Accenture

In June 2018, Accenture generated controversy over the amount the firm has been charging to recruit 7,500 Customs and Border Protection officers. Under the $297 million contract, Accenture had been charging the US Government nearly $40,000 per hire, which is more than the annual salary of the average officer.[34] According to a report published by the DHS Office of Inspector General in December 2018, Accenture had been paid $13.6M through the first ten months of the contract. They had hired two agents against a contract goal of 7,500 hires over 5 years. The report was issued as a ‘management alert’, indicating an issue requiring immediate attention, stating that “Accenture has already taken longer to deploy and delivered less capability than promised”.[35] The contract was terminated in 2019.[36]

In January 2019, CEO Pierre Nanterme stepped down from his position, citing health reasons. Twenty days after stepping down, he died in France at the age of 59 after being diagnosed with colon cancer. Chief Financial Officer David Rowland was named as the interim CEO.[37] In July 2019, Julie Sweet, previously CEO of Accenture North America, was named the new chief executive officer of the firm, effective September 2019.[38] In February 2019, contractors from Accenture’s Austin, Texas, location who performed content moderation tasks for Facebook wrote an open letter to Facebook describing poor working conditions and a “Big Brother environment” that included restricted work breaks and strict non-disclosure agreements.[39][40][41] A counselor in the Austin office stated that the content moderators could develop posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the work, which included evaluating videos and images containing graphic violence, hate speech, animal abuse, and child abuse.[40][42] Accenture issued a statement saying the company offers opportunities for moderators to advance, increase their wages, and provide input “to help shape their experience”.