Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd. said today that the latest quarter's profit more than tripled versus 2002, when the company recorded a big real-estate-consolidation charge and lost money on investments.

Revenue from outsourcing more than offset lower revenue from consulting, said the consulting firm, which was spun off from Arthur Andersen.

Accenture reported net income of $120.5 million, or 25 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended August 31, matching estimates from analysts.

In the fourth quarter last year, Accenture recorded net of $38.1 million, or 8 cents a share, which included a real-estate consolidation charge of $111 million, or 7 cents a share, and a loss on investments of $15 million, or a penny a share.

Total revenue rose 12 percent to $3.46 billion from $3.08 billion. Net revenue before reimbursements climbed 12 percent to $3.02 billion from $2.69 billion.

Outsourcing accounted for $1.04 billion of net revenue, 33 percent above last year's, excluding the effects of foreign-exchange fluctuations. Consulting accounted for $1.87 billion of net revenue, a decrease of 8 percent in local-currency terms.

For the full fiscal year, net income more than doubled to $498.2 million, or $1.05 a share, from $244.9 million, or 56 cents a share, in fiscal 2002. In addition to the $111 million real-estate consolidation charge, Accenture's results for the previous year included a loss on investments of $321 million, or 28 cents a share.

Total revenue for fiscal 2003 rose 2.2 percent to $13.4 billion from $13.11 billion a year earlier. Net revenue before reimbursements rose 2.1 percent to $11.82 billion from $11.57 billion.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2004, Accenture expects net revenue to be in line with Wall Street's current estimate of $3.09 billion, and earnings in the range of 27 cents to 28 cents a share. The First Call projection is first-quarter earnings of 28 cents a share.