International accountancy firm Mazars, which has offices in Birmingham, Nottingham and Wolverhampton, is working with DA Partnership in its bid for Audit Commission tenders.
The Government is disbanding the Audit Commission and new contracts to private sector organisations will be awarded in February 2012 with staff transferring to the successful bidders in October 31 next year.
The audit work of the outgoing Audit Commission will be outsourced in ten lots grouped in four English regions, with total contracts valued at around £89.4 million. The contracts will covers all the audited bodies in a geographical area.
Contracts to be awarded in the Midlands region are likely to total £8.9 million for the West Midlands and £7.8 million for the East Midlands.
Midlands managing partner David Chapman said: “We are pleased to announce that Mazars is working with DA Partnership in its bid for Audit Commission tenders – a strategic alliance that combines the leadership and public audit expertise of Audit Commission staff with the commercial and technical capability of Mazars.”
DA Partnership is an employee-owned organisation formed to bid for the audit work being tendered by the Audit Commission.
Mazars public services partner Mike Attenborough-Cox and Gareth Davies, managing director-designate of DA Partnership will lead the joint team through the bid process.
Gareth Davies said: “Our aim is to provide a competitive bid so that we can create a vibrant new employee-owned firm to offer high quality audit and advisory services across the public sector.
“We are delighted to be working on the bid with Mazars who will add huge value to our proposal. If our bid is successful, we look forward to offering our clients the benefits our alliance will generate.”
David Chapman said: “DA Partnership is an exciting venture that would retain a critical mass of public audit expertise for the benefit of public bodies and taxpayers.
“We are excited that they have chosen to work with Mazars. It is a significant endorsement of our expertise and integrity and creates an offer for the public sector that provides the best of both commercial and public sector auditing expertise and skills.”