Accenture plc (ACN)

“We are also on track to more than double our bookings from our key emerging AI and data partners compared with FY 2025, including Anthropic, Databricks, Gemini, Mistral AI, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, and Snowflake.”

“Based upon these results, we are on track to deliver or exceed all aspects of our guidance provided in September.”

“We continue to see our fixed price work be over 60% and continuing to increase.”

“Overall for the year, we expect consulting to be in the low single digits and managed services to continue to be in the mid-single digits.”

“Overall, the impact that we saw was really at the latter part or the last few weeks of the quarter. We expect that to continue for the full of Q4.”

“We do expect in Q4, moving forward into Q4, AFS will return to growth, and we do expect a tick up, which is comprised of both the AFS returning to growth as well as we've had four consecutive quarters, as you call out, of consulting bookings growth.”

“Importantly, within our range for revenue of 1%-5% for the quarter margin in EPS, we expect strong overall margin in EPS expansion for the year.”

“Secondly is our AFF headwind will sunset this quarter. We expect that it will return to growth this quarter.”

“Because the indirect impact really started in the last few weeks and mostly in discretionary spend, we do think that there will be more impact in Q4, which is why we're saying that more of the range is in play.”

“we expect to maintain a strong investment-grade credit rating with a low net leverage ratio.”

“we expect to access the long-term debt market to increase our liquidity for M&A spend and general corporate purposes as we look to optimize our capital structure and reduce our cost of capital.”

“We now expect to return at least $9.5 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we continue to return a substantial portion of cash to our shareholders.”

“For the full fiscal 2026, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $11.5 billion to $12.2 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $700 million, and free cash flow to be in the range of $10.8 billion to $11.5 billion.”

“We now expect our full-year diluted adjusted earnings per share for fiscal 2026 to be in the range of $13.78-$13.90, or 7%-8% growth over adjusted fiscal 2025 results.”

“We now expect our annual adjusted effective tax rate to be in the range of 24%-25%.”

“For adjusted operating margin, we now expect fiscal year 2026 to be 15.8%, a 20 basis point expansion over adjusted fiscal 2025 results.”

“With our exciting announcement to expand into the OT security software market that we have just made, assuming those transactions close this fiscal year, we now expect to invest approximately $9 billion in acquisitions this fiscal year, and we continue to have a pipeline of attractive acquisitions for FY 2027.”

“We continue to expect an inorganic contribution of about 1.5%.”

“Excluding the impact of federal, our revenue is expected to be an estimated 4%-5%.”

“For the full fiscal 2026, we now expect our revenue to be in the range of 3%-4% growth in local currency over fiscal 2025, including an estimated 1% impact from our federal business.”

“Based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we assume the impact of FX on our results in US dollars will be positive 2% compared to fiscal 2025.”

“As it relates to our federal business, we expect to anniversary the headwind and get back to growth in the fourth quarter.”

“This assumes the impact of FX will be approximately negative 0.5% compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 and reflects an estimated 1%-5% growth in local currency.”

“For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, we expect revenues to be in the range of $17.75 billion to $18.4 billion.”

“Given the macro uncertainty, we expect more of the guided range to be in play for Q4.”

“we now expect to deploy approximately $9 billion of capital this year based on the anticipated closing dates of the acquisitions.”

“Going into the mid-market in a big way is going to allow us to structurally offset the challenge on the discretionary spend for large enterprises through this.”

“Overall, with the $9 billion of acquisition spend as we look forward into 2027, based upon the timing of when these close and the profile of the acquisitions themselves, we look to enter FY 2027 with slightly under at 2% of inorganic contribution from these deals.”

“if you think about the acquisitions that we have announced today, and the expected closing, we do expect to enter FY 2027 slightly below 2% of inorganic growth.”

“we haven't seen -- at our clients, and we haven't seen anything yet being impacted by the war. But obviously, there is a big uncertainty because of the war, but we're very confident based on the information we have right now on what we see for the next 2 quarters.”

“we are on track in FY '26 to more than double our bookings over FY '25 from partnerships with our key emerging AI and data ecosystem partners”

“David, we'll give you an update in September on that, but we feel really good about the fact that we are anniversarying the headwind, and we're getting back to growth in fourth quarter with our Federal business.”

“we expect our headcount to -- we expect to add headcount in the second quarter -- in the second half.”

“In terms of the inorganic contribution, we still expect about 1.5%, and that really is on timing.”

“we will anniversary AFS in the fourth quarter, the headwind from that, and we expect that to grow in the fourth quarter.”

“We continue to expect to return at least $9.3 billion through dividends and share repurchases, an increase of $1 billion or 12% from fiscal '25, as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash generated to our shareholders.”

“We are raising our free cash flow guidance by $1 billion and now expect free cash flow to be in the range of $10.8 billion to $11.5 billion.”

“For the full fiscal '26, we now expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $11.5 billion to $12.2 billion, property and equipment additions to now be approximately $700 million.”

“We continue to expect our annual adjusted effective tax rate to be in the range of 23.5% to 25.5%.”

“For adjusted operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal year '26 to be 15.7% to 15.9%, a 10 to 30 basis point expansion over adjusted fiscal '25 results.”

“This year, we continue to expect an inorganic contribution of about 1.5%.”

“For the full fiscal '26, based upon how rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we continue to assume the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be approximately positive 2% compared to fiscal '25.”

“we will hire more entry-level reinventors in FY '26 than FY '25, which is important for our financial model”

“Darrin, so for us, headcount, we expect our headcount to increase in the second quarter based upon the demand that we see.”

“This assumes the impact of FX will be approximately positive 2.5% compared to the third quarter of fiscal '25.”

“As clients finalize their budgets going into calendar year 2026, we are seeing spending similar to 2025.”

“But importantly, there's no change to our overall adjusted our full year guidance for adjusted op margin, tax, or EPS, this is really timing.”

“As it relates to our headcount, look, we expect to we're doing our talent rotation and we expect to increase our headcount throughout the year. In The U.S. and in Europe.”

“So this sort of revenue and headcount that sort of breakage has been going on for a long time. It really goes back all the way to the introduction of RPA. So we'd expect that to continue, but it's not tied exactly as Angie said to, like, what's happening quarter to quarter.”

“So we expect that revenue per person growth to moderate over the course of the year, and that'll go up and down, you know, really based upon when we bring people in.”

“We continue to expect to return at least $9.3 billion through dividends and share repurchases, an increase of $1 billion or 12% from fiscal 2025.”

“For the full fiscal 2026, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $10.8 billion to $11.5 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $1 billion, and free cash flow to be in the range of $9.8 billion to $10.5 billion.”

“Due to slightly higher business optimization costs in the quarter, which were $58 million above our original Q1 estimates, we now expect GAAP EPS of $13.12 to $13.50.”

“We continue to expect our full year adjusted diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2026 to be in the range of $13.52 to $13.90 or 5% to 8% growth over adjusted fiscal 2025 results.”

“We continue to expect our annual adjusted effective tax rate to be in the range of 23.5% to 25.5%.”

“For adjusted operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal year 2026 to be 15.7% to 15.9%, a 10 to 30 basis point expansion over adjusted fiscal 2025 results.”

“This year, we continue to expect an inorganic contribution of about 1.5% and we continue to expect to invest about $3 billion in acquisitions this fiscal year with the potential to do more.”

“Excluding the impact of federal, our revenue is expected to be an estimated 3% to 6%.”

“For the full fiscal 2026, we continue to expect revenue to be in the range of 2% to 5% growth in local currency over fiscal 2025, including an estimated one impact from our federal business.”

“For the full fiscal 2026, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we continue to assume that the impact of FX on our results in U.S. Dollars will be approximately positive 2% compared to fiscal 2025.”

“For the 2026, we expect revenues to be in the range of $17.35 billion to $18 billion.”

“And then second is that we had higher gains on investment in Q2 of last year, and we don't expect the same for this year.”

“First is that we expect our tax rate in Q2 to be above our full year guided range due to the tax impact of equity compensation.”

“Remember, right now, our utilization is really a reflection of the kind of momentum in demand that we're seeing. You saw the bookings, right? Our utilization, we would expect to continue to move around in the low 90%, so we don't have a structural change in utilization due to AI.”

“What I would tell you is, look, we expect it to grow across all markets. We don't have a specific number that we're giving you, but based upon the demand that we see, we expect our headcount to grow.”

“We think it'll stay in the zone, in the low 90s to that, and it'll fluctuate a little bit.”

“We expect to reinvest that while still delivering modest margin expansion.”

“We think that for overall, we expect savings of over $1 billion from our business optimization program, which we expect that we will reinvest in our business and in our people because it's so important for our future growth.”

“For our Gen AI projects and the pure Gen AI that we were, or advanced AI that we've been talking about, we do see pricing that is accretive overall to Accenture's average.”

“For our guidance for FY26, both consulting and managed services are balanced. We see both of them in the low to mid-single-digit range.”

“In FY26, we expect to increase our headcount overall across all three markets, including in the U.S. and in Europe, reflecting the demand we see in our business.”

“In FY26, we expect to increase our headcount overall across our three markets, including in the U.S. and Europe, reflecting the demand we see in our business.”

“For the full fiscal year 2026, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we currently assume the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be approximately positive 2% compared to fiscal 2025.”

“That's exactly right. We expect it to anniversary at the end of Q3.”

“Just quickly on federal, we do see procurement is now starting to pick up, although it's still slower than it has been in the past.”

“We have a strong pipeline overall going into Q4, very pleased with where we're seeing, and you can see that reflected in raising the bottom of our guidance and where we see ourselves landing for the year.”

“The Gen AI demand continues to be very, very strong. And now it's getting big enough that it's going to fluctuate a little bit, right?”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $8.3 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of cash for shareholders.”

“So if you think about our guidance for the year at 6% to 7% that implies organic growth of 3% to 4%, right? So super important to understand. At the same time, as you think about our fourth quarter guidance that we just gave you, 1% to 5% that implies 4% at the top end of our range for organic growth.”

“And for this year, we continue to expect about 3% for the year.”

“Based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we now assume the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be positive 0.2% compared to fiscal '24.”

“As it relates to our federal business, we saw an immaterial impact to our overall growth in Q3 and our best estimates right now include about a 2% headwind overall in Q4.”

“And I would just add that as you think about our guidance for the full year as well, and what it assumes is discretionary spend does not have to improve at the top end of the range, while it continues to allow for further deterioration at the bottom.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $8.3 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to shareholders.”

“For the full fiscal '25, we continue to expect operating cash flow in the range of $9.4 billion to $10.1 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $600 million, and free cash flow to be in the range of $8.8 billion to $9.5 billion.”

“We continue to expect our annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 22.5% to 24.5%.”

“We continue to expect an inorganic contribution of a bit more than 3% with about 4% in the first half and about 2% in the second half.”

“For the full fiscal '25, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we continue to assume the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be approximately negative 0.5% compared to fiscal '24.”

“While we continue to believe our work for federal clients is mission critical, we anticipate ongoing uncertainty as the government's priorities evolve and these assessments unfold.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $8.3 billion through dividends and share repurchases, as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to our shareholders.”

“And this year, we are going back to kind of more of a business as usual. We think it's going to be somewhere around $3 billion.”

“H1, we expect somewhere around about 4%, second half about 2%, and that will give you more of an understanding of how we see organic playing out for the year.”

“And I want to reinforce importantly what I said earlier, which was we do expect -- we continue to expect inorganic contribution of about -- of a bit over 3%.”

“Looking ahead, we'll continue to hire for the demand that we see and the skills that we need.”

“For us, with the raise in -- to 4% to 7% for the full year, there's really no change in what we shared with you before, which is that at the top end of the range, we continue to see more of the same, whereas at the bottom of the range, we see a bit more -- we allow for a little bit more deterioration.”

“We do not currently see an improvement in overall spending by our clients, particularly on smaller deals.”

“For the full fiscal '25, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $9.4 billion to $10.1 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $600 million and free cash flow to be in the range of $8.8 billion to $9.5 billion.”

“We continue to expect our annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 22.5% to 24.5%.”

“For operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal year 2025 to be 15.6% to 15.8% at 10 to 30 basis point expansion over adjusted Fiscal 2024 results.”

“And we continue to expect to invest about $3 billion in acquisitions this fiscal year.”

“We indicated that it's going to be modest. We'll maintain our strong credit ratings and net leverage will be low.”

“In connection with that, there would be no change to our capital allocation strategy, which includes how we look at and use D&A (ph) or our strong credit ratings and our net leverage will remain low.”

“I think that as we look across FY '25 in our overall guide of 3% to 6%. We see broad-based growth across -- it's really broad-based across all of our industries as well as our services and markets.”

“Well, I think it starts with, we're not seeing a change in what our clients are spending on IT, right? So -- but what we are seeing is the continued trend of trying to save money on IT to free up the spending on areas of GenAI.”

“So we're kind of going into the year, we'd see -- we'd expect another healthy increase in our bookings and our revenue from that and also that data will continue to kind of be a bigger and bigger part of that building out of the digital core.”

“So as we look going into FY '25, we continue to see those strengths. So we expect that cloud is going to continue to be a significant driver of growth but on all of those dimensions, right?”

“As part of that, we expect that the work to prepare enterprise data, which is the fuel for AI will be an increasing part of our growth.”

“In FY '25, a significant driver of our growth will continue to be helping our clients with digital transformation, including building out their digital core and then using it to drive productivity and growth.”

“against our goal of doubling our data and AI workforce from 40,000 to 80,000 by the end of FY 2026”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $7.7 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to our shareholders.”

“For the full fiscal 2024, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $9.3 billion to $9.9 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $600 million, and free cash flow to be in the range of $8.7 billion to $9.3 billion.”

“For adjusted operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal 2024 to be 15.5%, a 10 basis point expansion of fiscal 2023 results.”

“We continue to expect business optimization actions to impact fiscal 2024 GAAP operating margin by 70 basis points and EPS by $0.56.”

“For the full fiscal year 2024, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we now expect the impact of FX on our results in US dollars will be negative 0.7 compared to fiscal 2023.”

“the revenue from these large-scale bookings is expected to continue to layer in throughout the year, and we are also well-positioned to capture increases in discretionary spend when it comes back”

“We now have over 53,000 skilled data and AI practitioners against our goal of doubling our data and AI workforce from 40,000 to 80,000 by the end of fiscal year 2026.”

“Our free cash flow guidance continues to reflect a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.2.”

“we have a managed service today to actually manage the learning services that companies are now doing internally, which we also expect to -- we're investing and expect to grow.”

“In the first-half, you see our cash went from 9% to 5%. So great cash, we can -- no concerns will continue with our capital allocation strategy, but just as you model in the back half of the year, you'll see that not surprisingly with lower cash flow will have lower interest income.”

“And we see our managed services growing to about mid-single digit growth for the year.”

“What we now see from the context of the 1% to 3% is, our consulting type of work will be about flattish.”

“Once closed, we will have revenue in the zone of $100 million annually.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $7.7 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to shareholders.”

“For the full fiscal 2024, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $9.3 billion to $9.9 billion.”

“We continue to expect business optimization actions to impact fiscal 2024 GAAP operating margin by 70 basis-points and EPS by $0.56.”

“For the full fiscal year 2024, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we continue to expect the impact of FX on our results in US dollars will be about flat compared to fiscal 2023.”

“we announced earlier this month that we will invest $1 billion over the next three years in Accenture LearnVantage”

“That's why when you think about the question earlier on revenue conversion, our level of smaller deals is just down. It's going to stay down for a while, which means that how revenues going to -- how sales are going to bleed into revenue is going to be consistent with what we've been seeing.”

“We just don't see that being meaningfully different as we go into 2024.”

“There's no change from what we said at the beginning of the year in terms of our full-year outlook for consulting type of work. We see low-single-digit positive growth for the full year.”

“As part, though, of our overall guidance for the full year of managed services continuing to be mid-single to high-single-digit growth for the year.”

“When we look forward into H2, to start with just what the math is, we continue to see higher growth in the back half of the year. That's going to start with higher growth in Q3.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $7.7 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to our shareholders.”

“Our free cash flow guidance reflects a free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.2.”

“For the full fiscal '24, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $9.3 billion to $9.9 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $600 million, and free cash flow to be in the range of $8.7 billion to $9.3 billion.”

“We continue to expect our full year adjusted earnings per share for fiscal '24 to be in the range of $11.97 to $12.32 or 3% to 6% growth over adjusted fiscal '23 results.”

“We continue to expect our annual adjusted effective tax rate to be in the range of 23.5% to 25.5%.”

“For adjusted operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal year '24 to be 15.5% to 15.7%, a 10 basis point to 30 basis point expansion over adjusted fiscal '23 results.”

“We continue to expect business optimization actions to impact fiscal '24 GAAP operating margin by 70 basis points and EPS by $0.56.”

“For the full fiscal year '24, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we continue to assume the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be about flat compared to fiscal '23.”

“As you know, we are investing $3 billion in AI over three years.”

“I would say at the top end of our range, again, as we said, last quarter, just when we said guidance, that when -- to get to the top end of our guidance range, you would see S&C reconnecting with growth would be one thing that we'd see. And you would probably also see the mid- to high-single digits that we've been referencing consistently in managed services be more like high-single digits.”

“We expect that we'll see that come through in the back half of the year and that's also backed up by the investments that we'll make.”

“As it relates to next year, right, we expect to incur approximately $450 million.”

“And that's why what you're seeing in our guidance is that we're going to build over the year as the actions we're taking to continue to pivot the business play out.”

“And so, over the course of the year, we expect that the improvement will come at a little different pace depending on the market.”

“For adjusted operating margin, we expect fiscal year ‘24 to be 15.5% to 15.7%, a 10 basis point to 30 basis point expansion over adjusted fiscal ‘23 results.”

“We expect business optimization actions to impact fiscal '24 GAAP operating margin by 70 basis points and EPS by $0.56.”

“Yes, large deal momentum is continuing. Yes.”

“We see the same level of consulting decline in Q4.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $7.1 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to our shareholders.”

“For the full fiscal 2023, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $8.7 billion to $9.2 billion.”

“We continue to expect business optimization costs of $800 million in fiscal 2023 to reduce EPS by $0.96.”

“For the full fiscal 2023, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we now expect the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be approximately negative 4% compared to fiscal 2022.”

“We still expect next year to grow faster than the market. We expect to invest at scale in our business, to deliver 10 to 30 basis point margin expansion on an adjusted basis, to have a disciplined capital allocation, including a meaningful return to our shareholders.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $7.1 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of cash to our shareholders.”

“North America in December, we thought it was going to be mid-single to high-single digits. We now see that as the mid-single digits for the year.”

“If you think about this year, consulting – last quarter, we thought consulting this year would be mid-single digits to high-single digits. We now see it as mid-single digits for the year, and we are fine with that.”

“We see that being about the same in Q2 to Q3. And then looking forward, based on the outlook that we have now, we do see that we would add additional heads in the fourth quarter.”

“We expect to have slightly lighter bookings than what we’ve had compared to the record quarter that we just had.”

“We expect our adjusted annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 23% to 25%.”

“For adjusted operating margin, we expect fiscal year ‘23 to be 15.3% to 15.5%, a 10 to 30 basis point expansion over fiscal ‘22 results.”

“Nearly half of the 19,000 people will depart by the end of fiscal year ‘23.”

“These actions are expected to impact roughly 2.5% or 19,000 of our current workforce, of which over half are non-billable corporate functions and include over 800 of our more than 10,000 leaders across our markets and services.”

“We estimate cost of $1.5 billion through fiscal year 2024, of which we expect to incur approximately $800 million in FY ‘23 and $700 million in FY ‘24, comprised of approximately $1.2 billion in severance and $300 million for the consolidation of office space.”

“And we do expect that North America, which is -- as the CEO of North America says, "I have a much, much bigger business," will grow at a mid- to high single-digit range for the year.”

“Yes, and so in terms of what we expect to see for the year, we do expect to see Europe and Growth Markets for the full year be in the double-digit range.”

“And so with that, then the math shows that most of our margin expansion will be in the back half of the year.”

“Tien-Tsin, in terms of visibility of what we see, I mean, we expect to continue to hire for the specific skills that we need. With upskilling, we may not need to hire as many people as we go throughout the year.”

“It's likely -- it will likely be lower though than the record bookings in Consulting that we had last quarter, and we expect to continue to see really strong bookings in Managed Services.”

“So for the full year, at the top end of our range, we see Consulting high single digits, and we see Managed Services continue to grow double digits.”

“We do continue to see our S&C practitioners focus on high impact transformational deals, and they're going to bleed into revenue a little bit later in the year.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $7.1 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to our shareholders.”

“Our free cash flow guidance continues to reflect a strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.1%.”

“Full fiscal '23, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $8.5 billion to $9 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $800 million and free cash flow to be in the range of $7.7 billion to $8.2 billion.”

“We continue to expect our annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 23% to 25%.”

“I mentioned last quarter, we may see more variability in quarters as we go throughout fiscal year '23, and that's playing out as we expected, with contraction in the second quarter expected and potentially overall for H1.”

“For operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal '23 to be 15.3% to 15.5%, a 10 to 30 basis point expansion over fiscal '22 results.”

“For the full fiscal '23, we continue to expect our revenue to be in the range of 8% to 11% growth in local currency over fiscal '22, which continue to assume an inorganic contribution of about 2.5%.”

“So again, we're calling for double-digit growth at the top part of our range. Another year of double-digit growth, which would have us adding significant scale, yet again on top of our current $62 billion business.”

“We do expect wage inflation to continue, and we have factored that into our guidance.”

“So from a type of work perspective for the full year '23, we do see consulting revenue growth to be within the context of the 8% to 11% that we gave out overall, which remember has been 6% FX headwind embedded in that. We see consulting revenue to be high single digits to double digits. And outsourcing, we see being double digits.”

“So as we look through next year, we expect to continue to invest in our business. We expect wage inflation to continue.”

“But I will say that as we often do, we have seasonally lower bookings in quarter one and we are seeing that again this year.”

“And we do continue to see a strong pipeline going into the year, even with those the second best record bookings.”

“So we continue to see really strong demand for our services, Lisa.”

“Sure. And so, first of all, as always, we call it like we see it. So today, we see strong demand and we're not seeing a change in decision making.”

“And as KC said, we see continued strong demand going into the next quarter with another strong bookings quarter and another strong revenue quarter.”

“And on top of that Tien-Tsin, we do see another strong sales quarter in Q4. And we feel good about both our consulting and our outsourcing pipeline.”

“And we do think bookings and outsourcing, bookings for both, excuse me, revenue for both consulting and outsourcing, both going to be in that range.”

“So as we look ahead at Q4, we do see continued very strong revenue growth of 20% to 24%.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $6.5 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of our cash to shareholders.”

“Our free cash flow guidance continues to reflect a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.1 to 1.2.”

“For the full fiscal ’22, we continue to expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $8.7 billion to $9.2 billion.”

“For operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal year ‘22 to be 15.2%, a 10 basis point expansion over fiscal ‘21 results.”

“For the full fiscal year ’22, based on how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we now expect the impact of FX on our results in US dollars will be approximately negative 4.5% compared to fiscal ‘21.”

“But for us, as it relates to wage inflation, we see for our business that we're going to continue to have wage increases in the market for certain skills, and that's going to continue to vary by geography.”

“Now with respect to the broader risk, our guidance, we're calling it like we see it, Tien-Tsin. So the same way that we did -- we always do, we did during the pandemic. And today, we don't see a significant disruption in our business.”

“And for the back half of the year, our guidance continues to assume a very strong double-digit growth, including in Europe.”

“Our free cash flow guidance continues to reflect a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.1 to 1.2.”

“We continue to expect our annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 23% to 25%.”

“For the full fiscal year '22, based upon how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we continue to expect the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be approximately negative 3% compared to fiscal '21.”

“We continue to expect to invest approximately $4 billion in acquisitions this fiscal year.”

“But I will say even with that, we feel really good about our pipeline, even after the record bookings and that's the statement across all markets and services.”

“But what we're seeing is, which is reflected in our guidance is continued strong demand.”

“Sure. What that implies in the back half is very -- it's still very strong and that it's double digits across the back half of the year at the low end and the upper end of our guidance range, which implies also really strong organic growth in the back half of the year.”

“Consulting, strong double digits, even probably stronger than what we saw, obviously, at the beginning of the year. And outsourcing now, a double-digit growth.”

“Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $6.3 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of cash to our shareholders.”

“Our free cash flow guidance continues to reflect a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.1 to 1.2.”

“We continue to expect our annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 23% to 25%.”

“For operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal year '22 to be 15.2% to 15.4%, a 10 to 30 basis point expansion over fiscal '21 results.”

“For the full fiscal year '22, based on how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we now expect the impact of FX on a result in U.S dollars will be approximately negative 3% compared to fiscal '21.”

“we continue to expect to invest approximately $4 billion in acquisitions this fiscal year.”

“And then in terms of travel, outside of contract travel to clients, we continue to have an uptick in our expenses forecasted for the back half of the year, which again continues to be difficult to accurately estimate.”

“It may even result for us in some operating margin contraction in Q2, although we expect to continue to expand margin by 10 to 30 basis points for the full year.”

“One is on the people side, we made a deliberate decision to accelerate hiring this quarter and next quarter, which given as you said, the environment and our ability to attract people we think makes sense so that we're not -- we're not worried about being constrained with respect to people.”

“And while we do benefit from an easier compare in the first-half, it does continue to imply strong organic growth in the second-half.”

“We see the demand environment shaping up for FY'22 to be more of the same while digital leaders seeking to widen their competitive advantage, and companies seeking to leapfrog their cloud and digital transformation are driving momentum in our business, the vast majority of companies are early in their transformation.”

“as Julie said, just in terms of increases to travel assumed in our overall P&L for '22, it is difficult to predict, but we do have an increased build into particularly in the back half of the year for some travel costs.”