The Department of Justice announced that Accenture will pay $25 million to resolve claims that it discriminated in hiring. The DOJ said Accenture took race or sex into account when making hiring decisions to achieve progress toward non-public workforce composition goals.

The settlement ends a federal investigation into the consulting giant's employment practices. Accenture denied wrongdoing but agreed to the payment and to revise its hiring policies.

The case highlights increasing scrutiny of corporate diversity initiatives and their compliance with anti-discrimination laws.