International accountants Mazars, which has offices in Birmingham, Nottingham and Wolverhampton, has won a top award for innovative thinking.
The firm won the “Audit Innovation of the Year” award for its Human Rights Audit practice at the inaugural International Accounting Bulletin Awards.
Mazars Midlands managing partner David Chapman said: “The awards recognise and reward leading accounting firms, networks and alliances across the world, with submissions judged by an independent panel of accounting experts.
“The ‘Audit Innovation of the Year’ award recognizes the practice which has made a major, demonstrable impact on audit quality and client service.”
Judges considered evidence of improvements in efficiency, accuracy and reliability, client satisfaction, evidence that the innovation is unique to the market it serves amd evidence that the innovation has become a model of best practice to the market it serves.
Making the award, the judges commented: “Mazars has taken a lead role in assessing audit clients against the Mazars ‘Indicators for Human Rights Compliance’.
“These indicators measure how well a company is complying with basic human rights. They are assessed against local laws and consolidated at an international level. Judges felt the Mazars ‘Human Rights Audit’ was pertinent, innovative and could set a benchmark for global best practice”.
David Chapman said: “For Mazars, Human Rights compliance is central to business and is a powerful strategy in the current business environment.
“Business is now playing a more pronounced and visible role in the human rights debate following an increasing pressure to act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others as laid out in the UN Human Rights’ policy framework.
“Many international companies have started embarking on this issue but need to be assisted by truly recognised experts. It’s why we decided to launch this “Human Rights” practice. Today, we are really proud of the recognition by the IAB Awards jury of this innovative initiative in which we truly believe.”
