Accenture Plc has told its staffers that they can push any unused vacation time into the next financial year in a break from its usual policy, as it looks to book more business through the end of August.
Staff can carry over any unused vacation days into the next fiscal year, which starts on Sept. 1, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. A spokesperson for Accenture declined to comment.
Chief Executive Officer Julie Sweet has also encouraged staff to reel in more business before the company's 2026 fiscal year ends this month, after a third-quarter earnings miss that triggered its shares to fall 20%.
“Our shareholders are counting on us to deliver a strong quarter in Q4 — everyone can contribute,” Sweet wrote in a memo to staff that was seen by Bloomberg. “This means we all need to find more ways to serve clients that create more revenue in the quarter and to originate more sales (small, large, mega) to finish strong.”
The move to allow staff to roll over more vacation time is part of the sales push, some of the people said, as it means more staff will work in the final quarter of the year, rather than taking accrued vacation to avoid losing any time off.
The one-time policy shift aims to give the firm's staff more flexibility, a separate person familiar with the matter said.
The sales drive and vacation shake-up comes after the firm posted a 2% drop in new bookings for the quarter ended May 31 and forecast revenue of between $17.75 billion and $18.4 billion in the three months through August, falling short of the $18.47 billion average Bloomberg-compiled analyst estimate.
Investors reacted negatively to the results, with Accenture shares closing down 18% to $127.98 on June 18, one of their worst one-day falls on record.
Its disappointing earnings strengthened investor fears that the company is set to be disrupted by artificial intelligence in the short term, despite Sweet describing the technology as a “tailwind” for its business.
“AI remains the dominant concern for services and consulting,” Bloomberg Intelligence wrote in a research note last month. “Though management positions Accenture as a long-term AI beneficiary, tangible evidence that AI is accelerating demand is limited.”
Accenture shares have recovered since its third-quarter earnings to $171.11 on August 7, but have still slumped more than 36% year-to-date.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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