Share Purchases and Redemptions

The Board of Directors of Accenture plc has authorized funding for the Company’s publicly announced open-market share purchase program for acquiring Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares and for purchases and redemptions of Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares, Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares and Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. exchangeable shares held by current and former members of Accenture Leadership and their permitted transferees. As of August 31, 2017, the Company’s aggregate available authorization was $3,119,215 for its publicly announced open-market share purchase and these other share purchase programs.

The Company’s share purchase activity during fiscal 2017 was as follows:



	Accenture plc Class A Ordinary Shares			Accenture Holdings plc Ordinary Shares and Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. Exchangeable Shares
	Shares	Amount		Shares	Amount
Open-market share purchases (1)	18,045,830	$	2,171,130	—	$	—
Other share purchase programs	—	—		799,411	96,171
Other purchases (2)	3,211,929	381,750		—	—
Total	21,257,759	$	2,552,880	799,411	$	96,171

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(1)	The Company conducts a publicly announced open-market share purchase program for Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares. These shares are held as treasury shares by Accenture plc and may be utilized to provide for select employee benefits, such as equity awards to the Company’s employees.

(2)

During fiscal 2017, as authorized under the Company’s various employee equity share plans, the Company acquired Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares primarily via share withholding for payroll tax obligations due from employees and former employees in connection with the delivery of Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares under those plans. These purchases of shares in connection with employee share plans do not affect the Company’s aggregate available authorization for the Company’s publicly announced open-market share purchase and the other share purchase programs.

Other Share Redemptions

During fiscal 2017, the Company issued 760,154 Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares upon redemptions of an equivalent number of Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares pursuant to its registration statement on Form S-3 (the “registration statement”). The registration statement allows the Company, at its option, to issue freely tradable Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares in lieu of cash upon redemptions of Accenture Holdings plc ordinary shares held by current and former members of Accenture Leadership and their permitted transferees.

Cancellation of Treasury Shares

During fiscal 2017, the Company received authorization from the Board of Directors of Accenture plc to cancel 26,857,680 Accenture plc Class A ordinary shares that were held as treasury shares and had an aggregate cost of $3,014,356. The effect of the cancellation of these treasury shares was recognized in Class A ordinary shares and Additional paid-in capital with the residual recorded in Retained earnings. There was no effect on total shareholders’ equity as a result of this cancellation.

Dividends

The Company’s dividend activity during fiscal 2017 was as follows:



	Dividend Per Share		Accenture plc Class A Ordinary Shares			Accenture Holdings plc Ordinary Shares and Accenture Canada Holdings Inc. Exchangeable Shares			Total Cash Outlay
Dividend Payment Date	Dividend Per Share		Record Date	Cash Outlay		Record Date	Cash Outlay		Total Cash Outlay
November 15, 2016	$	1.21	October 21, 2016	$	750,137	October 18, 2016	$	34,990	$	785,127
May 15, 2017	1.21		April 13, 2017	748,597		April 10, 2017	33,854		782,451
Total Dividends				$	1,498,734		$	68,844	$	1,567,578

The payment of the cash dividends also resulted in the issuance of an immaterial number of additional restricted share units to holders of restricted share units.

Subsequent Event

On September 25, 2017, the Board of Directors of Accenture plc declared a semi-annual cash dividend of $1.33 per share on its Class A ordinary shares for shareholders of record at the close of business on October 19, 2017. On September 26, 2017, the Board of Directors of Accenture Holdings plc declared a semi-annual cash dividend of $1.33 per share on its ordinary shares for shareholders of record at the close of business on October 17, 2017. Both dividends are payable on November 15, 2017. The payment of the cash dividends will result in the issuance of an immaterial number of additional restricted share units to holders of restricted share units.