Accenture PLCACN

Technology infrastructure · Technology systems and infrastructure failure

Extended disruptions of electricity, other public utilities or network or cloud services, as well as damage to or failures, cyberattacks on, or security incidents involving, our facilities or systems, or those of our ecosystem partners, suppliers or clients, could also adversely affect our ability to conduct our business and serve our clients which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our reputation in the marketplace.

Technology infrastructure · Cloud services and data center operations

Extended disruptions of electricity, other public utilities or network or cloud services, as well as damage to or failures, cyberattacks on, or security incidents involving, our facilities or systems, or those of our ecosystem partners, suppliers or clients, could also adversely affect our ability to conduct our business and serve our clients.

Project and contract management · Project execution and delivery risks

If we do not accurately anticipate the cost, risk and complexity of performing our work or if third parties upon whom we rely do not meet their commitments, then our contracts could have delivery inefficiencies and be less profitable than expected or unprofitable. Our contract profitability is highly dependent on our forecasts regarding the effort and cost necessary to deliver our solutions and services, which are based on available data and could turn out to be materially inaccurate.

Project and contract management · Service level and performance guarantees

Many of our contracts tie our compensation to agreed-upon performance standards, milestones or outcome-based measures such as cost savings, revenue enhancement or business goals. If we fail to satisfy these measures, or if we experience delivery difficulties, our contracts could yield lower profit margins than planned or be unprofitable.

Project and contract management · Government contract dependency

Our work with government clients exposes us to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment. Our clients include national, provincial, state and local governmental entities. Government entities typically fund projects through appropriated monies. While these projects are often planned and executed as multi-year projects, government entities usually reserve the right to change the scope of or terminate these projects for lack of approved funding and/or at their convenience.

Corporate governance · Internal controls and risk management

The size and scope of our operations increase the possibility that we will have employees who engage in unlawful or fraudulent activity, or otherwise expose us to unacceptable business risks, despite our efforts to train them and maintain internal controls to prevent such instances.

Reputation and brand · Brand damage and negative publicity

Our ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on our reputation in the marketplace. We believe the Accenture brand name and our reputation are important corporate assets that help distinguish our solutions and services from those of competitors and contribute to our efforts to recruit and retain talented employees. Damage to our reputation could be difficult, expensive and time-consuming to repair, could make potential or existing clients reluctant to select us for new engagements or could negatively impact our relationships with ecosystem partners, resulting in a loss of business.

Reputation and brand · Corporate social responsibility

Our brand and reputation are also associated with our various corporate initiatives. Our disclosures on these matters and any failure or perceived failure to achieve or accurately report on our initiatives, could harm our reputation and adversely affect our client relationships or our recruitment and retention efforts, as well as expose us to potential legal liability.

Reputation and brand · Esg environmental social governance performance

Increasing focus on sustainability matters has resulted in, and is expected to continue to result in, the adoption of legal and regulatory requirements related to climate- and weather-related risks, human rights and supply chain-related matters. Our ability to achieve our sustainability ambitions (such as our 2040 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target) is subject to numerous risks, many of which are outside of our control.

Strategic execution · Merger acquisition and divestiture risks

We expect to continue pursuing strategic acquisitions, investments and joint ventures to enhance or add to our skills and capabilities or offerings of solutions and services. These acquisitions and other transactions and investments involve challenges and risks, such as that we may not succeed in completing targeted transactions, or achieve desired results of operations. Integration activities can disrupt ongoing business, divert management attention and require significant additional resources.

Strategic execution · Joint venture and partnership risks

If we do not successfully manage and develop our relationships with our ecosystem partners or if we fail to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, our results of operations could be adversely affected. The business that we conduct through these alliances could decrease or fail to grow for a variety of reasons. The priorities and objectives of our ecosystem partners may differ from ours.

Innovation and product development · Intellectual property protection and infringement

We also cannot be certain that our solutions and services do not infringe third party IP rights. Although we have policies and procedures designed to respect those rights and prohibit the unauthorized use of IP, we may not be aware if our employees have misused IP, and their actions could result in claims from third parties. Claims could harm our reputation, impose substantial costs or prevent us from offering some solutions or services.

Industry regulation · Regulatory compliance and changes

Our global operations expose us to numerous and sometimes conflicting legal and regulatory requirements, and violation of these regulations could harm our business. We are subject to numerous, changing, and sometimes conflicting, legal regimes on matters as diverse as anticorruption, import/export controls, content requirements, trade restrictions, tariffs, taxation, sanctions, boycotts, immigration, internal and disclosure control obligations, securities regulation, including sustainability regulation and reporting requirements, anti-competition, anti-money-laundering, data privacy and protection, cybersecurity, government compliance, wage-and-hour standards, employment and labor relations, product liability, health and safety, environmental, human rights and AI regulations.

Tax and financial reporting · Tax compliance and changes in tax law

Changes in laws and regulations could also mandate significant and costly changes to the way we implement our solutions and services or could impose additional taxes on our solutions and services. Changes in tax laws, treaties or regulations, or their interpretation or enforcement, have become more unpredictable and may become more stringent, which could materially adversely affect our tax position.

Tax and financial reporting · Transfer pricing and international tax

We are subject to ongoing audits, investigations and tax proceedings in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities have disagreed, and may in the future disagree, with our judgments, and are taking increasingly aggressive positions opposing the judgments we make, including with respect to our intercompany transactions. Our effective tax rate in the future could be adversely affected by challenges to our intercompany transactions.

Legal and litigation · Litigation and legal proceedings

Our business could be materially adversely affected if we incur legal liability. We are subject to, and may become a party to, a variety of litigation or other claims and suits that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. Regardless of the merits of the claims, the cost to defend current and future litigation may be significant, and such matters can be time-consuming and divert management's attention and resources.

Geopolitical and trade · Trade policies tariffs and sanctions

Changes in global trade policies, including the threat or imposition of tariffs or other trade restrictions and related retaliatory actions, protectionism, nationalism, global health emergencies and active or escalating conflicts or tensions in certain regions have in the past adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect us, our clients and the industries we serve.

Geopolitical and trade · Regulatory and policy uncertainty

Evolving rules, regulations and industry standards governing AI may require us to incur significant costs to modify, maintain, or align our business practices, solutions and services to comply with U.S. and non-U.S. rules and regulations, the nature of which cannot be determined at this time and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Several jurisdictions where we operate are considering, have proposed or enacted legislation and policies regulating AI and non-personal data, such as the European Union's AI Act.

Geopolitical and trade · Government funding and budget changes

Elections, changes in government or political developments, including government closures or shutdowns, budget deficits, shortfalls or uncertainties, government spending reductions or other debt constraints have resulted and could in the future result in our projects being reduced in price or scope, delayed or terminated altogether, which also could limit our recovery of incurred costs, reimbursable expenses and profits on work completed prior to the termination.

Geopolitical and trade · Political instability and government changes

Political and economic factors such as pending elections, the outcome of elections, changes in leadership among key executive or legislative decision makers, revisions to governmental tax or other policies and reduced tax revenues can affect the number and terms of new government contracts signed or the speed at which new contracts are signed, decrease future levels of spending and authorizations for programs that we bid.