Accenture, the world's largest publicly listed consulting group, said its revenue growth is expected to accelerate this year, easing market concerns that artificial intelligence would destroy demand for its services, sending its shares up 22% on Thursday.

The company, which employs 800,000 people, disclosed that profit rose 8% in the 12 months to August. It benefited from cost-cutting measures and said AI is helping boost revenue per employee.

Accenture's shares had fallen to a nine-year low in June amid market fears that AI would significantly reduce demand for consulting services. The latest earnings showed that, driven by better-than-expected performance in the final quarter, full-year revenue reached $74.2 billion, up 4% year on year.

Chief Executive Julie Sweet said that against a difficult overall market backdrop, Accenture is gaining market share from competitors. "Clients believe AI can help businesses achieve goals that were previously impossible, but companies vary widely in their readiness to implement AI," she said. "A large part of our current growth comes from continuing to build our clients' digital foundations... many companies are only just beginning their AI transformation journey."

Sweet revealed that the company allows employees to carry over unused vacation days to encourage them to complete client projects in the final weeks of the fiscal year. Despite market concerns that artificial intelligence is disrupting the consulting industry, Accenture still expects revenue growth to pick up in the next fiscal year. The company set a revenue growth target range of 3%–6% for the current fiscal year, compared with Wall Street's previous midpoint estimate of about 4%.

Thanks to layoffs and other cost-cutting measures launched a year ago, net profit for the fiscal year to August reached $8.4 billion, up 8% year on year. However, in the most recent three months, Accenture added more than 15,000 positions, bringing its global workforce to over 814,000.

Following this share price rise, the consulting company's market capitalization exceeded $135 billion. During the post-pandemic consulting industry boom, its market value had exceeded $200 billion, but earlier this year it fell to less than $80 billion.

Previous technological changes have always benefited consulting firms, as companies need consultants to guide them through transformations. But investors have been worried that this round of AI-driven change may not follow the same pattern: corporate clients may shift budgets toward in-house AI projects while demanding that consulting firms deliver projects with fewer staff and lower fees.

Sweet said Accenture will continue to expand campus recruitment, but due to the impact of AI, overall headcount growth will slow. "We are seeing revenue per person increase, which is to some extent exactly the expected effect of AI," she said on an analyst call.

When it released its previous quarterly earnings in June, Accenture cut its revenue forecast, citing the situation in the Middle East and delays to two large contracts, after which its shares fell to a nine-year low. Even after Thursday's rally, the stock is still down about 15% since the start of the year.

In recent months, several competing consulting firms have reported continued weak demand. Deloitte disclosed last week that its technology consulting business was its slowest-growing segment last year. Jefferies analyst Surinder Thind commented that Accenture's latest earnings "significantly beat expectations." "Although overall growth remains weak compared with historical levels, most importantly, the guidance shows that conditions are not deteriorating as the market feared amid the AI disruption."