Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Return on Assets (ROA)

The Return on Assets demonstrates a generally stable trend over the observed quarterly periods, with values fluctuating slightly in a narrow range. Initial readings around 13.7% are followed by a gradual increase peaking near 14.97%. However, from early 2023 onward, a downward trend is noticeable, with ROA decreasing steadily to approximately 11.74% toward the end of the period. This suggests a declining efficiency in asset utilization to generate earnings in the latter stages of the timeline.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage ratios remain relatively stable, mostly hovering between 2.1 and 2.2 in early periods. A gradual decrease is observed starting from late 2022, reaching a low near 1.89 by early 2024. Subsequently, financial leverage mildly increases again, stabilizing around 2.1 in the final periods. This indicates slight fluctuations in the company's use of debt relative to equity, with a brief phase of decreased leverage before returning to prior levels.

Return on Equity (ROE)

The Return on Equity exhibits moderate variability with higher values noted in the earlier quarters, reaching just above 31%. From late 2022, ROE experiences a gradual decline, dropping to approximately 24.6% by the end of the reported timeframe. While some minor recoveries occur intermittently, the overall direction points to diminishing returns generated on shareholders' equity, suggesting either lower profit margins or changes in capital structure affecting equity returns over time.

The financial data indicates several notable trends across the reviewed periods.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin shows a generally declining trend from approximately 11.74% in late 2020 to around 10.76% by the end of the latest period in 2025. There are minor fluctuations throughout, with occasional small recoveries, but the overall pattern suggests a gradual reduction in profitability relative to sales over the observed time frame.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover initially increases, peaking near 1.32 in late 2022 and early 2023, indicating enhanced efficiency in utilizing assets to generate revenue. Subsequent values reveal a steady decrease down to about 1.09 by late 2025. This suggests a reduction in operational efficiency or growing asset base outpacing revenue growth in the later periods.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage remains relatively stable, fluctuating slightly around the 2.1 mark. Early periods show a slight increase, peaking near 2.21, followed by a decline to about 1.89, then a gradual rise back toward 2.1. This stability indicates consistent use of debt relative to equity, with no significant leverage expansion or reduction trends.

Return on Equity (ROE)

Return on equity peaks around 31.11% in late 2021 and early 2022, followed by a general downward trajectory, reaching approximately 24.66% in the last reported period. The decline is more pronounced after mid-2022, coinciding with the drop in net profit margin and asset turnover, suggesting diminished overall shareholder returns in recent years.

In summary, the company experienced its highest efficiency and profitability in the 2021–early 2022 period. Since then, key performance indicators such as profit margin, asset turnover, and ROE show declining trends, although financial leverage remained fairly constant. These patterns may reflect operational challenges, changing market conditions, or strategic shifts affecting margins and asset utilization, ultimately impacting shareholder returns.

The financial data exhibits various trends across multiple key ratios, indicating changes in operational efficiency, profitability, and capital structure over the observed periods.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio has remained relatively stable, fluctuating slightly between 0.75 and 0.77. This consistency suggests that the effective tax rate applied to earnings has not experienced significant variability, indicating stable tax expense management relative to earnings before taxes.

Interest Burden

The interest burden ratio has demonstrated very minor fluctuations, generally maintaining values close to 0.99 or 1. This points toward minimal impact from interest expenses on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), suggesting that interest costs have been kept under control and do not materially erode operating income.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin has shown modest variability, starting around 15.46% and experiencing slight declines and recoveries over time. The margin slightly decreased towards mid-period, declining to around 14.05%, but later stages show partial recovery approaching the mid-14% to low 15% range. Overall, the company maintains a relatively stable operating profitability with minor pressures potentially from cost increases or pricing adjustments.

Asset Turnover

The asset turnover ratio illustrates some fluctuations, initially hovering near 1.17 and then increasing to a peak near 1.32 before gradually declining to approximately 1.07 by the end of the data series. The early rise suggests improved efficiency in utilizing assets to generate sales, while the subsequent decline may imply reduced asset utilization efficiency or a higher asset base relative to sales towards the later periods.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage ratios have slightly declined from approximately 2.14 to a low around 1.89, before rising again towards 2.10 in the most recent periods. This pattern indicates a shift toward reduced reliance on debt or financial obligations in the intermediate periods, followed by a modest increase in leverage later. The overall leverage level remains moderate, reflecting a balanced capital structure.

Return on Equity (ROE)

The ROE has experienced a gradual downward trend, starting above 29% and tapering to mid-24% levels near the end of the period. This decline suggests weakening overall profitability from the shareholders’ perspective. The decreasing ROE could result from lower operating margins, changes in asset turnover, or shifts in leverage that, combined, produce reduced returns on equity capital.

In summary, the company shows stable tax and interest expense management with moderate volatility in operational profitability and asset utilization. Leverage adjustments indicate active management of capital structure, while the declining ROE points to underlying challenges in sustaining high returns to equity holders. Continuous monitoring of operational efficiencies and capital deployment effectiveness appears essential going forward.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin exhibited a generally downward trend over the analyzed periods. Starting at 11.74% in late 2020, it peaked slightly in early 2021 around 12.05% before gradually declining to approximately 10.65% by late 2023. There was some fluctuation thereafter, with minor improvements around early to mid-2024, reaching near 11.61% in late 2024. However, the margin decreased again towards the end of the timeline, closing at 10.76% in late 2025. Overall, this indicates a moderate compression in profitability margins over time.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover showed relative stability with a slight initial increasing trend, starting from 1.17 in late 2020 and reaching a peak near 1.32 in late 2022 and early 2023. Following this peak, the ratio gradually decreased, declining to about 1.07 by late 2025. This pattern suggests that the efficiency with which assets generate revenue improved initially but diminished in the later periods, indicating potential challenges in maintaining asset utilization efficiency.

Return on Assets (ROA)

ROA mirrored some aspects of the net profit margin and asset turnover trends. It increased from 13.72% at the end of 2020 to a high near 14.97% in late 2022, signifying enhanced overall asset profitability during this period. Post this peak, ROA experienced a steady decline, reaching 11.76% by late 2025. This decline signals a reduction in the company's effectiveness in generating profit from its asset base, potentially reflecting margin compression and lower asset turnover.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio remained relatively stable over the analyzed periods, fluctuating slightly mostly between 0.75 and 0.77. This consistency suggests a steady effective tax rate without significant fluctuations affecting net profitability.

Interest Burden

The interest burden ratio stayed close to 1.00 across most quarters, with only minor decreases to 0.97-0.98 in the most recent periods. This indicates that interest expenses are minimal relative to earnings before interest and taxes, reflecting low financial leverage or interest cost impact.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin exhibited moderate variability, beginning around 15.46% and generally trending slightly downward to lows near 14.05%-14.12%, followed by modest recoveries reaching up to 15.42% before dipping again towards 14.7%. Overall, the margin demonstrates some cyclicality but remains within a narrow band around 14% to 16%, indicating relatively stable operating profitability with minor fluctuations reflective of operational performance or seasonal effects.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover showed an increasing trend in the early periods, rising from 1.17 up to a peak of 1.32, implying improved efficiency in using assets to generate sales. However, in later quarters, this ratio declined steadily down to around 1.07 - 1.09, suggesting a reduction in asset utilization efficiency or potential growth in asset base outpacing sales growth.

Return on Assets (ROA)

The ROA began around 13.7%, experienced a peak near 15.0%, followed by a gradual decline reaching roughly 11.7% in the most recent periods. This trajectory indicates that overall asset profitability improved initially but then weakened, potentially due to the reduced asset turnover and slight contraction in EBIT margins, affecting the company's capacity to generate profit from its asset base.

The analysis of the financial ratios over the observed periods reveals several notable trends and fluctuations.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio remains relatively stable throughout the periods, showing minor fluctuations between 0.75 and 0.77. This consistency suggests steady tax expense management relative to earnings before taxes, with a slight dip to 0.75 in the final period indicating marginally lower effective tax rates or improved tax efficiency during that quarter.

Interest Burden

The interest burden ratio holds mostly steady near the value of 0.99 to 1.00 in the majority of periods, indicating minimal interest expenses relative to operating profit. However, a subtle downward trend is evident in the latter periods, declining gradually from 0.99 to 0.97 by the final quarter. This suggests a slight improvement in interest expense management or a reduction in interest-bearing liabilities.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin shows moderate volatility but generally maintains a level between approximately 14.0% and 15.9%. The margin peaks early in the period and again approaches similar highs towards the middle and later periods, with some declines observed in intermittent quarters. The variation implies fluctuations in operating profitability potentially influenced by cost management or revenue changes, yet the margin remains consistently above 14%, indicating sustained operational efficiency.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin follows a pattern akin to the EBIT margin but remains consistently lower, ranging between about 10.6% and 12.1%. It displays a slight downward tendency during the middle periods, followed by recovery phases toward the later quarters. The margins suggest that while net profitability experiences periodic dips, the company maintains robust bottom-line performance over time.

Overall, the financial ratios depict a company managing its tax and interest expenses effectively, with fairly stable operating and net profit margins across the observed time frame. Minor fluctuations in margins may warrant ongoing monitoring but do not indicate significant volatility or deterioration in profitability metrics.