S. dollars and 5% in local currency
Accenture forecasts current-quarter revenue in the range of $15.75 billion to $16.35 billion. Analysts on average expect revenue of $16.35 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
The company blamed the weakness on its business catering to the tech, media, and communications industries, which have sharply dialed back spending in recent months to cope with slowing growth. Revenue for that group fell 8% in the third quarter.
North America – Accenture’s biggest market – also performed poorly in the March to May period, with revenue growth slowing there to a near three-year low of about 2%.
Indian outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) also said in April that a recovery in the U.S. had not materialized as expected and had, in fact, worsened.
More pain could be in store for IT companies as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted on Wednesday at the likelihood of further interest rate hikes, after one of the most aggressive policy tightening cycles on record.
Commenting on the Q3FY23 results, Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO, Accenture said, “Our third quarter results reflect solid bookings and revenue and very strong adjusted operating margin, earnings per share, and free cash flow, which demonstrates the rigor and discipline with which we run our business.”
“The strength of our strategy to be our clients’ transformation partner of choice continues to resonate, with 26 clients with quarterly bookings of $100 million or more; and our business model — which for decades has been built around the diversity of our markets, industries, and services — along with our more than 730,000 talented people position us well to continue to deliver 360° value for our clients and stakeholders every day”, Julie Sweet added.
The company reported financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2023, which ended May 31, 2023, with revenues of $16.6 billion, an increase of 3% in U.S. dollars and 5% in local currency over the same period last year.
