Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

The financial data reveals notable trends across three key performance metrics: Return on Assets (ROA), Financial Leverage, and Return on Equity (ROE) over the observed periods.

Return on Assets (ROA)

The ROA began reporting from May 31, 2019, showing an initial value of 16.04%. Over the subsequent quarters, it demonstrated a gradual decline, reaching a low around 12.55% by November 30, 2024. The trajectory reflects a consistent decrease with moderate fluctuations, indicating a diminishing efficiency in asset utilization over time. Despite minor recoveries around August 31, 2022 (14.97%) and February 28, 2023 (14.54%), the overall pattern is downward.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage started at 2.11 in November 30, 2018, and remained relatively stable with minor variations across the periods. The ratio stayed mostly around 2.0 to 2.2 initially but showed a mild downtrend starting in late 2021, dipping to a low of 1.89 by February 29, 2024. Thereafter, it exhibited a slight increase back to approximately 2.07 by May 31, 2025. These changes suggest a cautious adjustment in the company’s use of debt relative to equity, with a trend towards reduced leverage in some periods followed by a modest rebound.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE, reported from May 31, 2019, began at 33.17%, and over the subsequent periods, it experienced a steady decline. The figures dropped from above 30% between late 2019 and early 2021 to around 25-26% in 2024 and 2025. The declining ROE signals a reduction in profitability attributable to shareholders' equity over time. This trend parallels the decrease in ROA, suggesting that the reduced asset efficiency impacted equity returns despite relatively stable financial leverage.

In summary, the data shows a downward trend in both asset profitability and equity returns, while the company's financial leverage underwent moderate adjustment without drastic changes. These patterns could indicate challenges in sustaining profitability levels and operational efficiency in recent years, necessitating closer evaluation of asset management strategies and capital structure optimization.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin data starts from November 2019. It shows a generally stable trend, fluctuating mostly between 10.65% and 12.05%. The margin reached its peak around mid-2021 at approximately 12.05%, followed by a gradual decline until early 2023, near 10.65%. After this dip, there was a modest recovery with values rising back above 11% by early 2025. Overall, profitability remains consistent with minor variations over the analyzed periods.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover ratios begin from November 2019 and demonstrate a declining trend initially, decreasing from about 1.45 to a low near 1.14 by mid-2020. A recovery phase is evident from late 2020 to early 2023, where the ratio improved to about 1.32. However, after this peak, a gradual reduction occurred again, trending down to roughly 1.08 by mid-2025. This pattern suggests fluctuating efficiency in asset utilization over the periods, with peaks and troughs potentially reflecting operational or market conditions.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage starts earlier, with values available from late 2018. The ratio remains relatively stable, fluctuating in a narrow band mostly between 1.89 and 2.21 throughout the entire period. A slight downward trend is seen from the peak around 2.21 in mid-2021 to a low near 1.89 in early 2023, followed by a gradual return to levels around 2.05 by mid-2025. The stability indicates consistent capital structure management, with no significant shifts in debt reliance or equity structuring.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE data is available from November 2019, showing a declining trajectory over the long term. The metric started near 33.17% and gradually decreased, reaching around 25.06% by late 2024. There is a slight upturn after this point, but overall the trend is downward, indicating diminishing returns to shareholders over the analyzed intervals. This decline may be influenced by the concurrent decreases in asset turnover and net profit margin, though partially offset by relatively stable financial leverage.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio exhibits stability from November 2019 through May 2025, consistently around 0.76 to 0.77, indicating a relatively consistent proportion of earnings retained after tax over this period.

Interest Burden

Interest burden remains very close to 1.0 throughout the observed periods starting from November 2019, with only minor fluctuations down to 0.98 by the most recent dates. This suggests minimal impact of interest expenses on earnings before taxes, reflecting low leverage costs or effective interest management.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin demonstrates a generally positive and upward trend from approximately 14.36% in November 2019 to 15.42% by May 2025. Occasional minor dips occur, but overall, the margin improves, indicating enhanced operational efficiency or profitability over time.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover shows a declining trend from 1.45 in November 2019 to about 1.08 by May 2025, reflecting a gradual reduction in sales generated per unit of assets. There are slight recoveries in certain quarters, but the overall pattern suggests a decreasing efficiency in asset utilization.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage fluctuates slightly around a stable mean of about 2.05 from November 2018, with a slow downward drift to around 1.89 by early 2023 before slightly rising back near 2.07 toward the end of the period. This indicates relatively stable use of debt or equity financing with minor adjustments in capital structure.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE shows a decreasing trend from a peak of 33.17% (Nov 2019) down to about 25.06% in November 2024, with some mild recovery to 26.27% by May 2025. This decline indicates reduced profitability or efficiency in generating returns on shareholders' equity over time, potentially influenced by changes in margins, asset turnover, or leverage.

The financial data demonstrates several observable trends over the reported periods in key performance metrics including Net Profit Margin, Asset Turnover, and Return on Assets (ROA).

Net Profit Margin (%)

The net profit margin shows a relatively stable performance with minor fluctuations throughout the timeline from November 2018 to May 2025. Starting from around 11.06% in late 2018/early 2019, the margin incrementally rose to reach a peak around 12.05% in the third quarter of 2021. Subsequently, a gradual decline is noticed, settling approximately in the range of 10.65% to 11.61% in the most recent periods towards mid-2025. This indicates profitability has been maintained consistently but with slight weakening after the 2021 peak.

Asset Turnover (ratio)

The asset turnover ratio reveals an overall downward trajectory. An initial value of about 1.45 in late 2018 decreased steadily to near 1.14 by mid-2021, showing reduced efficiency in using assets to generate revenue. A moderate recovery followed, increasing the ratio back to approximately 1.32 around late 2022 to early 2023. After this rebound, the ratio trends downward again, ending near 1.08 by mid-2025. This pattern suggests variations in operational efficiency, peaking around 2022 before a gradual decline.

Return on Assets (ROA) (%)

The ROA metric exhibits a similar pattern to net profit margin but with more pronounced changes. From an initial level near 16.04% around the end of 2018, a decrease occurred leading to approximately 13.65% by mid-2020. A period of moderate recovery took place, with ROA rising to just under 15% by late 2022. Following this, the metric progressively declined, reaching roughly 12.55% to 12.83% by mid-2025. This indicates fluctuations in how effectively the company converts assets into profits, with a high point early in the timeline followed by a weakening trend over recent years.

Overall, the data presents a picture of a company maintaining profitability and reasonable efficiency, albeit with downward pressure on asset turnover and ROA in the later stages of the period. Profit margins have been more stable but also show some signs of tightening. These trends suggest potential operational challenges affecting asset utilization and profitability growth post-2021, warranting continued monitoring and possible strategic adjustments to sustain performance levels.

The financial data reflects several notable trends in key profitability and efficiency ratios over the observed periods.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio remains relatively stable, oscillating narrowly around 0.76 to 0.77 from November 2019 through May 2025. This consistency suggests a steady effective tax rate without significant fluctuations in tax obligations impacting profitability.

Interest Burden

The interest burden ratio is consistently close to 1, with minor dips to 0.98-0.99 at occasional quarters. This stability implies minimal interest expense relative to earnings before interest and taxes, indicating efficient debt management and low financial leverage costs during the periods analyzed.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin shows an overall incremental upward trend, starting near 14.36% in November 2019 and reaching approximately 15.42% by August 2024. Some quarter-to-quarter variation exists, but the general direction suggests improving operating profitability, possibly due to enhanced cost controls or revenue growth exceeding operating costs.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover declines from 1.45 in November 2019 to a low near 1.08 by August 2024, showing a gradual decrease in the efficiency with which the company uses its assets to generate sales. A brief recovery is noted around early 2022 to mid-2022, but the longer-term trend remains downward, which might indicate increasing asset base or slower revenue growth relative to assets.

Return on Assets (ROA)

The ROA exhibits a decreasing trend over the period, moving from about 16.04% in November 2019 down to near 12.55% by August 2024. This decline occurs despite the stable EBIT margin and suggests that the decrease in asset turnover negatively impacts overall asset profitability. The lower ROA may reflect diminished efficiency in asset utilization or shifting capital structure.

In summary, the data indicate improving operating margins but declining asset utilization efficiency, resulting in a reduced return on assets over time. The consistent tax and interest burdens demonstrate stable external cost factors, thereby emphasizing internal operational and asset management dynamics as primary drivers of profitability trends.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio remained relatively stable throughout the observed periods, fluctuating narrowly between 0.76 and 0.77. This consistency indicates a steady taxation impact on pre-tax earnings, suggesting no significant changes in tax policies or tax strategy affecting the company during this timeframe.

Interest Burden

The interest burden ratio was predominantly stable at or very close to 1.0, with slight dips to 0.99 and a minor decrease to 0.98 in the latest period. This indicates that interest expenses had a minimal effect on operating profit, reflecting either low levels of debt or favorable interest terms for the company over time. The near-constant value points to consistent financing costs without notable fluctuations.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin exhibited a general upward trend from around 14.36% in early periods to a peak near 15.87% around mid-2021, followed by some minor decline and a recovery toward the end of the period, reaching approximately 15.42% by mid-2025. This progression illustrates improving operational efficiency and profitability, with periods of slight volatility but an overall enhancement in earnings before interest and taxes relative to revenue.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin showed a pattern of gradual increase from just above 11% initially to about 12.05% at its highest point before experiencing a modest decline back to near 10.65%, and then a resurgence to over 11.6% in the latest period. This indicates that while the company faced some pressures that compressed net profitability during certain quarters, it was able to recover and maintain profitability levels near or above the initial figures. It reflects effective cost control and possibly favorable changes in non-operating items or tax effects supporting net income.