Accenture Updates M&A Budget for Technology Services Acquisitions -

Global IT consulting firm Accenture expects to spend about $2.5 billion on acquisitions during the company's current 2022 fiscal year. That figure is down from a previous M&A spending estimate of about $4.0 billion for fiscal 2022.

So is Accenture drastically slashing the company's acquisition budget? Actually, no. Accenture CFO KC McClure explained the updated M&A plan this way:

"We've made investments of $2.2 billion in acquisitions, primarily attributed to 27 transactions year-to-date. And we now expect to invest about $2.5 billion in acquisitions this year, with another $1 billion that we expect to close in Q1 given required regulatory approvals."

Added Accenture CEO Julie Sweet:

"From strategic point of view, we continue to believe that the mergers and acquisitions are critical to the way we grow."

Accenture Financial Performance, Acquisition History

Those statements surfaced on Accenture's June 23, 2022 earnings call. During the call, a Wall Street analyst asked Accenture for some perspectives about whether M&A valuations were easing, but the IT consulting firm didn't directly address that potion of the inquiry.

Among the upbeat data points that Accenture shared on the call:

Revenue was $16.2 billion in Q3 of fiscal 2022, up 22% compared to Q3 of fiscal 2021;
and net income was $1.82 billion, up 16% from the corresponding quarter last year.
Moreover, Accenture expects its full-year revenue to grow roughly 25.5% to 26.5% — which is stronger than previously expected.

Many of the Accenture acquisitions focus on cloud services, cybersecurity, digital transformation, data and analytics, managed services, sustainability and ad agencies.