As more and more companies embrace compressed transformation, our clients are turning to us as their trusted partner as reflected in our outstanding growth of 27% this quarter.
We added 15 new Diamond clients, bringing the total to 244.
Diamond clients are our largest relationships and to give some context, we added 13 Diamonds in all of FY'21.
We also had record bookings of $16.8 billion, 30% growth year-over-year with 20 clients with bookings over $100 million, and we expanded operating margin 20 basis points in Q1, with adjusted earnings per share growth of 28%, while we continue to invest in our business and people, including $1.7 billion in acquisitions and in just the first quarter, we invested $215 million in learning for our people with 8.6 million training hours for approximately 14 hours per person.
And when the pandemic hit, we were ready with capabilities at scale reflected in 70% of our revenue at that time, being from digital cloud and security with strong relationships with the world's leading technology companies, which in some cases go back decades, with the focus on growing our people through learning, allowing us to rapidly reskill with an unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity and the quality and caring for our people professionally and personally, making us a talent magnet in a tight labor market, adding 50,000 talented individuals in Q1.
And it is our breadth of capabilities across strategy and consulting, interactive technology and operations which is unique in our industry that allows us to work side-by-side with our clients to deliver results, and we believe our goal to create 360 degree value for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities is an essential part of our success.
I want to congratulate our 1,030 new promotes to Managing Director, 143 new appointments to Senior Managing Directors, and the more than 90,000 people we promoted around the world in Q1, overall.
Today, we launched our 360 Value Reporting Experience, a new way to show our progress and the value we create in all directions for all of our stakeholders.
We were very pleased with our overall results in the first quarter, which exceeded our expectations, setting a new bookings record at $16.8 billion with consulting bookings exceeding the previous record by more than $1 billion.
Revenues grew 27% in local currency, increasing more than $3.2 billion over Q1 last year and more than $600 million above our guided range, with broad-based over delivery across all markets, services and industries, with all 13 industry groups growing double-digits.
We continue to extend our leadership position with growth we estimate to be more than 5 times the market, which refers to our basket of publicly traded companies.
Operating margin of 16.3% for the quarter, an increase -- with an increase of 20 basis points.
We delivered very strong earnings per share of $2.78, up 20% over adjusted fiscal '21 results.
Finally, we delivered free cash flow of $349 million and returned $1.5 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends.
We also invested approximately $1.7 billion in acquisitions and we continue to expect to invest approximately $4 billion in acquisitions this fiscal year.
New bookings were a record at $16.8 billion for the quarter, representing 30% growth in U.S. dollars and were $800 million higher than our previous record, with an overall book-to-bill of 1.1.
Consulting bookings were a record at $9.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.1.
Outsourcing bookings were $7.4 billion with a book-to-bill of 1.1.
We were very pleased with our bookings this quarter, which reflected 20 clients with bookings over $100 million.
Revenues for the quarter were $15 billion, a 27% increase in U.S. dollars and in local currency.
Consulting revenues for the quarter were $8.4 billion, up 33% in U.S. dollars and 32% in local currency.
Outsourcing revenues were $6.6 billion, up 21% in U.S. dollars and in local currency.
In North America, revenue growth was 26% in local currency, driven by double-digit growth in public service, software and platforms and consumer goods, retail and travel services.
In Europe, revenues grew 28% in local currency, led by double-digit growth in consumer goods, retail and travel services, industrial and banking and capital markets.
In growth market, we delivered 30% revenue growth in local currency, driven by double-digit growth in consumer goods, retail and travel services, banking and capital markets and public service.
Gross margin for the quarter was 32.9%, compared with 33.1% for the same period last year.
Sales and marketing expense for the quarter was 9.7%, compared with 10.4% for the first quarter last year.
General and administrative expenses were 6.9%, compared to 6.6% for the same quarter last year.
Operating income was $2.4 billion in the first quarter, reflecting a 16.3% operating margin, up 20 basis points compared with Q1 last year.
Before I continue, as a reminder, we recognized an investment gain in Q1 last year, which impacted our tax rate and increased earnings per share by $0.15.
Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 24.4%, compared with an adjusted effective tax rate of 23.7% for the first quarter last year.
Diluted earnings per share were $2.78, compared with adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.17 in the first quarter last year.
Days service outstanding were 42 days compared to 38 days last quarter and 38 days in the first quarter of last year.
Free cash flow for the quarter was $349 million, resulting from cash generated by operating activities of $531 million net of property and equipment additions of $182 million.
Our cash balance at November 30th was $5.6 billion, compared with $8.2 billion at August 31st.
In the first quarter, we repurchased or redeemed 2.4 million shares for $845 million at an average price of $346.19 per share.
At November 30th, we had approximately $5.6 billion of share repurchase authority remaining.
Also in November, we paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.97 per share for a total of $613 million.
This represents a 10% increase over last year.
And our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.97 per share to be paid on February 15th, a 10% increase over last year.
More companies are embracing compressed transformation, underpinned by cloud and digital and are moving to build their digital core and use technology to transform how they operate and to find new ways to compete and grow as you would expect for 27% revenue growth.
We created a state-of-the-art systems to track inventory, sales, warranty information and returns all in the cloud, all in real time, and have already helped to increase customer satisfaction 35% with improved cost optimization and increased revenue up next.
It will help reduce operating cost by up to 40%, accelerate time to market and free up resources for energy transition and innovations like smart metering, helping customers make environmentally conscious decisions and energy providers stay responsive and reliable.
I'm pleased to announce that we have signed an agreement to acquire Zestgroup, a Dutch sustainability services company with a 140 employees that specializes in energy transition services and sourcing renewables and other clean energy sources.
We are proud to have the largest enterprise Medivirs [Phonetic] through what we call the nth four and are deploying over 60,000 virtual reality headsets and have created one Accenture Park, a virtual campus for on-boarding and immersive learning, including meeting rooms and collaborative experiences.
Many of these client examples reflect our goal to create 360 degree value.
And today we are proud to present our new 360 Degree Value Reporting Experience, a new way to share our progress, which is available on our website.
We've expanded our ESG reporting with three additional ESG framework, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board SASB, the task force on climate related financial disclosure TCFD, and the World Economic Forum International Business Council WEF, IBC metrics, while continuing to report against the Global Reporting Initiative GRI standards, the UNGC 10 principles and the Carbon Disclosure Project CDP, because we believe the transparency builds trust and helps us all make more progress.
For the second quarter of fiscal '22, we expect revenues to be in the range of $14.3 billion to $14.75 billion.
This assumes the impact of FX will be about negative 4% compared to the second quarter of fiscal '21 and reflects an estimated 22% to 26% growth in local currencies.
For the full fiscal year '22 based on how the rates have been trending over the last few weeks, we now expect the impact of FX on our results in U.S. dollars will be approximately negative 3% compared to fiscal '21.
For the full fiscal '22, we now expect our revenue to be in the range of 19% to 22% growth in local currency over fiscal '21, which continues to assume an inorganic contribution of 5%.
For operating margin, we continue to expect fiscal year '22 to be 15.2% to 15.4%, a 10 basis point to 30 basis point expansion over fiscal '21 results.
We continue to expect our annual effective tax rate to be in the range of 23% to 25%.
This compares to an adjusted effective tax rate of 23.1% in fiscal '21.
For earnings per share, we now expect our full year diluted earnings per share for fiscal '22 to be in the range of $10.33 to $10.60 or 17% to 20% growth over adjusted fiscal '21 results.
For the full fiscal '22, we now expect operating -- operating cash flow to be in the range of $8.4 billion to $8.9 billion, property and equipment additions to be approximately $700 million and free cash flow to be in the range of $7.7 billion to $8.2 billion.
Our free cash flow guidance continues to reflect a very strong free cash flow to net income ratio of 1.1 to 1.2.
Finally, we continue to expect to return at least $6.3 billion through dividends and share repurchases as we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of cash to our shareholders.

Summary:
We delivered very strong earnings per share of $2.78, up 20% over adjusted fiscal '21 results.
Revenues for the quarter were $15 billion, a 27% increase in U.S. dollars and in local currency.
Diluted earnings per share were $2.78, compared with adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.17 in the first quarter last year.