Accenture's Revenue Falls In 'Difficult' EnvironmentAccenture's Revenue Falls In 'Difficult' Environment

Accenture chairman and CEO Joe Forehand says the computer services industry continues to suffer from "a difficult business environment" as the company reported Thursday that net revenue fell 2% to $2.9 billion for its first quarter ended Nov. 30.

Accenture, formerly Andersen Consulting, reported net income for the quarter of $126.9 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with $81.7 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. The results met analysts' revised expectations. The company reported GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings of $200 million, or 20 cents a share.

For 2003, Accenture, the world's largest IT services firm, said it expects revenue growth of no more than 2% and that revenue in the second quarter would fall by 1% to 6%. Revenue from the key financial-services sector dropped 7% in the first quarter. "We continue to be cautious about the outlook because the economic and geopolitical climate remains unstable," Forehand said during a conference call.

There were some bright spots. Accenture reported that revenue in its communications and government services businesses increased by 12% and 7%, respectively. Accenture also may be in line to benefit from increased public-sector outsourcing. Input, a government IT market-research firm, said Wednesday that it sees federal government spending on IT outsourcing, which stood at $6.6 billion in fiscal 2002, soaring to $15 billion in fiscal 2007.