Consulting giant Accenture to pay £18.5m to settle probe into hiring practices
New York-listed consultancy giant Accenture has agreed to pay the US government $25m (£18.5m) to settle allegations over its diversity practices.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that Accenture violated federal anti-discrimination requirements while certifying compliance to secure federal contracts. The US government claims that the Dublin-headquartered firm allocated costs related to these hiring and promotion practices directly to its federal government contracts for reimbursement.
It was also claimed that the firm had used race- and sex-based hiring quotas to drive hiring decisions and targeted specific demographics for senior roles. One example involved managing director promotions, as the government alleged Accenture held separate discussions about candidates to further the firm’s race- or sex-based demographic goals.
Accenture denies all allegations of wrongdoing. It signed a 10-page settlement with the government, agreeing to pay $25m and interest at a rate of 4 per cent per annum, including $11.627m in restitution. The agreement stated that the consultancy giant did not admit liability.
The agreement was signed by Stanley Woodward, the associate US attorney general, and Joel Unruch, Accenture group’s general counsel.
Deloitte fresh from the spotlight
This settlement follows Big Four giant Deloitte settling with the US government last month for $21.5m over allegations that it violated federal ‘equal opportunity’ requirements in its contracts
The DOJ claimed that from 2017 to the present, Deloitte had falsely said it had complied with new Trump-administration laws preventing proactive discrimination for employees and applicants based on race and sex.
Deloitte resolved the claims through its settlement, but no official determination of liability was made against the Big Four firm.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI also hit several major US law firms, including Paul Weiss, A&O Shearman, and Latham & Watkins, last year after the US President issued a flurry of executive orders. Trump has sought to cancel federal contracts and restrict security clearances for law firms because of their DEI programmes and legacy legal work with the Democratic Party.