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KPMG US has pulled years of reports on its diversity, equity and inclusion programmes from its website after becoming the latest professional services firm to scrap DEI goals in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.
The Big Four accounting and consulting firm deleted the annual “transparency reports” it has published since 2020 that described its effort to increase the representation of women and minorities at all levels of the organisation.
The move came after Paul Knopp, KPMG US chief executive, told employees that the firm would “bring to a close” a programme called “Accelerate 2025”, under which it aimed to have half of its partners and managing directors from under-represented groups by this year.
“The legal landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts has been shifting, via executive orders and in the courts,” Knopp wrote in an email to his 40,000-strong workforce last week, which was seen by the Financial Times.
“We will continue to uphold the highest ethical standards and fully comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including adherence to the executive orders affecting us as a federal contractor.”
President Trump has moved to eliminate diversity efforts from the US government and discourage them in the private sector by promising investigations into corporate DEI programmes.
The day after his inauguration, he ordered that federal contractors pledge they did not have DEI programmes that violated anti-discrimination laws.
A government database shows that KPMG US and its affiliates generate more than $400mn annually from contracts with the federal government, largely from the Department of Defense.
Accenture and Deloitte, two of the biggest professional services firms working for the US government, have already scrapped DEI goals in the wake of the orders.
Two of KPMG’s Big Four rivals, Deloitte and PwC, have suppressed their own historic transparency reports by removing links from other web pages, although the reports themselves remain on their websites. Deloitte has removed some other DEI-related pages.
A person familiar with KPMG’s decision to delete the reports said the firm wanted its website to reflect the most accurate and up to date language on its policies. Pages that used to host the reports now redirect to its homepage.
A data appendix, showing figures on the gender and racial make-up of its workforce, is still available. The last published figures, for September 2023, showed 45.3 per cent of US partners and managing directors came from under-represented groups such as women, racial minorities and the gay community. That was up from 39.3 per cent when Knopp launched Accelerate 2025 in 2020 on the Juneteenth holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the US.
Knopp wrote in his memo last week that “it’s time to bring Accelerate 2025 to a close and re-evaluate our associated programming and talent initiatives”, including “ensuring that all internship and career programmes are open to all who are qualified and interested”.
But he added: “We will continue our work to expand our aperture for recruiting talent, to create more transparency and consistency of experience for career navigation, and to promote an inclusive environment where everyone is comfortable speaking up.”
