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Accenture

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FY2010 Annual Report · Accenture
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To our shareholders

2010 Letter from Our Chairman & CEO

In fiscal 2010 we executed well while 
continuing to invest for the future.  
Our uncompromising focus on delivering  
value to our clients enabled us to  
increase the momentum in our business  
and generate significant value for  
our shareholders.

“Accentureisonasolidgrowth
trajectoryandextremelywell
positionedforthefuture.”

Bill Green  
Chairman & CEO

Delivering in fiscal 2010 

Fiscal 2010 was a defining year for Accenture on two 
dimensions. First, it was about building momentum around our 
growth agenda. Second, it was about initiatives and investments 
we made that position Accenture for future success. On building 
momentum, we returned to a solid growth trajectory, and  
we delivered strong results. Despite the uncertainty in the 
marketplace, we were able to meet or beat all the elements  
of our original annual financial outlook for fiscal 2010:

•  Revenues and earnings per share were both within our 

expected ranges. 

•  Bookings were in the upper end of our guided range, 
demonstrating growing demand for our services.
•  We expanded operating margin, slightly exceeding  

our expectations. 

•  And we generated extremely strong free cash flow, 

exceeding the top end of our initial guided range by  
more than $500 million.

In addition, we continued to return cash to shareholders in 
fiscal 2010 through more than $2 billion of share repurchases 
and through dividend payments. In March 2010 we switched 
to paying dividends on a semi-annual basis, and in November 
we paid a semi-annual cash dividend that was a 20 percent 
increase over the prior semi-annual dividend.

In short, we managed the business well in an uncertain 
macro-economic environment to deliver for our clients  
and our shareholders alike.

Of course, our clients are at the heart of Accenture, and 
helping them achieve high performance is what we’re all 
about. We’re fortunate to count more than three-quarters of 
the Fortune Global 500—including 94 of the top 100—as our 
clients. And perhaps even more important than the number 
and size of our clients is the depth and longevity of those 
relationships: Every single one of our top 100 clients in fiscal 
2010 has been a client for at least five years, and 92 have 
been clients for at least 10 years. 

In fiscal 2010 we attracted new clients and expanded our 
relationships with existing clients, demonstrating our ability 
to adapt to and serve the full spectrum of an organization’s 
needs. For instance, we helped: 

•  Spain’s BBVA implement its retail banking model in the 

U.S. market;

•  Tata Motors launch a comprehensive sales transformation 

effort to boost sales of its ACE vehicle and increase  
market share;

•  New York City launch a landmark integration platform 
to transform the delivery of health and human services;

•  Poste Mobile, Italy’s largest mobile virtual network 
operator, implement a mobile commerce platform; 

•  Japanese retailer Fast Retailing implement a new global 
operating model, facilitating their global expansion; 

•  develop and manage the Amsterdam Smart City 

program, a sustainability initiative between the citizens, 
businesses and government authorities of Amsterdam;
•  Procter & Gamble leverage innovative tools to enhance 

decision making with real-time information; and
•  Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications 

provider, continue to transform its IT and information-
delivery infrastructure.

Driving growth across our business 

In fiscal 2010 we continued to implement our growth 
strategy, which is about driving growth on three 
dimensions. First, our core business, which includes the vast 
majority of consulting, technology and outsourcing services 
we’ve traditionally provided. Second, new businesses and 
initiatives that surround our core—including analytics, 
mobility, digital marketing, sustainability, smart grid, 
cyber security and cloud computing, among others. And 
third, geographic expansion—in our six strategic growth 
markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Korea and 
Mexico; in several developed yet underpenetrated markets; 
and in other fast-growing emerging markets. We made 
good progress on all three dimensions in fiscal 2010.

For instance, analytics is a key element of our focus on 
new business areas that drive high performance for our 
clients. This past year we strengthened our relationship 
with SAS, the leader in business analytics software and 
services, through the formation of the Accenture SAS 
Analytics Group to jointly develop, sell and deliver 
predictive analytics solutions and services. We now have 
nearly 70 client engagements helping companies and 
governments harness the power of predictive analytics  
to drive better insights, better decisions and ultimately 
better business outcomes. This is just one example of how 
our growth strategy is yielding dividends and giving us 
significant momentum in our business. 

Finally, in addition to helping clients achieve and sustain 
high performance, we are also committed to running 
Accenture as a high-performance business. As part of our 
ongoing focus on performance excellence, in fiscal 2010 we 
created the role of chief performance officer, and one of our 
key areas of focus in fiscal 2011 will be to ensure that we 
continue to operate Accenture as effectively and efficiently 
as possible to ensure superior execution every day.

Investing in our people…  
and our communities

of our people, including the more than 116,000 employees 
in our Global Delivery Network, have the necessary skills 
to serve our clients at the highest level is why we invested 
nearly $600 million on training and professional 
development in fiscal 2010.

This past year we strengthened our corporate citizenship 
efforts. Most notably, we expanded globally our Skills to 
Succeed initiative, through which we team with strategic 
partners to help people build the skills that enable them to 
participate in and contribute to the economy and society. 
We recently announced that by 2015 Accenture would 
equip 250,000 people around the world with the skills  
to get a job or build a business. I believe that Accenture 
knows how to train and deploy talent better than any 
other company, and the fact that we can turn what  
we do for ourselves into meaningful contributions to 
communities around the world is a wonderful thing. 

Moving forward… 

Accenture is on a solid growth trajectory and extremely 
well positioned for the future. This is the right time to 
further strengthen Accenture’s global leadership, and  
I am very excited that, as recently announced, Pierre 
Nanterme will become Accenture’s next chief executive 
officer, effective January 1, 2011. I will continue to serve 
in an active role as chairman. This is a great example of 
one of Accenture’s core values—stewardship—which is an 
indelible part of our corporate culture and includes an 
obligation to build a better, stronger and more durable 
company for future generations. 

Pierre has led our Financial Services operating group  
for the past three years and has served in many other 
leadership roles, including chief leadership officer. He is 
an outstanding choice to lead Accenture, accelerate the 
execution of our business strategy and guide us through 
our next phase of growth. I look forward to continuing to 
work closely with Pierre in my ongoing role as chairman. 
This will be a powerful leadership construct for Accenture. 

In closing, I am incredibly proud of our performance in fiscal 
2010, and I want to thank the men and women of Accenture 
around the world for their hard work, discipline and 
dedication. While this past year was challenging, Accenture 
emerged an even stronger company. And, most important,  
I believe we are better positioned for growth and continued 
market leadership than at any time in our history.

We also reached a significant milestone this past year, as 
our workforce passed the 200,000 mark—ending the year 
with approximately 204,000 people. Making sure that all 

William D. Green 
Chairman & CEO  
December 20, 2010 

Revenues Before Reimbursements*

Years Ended August 31  
(US dollar amounts in billions)

2010 
2009 
2008 
2007 
2006 
2005 
2004 
2003 
2002 
2001 

$ 21.6 
  21.6
  23.4
  19.7
  16.6
  15.5
  13.7
  11.8
  11.6
  11.4

2001 2002

2003 2004

2005

2006 2007

2008

2009 2010

Comparison of Cumulative Total Return

August 31, 2005, to August 31, 2010, Accenture vs. S&P 500 Stock Index and Peer Group Index

$25.0

$20.0

$15.0

$10.0

$5.0

$0.0

* This chart reflects revenues before reimbursements 
(“net revenues”) for all years since Accenture’s initial 
public offering. Reimbursements include travel and 
out-of-pocket expenses and third-party costs, such 
as the cost of hardware and software resales. Our 
revenues are denominated in multiple currencies and 
may be significantly affected by currency exchange-
rate fluctuations. In fiscal 2010, these fluctuations 
resulted in a favorable 2 percent foreign-exchange 
impact, increasing our reported revenues in US 
dollars compared with year-over-year results in 
local currency. In the prior fiscal year, these 
fluctuations resulted in an unfavorable 8 percent 
foreign-exchange impact compared with our 
year-over-year results in local currency, which 
decreased our reported revenues in US dollars.

$250

$200

$150

$100

$50

$0

Accenture 
S&P 500
Peer Group 

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Indexed Prices as of August 31,

Accenture 
S&P 500 
Peer Group  

2005 

$100 
100 
100 

2006 

$123 
109 
114 

2007 

$173 
125 
163 

2008 

$175 
111 
163 

2009 

$142 
91 
159 

2010

$162
  96
155

The performance graph to the left shows the 
cumulative total shareholder return on our Class A 
shares for the period starting on August 31, 2005, 
and ending on August 31, 2010, which was the end 
of fiscal 2010. This is compared with the cumulative 
total returns over the same period of the S&P 500 
Index and a peer group index consisting of Cap 
Gemini SA, Computer Sciences Corporation, 
Hewlett-Packard Company and International 
Business Machines Corporation. The graph assumes 
that on August 31, 2005, $100 was invested in our 
Class A shares and $100 was invested in each of the 
other two indices, with dividends reinvested on the 
date of payment without payment of any commissions. 
The performance shown in the graph represents past 
performance and should not be considered an 
indication of future performance.

 
 
In fiscal 2010 we managed our business well,  
meeting or beating our original financial targets 
Twelve months ended August 31, 2010

Revenues before reimbursements (“net revenues”)

Earnings per share

 $21.6B
 $2.66
 $2.9B
 $25.0B
 13.5%

New bookings

Operating margin
Defined as operating income as a percentage of net revenues

Free cash flow
Defined as operating cash flow of $3.09 billion net of property and equipment additions of $238 million

intend for information contained in this letter or on our 
website to be part of the Annual Report on Form 10-K. This 
letter and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal 
year ended August 31, 2010, together constitute Accenture’s 
annual report to security holders for purposes of Rule 
14a-3(b) of the Exchange Act.

Trademark references
This document makes descriptive reference to trademarks 
that may be owned by others. The use of such trademarks 
herein is not an assertion of ownership of such trademarks 
by Accenture and is not intended to represent or imply the 
existence of an association between Accenture and the 
lawful owners of such trademarks.

Stock listing
Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares are traded on the  
New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ACN.

Available information
Our website address is www.accenture.com. We use  
our website as a channel of distribution for company 
information. We make available free of charge on the 
Investor Relations section of our website (www.accenture.
com/investor) our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly 
Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and  
all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably 
practicable after such material is electronically filed with  
or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(the “SEC”) pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the 
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). We 
also make available through our website other reports filed 
with or furnished to the SEC under the Exchange Act, 
including our proxy statements and reports filed by officers 
and directors under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, as 
well as our Code of Business Ethics. Financial and other 
material information regarding us is routinely posted on  
and accessible at www.accenture.com/investor. We do not 

Forward-looking statements and certain 
factors that may affect our business
We have included in this letter “forward-looking 
statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the 
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of 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 
“will,” “expect,” “believe” 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 might not prove 
to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results could 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 in our Annual Report on Form 10-K (available 
through the Investor Relations section of our website at 
www.accenture.com/investor) under the section titled “Risk 
Factors.” Our forward-looking statements speak only as of 
the date of this letter or as of the date they are made, and 
we undertake no obligation to update them.

Reconciliation of non-GAAP measures
This letter contains certain non-GAAP (Generally Accepted 
Accounting Principles) measures that our management 
believes provide our shareholders with additional insights 
into Accenture’s results of operations. The non-GAAP 
measures in this letter are supplemental in nature. They 
should not be considered in isolation or as alternatives to 
net income as indicators of company performance, cash 
flows from operating activities as measures of liquidity  
or other financial information prepared in accordance  
with GAAP. Reconciliations of this non-GAAP financial 
information to Accenture’s financial statements as prepared 
under GAAP are included in this letter.

Copyright © 2010 Accenture 
All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and  
High Performance Delivered  
are trademarks of Accenture.

All amounts throughout this letter are stated in US dollars, except where noted. 

The Accenture 2010 Letter from Our Chairman & CEO was printed on 
FSC-certified Mohawk Options, a process-chlorine-free 100 percent  
post-consumer waste recycled paper.