This summary is based on the first quarter fiscal 2008 earnings call conducted by Accenture Limited (ACN: chart) on December 19, 2007.

Chairman and CEO: Bill Green
Chief Financial Officer: Pam Craig
Chief Operating Officer: Steve Rohleder
MD of Investor Relations: Richard Clark

Key Investors Issues

- Earnings per share increased from 46 cents in prior year to record 60 cents.
- Quarterly revenue grew 19% over previous year $5.67 billion.
- During Q1, the firm repurchased or redeemed 16.3 million shares for $619 million.
- For Q2, the firm expects revenues to be in the range of $5.5 billion to $5.7 billion.

First Quarter Fiscal 2008 Financial Highlights

Net revenues for the first quarter were $5.7 billion, above the guided range of $5.4 billion to $5.6 billion and a new quarterly high.

Net revenues increased 19% in US dollars and 12% in local currency over the first quarter of last year. The firm had very strong revenue generation, and even without the large foreign exchange impact for the quarter, it was at the top of its guided annual range of 9% to 12% in local currency.

- Consulting revenues were $3.5 billion, an increase of 19% in US dollars and 12% in local currency.
- Outsourcing revenues were $2.2 billion, an increase of 20% in US dollars and 14% in local currency.

Net revenues for Accenture’s five operating groups were as follows:

Communications & High Tech: The revenues were $1,312 million, compared with $1,096 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2007, an increase of 20% in US dollars and 13% in local currency.

Financial Services The revenue was $1,244 million, compared with $1,067 million for the same period last year, an increase of 17% in US dollars and 9% in local currency.

Products: The revenue was $1,473 million, compared with $1,195 million for the year-ago period, an increase of 23% in US dollars and 17% in local currency.

Public Service: The revenue was $709 million, compared with $628 million for the year-ago period, an increase of 13% in US dollars and 8% in local currency.

Resources: The revenue was $931 million, compared with $763 million for the same period last year, an increase of 22% in U.S. dollars and 14% in local currency.

Net revenues by geographic region were as follows:

Americas: The revenue was $2,325 million, compared with $2,090 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2007, an increase of 11% in U.S. dollars and 9% in local currency. This was driven by growth in the United States and Canada. In Latin America, four of six key countries had exceptionally strong growth, including Brazil and Argentina.

Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA): The revenue was $2,883 million, compared with $2,303 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2007, an increase of 25% in US dollars and 14% in local currency. This was driven by the continued upturn in the UK and double-digit growth in France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

Asia Pacific: The revenue was $465 million, compared with $361 million for the year-ago period, an increase of 29% in US dollars and 21% in local currency. The revenue was driven by strong results in Japan, Australia, Singapore and China. The company has set out to expand its business in emerging markets, and in Q1, it delivered strong results against this objective.

Diluted EPS were a quarterly record of 60 cents, an increase of 30% over diluted EPS of 46 cents in the first quarter last year.

About two-thirds of this increase is attributable to higher business volume. The rest is due to a combination of additional below the operating income line income, a lower tax rate and a lower share count.