Accenture Sitting Pretty: Fool by Numbers

On Dec. 20, Accenture (NYSE: ACN) released first-quarter earnings for the period ended Nov. 30.

• A 21% increase in revenues from the financial services group led to a 13.7% increase in total revenues.
• During the quarter, Accenture repurchased a total of 24.4 million shares for a total of $723.7 million. On Nov. 30, Accenture had $1.4 billion of share repurchase authority remaining.
• Long-term debt declined substantially.
• Inside Value recommendation Accenture has a five-star rating in Motley Fool CAPS.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Sales	$5,166.4	$4,543.0	13.7%
Net Profit	$400.0	$325.1	23.1%
EPS	$0.46	$0.36	27.8%
Diluted Shares	875.3	914.1	(4.2%)

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change*
Gross Margin	27.7%	29.1%	(1.3)
Operating Margin	11.8%	11.3%	0.5
Net Margin	7.7%	7.2%	0.6

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$2,736.4	$1,966.6	39.1%
Accounts Rec.	$3,807.6	$3,286.4	15.9%

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Accounts Payable	$829.3	$774.4	7.1%
Long-Term Debt	$5.1	$31.2	(83.6%)

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Cash From Ops.	$166.0	$368.4	(54.9%)
Capital Expenditures	$67.0	$78.0	(14.1%)
Free Cash Flow	$99.0	$290.4	(65.9%)

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

• Bearing Point (NYSE: BE)
• Ceridian (NYSE: CEN)
• IBM (NYSE: IBM)

Related Foolishness:

• Accenture's Health Scare Is Over
• SAIC: A Company Built to Last
• Kanbay Sells Out. So Who's Next?

Foolanthropy is celebrating its 10th year! To learn more about our five Foolish charities or to make a donation, visit www.foolanthropy.com.

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.