Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting firms, and the largest accounting and business consulting firm in the world, has informed its staff that it is ending its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The move comes as the new Trump administration is taking a stand against these initiatives, which are common in many private and public sector organizations, saying that contractors and publicly held businesses should not have these programs.
Although the firm is headquarted in London, it has 136 offices in the U.S. and its territories, which employ 170,000 staff. Worldwide, the firm employs more than 450,000 staff.
Deloitte, which reported $67.2 billion in revenue in 2024, had about $3 billion in contracts with the U.S. government in 2024, including the departments of Defense, Treasury, and Homeland Security. Businesses contracting with the federal government may risk those revenues if they disregard the administration’s DEI concerns.
The memo, which was distributed by email to staff last week, was obtained by the San Francisco Standard, which reported that it said:
“We will sunset our workforce and business aspirational diversity goals, our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Transparency Report, and our DEI programming,” Doug Beaudoin, the company’s “chief people officer.”
The email also said that these changes to the DEI programs were initiated after “a detailed review of all pertinent government directives to ensure we comply with their requirements, both as a private enterprise and as a government contractor.”
Deloitte has also directed staff in its Government & Public Services, which handles most of those contracts, to no longer include pronouns in their email signatures. Business Insider reports that staff were told in a memo to update their email fields to “align with emerging government client practices and requirements,” Business Insider reported.
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Tags: Accounting, DEI, Deloitte, diversity, equity, Firm Management, inclusion, Trump administration
Ian Harper, CPA February 21 2025 at 11:17 am
Cowards.