Consulting giant Accenture (ACN) has agreed to pay the US government $25m, equivalent to £18.5m, to settle allegations relating to its diversity hiring practices.
The Department of Justice alleged that Accenture violated federal anti-discrimination requirements while certifying compliance in order to secure federal government contracts.
US authorities claimed the Dublin-headquartered firm allocated costs related to its hiring and promotion practices directly to federal contracts for reimbursement purposes.
Regulators further alleged that Accenture used race- and sex-based hiring quotas to drive recruitment decisions and targeted specific demographics for senior leadership positions.
One example cited by the government involved managing director promotions, with officials alleging Accenture held separate candidate discussions to advance race- or sex-based demographic goals.
Accenture has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and did not admit liability as part of the settlement agreement reached with the US government.
The firm signed a 10-page settlement agreeing to pay $25m plus interest at a rate of 4 per cent per annum, which includes $11.627m in restitution.
The agreement was signed by Stanley Woodward, the associate US attorney general, and Joel Unruch, Accenture group’s general counsel.
The settlement follows Big Four firm Deloitte agreeing last month to pay $21.5m to the US government over allegations that it violated federal equal opportunity requirements in its contracts.
The DOJ claimed that from 2017 to the present, Deloitte had falsely certified compliance with Trump administration laws preventing proactive discrimination based on race and sex.
Deloitte resolved those claims through its own settlement, though no official determination of liability was made against the firm.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI practices has swept across professional services, hitting major US law firms including Paul Weiss, A&O Shearman, and Latham and Watkins.
The US President issued a series of executive orders seeking to cancel federal contracts and restrict security clearances for firms with DEI programmes or ties to the Democratic Party.