Accenture eclipses $50 billion global revenue mark with 14% growth
Accenture has rocketed out of a slight pandemic slump to report record global revenues of $50.5 billion for its 2021 financial year, a rise of 14 percent in US dollar terms – with even greater growth expected ahead.
Global professional services firm Accenture has followed in the footsteps of Deloitte to smash through the $50 billion mark in worldwide revenues, up by 11 percent in local currency terms for its 2021 financial year.
Following a lacklustre 2020, the figures represent an acceleration of the firm’s rapid growth prior to the global Covid-19 pandemic, with Accenture expecting further strong growth in the range of 12 to 15 percent for the year ahead.
“We are very proud of our outstanding fiscal 2021 financial performance, reflecting growth significantly above the market and strong momentum,” said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet. “Our results reflect the dedication and hard work of our 624,000 incredible people, who are laser-focused on creating tangible value for our clients, innovating with our ecosystem, and being the trusted partner of choice on our clients’ transformation journeys.”
In addition to cracking the $50 billion barrier, revenues from Accenture’s ‘growth markets’ geography, which includes the Asia Pacific, have also now crossed the $10 billion threshold, up by 11 percent on last year. Growth, however, was led by the firm’s North America practice – bucking the trend among the world’s biggest consultancies – which contributed close to half the overall total, including $6.4 billion in the fourth quarter alone courtesy of a 22 percent gain.
Some 60 percent of the firm’s 2021 revenues were derived from Accenture’s technology division, with business growing by 13 percent, while Strategy & Consulting contributed a quarter of the total revenues (while slow at 2 percent growth, a divisional restructure has seen some elements of the firm’s Infrastructure & Transformation business pass from Consulting to Technology). Accenture’s third major line, Operations, grew by 19 percent to $8 billion.
In terms of industry, Accenture’s Products group was up by 10 percent for a $14 billion share of revenues, while the firm’s Communications, Media & Technology, Financial Services and Health & Public Services verticals are all reasonably level-pegged around the $10 billion mark (the latter catching up over the past few years) with growth of between 13 and 15 percent. Resources remained flat, bringing in $6.8 billion.
The most notable performer overall was Accenture’s cloud offering, which contributed a whopping $18 billion to overall revenues through 44 percent growth – no doubt driven by the firm’s ongoing acquisition spree in the space. The technology giant intends to invest $3 billion into its cloud division over the next couple years, as part of global ‘Cloud First’ strategy.
Last year, Accenture spent more than $4 billion in total on the almost 50 acquisitions it made business-wide, with a similar M&A outlay forecast for 2022. Speaking on Accenture’s 2021 report, Sweet stated, “We delivered these results while investing in our people and in the capabilities our clients need, now and in the future, while at the same time making progress on our sustainability goals. We measure our success by this 360-degree value creation.”