Irish-headquartered Accenture drops diversity targets citing Trump's DEI orders

In December, Accenture Ireland said it was aiming towards a 50/50 gender-balanced workforce in Ireland.

US president Donald Trump signing one of a slew of executive order as treasury secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick look on. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP

Ireland-headquartered Accenture is abandoning its diversity targets after US president Donald Trump ordered his administration to push private firms to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

The professional services firm, with nearly 800,000 employees around the world and more than 5,000 in Ireland, is sunsetting the goals, which it first set in 2017 and updated in 2020, and will no longer use them to measure employees’ performance, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said in a memo to staff.