Accenture is the most recent firm to pay up for President Donald Trump’s DEI insurance policies.
The technology and consulting firm agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it did not adjust to antidiscrimination necessities in federal contracts, the Division of Justice introduced on Monday.
The company accused Accenture of discriminating in opposition to workers and candidates by taking race or intercourse into consideration when making hiring and promotion selections between 2017 and 2026.
Allegations included that Accenture gave candidates for promotion to managing director “further visibility” in the event that they superior race or intercourse demographics, and that enterprise unit leaders inside Accenture Federal Companies acquired month-to-month summaries of the precise percentages of every race and intercourse inside their models to tell hiring selections.
An Accenture spokesperson advised Enterprise Insider that the corporate complies with relevant legal guidelines and that the decision didn’t represent an admission of legal responsibility.
“We now have cooperated with the federal government’s overview, and we’re happy to place this matter behind us to keep away from the prices and useful resource calls for of extended litigation,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Accenture is the third main consultancy to succeed in a million-dollar settlement this 12 months, below a course of that Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche launched in Could 2025, termed the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative.
In April, IBM agreed to pay the US $17 million to settle comparable allegations of employment discrimination, and in August, Deloitte paid out $21.5 million. Altogether, the three companies have paid out $63.5 million.
All three had been accused of comparable DEI practices whereas contracting with the federal authorities, violating the False Claims Act. IBM and Deloitte additionally didn’t admit culpability as a part of their settlements.
The settlements are a part of the Trump administration’s broader probe of DEI practices at main firms with federal contracts.
Firstly of his second administration, Trump signed an government order to finish variety applications throughout the federal authorities. The development unfold into the non-government company world, and many large companies pulled again on DEI practices.
Deloitte, which is a serious authorities contractor along with serving company purchasers, cut some of its DEI policies and advised some employees to take away their pronouns from their e mail signatures.
Consultancies have additionally confronted strain to justify their costs below this administration. In March 2025, federal companies had been requested to overview their spending on contracts with 10 main companies, together with Deloitte and Accenture Federal Companies.
Accenture’s CEO, Julie Candy, mentioned on the time that the administration’s cost-cutting effort affected Accenture’s revenues and slowed procurement of latest tasks. Since March 2025, the corporate’s inventory has fallen roughly 40%.
