Accenture is the latest company to pay up for President Donald Trump’s DEI policies.
The technology and consulting firm agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it failed to comply with antidiscrimination requirements in federal contracts, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.
The agency accused Accenture of discriminating against employees and applicants by taking race or sex into account when making hiring and promotion decisions between 2017 and 2026.
Allegations included that Accenture gave candidates for promotion to managing director “extra visibility” if they advanced race or sex demographics, and that business unit leaders within Accenture Federal Services received monthly summaries of the specific percentages of each race and sex within their units to inform hiring decisions.
An Accenture spokesperson told Business Insider that the company complies with applicable laws and that the resolution did not constitute an admission of liability.
“We have cooperated with the government’s review, and we are pleased to put this matter behind us to avoid the costs and resource demands of prolonged litigation,” the spokesperson said.
Accenture is the third major consultancy to reach a million-dollar settlement this year, under a process that Attorney General Todd Blanche launched in May 2025, termed the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative.
In April, IBM agreed to pay the United States $17 million to settle similar allegations of employment discrimination, and in August, Deloitte paid out $21.5 million. Altogether, the three firms have paid out $63.5 million.
All three were accused of similar DEI practices while contracting with the federal government, violating the False Claims Act. IBM and Deloitte also did not admit culpability as part of their settlements.
The settlements are part of the Trump administration’s broader probe of DEI practices at major companies with federal contracts.
At the start of his second administration, Trump signed an executive order to end diversity programs across the federal government. The trend spread into the non-government corporate world, and many large companies pulled back on DEI practices.
Deloitte, which is a major government contractor in addition to serving corporate clients, cut some of its DEI policies and told some staff to remove their pronouns from their email signatures.
Consultancies have also faced pressure to justify their prices under this administration. In March 2025, federal agencies were asked to review their spending on contracts with 10 major firms, including Deloitte and Accenture Federal Services.
Accenture’s CEO, Julie Sweet, said at the time that the administration’s cost-cutting effort affected Accenture’s revenues and slowed procurement of new projects. Since March 2025, the company’s stock has fallen roughly 40%.
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