Accenture’s Australian arm is riding a wave of AI interest from telecoms, banks, insurers and government agencies at a time when many rival consulting divisions face falling revenue. The local business now contributes a relatively small but strategically important slice of its New York-listed parent, which generated about $US70 billion (around $104 billion) in global revenue over the last financial year as organisations worldwide experiment with AI-driven transformation.
Behind the local momentum is a combination of stronger AI advisory demand and a steady acquisition push. Accenture Australia reports almost $3 billion in revenue and a post-tax profit of $124 million, up about 20% year on year. Recent local deals include roughly $16 million for a marketing advisory business and $9 million for a retail consultancy in early 2024, on top of earlier purchases such as a customer insights specialist bought for about $106 million and a mining and energy consultancy for $9 million in 2022-23. A separate $375 million acquisition of an operational improvement firm and a planned billion-dollar-plus cybersecurity advisory deal sit at the global level, with the latter still awaiting foreign investment approval.
The Australian unit appears to be running at double-digit revenue growth, with internal figures suggesting more than 20% growth in the back half of the last financial year that has carried into the current one. Growth is strongest in service-focused industries, where organisations seem more ready to adopt newer AI capabilities including more autonomous “agentic” systems. Deals are getting bigger and broader as clients increasingly sign engagements that span several of Accenture’s core offerings, such as strategy, consulting, creative, technology and operations, with a rising share of projects reportedly worth over $50 million and in some cases above $100 million.
All this points to a consulting market that looks as if it is consolidating around a few large AI-capable players, but the long-term balance of power between advisers and clients is still unclear. Many organisations want an injection of specialist know-how to redesign end-to-end processes, workforce models and digital tools, yet they also aim to retain control of their revamped functions instead of fully outsourcing them. If this pattern continues, Accenture Australia could deepen its role as a high-impact transformation partner while clients gradually build more in-house capability, which would reshape how AI projects are structured and governed across the economy.
