埃森哲 (ACN) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Accenture's Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded.

謝謝你的支持。歡迎參加埃森哲 2023 財年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Katie O'Conor, Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給我們的東道主凱蒂·奧康納（Katie O'Conor），她是董事總經理、投資者關係主管。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. And thanks, everyone, for joining us today on our Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal 2023 Earnings Announcement. As the operator just mentioned, I'm Katie O'Conor, Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations. On today's call, you will hear from Julie Sweet, our Chair and Chief Executive Officer; and KC McClure, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，接線生。感謝大家今天參加我們的第四季和 2023 財年完整收益公告。正如剛才操作員所提到的，我是凱蒂‧奧康納 (Katie O'Conor)，董事總經理、投資人關係主管。在今天的電話會議上，您將聽到我們的董事長兼執行長朱莉·斯威特 (Julie Sweet) 的演講；以及我們的財務長 KC McClure。

We hope you've had an opportunity to review the news release we issued a short time ago.

我們希望您有機會閱讀我們不久前發布的新聞稿。

Let me quickly outline the agenda for today's call. Julie will begin with an overview of our results. KC will take you through the financial details, including the income statement and balance sheet, along with some key operational metrics for both the fourth quarter and full fiscal year. Julie will then provide a brief update on our market positioning before KC provides our business outlook for the first quarter and full fiscal year 2024. We will then take your questions before Julie provides a wrap at the end of the call.

讓我快速概述一下今天電話會議的議程。朱莉將首先概述我們的結果。 KC 將帶您了解財務詳細信息，包括損益表和資產負債表，以及第四季度和整個財年的一些關鍵營運指標。然後，朱莉將簡要介紹我們的市場定位，然後 KC 提供 2024 年第一季和整個財年的業務展望。然後，我們將回答您的問題，然後朱莉在電話會議結束時進行總結。

Some of the matters we'll discuss on this call, including our business outlook, are forward looking and as such are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those factors set forth in today's news release and discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in this call.

我們將在本次電話會議上討論的一些問題，包括我們的業務前景，都是前瞻性的，因此受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，包括但不限於今天的新聞稿中闡述的以及我們在我們的報告中討論的那些因素。表格 10-K 的年度報告以及表格 10-Q 和其他 SEC 文件的季度報告。這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與本次電話會議中表達的結果有重大差異。

During our call today, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures which we believe provide useful information for investors. We include reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures, where appropriate, to GAAP in our news release or in the Investor Relations section of our website at accenture.com. As always, Accenture assumes no obligation to update the information presented on this conference call.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將參考某些非公認會計原則的財務指標，我們認為這些指標為投資者提供了有用資訊。我們在新聞稿中或在 Accenture.com 網站的投資者關係部分中酌情將非 GAAP 財務指標與 GAAP 進行了調整。與往常一樣，埃森哲沒有義務更新本次電話會議中提供的資訊。

Now let me turn the call over to Julie.

現在讓我把電話轉給朱莉。

Thank you, Katie, and everyone joining us. And thank you to the approximately 733,000 Accenture people who have worked hard to be at the center of our clients' business across our fiscal year '23.

謝謝凱蒂和所有加入我們的人。感謝約 733,000 名埃森哲員工在 23 財年努力成為客戶業務的中心。

Our laser focus on creating 360-degree value for our clients and all our stakeholders is reflected in our overall strong results for the year. With record bookings of $72 billion, we had a record 106 clients with quarterly bookings greater than $100 million in FY '23, up from 100 last year. We now have 300 Diamond clients, our largest client relationships, an increase of 33 from last year, demonstrating yet again the depth and breadth of our capabilities and the trust our clients have in us.

我們專注於為客戶和所有利害關係人創造 360 度價值，這反映在我們今年的整體強勁業績中。 2023 財年，我們的季度預訂額超過 1 億美元的客戶數量達到創紀錄的 106 家，而去年這一數字為 100 家，創下了 720 億美元的記錄。我們現在擁有 300 名鑽石客戶，這是我們最大的客戶關係，比去年增加了 33 名，再次證明了我們能力的深度和廣度以及客戶對我們的信任。

We delivered revenues of $64 billion for the year, representing 8% growth in local currency, while continuing to take market share. We expanded adjusted operating margin by 20 basis points and delivered adjusted EPS growth of 9% while continuing to significantly invest in our business and our people, with capital deployed of over $2.5 billion across 25 acquisitions; $1.3 billion in R&D, assets, platforms and industry solutions; and $1.1 billion invested in the training and development of our people. And we generated free cash flow of $9 billion, allowing us to return over $7 billion of cash to shareholders.

我們全年營收 640 億美元，以當地貨幣計算成長 8%，同時持續佔市場份額。我們將調整後營業利潤率擴大了 20 個基點，調整後每股收益成長了 9%，同時繼續大力投資我們的業務和員工，在 25 項收購中部署了超過 25 億美元的資本； 13億美元的研發、資產、平台和產業解決方案； 11 億美元用於員工培訓和發展。我們產生了 90 億美元的自由現金流，使我們能夠向股東返還超過 70 億美元的現金。

And we are delivering a little ahead of schedule on our business optimization actions we announced in March to reduce structural costs to create greater resilience. We also continued to attract, retain and inspire outstanding people through our talent strategy. We're making progress toward our commitment to net zero by 2025. And we invested in our communities to help ensure we have vibrant places where we work and live. I will give more detail a little later in the call.

我們比原計劃提前了一點，我們在三月宣布了業務優化行動，以降低結構性成本，從而創造更大的彈性。我們也持續透過人才策略吸引、留住和激勵優秀人才。我們正在朝著 2025 年實現淨零排放的承諾取得進展。我們對社區進行投資，以幫助確保我們擁有充滿活力的工作和生活場所。我稍後會在電話中提供更多細節。

Taking a step back. Coming off 2 fiscal years of double-digit growth and a truly extraordinary FY '22, we are very pleased with our FY '23 results and the moves we have made to optimize our business. We are also rapidly taking an early leadership position in Gen AI, which will be an important part of the reinvention of our clients in the next decade. Last quarter, we shared that we had sold 100 projects with roughly $100 million in sales over the prior 4 months. Demand accelerated in Q4 with another approximately $200 million in Gen AI sales, to bring our total to over $300 million for the year. We also are embracing the use of Gen AI in our own delivery of services and the way we work across Accenture.

退一步。在經歷了兩個兩位數成長的財年和真正非凡的 22 財年之後，我們對 23 財年的業績以及我們為優化業務而採取的舉措感到非常滿意。我們也在 Gen AI 領域迅速佔據早期領導地位，這將成為未來十年我們客戶重塑的重要組成部分。上個季度，我們表示在過去 4 個月內我們已售出 100 個項目，銷售額約 1 億美元。第四季的需求加速，Gen AI 銷售額又增加了約 2 億美元，使我們今年的總銷售額超過 3 億美元。我們也歡迎在我們自己的服務交付以及埃森哲的工作方式中使用 Gen AI。

As we reflect on how our market has developed over the last year, we and our clients have had to navigate a macro environment that is tougher than we anticipated at the beginning of FY '23. While it's played out differently across markets and industries, we have seen greater caution globally, with lower discretionary spend; slower decision-making; and in particular for us, a significant impact from the challenges the comm, media and tech industries have faced. For example, in Q4, where we grew 4% in local currency, if we exclude CMT, we grew 7% globally, 6% in North America, 9% in Europe and 8% in Growth Markets.

當我們反思去年市場的發展時，我們和我們的客戶必須應對比我們在 23 財年年初預期的更嚴峻的宏觀環境。儘管不同市場和行業的情況有所不同，但我們看到全球範圍內更加謹慎，可自由支配支出減少；決策速度較慢；尤其是對我們來說，通訊、媒體和科技產業所面臨的挑戰產生了重大影響。例如，在第四季度，我們以當地貨幣計算成長了 4%，如果排除 CMT，我們的全球成長為 7%，北美成長 6%，歐洲成長 9%，成長市場成長 8%。

Against that backdrop, as we enter FY '24, we remain laser-focused on creating value for our clients. While the pace of spending has changed, the fundamentals have not. All strategies continue to lead to technology, and companies will need to reinvent every part of their enterprise using tech, data and AI to optimize operations and accelerate growth. To do so, they must build a digital core. We are continuing to see significant demand in areas like cloud migration and modernization, modern ERP and data and AI, and the emergence of Gen AI in particular, all of which represent areas of great opportunity. And it's still early.

在此背景下，當我們進入 24 財年時，我們仍然專注於為客戶創造價值。儘管支出節奏發生了變化，但基本面沒有變化。所有策略都繼續以技術為導向，企業將需要利用技術、數據和人工智慧來重塑企業的每個部分，以優化營運並加速成長。為此，他們必須建構數位核心。我們繼續看到雲端遷移和現代化、現代 ERP、資料和人工智慧等領域的巨大需求，特別是 Gen AI 的出現，所有這些領域都代表著巨大的機會。而且現在還早。

For example, we estimate that only 40% of workloads are in the cloud today, only 1/3 of clients have modernized their ERP platforms and less than 10% have what we define as mature data and AI capabilities. We believe helping build a strong digital core and then using it to reinvent will be the drivers of our growth. Our ability to advise, shape and deliver value-led transformation, leveraging the breadth of our services and industry expertise, from strategy and consulting, to technology, to our managed services across industries and geographic markets, along with our privileged position with our ecosystem partners, is what makes Accenture unique. And you can see this unique positioning in the number of our Diamond clients, clients who turn to us for large-scale transformation.

例如，我們估計目前只有 40% 的工作負載位於雲端，只有 1/3 的客戶對其 ERP 平台進行了現代化改造，只有不到 10% 的客戶擁有我們定義的成熟資料和人工智慧功能。我們相信，幫助建立強大的數位核心，然後利用它進行重塑將是我們成長的驅動力。我們有能力提供建議、塑造和實現以價值為導向的轉型，利用我們廣泛的服務和行業專業知識，從策略和諮詢到技術，再到我們跨行業和地理市場的託管服務，以及我們在生態系統合作夥伴中的特權地位，這就是埃森哲的獨特之處。您可以從我們的鑽石級客戶（那些向我們尋求大規模轉型的客戶）的數量中看到這種獨特的定位。

Over to you, KC.

交給你了，KC。

Thank you, Julie. And thanks to all of you for joining us on today's call. We were pleased with our results in the fourth quarter, which were within our guided range and aligned to our expectations, completing another strong year for Accenture. Our results reflect the diversity of our business and once again illustrate our ability to run our business with discipline and deliver significant value for our shareholders.

謝謝你，朱莉。感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。我們對第四季度的業績感到滿意，該業績在我們的指導範圍內並符合我們的預期，為埃森哲完成了又一個強勁的一年。我們的業績反映了我們業務的多樣性，並再次證明了我們有能力按照紀律經營業務並為股東創造巨大價值。

So let me begin by summarizing a few highlights for the quarter. Revenues grew 4% local currency, driven by high single or double-digit growth in 5 of our 13 industries. As we called out last quarter, we expected increased pressure in our CMT industry group and we saw declines of 12% local currency this quarter. As Julie mentioned, excluding CMT, our business grew 7% globally.

首先，讓我總結一下本季的一些亮點。以當地貨幣計算，營收成長了 4%，這得益於我們 13 個產業中 5 個產業的高單位數或兩位數成長。正如我們上季度所指出的，我們預計 CMT 產業集團的壓力將會增加，本季我們看到本季匯率下跌 12%。正如 Julie 所提到的，不包括 CMT，我們的全球業務成長了 7%。

We delivered adjusted EPS in the quarter of $2.71, reflecting 4% growth over EPS last year. Adjusted operating margin was 14.9%, an increase of 20 basis points over Q4 last year, and includes significant -- continued significant investments in our people and our business. And finally, we delivered free cash flow of $3.2 billion, driven by very strong DSO management.

我們本季的調整後每股收益為 2.71 美元，比去年增長了 4%。調整後的營業利潤率為 14.9%，比去年第四季增加了 20 個基點，其中包括對我們的員工和業務的持續大量投資。最後，在非常強大的 DSO 管理的推動下，我們實現了 32 億美元的自由現金流。

Now let me turn to some of the details. New bookings were $16.6 billion for the quarter, a 10% decline in local currency with an overall book-to-bill of 1. Consulting bookings were $8.5 billion with a book-to-bill of 1. Managed services bookings were $8.2 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.

現在讓我談談一些細節。本季新預訂額為166 億美元，以當地貨幣計算下降10%，整體訂單出貨比為1。諮詢訂單為85 億美元，訂單出貨比為1。託管服務訂單為82 億美元，訂單出貨比為1。訂單到帳單 1.

Turning now to revenues. Revenues for the quarter were $16 billion, a 4% increase in both U.S. dollar and local currency, representing continued market share gains.

現在轉向收入。該季度營收為 160 億美元，以美元和當地貨幣計算均成長 4%，市佔率持續成長。

Now as a reminder, we assess market growth against our investable basket, which is roughly 2,000 of our closest global public company competitors, which represent about 1/3 of our addressable market. We use a consistent methodology to compare our financial results and theirs, adjusted to exclude the impact of significant acquisitions through the date of our -- of their last publicly available results on a rolling 4-quarter basis.

現在提醒一下，我們根據可投資籃子評估市場成長，可投資籃子包括約 2,000 家與我們最接近的全球上市公司競爭對手，約占我們潛在市場的 1/3。我們使用一致的方法來比較我們和他們的財務業績，並進行調整以排除截至我們最後一次公開發布的每 4 季度滾動業績之日為止重大收購的影響。

Consulting revenues for the quarter were $8.2 billion, a decline of 2% in both U.S. dollar and local currency. Managed services revenues were $7.8 billion, up 10% in both U.S. dollars and local currency. Taking a closer look at our service dimensions. Technology services grew mid-single digits, operations grew high single digits and strategy and consulting declined mid-single digits.

本季諮詢收入為 82 億美元，以美元和當地貨幣計算均下降 2%。託管服務收入為 78 億美元，以美元和當地貨幣計算均成長 10%。仔細看看我們的服務維度。技術服務實現中個位數成長，營運實現高個位數成長，而策略和諮詢則實現中個位數下降。

Turning to our geographic markets. In North America, revenue growth was 1% in local currency, driven by growth in Public Service, Health and Utilities. These increases were partially offset by declines in Communications & Media, Software & Platforms, Banking & Capital Markets and High Tech.

轉向我們的地理市場。在北美，受公共服務、健康和公用事業成長的推動，以當地貨幣計算的收入成長了 1%。這些成長被通訊與媒體、軟體與平台、銀行與資本市場以及高科技領域的下降部分抵消。

In Europe, revenues grew 7% in local currency, led by growth in Banking & Capital Markets, Industrial and Public Service. Revenue growth was driven by Germany and France.

在歐洲，以當地貨幣計算的收入成長了 7%，其中銀行和資本市場、工業和公共服務部門的成長帶動了成長。收入成長由德國和法國推動。

In Growth Markets, we delivered 6% revenue growth in local currency driven by growth in Chemicals & Natural Resources, Industrial and Energy. Revenue growth was driven by Japan.

在成長型市場，在化學品和自然資源、工業和能源成長的推動下，我們以當地貨幣計算的收入成長了 6%。收入成長是由日本推動的。

Moving down the income statement. Gross margin for the quarter was 32.4% compared with 32.1% for the same period last year. Sales and marketing expense for the quarter was 10.8% compared with 10.2% for the fourth quarter last year. General and administrative expense was 6.7% compared to 7.1% for the same quarter last year.

將損益表向下移動。本季毛利率為32.4%，去年同期毛利率為32.1%。本季銷售和行銷費用為 10.8%，而去年第四季為 10.2%。一般及行政費用為 6.7%，去年同期為 7.1%。

Before I continue, I want to note that, in Q4, we recorded $472 million in costs associated with our business optimization actions, which decreased operating margin by 290 basis points and EPS by $0.56 and also impacted our tax rate. The following comparisons exclude these impacts and reflect adjusted results.

在繼續之前，我想指出，在第四季度，我們記錄了與業務優化行動相關的4.72 億美元成本，這使營業利潤率下降了290 個基點，每股收益下降了0.56 美元，也影響了我們的稅率。以下比較排除了這些影響並反映了調整後的結果。

Adjusted operating income was $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter, reflecting a 14.9% adjusted operating margin and an increase of 20 basis points from operating margin in Q4 last year. Our adjusted effective tax rate for the quarter was 27.4% compared with an effective tax rate of 24.6% for the fourth quarter last year. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $2.71 compared with EPS of $2.60 in the fourth quarter last year.

第四季調整後營業收入為 24 億美元，調整後營業利益率為 14.9%，較去年第四季營業利益率增加 20 個基點。我們本季調整後的有效稅率為 27.4%，而去年第四季的有效稅率為 24.6%。調整後攤薄每股收益為 2.71 美元，去年第四季每股收益為 2.60 美元。

Days service outstanding were 42 days compared to 42 days last quarter and 43 days in the fourth quarter of last year. Free cash flow for the quarter was $3.2 billion, resulting from cash generated by operating activities of $3.4 billion, net of property and equipment additions of $180 million. Our cash balance at August 31 was $9 billion compared with $7.9 billion at August 31 last year.

未償還服務天數為 42 天，而上季為 42 天，去年第四季為 43 天。本季自由現金流為 32 億美元，源自經營活動產生的現金 34 億美元，扣除財產設備增加 1.8 億美元。截至 8 月 31 日，我們的現金餘額為 90 億美元，而去年 8 月 31 日為 79 億美元。

With regards to our ongoing objective to return cash to shareholders. In the fourth quarter, we repurchased or redeemed 3.2 million shares for $1 billion at an average price of $312.35 per share. Also in August, we paid our fourth quarterly cash dividend of $1.12 per share for a total of $706 million. And our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.29 per share to be paid on November 15, a 15% increase over last year; and approved $4 billion of additional share repurchase authority.

關於我們向股東返還現金的持續目標。第四季度，我們以10億美元的價格回購或贖回了320萬股股票，平均價格為每股312.35美元。同樣在 8 月份，我們支付了每股 1.12 美元的第四季現金股息，總計 7.06 億美元。我們的董事會宣佈於11月15日派發季度現金股利每股1.29美元，較去年增加15%；並批准了40億美元的額外股票回購授權。

Now I'd like to take a moment to summarize the year, as we've navigated a challenging macro environment and successfully executed our business to deliver or exceed all aspects of our original guidance that we provided last September on an adjusted basis. We delivered $72.2 billion in new bookings, reflecting 5% growth in local currency; revenue of $64.1 billion for the year, reflecting strong growth of 8% in local currency and reflecting continued market share gains.

現在我想花點時間總結這一年，因為我們已經度過了充滿挑戰的宏觀環境，並成功地執行了我們的業務，以交付或超越我們去年9 月在調整的基礎上提供的原始指導的所有方面。我們交付了 722 億美元的新訂單，以當地貨幣計算成長了 5%；全年營收達 641 億美元，以當地貨幣計算強勁成長 8%，並反映出市場份額的持續成長。

Before I continue. For the full year, we recorded $1.1 billion in costs associated with business optimization actions, which decreased operating margin by 170 basis points and EPS by $1.28. We also recognized a gain on our investment in Duck Creek Technologies, which impacted our tax rate and increased EPS by $0.38. The following comparisons exclude these impacts and reflect adjusted results.

在我繼續之前。全年，我們記錄了與業務優化行動相關的 11 億美元成本，這使營業利潤率下降了 170 個基點，每股收益下降了 1.28 美元。我們也認識到對 Duck Creek Technologies 的投資獲得了收益，這影響了我們的稅率並使 EPS 增加了 0.38 美元。以下比較排除了這些影響並反映了調整後的結果。

Adjusted operating margin of 15.4%, a 20 basis point expansion over FY '22. Adjusted earnings per share was $11.67, reflecting 9% growth over FY '22 EPS. Free cash flow of $9 billion was significantly above our original guided range, reflecting a very strong free cash flow-to-net income ratio of 1.3. And with regards to our ongoing objective to return cash to shareholders, we exceeded our original guidance for capital allocation by returning $7.2 billion of cash to shareholders while investing approximately $2.5 billion across 25 acquisitions.

調整後營業利益率為 15.4%，比 2022 財年成長 20 個基點。調整後每股盈餘為 11.67 美元，較 22 財年 EPS 成長 9%。自由現金流為 90 億美元，遠高於我們最初的指導範圍，反映出非常強勁的自由現金流與淨利潤之比，達到 1.3。至於我們向股東返還現金的持續目標，我們向股東返還 72 億美元現金，同時在 25 項收購中投資約 25 億美元，超出了最初的資本配置指引。

In closing. We remain committed to delivering on our enduring shareholder value propositions while creating 360-degree value for all our stakeholders: Clients, our people, our shareholders, partners and our communities.

結束時。我們仍然致力於實現持久的股東價值主張，同時為所有利害關係人創造 360 度價值：客戶、我們的員工、我們的股東、合作夥伴和我們的社區。

And now let me turn it back to Julie.

現在讓我把話題轉回朱莉身上。

Thank you, KC. Let me now bring to life for you the demand we saw from our clients this quarter as they build their digital core and reinvent. We saw this demand across markets and industries. Our cloud momentum continued with very strong double-digit growth in Q4 as clients prioritized building a strong and secure foundation for reinvention.

謝謝你，KC。現在讓我向您介紹本季我們在客戶建立數位核心和重塑過程中看到的需求。我們看到了跨市場和行業的這種需求。我們的雲端勢頭繼續保持，第四季度實現了非常強勁的兩位數成長，因為客戶優先考慮為重塑建立強大而安全的基礎。

We're partnering with a multinational financial services company on a cloud-based transformation to deliver enhanced, personalized and secure customer experiences and to increase employee productivity. Together, we're developing an integrated hosting strategy that unifies their hybrid multi-cloud landscape and lays the foundation for their digital transformation over the next decade. This partnership enabled innovative solutions across all bank functions and is backed by a trusted and secure foundation that supports advanced workloads and complex AI and data solutions. Working from a compliant cloud platform will safeguard the customer data, privacy and financial assets, positioning the organization to stand out for its innovation and customer focus.

我們正在與一家跨國金融服務公司合作進行基於雲端的轉型，以提供增強、個人化和安全的客戶體驗，並提高員工生產力。我們正在共同開發一種整合託管策略，以統一他們的混合多雲環境，並為他們未來十年的數位轉型奠定基礎。這種合作夥伴關係為所有銀行職能部門提供了創新解決方案，並得到了可信賴且安全的基礎的支持，該基礎支持高級工作負載以及複雜的人工智慧和數據解決方案。在合規的雲端平台上工作將保護客戶資料、隱私和金融資產，使組織能夠因其創新和以客戶為中心而脫穎而出。

And we are supporting a U.S.-based energy company on a total enterprise reinvention strategy to unify different technologies and business processes around a common digital core. We'll help leading the deployment of a cloud-based IT platform that integrates customer management, finance, HR, supply chains, asset management and operations, improving the ability to assess and optimize operational performance. We also are helping manage and integrate the responsibilities and activities of the vendors involved in the project, standardize data from legacy applications and enable company employees to understand and manage the new processes and technologies. Data-driven decision-making will be improved, allowing the company to cultivate better collaboration within their business, helping them operate more efficiently and better serve their customers.

我們正在支持一家美國能源公司實施全面的企業重塑策略，以圍繞共同的數位核心統一不同的技術和業務流程。我們將協助主導部署基於雲端的IT平台，該平台整合了客戶管理、財務、人力資源、供應鏈、資產管理和運營，提高評估和優化營運績效的能力。我們還幫助管理和整合參與專案的供應商的職責和活動，標準化遺留應用程式的數據，並使公司員工能夠理解和管理新的流程和技術。數據驅動的決策將得到改進，使公司能夠在業務內部培養更好的協作，幫助他們更有效率地運作並更好地服務客戶。

We are partnering with Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan to accelerate their path to becoming a world-class bottler and data-driven organization. The partnership includes establishing an innovative joint venture of significant scale of approximately 870 people that will accelerate transforming their digital core; optimizing their enterprise operations; leveraging the power of cloud, data and AI to increase the value delivered from their core business functions. In support of their broader strategic business plan, Accenture will provide specialized talent; industry expertise; and leading-edge technology, automation and managed services to help Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan adopt a strategy of continuous enterprise reinvention.

我們正在與可口可樂日本裝瓶商合作，加速他們成為世界一流裝瓶商和數據驅動型組織的步伐。該合作夥伴關係包括建立一家規模龐大、約 870 人的創新合資企業，這將加速其數位核心的轉型；優化企業營運；利用雲端、數據和人工智慧的力量來增加核心業務功能帶來的價值。為了支持其更廣泛的策略性業務計劃，埃森哲將提供專業人才；行業專業知識；以及領先的技術、自動化和託管服務，幫助可口可樂日本裝瓶公司採取持續企業重塑的策略。

Data and AI are an important part of building the digital core, and we see that work both embedded in our larger transformations, as you just heard, and in work focused on data and AI modernization. Accenture Federal Services is helping the Defense Health Agency operate and enhance the Joint Medical Common Operating Picture platform. By implementing data synchronization across multiple network domains and near real-time collaboration and information-sharing, we will provide a comprehensive picture into Department of Defense medical assets. This increases visibility into unit health, equipment and supplies, and allows for faster and more informed decision-making.

數據和人工智慧是建立數位核心的重要組成部分，正如您剛才聽到的那樣，我們看到這些工作既嵌入到我們更大的轉型中，也嵌入到專注於數據和人工智慧現代化的工作中。埃森哲聯邦服務公司正在幫助國防衛生局運作並增強聯合醫療通用操作圖片平台。透過跨多個網路域實現資料同步以及近乎即時的協作和資訊共享，我們將提供國防部醫療資產的全面概況。這提高了單位健康狀況、設備和物資的可見性，並且可以更快、更明智地做出決策。

We are a strategic partner for the Saudi Data & AI Authority to boost the kingdom's transformation to a data-driven economy and help the kingdom become a world leader in generation and deployment of AI technology. We're working closely with SDAIA to support cutting-edge research, promote digital innovation in public life and boost national capabilities and talent. We're especially pleased with the double-digit growth we have in the Middle East, a small but growing part of our business.

我們是沙烏地阿拉伯數據和人工智慧管理局的戰略合作夥伴，致力於推動沙烏地王國向數據驅動型經濟轉型，並幫助沙烏地阿拉伯成為人工智慧技術生成和部署的世界領導者。我們正在與 SDAIA 密切合作，支持前沿研究、促進公共生活中的數位創新並提升國家能力和人才。我們對中東地區實現的兩位數成長感到特別滿意，中東地區雖然是我們業務的一小部分，但仍在不斷成長。

Security is essential to a digital core, and we had very strong double-digit growth in our security business in Q4. We're working with a major energy network in the U.K. on the transformation of its cybersecurity systems. We will provide an entire managed service for their cybersecurity capability, including migration to a more powerful security platform, continuous and active threat monitoring and response services as well as security tools management. Our solutions will help provide improved security, reduced exposure to potential global security threats and ultimately better safeguard the safe delivery of gas to millions of U.K. homes and businesses.

安全對於數位核心至關重要，第四季度我們的安全業務實現了非常強勁的兩位數成長。我們正在與英國的一個主要能源網路合作，對其網路安全系統進行轉型。我們將為他們的網路安全能力提供完整的託管服務，包括遷移到更強大的安全平台、持續主動的威脅監控和回應服務以及安全工具管理。我們的解決方案將有助於提高安全性，減少潛在的全球安全威脅，並最終更好地保障向數百萬英國家庭和企業安全輸送天然氣。

As clients continue to reimagine and prioritize the customer experience, Song delivered strong double-digit growth in Q4. We are helping smart Europe, maker of the next generation of smart vehicles, products and services of the iconic brands from smart Automobile Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely.

隨著客戶不斷重新構想並優先考慮客戶體驗，Song 在第四季度實現了兩位數的強勁成長。我們正在幫助 smart Europe，該公司是梅賽德斯-奔馳和吉利的合資企業 smart 汽車有限公司標誌性品牌的下一代智慧汽車、產品和服務的製造商。

We are helping them reinvent car shopping by creating an ecosystem that supports a seamless, fully digital-driven buying experience. By putting data at the core, the system allows personalization of the customer journey, makes recommendations based on real-time data and includes enhanced offerings such as extended insurance coverage. It will help smart Europe reposition its brand and support the launch of its intelligent, fully electrical car lines.

我們正在透過創建一個支持無縫、完全數位驅動的購買體驗的生態系統來幫助他們重塑汽車購物。透過將數據置於核心，該系統可以實現客戶旅程的個人化，根據即時數據提出建議，並包括擴展保險範圍等增強的產品。它將幫助 smart Europe 重新定位其品牌，並支持其智慧、全電動車系列的推出。

We also continue to see demand for our supply chain and Industry X capabilities, the next digital frontier, which grew strong double digits in Q4. In Industry X, we are partnering with a global chemical and materials company on a digital transformation of their manufacturing core and commercial capabilities. Through our Industry X capabilities, we have built a unified connected worker platform for operators, maintenance technicians and job planners, along with a cloud-based data lake to help generate insight from disparate sources of manufacturing data. The program is already live in dozens of manufacturing sites and is expected to create significant revenue growth over the next few years for our client.

我們也繼續看到對我們的供應鏈和行業 X 功能（下一個數位前沿）的需求，該需求在第四季度實現了兩位數的強勁成長。在 Industry X 中，我們正在與一家全球化學和材料公司合作，對其製造核心和商業能力進行數位轉型。透過我們的 Industry X 功能，我們為操作員、維護技術人員和工作規劃人員建立了一個統一的互聯工人平台，以及一個基於雲端的資料湖，以幫助從不同來源的製造資料中獲取洞察。該計劃已在數十個製造基地投入使用，預計將在未來幾年為我們的客戶創造顯著的收入成長。

And in supply chain, we have partnered with a large global food and beverage conglomerate to strengthen supply chain resilience so consumers have continued access to their products in stores and online. By creating a digital twin of its supply chain, we will develop stress test models to help identify supply disruptions with the highest risk before they occur.

在供應鏈方面，我們與一家大型全球食品和飲料集團合作，以增強供應鏈的彈性，以便消費者能夠繼續在商店和網路上購買他們的產品。透過創建供應鏈的數位孿生，我們將開發壓力測試模型，以幫助在發生之前識別風險最高的供應中斷。

Across these examples, you can see our unique capabilities of both being a technology powerhouse, along with our industry and functional expertise from strategy and consulting, to technology, to managing services -- managed services, to help our clients reinvent.

透過這些範例，您可以看到我們作為科技巨頭的獨特能力，以及我們從策略和諮詢到技術、管理服務（託管服務）的行業和職能專業知識，以幫助我們的客戶進行重塑。

Now let's turn to generative AI. As a reminder, last quarter, we announced a $3 billion investment in AI. While still in the early stages, Gen AI technology is maturing rapidly, and we believe it will be a significant source of value for us and our clients over time. We now have about 300 projects, and I want to share a little color on how this demand is coming through. We have projects across all our industries, with banking, public service, consumer goods and utilities leading in activity. Clients are doing a variety of different types of work, from strategy and use case implementations to tech enablement; to scaling; to model customization, tuning and training; to talent and responsible AI.

現在讓我們轉向生成式人工智慧。提醒一下，上個季度，我們宣布對人工智慧投資 30 億美元。雖然仍處於早期階段，但 Gen AI 技術正在迅速成熟，我們相信隨著時間的推移，它將成為我們和我們的客戶的重要價值來源。我們現在有大約 300 個項目，我想分享一些關於這項需求是如何實現的。我們的專案遍佈所有產業，其中銀行、公共服務、消費品和公用事業領域的活動處於領先地位。客戶正在進行各種不同類型的工作，從策略和用例實施到技術支援；縮放；模型客製化、調整和培訓；人才和負責任的人工智慧。

For example, we're working with a multinational telecom company, Telefônica Brasil, also known as Vivo, to deliver a generative AI solution that helps its agents respond quicker to landlords' queries about property rental contracts for network towers. The application quickly reads landlords' queries and proposes a set of actions to help fulfill requests, reducing the time it takes agents to respond. It also structures the response with a set of relevant answers to increase the response quality and ensure all queries are answered in a helpful manner. The solution has already reduced agent response time by 30% and increased the user experience score by 66%.

例如，我們正在與跨國電信公司 Telefónica Brasil（也稱為 Vivo）合作，提供生成式 AI 解決方案，幫助其代理商更快地回應房東有關網路塔物業租賃合約的查詢。該應用程式可以快速讀取房東的查詢，並提出一系列行動來幫助滿足請求，從而減少代理商回應的時間。它還使用一組相關答案來建立回應，以提高回應品質並確保以有用的方式回答所有查詢。該解決方案已將座席回應時間縮短了 30%，並將使用者體驗得分提高了 66%。

Some of the key ingredients of our success in Gen AI are, first, ecosystem partnerships. As always, we are starting with deep relationships and leadership in the ecosystem, from the hyperscalers, to the model builders, to the startups and academics. It is important to emphasize that we are early in the maturity of Gen AI for enterprise, and our depth, experience and insight on these [planned for] is essential to guiding our clients.

我們在 Gen AI 領域取得成功的一些關鍵因素首先是生態系統合作夥伴關係。一如既往，我們從生態系統中的深厚關係和領導力開始，從超大規模企業到模型建構者，再到新創公司和學者。需要強調的是，我們還處於企業級人工智慧成熟的早期階段，我們對這些[計劃]的深度、經驗和洞察力對於指導我們的客戶至關重要。

Second, talent. We start with a deep technical knowledge and understanding of AI and Gen AI and blend that with our industry and functional expertise to know how to reinvent across the enterprise, including processes and operating models, bringing together the depth and breadth of our expertise. And that is where Accenture is different: Building the bridge from as is to the future. And we have already trained approximately 600,000 of our people in the fundamentals of AI.

第二，人才。我們從對AI 和Gen AI 的深入技術知識和理解開始，並將其與我們的行業和職能專業知識相結合，了解如何在整個企業中進行重塑，包括流程和營運模式，從而匯集我們專業知識的深度和廣度。這就是埃森哲的不同之處：搭建從現狀到未來的橋樑。我們已經對大約 60 萬名員工進行了人工智慧基礎知識培訓。

Now with generative AI, the pace and impact is growing rapidly, and we are now taking a further step to equip more than 250,000 people in using new AI tools equitably, sustainably and without bias. And with investments in our AI academy focused on deep AI and Gen AI specialization, we are also progressing towards our goal of doubling our deeply skilled data and AI practitioners from 40,000 to 80,000.

如今，生成式 AI 的發展速度和影響力正在迅速增長，我們現在正在採取進一步措施，讓超過 25 萬人能夠公平、可持續且不帶偏見地使用新的 AI 工具。透過對人工智慧學院的投資，重點關注深度人工智慧和新一代人工智慧專業化，我們也正在朝著將高技能數據和人工智慧從業人員數量從 4 萬人增加一倍到 8 萬人的目標取得進展。

Third, responsible AI is essential. At Accenture, we have an industry-leading responsible AI compliance program which is embedded in how we use and deliver AI. And we're using the experience and lessons learned by us to help our clients build out their own responsible AI program, which is necessary to address the risks and get the full value from AI.

第三，負責任的人工智慧至關重要。在埃森哲，我們擁有業界領先的負責任的人工智慧合規計劃，該計劃嵌入到我們使用和交付人工智慧的方式中。我們正在利用我們學到的經驗和教訓來幫助我們的客戶建立自己負責任的人工智慧計劃，這對於解決風險並從人工智慧中獲得全部價值是必要的。

Finally, we are embracing Gen AI across our services, developing new cutting-edge tools and solutions, embedding Gen AI in the way we work. Our approach takes into account where the technology is today, the need to deploy it responsibly and the recognition that we do work in highly complex environments. While all companies want to explore and understand Gen AI, what we find is that clients who are more mature digitally want to go faster, while others would like to test the waters with proofs of concepts and synthetic data, and others prefer to wait until they have built more of their modern digital core. The extent and pace of this generative AI progression will become more clear over the coming quarters as the technology and the market continue to mature and progress.

最後，我們在我們的服務中採用 Gen AI，開發新的尖端工具和解決方案，將 Gen AI 嵌入到我們的工作方式中。我們的方法考慮到了技術的現狀、負責任地部署技術的需要以及我們在高度複雜的環境中工作的認識。雖然所有公司都希望探索和了解Gen AI，但我們發現，數位化更成熟的客戶希望走得更快，而其他公司則希望透過概念驗證和合成數據來試水，而其他公司則更願意等到他們成熟為止。建立了更多的現代數字核心。隨著技術和市場的不斷成熟和進步，這種生成式人工智慧發展的程度和速度將在未來幾季變得更加清晰。

Now turning to our people, who have made all of this happen. Core to our success is our ability to attract and retain and inspire our outstanding talent. Essential to our success is our robust talent strategy and in particular our ability to attract diverse talent and our Net Better Off approach to retaining our great talent.

現在轉向我們的人民，是他們讓這一切成為現實。我們成功的核心是我們吸引、保留和激勵傑出人才的能力。我們成功的關鍵在於我們穩健的人才策略，特別是我們吸引多元化人才的能力以及我們留住優秀人才的淨福利方法。

We continue to lead in our ability to attract people with different backgrounds, different perspectives and different lived experiences. These differences ensure that we have and attract the cognitive diversity to deliver a variety of perspectives, observations and insights which are critical to drive the innovation needed to reinvent.

我們在吸引不同背景、不同觀點和不同生活經驗的人方面繼續處於領先地位。這些差異確保我們擁有並吸引認知多樣性，以提供各種觀點、觀察和見解，這對於推動重塑所需的創新至關重要。

Our success is reflected in our being the top-scoring company on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the second year in a row. And we also earned the #1 position on the Refinitiv global Diversity and Inclusion Index for the fourth time in 6 years. This index ranks over 15,000 organizations globally and identifies the top 100 publicly traded companies with the most diverse and inclusive workplaces.

我們的成功體現在我們連續第二年成為彭博性別平等指數得分最高的公司。我們也六年來第四次在路孚特全球多元化和包容性指數中排名第一。該指數對全球 15,000 多家組織進行排名，並確定了擁有最多元化和包容性工作場所的前 100 家上市公司。

Our talent strategy includes inspiring and retaining our best talent through our Net Better Off approach. We want our people to feel they are Net Better Off for working at Accenture. This strategy has 4 dimensions, focusing on people feeling healthy and well physically, emotionally and financially; feeling connected with a sense of belonging; feeling their work has purpose; and finally, feeling they are continuing to build market-relevant skills. This year, for example, our people participated in approximately 40 million training hours. And we were a recipient of the Brandon Hall Gold award for best benefits, wellness and well-being programs.

我們的人才策略包括透過淨福利方法激勵和留住最優秀的人才。我們希望我們的員工感到他們因在埃森哲工作而獲得了淨收益。該策略有 4 個維度，重點關注人們在身體、情感和財務上感覺健康和良好；感覺與歸屬感相連；感覺他們的工作有目的；最後，感覺他們正在繼續培養與市場相關的技能。例如，今年我們的員工參加了約 4000 萬小時的培訓。我們因最佳福利、健康和福祉計劃而獲得布蘭登霍爾金獎。

Building on our long-standing commitment to the environment, we are pleased to have hit a significant milestone on our path to net zero, approaching 100% renewable electricity across all of our Accenture offices.

基於我們對環境的長期承諾，我們很高興在實現淨零排放的道路上實現了一個重要的里程碑，即我們所有埃森哲辦事處接近 100% 可再生電力。

I will wrap up with a comment on our work in communities. Vibrant communities are important to our business success, and therefore, we continue to prioritize creating value in these communities around the world. For example, Accenture is helping to welcome refugees, recognizing how they enrich our communities with their courage, strength and talent. In June 2023, on World Refugee Day, we committed to partner with organizations to help skill and support an estimated 16,000 refugee job seekers and migrants and to hire 100 refugees in Europe over the next 3 years.

最後我將對我們在社區中的工作發表評論。充滿活力的社區對於我們的業務成功非常重要，因此，我們繼續優先考慮在世界各地的這些社區中創造價值。例如，埃森哲正在幫助歡迎難民，並認識到他們如何用他們的勇氣、力量和才能豐富我們的社區。 2023 年 6 月的世界難民日，我們承諾與各組織合作，為約 16,000 名難民求職者和移民提供技能協助和支持，並在未來 3 年內在歐洲僱用 100 名難民。

Back to you, KC.

回到你身上，KC。

Thanks, Julie. Now let me turn to our business outlook. For the first quarter fiscal '24, we expect revenues to be in the range of $15.85 billion to $16.45 billion. This assumes the impact of FX will be approximately positive 2.5% compared to the first quarter of fiscal '23 and reflects an estimated negative 2% to positive 2% growth in local currency.

謝謝，朱莉。現在讓我談談我們的業務前景。對於 24 財年第一季，我們預計營收將在 158.5 億美元至 164.5 億美元之間。假設與 23 財年第一季相比，外匯的影響約為正 2.5%，並反映出當地貨幣估計負 2% 至正 2% 的成長。

For the full fiscal year '24, 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 flat compared to fiscal '23. For the full fiscal '24, we expect our revenue to be in the range of 2% to 5% growth in local currency over fiscal '23, which includes an inorganic contribution of about 2%.

對於 24 財年整個財年，根據過去幾週的利率趨勢，我們目前假設外匯對我們以美元計價的業績的影響將與 23 財年持平。對於整個 24 財年，我們預計我們的收入將以當地貨幣計算比 23 財年增長 2% 至 5%，其中包括約 2% 的無機貢獻。

We expect business optimization actions to impact fiscal '24 GAAP operating margin by 70 basis points and EPS by $0.56. The following guidance for full year fiscal 2024 excludes these impacts.

我們預期業務優化行動將影響 24 財年 GAAP 營運利潤 70 個基點，每股收益 0.56 美元。以下 2024 財年全年指引不包括這些影響。

For adjusted operating margin, we expect fiscal year '24 to be 15.5% to 15.7%, a 10 to 30 basis point expansion over adjusted fiscal '23 results. We expect our annual adjusted effective tax rate to be in the range of 23.5% to 25.5%. This compares to an adjusted effective tax rate of 23.9% in fiscal '23. We 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.

對於調整後的營業利潤率，我們預計 24 財年的業績將為 15.5% 至 15.7%，比調整後的 23 財年的業績增長 10 至 30 個基點。我們預計調整後的年度有效稅率將在 23.5% 至 25.5% 之間。相較之下，2023 財政年度調整後的有效稅率為 23.9%。我們預計 24 財年全年調整後每股盈餘將在 11.97 美元至 12.32 美元之間，比 23 財年調整後業績成長 3% 至 6%。

For the full fiscal '24, we 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. Our free cash flow guidance reflects a free cash flow-to-net income ratio of 1.2. Finally, we 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.

對於整個 24 財年，我們預計營運現金流將在 93 億至 99 億美元之間，財產和設備增加約為 6 億美元，自由現金流將在 87 億至 93 億美元之間。我們的自由現金流指引反映出自由現金流與淨利比為 1.2。最後，我們預計將透過股息和股票回購回報至少 77 億美元，因為我們仍然致力於將大部分現金回饋給股東。

And with that, let's open it up so we can take your questions. Katie?

接下來，讓我們打開它，以便我們回答您的問題。凱蒂？

Thanks, KC. (Operator Instructions) Operator, would you provide instructions for those on the call?

謝謝，KC。 （接線生指示）接線員，您能為通話中的人員提供指示嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from the line of Tien-Tsin Huang of JPMorgan.

（操作員指令）我們的第一個問題將來自摩根大通的黃天欽。

Julie and KC, I just want to dig in first on CMT, if you don't mind. Just curious there if the challenges are -- have changed at all. Is it isolated to just a few clients, or is it more broad-based? And what's the strategy here to turn demand around? Are you seeing any green shoots there?

Julie 和 KC，如果你們不介意的話，我只想先深入探討一下 CMT。只是好奇挑戰是否改變了。它是只針對少數客戶，還是基礎更廣？扭轉需求的策略是什麼？你看到那裡有綠芽了嗎？

Yes, great. Thanks, Tien-Tsin. So it is broad-based. I mean, we have -- we're seeing it broad-based across the globe and across clients, we continue to see those challenges. So we do think that it's going to -- we do know that it's going to develop a little bit differently based on markets. The challenges in the U.S. are more difficult. They're more focused on both technology and the technology companies and comms, whereas Europe, it's a little different, the complexion. And so over the course of the year, we expect that the improvement will come at a little different pace, depending on the markets.

對，很好。謝謝田津。所以它的基礎廣泛。我的意思是，我們看到它在全球和客戶中廣泛存在，我們繼續看到這些挑戰。所以我們確實認為它會——我們確實知道它的發展會根據市場的不同而有所不同。美國面臨的挑戰更加困難。他們更關注科技以及科技公司和通訊，而歐洲則有點不同，膚色。因此，在這一年中，我們預計改善的速度會略有不同，具體取決於市場。

And in terms of our -- how we're addressing it, it's really twofold. So first of all, we're going to continue to pivot within that industry to areas like helping within the confines of how much they're spending, trying to help them cut costs, working on things like customer service, investing in more network capabilities.

就我們如何解決這個問題而言，它實際上是雙重的。因此，首先，我們將繼續在該行業內轉向一些領域，例如在他們的支出範圍內提供幫助，試圖幫助他們削減成本，致力於客戶服務等工作，投資更多的網路功能。

And what we're also doing is pivoting our business to the higher areas of growth. And you see that with acquisitions, like we did Anser technologies in Industry X in the U.S. We did Flutura in India in data and AI. And so we've got a lot of areas of growth. And you can see that, when you take out CMT, with how the rest of our business is growing. And it's just going to take a little time to make that pivot. 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.

我們還在做的是將我們的業務轉向更高的成長領域。你會看到，透過收購，就像我們在美國的 Industry X 中收購了 Anser 技術。我們在印度的數據和人工智慧領域收購了 Flutura。所以我們有很多成長領域。當你剔除 CMT 後，你可以看到我們其他業務的成長。要實現這一轉變只需要一點時間。這就是為什麼您在我們的指導中看到的是，隨著我們為繼續推動業務發展而採取的行動發揮作用，我們將在這一年中繼續發展。

Understood on that one. Just my quick follow-up, on Gen AI. I know the sales doubled there, and you went through a lot of good detail. I'm just curious. Is it the -- are deal sizes getting larger? Is it pulling through more large projects, from what you've seen recently? I'm just curious how that might evolve here as we get into the new fiscal year.

就這一點就明白了。這只是我對 Gen AI 的快速跟進。我知道那裡的銷售額翻了一番，而且您了解了很多詳細資訊。我只是好奇。交易規模是否正在變大？從您最近看到的情況來看，它是否正在推動更多大型專案？我只是好奇，當我們進入新的財政年度時，這種情況會如何發展。

Sure. So at this point -- and remember, when we give you Gen AI numbers, we're being very clear it's pure Gen AI. So we're not like sort of talking about data and all of those things. So the real Gen AI projects right now are still in that sort of $1 million dollar-ish on average range, and we expect that's going to continue for a while, right? That's what we're seeing because there's a lot of experimentation.

當然。因此，在這一點上，請記住，當我們向您提供 Gen AI 數據時，我們非常清楚它是純粹的 Gen AI。所以我們不喜歡談論數據和所有這些事情。因此，目前真正的 Gen AI 專案平均仍處於 100 萬美元左右的範圍，我們預計這種情況將持續一段時間，對嗎？這就是我們所看到的，因為有很多實驗。

Now what it's doing, though, is leading clients to look harder at, well, where do I go faster, right, in terms of the digital core. And so we started seeing a tick up, for example, in data migration, right. But it is still extremely early. But that's how we think it's going to play out over even the coming year, right, as people get more excited about it and it also points out the challenges.

不過，現在它正在引導客戶更加仔細思考，在數位核心方面，我應該在哪裡走得更快，對吧。因此，我們開始看到資料遷移等方面的成長，對吧。但現在還為時過早。但這就是我們認為即使在未來一年也會發生的情況，對吧，因為人們對此更加興奮，而且它也指出了挑戰。

But keep in mind that implementing Gen AI is not like it's like -- it's not easy. Entire environments need to be set up. It's quite complex, actually, so it really plays into our strengths of being able to help them understand what it takes, where their gaps are, and then how to take the next step on the journey to get there. Even as we see clients being cautious, they're really focused on, "Help us save money so we can take those next steps."

但請記住，實施 Gen AI 並不像現在這樣——它並不容易。需要設定整個環境。實際上，它非常複雜，因此它確實發揮了我們的優勢，能夠幫助他們了解需要什麼、他們的差距在哪裡，以及如何採取下一步以實現目標。儘管我們看到客戶持謹慎態度，但他們真正關注的是“幫助我們省錢，以便我們可以採取後續措施。”

Yes. No, it should bode well for Accenture.

是的。不，這對埃森哲來說應該是個好兆頭。

We'll go next to the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

我們將沿著詹姆斯·福塞特（James Faucette）與摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）的路線進行。

Great. Wanted to kind of follow up on a couple of questions there. One of the other areas that had seen to have strengthened, seems like it's weakened a little bit, has been managed services. Can you talk through kind of what's happening there?

偉大的。想跟進幾個問題。其他看似加強的領域之一是託管服務。您能談談那裡發生的事情嗎？

And one of the things that we're also seeing is -- or hearing is, that there's some variation in demand right now, especially geographically, maybe with Europe being a little weaker but other markets being a little stronger. Can you just give color on managed services and what's happening geographically?

我們也看到或聽到的一件事是，目前的需求存在一些變化，尤其是在地理上，可能歐洲稍微疲軟，但其他市場稍強。您能否介紹一下託管服務以及地理上發生的情況？

Yes. Thanks, James, for the question. I will -- maybe I'll start with just kind of giving you a little bit of color on what we're seeing on managed services as it relates to guidance and just maybe broader guidance kind of overall.

是的。謝謝詹姆斯提出這個問題。我會——也許我會先向大家介紹我們在託管服務上看到的情況，因為它與指導有關，也許是更廣泛的整體指導。

So I'll just start with our full year, all right? So we start with our full year guidance, which is 2% to 5% growth for the year. I think a key part, as Julie mentioned, is that we expect that we're going to build as we go throughout the year. And you can see that in our range for Q1, which starts negative 2% and has 2% at the top end of our range.

所以我將從我們的全年開始，好嗎？因此，我們從全年指導開始，即全年增長 2% 至 5%。我認為，正如朱莉所提到的，一個關鍵部分是我們期望我們將在全年中持續建造。您可以看到，在我們第一季的範圍內，該範圍從負 2% 開始，在我們範圍的上限為 2%。

And then as you look at Q1, for the most part, what we are reflecting in our Q1 guidance is really more the same across the various dimensions of our business that we saw in Q4. And -- but we have a backdrop of a tougher compare in the first quarter of FY '24. That's our toughest compare for the full year.

然後，當您查看第一季時，在很大程度上，我們在第一季指引中反映的內容實際上與我們在第四季度看到的業務各個方面更加相同。而且 - 但我們在 24 財年第一季面臨更嚴峻的比較。這是我們全年最艱難的比較。

And then if you look at the full year, maybe 3 things to add. From a macro, we're not assuming that there's an improvement in the discretionary spend environment or the macro as we look at the year.

然後，如果你看看全年，也許需要添加 3 件事。從宏觀角度來看，我們並不認為今年可自由支配支出環境或宏觀經濟有所改善。

And then second, on your -- to get to the type of work question, we're going to build as we go throughout the year. And we see consulting for the full year being at low single digit. And managed services is going to be a healthy mid- to high single-digit growth for the full year.

其次，關於工作類型問題，我們將在全年中不斷建構。我們看到全年的諮詢業務處於低個位數水準。託管服務全年將實現健康的中高個位數成長。

And then depending on how we revenue-build, the last point would be on operating margin. We do expect to see more variability in the quarters as we go through fiscal '24, on our way to 10 to 30 basis points of expansion for the year. So hopefully, that gave you a little bit of color.

然後，根據我們的收入成長方式，最後一點是營業利潤率。我們確實預計，隨著 24 財年的到來，各季度將出現更多變化，全年擴張將達到 10 至 30 個基點。希望這能帶給你一點色彩。

Julie, if you want to talk a little bit more about specifics on managed services.

Julie，如果您想多談談託管服務的細節。

And what I would say on managed services. Managed services continue to be really important for our clients because it's both a cost play but also a faster digitization play. But it will play out a little bit. So for example, at Accenture, right, we've got trust and safety and other managed services in the CMT. And so that's going to affect some of our results, depending on the quarter and the compare and how things kind of roll out. So that's why what we're thinking about next year will be somewhere in the mid- to high single digits.

以及我對託管服務的看法。託管服務對我們的客戶來說仍然非常重要，因為它既是一種成本遊戲，也是一種更快的數位化遊戲。但它會發揮一點作用。例如，在埃森哲（右側），我們在 CMT 中擁有信任、安全和其他託管服務。因此，這將影響我們的一些結果，具體取決於季度和比較以及事情的展開方式。這就是為什麼我們明年考慮的數字將在中高個位數。

But we don't see a fundamental issue around managed services. In fact, we think they're a really strategic priority for many of our clients. But it will play out a little bit differently. Based on industries. We see less of it based on sort of market per se because clients really need the managed services.

但我們沒有看到託管服務有根本問題。事實上，我們認為它們對我們的許多客戶來說確實是一個策略重點。但結果會有所不同。立足產業。我們基於市場本身的類型看到的較少，因為客戶確實需要託管服務。

Got it. And then just as a quick follow-up, can you talk a little bit about your inorganic strategy, just what contribution has been? And particularly in light of the increased capital return program for '24, if we should anticipate that, that will have any impact on what you guys historically have done from an inorganic contribution.

知道了。作為快速跟進，您能談談您的無機策略嗎？具體貢獻是什麼？特別是考慮到 24 年增加的資本回報計劃，如果我們應該預見到這一點，這將對你們歷史上透過無機貢獻所做的事情產生任何影響。

Yes, sure. In terms of inorganic contribution, for '23, it was about 2%, was the inorganic contribution. And for '24, James, we're considering another about 2% in '24.

是的，當然。就無機貢獻而言，23年約2%，是無機貢獻。對於 24 年，詹姆斯，我們正在考慮在 24 年再增加約 2%。

Yes. And look. On our inorganic strategy, remember that the way we think about it is can we get into new areas through our inorganic? Like what we did with Anser Advisory and Industry X, which is capital products, it's basically we're very small there before the acquisition. That's an $80 billion addressable market, so that's an acquisition to start to grow there.

是的。看看。關於我們的無機策略，請記住，我們思考的方式是我們能否透過我們的無機進入新領域？就像我們對 Anser Advisory 和 Industry X（資本產品）所做的那樣，基本上我們在收購之​​前規模很小。這是一個價值 800 億美元的潛在市場，因此透過收購可以讓該市場開始成長。

We think about it as being important to invest in our industry and functional expertise. So in France this year, we -- this last quarter, we did an insurance acquisition in strategy and consulting. And we think about it in terms of scale, so we bought a data and AI practice in terms -- in India this quarter.

我們認為投資我們的產業和職能專業知識非常重要。因此，今年在法國，我們——上個季度，我們在策略和諮詢領域進行了保險收購。我們從規模角度考慮，因此本季我們在印度購買了數據和人工智慧實踐。

And so as we are pivoting to the higher areas of growth right now, a real advantage we have is the ability to leverage our investment capacity in order to do that pivot. And of course, well, right now we're kind of assuming 2%, but we have the ability to do more if we have the right opportunities. And so we really do think about this as a huge competitive advantage in our industry in our ability to drive growth and to be in the hot areas of the market.

因此，當我們現在轉向更高的成長領域時，我們真正的優勢是能夠利用我們的投資能力來實現這一轉變。當然，目前我們假設的是 2%，但如果我們有合適的機會，我們有能力做得更多。因此，我們確實認為這是我們行業的巨大競爭優勢，因為我們有能力推動成長並進入市場的熱門領域。

We'll go next to the line of Lisa Ellis with MoffettNathanson.

我們將跟隨麗莎·埃利斯和莫菲特·內森森的隊伍。

I might start on the business optimization program. Can you just give a little bit more detail in terms of what -- where exactly you are, what's completed, what remains in 2024? And maybe a little bit of more detail on how we should expect that impact to sequence in throughout fiscal '24. And then just remind us whether that's then the end of it and we should expect to kind of move back toward GAAP reporting at the end of '24.

我可能會開始實施業務優化計劃。您能否提供更多細節—您具體在哪裡、已完成哪些工作、2024 年還剩下哪些工作？也許還有一些關於我們應該如何預期這種影響在整個 24 財年中產生的順序的更多細節。然後提醒我們這是否就結束了，我們應該期望在 24 年底回到 GAAP 報告。

Yes. Thanks, Lisa. So just in terms of just as a reminder. So we -- when we announced our business optimization program, we said it would be about $1.5 billion and that would go through FY '24. So we still are saying $1.5 billion through FY '24. As it relates to next year, right, we expect to incur approximately $450 million. We were -- we did record $1.1 billion in FY '23, which is a little bit more than we expected to do in '23, so we were able to get a bit more into the P&L in last fiscal year, '23.

是的。謝謝，麗莎。所以只是作為一個提醒。因此，當我們宣布業務優化計劃時，我們表示該計劃將耗資約 15 億美元，並將持續到 24 財年。因此，我們仍然認為截至 24 財年將達到 15 億美元。就明年而言，我們預計將支出約 4.5 億美元。我們在 23 財年確實創下了 11 億美元的記錄，這比我們在 23 財年的預期要多一點，因此我們能夠在上一財年 23 財年獲得更多的損益。

And I'm happy to go through the impacts on EPS, but you saw that it will be a $0.56 impact on EPS for '24, and happy to [go through] any other questions that you have, yes. And also, as we go throughout the year, too -- we take the business optimization out of our results as we go throughout the quarters, so that doesn't -- that's another driver for why we'll have more margin variability as we go throughout the year.

我很高興了解對 EPS 的影響，但您看到這將對 24 年的 EPS 產生 0.56 美元的影響，並且很高興[解決]您提出的任何其他問題，是的。而且，隨著我們全年的發展，我們也將業務優化從我們的業績中剔除，因此不會出現這樣的情況——這也是為什麼我們的利潤率波動性更大的另一個驅動因素。全年都去。

And we'll see how it plays out. It really depends on the countries and different things that we have to go through in terms of process and procedures. And so we're not giving -- I'll update as we go throughout the year on the full year estimate, but we're not breaking that out by quarter.

我們將看看結果如何。這實際上取決於國家和我們在流程和程序方面必須經歷的不同事情。因此，我們不會提供 - 我將在全年更新時更新全年估計，但我們不會按季度進行細分。

Got it, okay. Okay, great. And then maybe my follow-up, just a quick follow-up on the managed services question, maybe just a little bit taking a step back, Julie. I think, over the last few quarters as we've been seeing some of the softness in strategy and consulting and the shorter-duration discretionary work, you've been highlighting pretty consistently that it has not really bled over into the larger transformation programs. And I just wanted to kind of ask if you could kind of update us on the latest you're seeing on that, given that we saw a little bit of a slowdown in some of the managed services bookings this quarter.

明白了，好吧。好的，太好了。然後也許是我的後續行動，只是對託管服務問題的快速後續行動，也許只是稍微退一步，朱莉。我認為，在過去的幾個季度中，當我們看到策略和諮詢以及短期的可自由支配工作方面出現一些疲軟時，您一直在強調，它並沒有真正滲透到更大的轉型計劃中。我只是想問您是否可以向我們介紹您所看到的最新情況，因為我們發現本季的一些託管服務預訂略有放緩。

Sure. I mean, what I would say is that overall, first of all, the large transformational programs include managed services, but they also include building, like so putting new modern ERP programs in place, right? So it's not only kind of managed services, just to kind of set the stage for that.

當然。我的意思是，我想說的是，總體而言，首先，大型轉型計劃包括託管服務，但它們也包括構建，例如部署新的現代 ERP 程序，對嗎？因此，這不僅僅是一種託管服務，只是為此奠定了基礎。

And just as you think about the fundamentals, because we think of the transformation deals, managed services are often a way to pay for them. They're often also a way to go faster and modernize. But we really look at those transformational programs in the round. So when you think about the fundamentals that our clients are facing, there is more reinvention ahead than they have done so far. So huge opportunity ahead. And you see that in where they are in the cloud journey, only 40% workloads, right? We estimate less than 10% of our clients are mature in data and AI. Only 1/3 have put in the modern ERP programs.

正如您考慮基本面一樣，因為我們考慮轉型交易，託管服務通常是支付這些交易費用的一種方式。它們通常也是加快速度和現代化的一種方式。但我們確實全面地審視了這些轉型計劃。因此，當您考慮我們的客戶面臨的基本面時，您會發現，未來的重塑比他們迄今為止所做的還要多。未來有如此巨大的機會。您會發現，在他們的雲端旅程中，只有 40% 的工作負載，對吧？我們估計不到 10% 的客戶在數據和人工智慧方面是成熟的。只有 1/3 已安裝現代 ERP 程式。

And so as you think about how -- what they have to do, managed services will continue to play a huge role in paying for it and in actually modernizing much of it as well the other big implementations. We do see, however, right, when you kind of go to the market -- and by the way, that's why we're super well positioned, right? Our strategy is to be that partner. And then reinvention begets more, right? So you first build the digital core and then you've got a lot of work on top of that. And that is our growth strategy.

因此，當您思考他們必須做什麼時，託管服務將繼續在支付費用以及實際上實現大部分服務以及其他大型實施的現代化方面發揮巨大作用。然而，當你進入市場時，我們確實看到了——順便說一句，這就是我們處於超級有利位置的原因，對嗎？我們的策略就是成為這樣的合作夥伴。然後再創作會帶來更多，對嗎？因此，您首先建立數位核心，然後在此基礎上進行大量工作。這就是我們的成長策略。

Now if you come to what we're seeing in the market, right? So always best to hear from what's going on in the ground. Last week, I was very busy and I was with about 20 different CEOs. And they had 3 messages, right? Tech is super important, that's number one. Number two, they already have major programs underway and they know they need to do a lot more. But number three is they're feeling cautious about the macro. And we've already seen that in the small deals, but they're asking us to help them save money and be more focused right now, even on the bigger programs.

現在，如果你看看我們在市場上看到的情況，對嗎？因此，最好總是聽聽當地發生的事情。上週，我非常忙碌，與大約 20 位不同的 CEO 在一起。他們有 3 則訊息，對吧？技術非常重要，這是第一位的。第二，他們已經在進行重大項目，並且知道他們需要做更多的事情。但第三是他們對宏觀政策感到謹慎。我們已經在小額交易中看到了這一點，但他們要求我們幫助他們省錢，並且現在更加專注，即使是在更大的項目上。

And so what I would say is -- and that's reflected in our guidance, is that the macro is having an effect on the pace of spending right now. Again, plays into our strength in terms of being able to be the reinvention partner, being able to really think about the journey, and positions us super well as they navigate that macro. But that is -- the reality is that there is this sense of caution, and it's bleeding over to kind of overall demand.

所以我想說的是——這反映在我們的指導中，宏觀經濟正在對目前的支出速度產生影響。再次，發揮我們的優勢，能夠成為重塑合作夥伴，能夠真正思考旅程，並讓我們在他們駕馭宏觀環境時處於非常有利的位置。但現實是，人們存在這種謹慎的感覺，並且它正在滲透到整體需求中。

So right. And Lisa, maybe I'll just add, bookings can be lumpy, particularly in managed services. And as you know, we look at bookings and book-to-bill over rolling 4 quarters. And our goal in managed services is to be 1.2 or above, and that's exactly where we are on a 4-quarter basis.

太對了。麗莎，也許我會補充一點，預訂可能會很不穩定，特別是在託管服務中。如您所知，我們會關注連續 4 個季度的預訂情況和預訂到帳單情況。我們在託管服務方面的目標是達到 1.2 或更高，這正是我們第四季的目標。

We'll go next to the line of Keith Bachman with BMO.

我們將跟隨基思·巴赫曼 (Keith Bachman) 與 BMO 的路線。

I wanted to ask -- go back to M&A, if I could start with you, Julie. You're guiding to 2 points of M&A contribution to your full year guidance, which is consistent with sort of the past years, but the number here, much bigger. 2 points is meaningfully different than what it was even 3 or 4 years ago in terms of, a, the capital required to do those deals; and b, the integration therefore of the headcount.

我想問——回到併購，我是否可以從你開始，朱莉。您將全年指導中的併購貢獻分為 2 個點，這與過去幾年的情況一致，但這裡的數字要大得多。 2 點與 3 或 4 年前相比，在以下方面有顯著不同：a，進行這些交易所需的資本； b，人員總數的整合。

And I just wanted to hear your kind of philosophically -- it doesn't seem like 2 points can continue on for perpetuity. But just how do you think about any kind of balance sheet constraints or also the integration required to make sure the people side of the business -- because again, implicitly, the deals are getting larger.

我只是想聽聽你的哲學觀點——似乎 2 分不能永遠持續下去。但你如何看待任何類型的資產負債表限製或確保業務人員方面所需的整合——因為同樣，隱含的是，交易規模正在變得越來越大。

And then as part of that, could you just speak to, do you look at the same size deals? Or do you need to kind of flex up a little bit in terms of looking at larger opportunities? And then I have a follow-up. Sorry about the background noise.

作為其中的一部分，您能否談談您是否考慮過相同規模的交易？或者你需要在尋找更大的機會方面稍微靈活？然後我有一個後續行動。抱歉，背景噪音。

No problem, Keith. Thanks. I'll handle the capital allocation part and I'll hand it over to Julie. So just from a capital allocation standpoint, Julie referenced this a little bit earlier, but our capital allocation framework is really durable, but it's also very flexible. So we've been able to continue to return a significant portion of our cash through dividends and share repurchases while, over the time, we've been flexing at various times the amount of money that we spend on V&A. And we can continue with that framework.

沒問題，基斯。謝謝。我會處理資本分配部分，然後交給朱莉。因此，僅從資本配置的角度來看，朱莉早些時候提到過這一點，但我們的資本配置框架確實很耐用，但也非常靈活。因此，我們能夠繼續透過股息和股票回購還很大一部分現金，同時，隨著時間的推移，我們在不同時期調整了在 V&A 上的支出。我們可以繼續這個框架。

So just again, as a focus, we had about 80% of our free cash flow returned to shareholders through dividends and repurchases in FY '23. And we actually have a $500 million, $0.5 billion, increase in our guidance baked in for next year. So it just shows that our capital allocation framework can flex as needed while still doing a great return.

因此，作為一個重點，我們在 23 財年透過股息和回購將大約 80% 的自由現金流返還給了股東。事實上，我們明年的指導方針將增加 5 億美元、5 億美元。因此，這只是表明我們的資本配置框架可以根據需要靈活調整，同時仍獲得豐厚的回報。

And what I would say is that I'm really proud that how we do M&A is a core competency of Accenture, right? So we've now been on this journey. I helped start it when I was the General Counsel. I remember that was -- I came in, and they were like we kind of need to increase this. And I've done a lot of that in my prior life.

我想說的是，我真的很自豪我們如何進行併購是埃森哲的核心競爭力，對嗎？所以我們現在已經踏上這段旅程了。當我擔任總法律顧問時，我幫助啟動了這個計畫。我記得那是——我進來了，他們覺得我們需要增加這個。我在前世已經做過很多這樣的事了。

And what you see is that, as we've grown, we've continued to build the capabilities. We have a very mature machine around integration. But we also have an operating model where we have leaders close to the acquisitions doing the integration. And they really do vary from very small to larger ones. We've done over $1 billion and we could do even bigger ones with our capital. The point is that we know how to integrate. And we've been doing this now for many, many years.

您會看到，隨著我們的成長，我們不斷增強能力。我們有一個非常成熟的整合機器。但我們還有一種營運模式，讓與收購關係密切的領導者進行整合。它們確實有從小到大的不同。我們已經完成了超過 10 億美元的工作，我們還可以利用我們的資金完成更大的工作。關鍵是我們知道如何整合。我們已經這樣做很多很多年了。

Okay, fair enough. My follow-up is just how do you think about headcount for Accenture through the year? You're just kind of finishing off your RIF, but how do you think about headcount as we process through FY '24? And I'm really thinking on an organic basis, excluding the M&A.

好吧，很公平。我的後續問題是您如何看待埃森哲全年的員工人數？您剛完成了 RIF，但是在我們處理 24 財年時您如何看待員工人數？我確實是在有機的基礎上思考，不包括併購。

Yes, thanks, Keith. Really what I would say is managing supply and demand, as you know, it's a core competency of ours. And we're going to manage our supply skills based on wherever we see the growth. So we didn't expect that we would need to add a lot of people in -- from Q3 to Q4, as we said, and that's exactly what happened. And so we're going to continue to hire for the skills that we need. And we're going to focus on the automation, and as Julie mentioned, a lot of reskilling of our people.

是的，謝謝，基斯。我想說的是管理供需，正如你所知，這是我們的核心能力。我們將根據我們看到的成長情況來管理我們的供應技能。所以我們沒想到我們需要從第三季到第四季增加很多人，正如我們所說，而這正是發生的事情。因此，我們將繼續招募所需的技能。我們將重點放在自動化，正如朱莉所提到的，對我們的員工進行大量的再培訓。

We'll go next to the line of Darrin Peller with Wolfe Research.

我們將跟隨沃爾夫研究中心的達林佩勒 (Darrin Peller) 的路線。

I just wanted to ask, in terms of visibility that you'd say you have now in the environment relative to prior years on the outlook side. I mean, has anything changed?

我只是想問一下，在前景方面，你會說你現在所處的環境相對於前幾年的可見性。我的意思是，有什麼改變嗎？

Then just maybe if you could reiterate for us where you're seeing the pockets of strength in a little bit more of a specific manner around examples that customers need right now, that might be -- that might buck the trend of what you typically see in a downturn, macroeconomically. Just curious, kind of what's fighting through the demand weakness no matter what just because it's really mission-critical right now?

那麼也許您可以為我們重申一下，您以更具體的方式圍繞客戶現在需要的示例看到了優勢，這可能會與您通常看到的趨勢相反宏觀經濟低迷時期。只是好奇，無論如何，是什麼在克服需求疲軟，只是因為它現在確實是關鍵任務？

Yes. Great. Thanks, Darrin. In terms of visibility, right, as we sit here at the beginning of a new fiscal year, it's -- we're really confident that we're taking all the right steps to successfully deliver for a full year. And as you know well, we always aim for the top part of the range. But just like every other year, at this time, the back half of the year is less certain because we'll know more when the budgets are set, which is really in the back -- which is in H2 of our year. But as we mentioned, we are going to build throughout the year.

是的。偉大的。謝謝，達林。就可見性而言，當我們在新的財政年度開始時坐在這裡，我們非常有信心我們正在採取所有正確的步驟來成功實現全年目標。如您所知，我們始終瞄準該系列的頂級產品。但就像往常一樣，今年下半年的情況不太確定，因為當預算確定時我們會知道更多，這實際上是在下半年——也就是我們今年的下半年。但正如我們所提到的，我們將全年進行建設。

And why do we say that? Well, first of all, we're confident in the steps that we're taking, that Julie highlighted many examples, to pivot to the higher-growth areas. And 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.

為什麼我們這麼說？嗯，首先，我們對正在採取的步驟充滿信心，朱莉強調了許多例子，以轉向更高成長的領域。我們預計這將在今年下半年實現，這也得到了我們將進行的投資的支持。

The second part is that we do have the revenue from the larger-scale transformations. There's -- it is out there, right? And so we just need to layer in some of the new growth area work that we'll get to as we approach the back half of the year. And the last part, as you're aware, I mean, we do have the benefit of easier comparison in the back half.

第二部分是我們確實有來自更大規模轉型的收入。那裡——它就在那裡，對嗎？因此，我們只需要在下半年進行一些新的成長領域工作。最後一部分，正如你所知，我的意思是，我們確實有後半部分更容易比較的好處。

Yes. And then in terms of demand, it's exactly what we've been talking about. The #1 area of demand is building that digital core. So you've got clients like the financial service client I mentioned in the script that's not in the cloud at all and is basically needing to migrate to the cloud, right? Then you've got those who are in the cloud, but they haven't modernized their ERP. You saw a lot of examples of that. Then you've got security, right, absolutely has to happen. And then lots of focus on -- now on data and AI, particularly for those who've already been investing. So they're in the cloud, they've got their modern ERP, and now they want to really accelerate AI.

是的。然後就需求而言，這正是我們一直在談論的。第一大需求領域是建構數位核心。所以你有像我在腳本中提到的金融服務客戶端這樣的客戶端，它們根本不在雲端中，基本上需要遷移到雲端中，對吧？還有一些人在雲端，但他們還沒有 ERP 現代化。你看到了很多這樣的例子。然後你就得到了安全，對，絕對必鬚髮生。然後，現在專注於數據和人工智慧，特別是對於那些已經進行投資的人來說。因此，他們在雲端，擁有現代化的 ERP，現在他們希望真正加速人工智慧的發展。

So what's not happening, right, is discretionary spend globally, as we saw throughout the year, starting in North America. People are not doing smaller systems integration, they're not doing smaller strategy and consulting. They're prioritizing and focusing on larger deals. And even there, there's prioritizing, especially depending on the industry where you've got more challenges to say, "Can we -- we've got a lot underway. We're cautious about the environment. So help us, Accenture, cut costs so we can afford all of the reinvention ahead of us. And help us prioritize what we start next." And that's kind of the overall sort of more cautious spending.

因此，正如我們從北美開始全年看到的那樣，全球範圍內的可自由支配支出並沒有發生。人們不會進行較小的系統集成，也不會進行較小的策略和諮詢。他們優先考慮並專注於更大的交易。即使在那裡，也有優先順序，特別是根據您面臨更多挑戰的行業，「我們可以——我們已經做了很多工作。我們對環境持謹慎態度。所以幫助我們，埃森哲，削減成本，以便我們能夠承擔我們面前的所有改造。並幫助我們確定下一步開始的優先順序。”這就是整體上更加謹慎的支出。

But I just want to reemphasize. Nothing has changed about the fact that our clients have more ahead of them than behind them in terms of building the digital core and then using it to reinvent. And we're the only one in our industry that can both build the technology and, at this scale, have the industry and the functional expertise to then be positioned to help them use that technology to reinvent. So we are super optimistic about this industry and our position.

但我只是想再次強調。事實上，我們的客戶在建立數位核心並利用它進行重塑方面領先於他們，而不是落後於他們，這一事實並沒有改變。我們是業界唯一一家既能夠建構技術，又能夠在如此規模上擁有產業和職能專業知識，然後幫助他們利用該技術進行重塑的公司。所以我們對這個行業和我們的地位非常樂觀。

That makes sense, Julie. And just, I guess, as a follow-up to that, the ramp time. You talked about $1 billion of investment in AI last time, and we've obviously seen some evidence of success, but early days still. So when -- now that you've had the luxury of a few more months, the ramp time you'd expect to see that really become a much, much bigger part of the business, can you just quickly touch on that again? This is around AI and generative AI.

這是有道理的，朱莉。我想，作為後續措施，斜坡時間。您上次談到了對人工智慧的 10 億美元投資，我們顯然已經看到了一些成功的證據，但仍處於早期階段。因此，現在您已經擁有了幾個月的時間，您期望看到的成長時間真正成為業務的一個非常非常大的部分，您能很快再次談到這一點嗎？這是圍繞人工智慧和生成人工智慧。

I'm sure my team are going to love the luxury of a few more months, so thank you for that. I'm going to tell them that. "Guys, you've got a few more months."

我確信我的團隊會喜歡再享受幾個月的時光，所以謝謝你們。我要告訴他們這一點。 “夥計們，你們還有幾個月的時間。”

So look. As I talked a little bit about in our script, we're still learning. Remember, these are like $1 million sort of things. We're starting to look at our -- work it in our own delivery, so it's going to take a few more quarters till I've really got a well-informed view of that. But what I will say is Gen AI is it's an amazing technology, it's going to do great things. And what I tell all my clients: Can't use it unless you're in the cloud, have data and you've modernize your core. So that's our opportunity.

所以看。正如我在腳本中談到的，我們仍在學習。請記住，這些東西就像 100 萬美元之類的。我們開始考慮在我們自己的交付中進行工作，所以還需要幾個季度的時間，直到我真正對此有一個充分的了解。但我要說的是，Gen AI 是一項了不起的技術，它將做出偉大的事情。我告訴我所有的客戶：除非您在雲端、擁有數據並且您已經對核心進行了現代化改造，否則無法使用它。這就是我們的機會。

And we'll go next to the line of Jason Kupferberg with Bank of America.

我們將前往 Jason Kupferberg 與美國銀行的隊列。

I wanted to pick up on your earlier comment. I think you said that you're not assuming any improvement in discretionary spending in the overall environment there during F '24. So I know you guys typically start the year with a relatively conservative approach to guidance. That certainly served you quite well in fiscal '23. So against that backdrop, could you tell us a little bit about what you're thinking regarding growth for each of the 3 business dimensions in F '24?

我想了解你之前的評論。我想你說過，你並沒有假設 24 世紀整體環境中的可自由支配支出有任何改善。所以我知道你們通常會以相對保守的指導方式開始新的一年。這無疑對您在 23 財年起到了很好的作用。因此，在此背景下，您能否告訴我們一些您對 F '24 三個業務維度的成長的看法？

Yes. So Jason, let me just kind of give you a little bit more color on guidance, right? So as we mentioned, we're not assuming in our guidance any improvement in the macro discretionary spend. But we're going to pivot to areas of growth, so the macro is going to be kind of -- it's not going to help us or hurt us this year is kind of what really essentially what we're saying.

是的。那麼傑森，讓我給你一些更多的指導，對吧？正如我們所提到的，我們在指導中並不假設宏觀可自由支配支出有任何改善。但我們將把重點轉向成長領域，因此今年的宏觀政策不會幫助我們，也不會傷害我們，這正是我們所說的。

In terms of color, I'll kind of stick to what we have in the type of work maybe is the best way of thinking about it. And again I think just consulting, it's going to build as we go throughout the year. And overall, I think it's important to know that we are going to build in this environment, we're going to build as we go throughout the year.

在顏色方面，我會堅持我們現有的工作類型，這也許是最好的思考方式。我再次認為，僅僅諮詢，它就會隨著我們全年的發展而不斷建立。總的來說，我認為重要的是要知道我們將在這種環境中進行建設，我們將在全年中進行建設。

Okay. And then just on bookings, any thoughts on the first quarter or the full year? I know there are some seasonal elements we typically consider in the November quarter.

好的。然後就預訂而言，對第一季或全年有何想法？我知道我們通常會在 11 月季度考慮一些季節性因素。

Yes, sure. So let me just talk about maybe a little bit of bookings. In bookings, maybe we'll start with the fourth quarter. I mean, it's come in a little bit lighter than we expected. And they can be lumpy and we saw some deals kind of push out of the quarter. When it came to small deals, we didn't see any change in the discretionary spend environment.

是的，當然。所以讓我談談可能的一些預訂。在預訂方面，也許我們會從第四季開始。我的意思是，它比我們預期的要輕一些。它們可能會很不穩定，我們看到一些交易有點超出了本季。當涉及小額交易時，我們沒有看到可自由支配支出環境有任何變化。

And just to reiterate that we're really pleased with the 21 clients that we had over $100 million. Julie talked about that. It just reinforces our strategy to be the client's transformational partner of choice and to be at their core.

再次重申，我們對擁有超過 1 億美元資金的 21 位客戶感到非常滿意。朱莉談到了這一點。它只是強化了我們的策略，即成為客戶選擇的轉型合作夥伴並成為他們的核心。

And lastly, as it relates to '23, we look at bookings over rolling 4 quarters, and I mentioned this on managed services. But just overall, we're at a 1.1 book-to-bill, which I'm really pleased about, for the fourth quarter's. And then for next year, looking at '24 Q1, you're right. It's seasonally a little lighter for us. However, we have a solid pipeline, and we do expect that FY '24 Q1 bookings will reflect growth over FY '23 Q1.

最後，由於與 23 年相關，我們研究了連續 4 個季度的預訂情況，我在託管服務中提到了這一點。但總體而言，我們第四季的訂單出貨比為 1.1，對此我非常滿意。然後對於明年，看看'24 Q1，你是對的。對我們來說，季節性的天氣比較清淡。然而，我們擁有堅實的管道，我們確實預計 24 財年第一季的預訂量將反映出 23 財年第一季的成長。

Operator, we have time for one more question. And then Julie will wrap up the call.

接線員，我們還有時間再問一個問題。然後朱莉將結束通話。

And that question will come from the line of Bryan Keane with Deutsche Bank.

這個問題將來自德意志銀行的布萊恩·基恩 (Bryan Keane)。

I wanted to just follow up on strategy and consulting. I know that, that was an area that we were hoping, at one point during the year, that it was going to turn back to positive growth by the fourth quarter. And then I know we didn't think that was going to happen as of last quarter. So I'm just curious, as we go through the year, into fiscal year '24, when do you think S&C might turn towards positive growth?

我只想跟進策略和諮詢。我知道，這是我們在一年中的某個時候希望該領域能夠在第四季度恢復正成長的領域。然後我知道我們認為上個季度不會發生這種情況。所以我只是好奇，當我們進入這一年，進入 24 財年時，您認為施恩禧什麼時候會轉向正增長？

Yes, thanks, Bryan. So look. In terms of our full year range, at the top end of our full year range, which again, always where we try to be, it does reflect S&C reconnecting with growth. And that clearly is our goal. Now when, really the pace is going to differ by market, all right? So it's hard to tell exactly what it will be throughout the year. Of course, we'll update you as we go through. And North America, it's our biggest market, will be a bit more challenged.

是的，謝謝，布萊恩。所以看。就我們的全年業績範圍而言，處於全年業績範圍的頂端，這也是我們一直努力達到的目標，這確實反映出施恩禧與成長的重新連結。這顯然是我們的目標。現在，步伐真的會因市場而異，好嗎？因此，很難確切地說出全年會發生什麼。當然，我們會及時向您通報最新情況。北美是我們最大的市場，將面臨更多的挑戰。

All right, in closing. I really do want to thank again all of our people and our managing directors, what they do every day, which is truly extraordinary and gives us a lot of confidence in the future. And I want to thank all of our shareholders for your continued trust and support. I assure you we are working hard every day to continue to earn it. Thank you.

好吧，結束了。我真的想再次感謝我們所有的員工和董事總經理，感謝他們每天所做的事情，這確實是非凡的，讓我們對未來充滿信心。我要感謝所有股東一直以來的信任與支持。我向你保證，我們每天都在努力工作，以繼續賺取它。謝謝。

Thank you. And this conference is available for replay, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time today and running through December 19 at midnight. You may access the AT&T replay system by dialing (866) 207-1041 and entering the access code of 5848756. International participants may dial (402) 970-0847.

謝謝。本次會議可重播，時間從東部時間今天上午 10:00 開始，一直持續到 12 月 19 日午夜。您可以撥打 (866) 207-1041 並輸入存取碼 5848756 來存取 AT&T 重播系統。國際參與者可以撥打 (402) 970-0847。

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Event Conferencing. You may now disconnect.

我們今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與與使用 AT&T Event Conference。您現在可以斷開連線。