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A trio from Mazars Sydney scooped three top trophies at the recent Australian Accounting Awards and the benefits go beyond personal recognition.
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How winning awards bring more than sheen to a career
24 July 2023
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11 minute read
Accounting awards spread a warm glow of recognition to winners, their firms, and even the wider profession just as it needs to elevate its image to potential recruits, says Mazars Sydney managing partner Matthew Ashley.
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He said awards make a difference and that he was proud his Sydney office took out three trophies at the recent Australian Accounting Awards, including his second consecutive win as Partner of the Year.
The other winners were New Partner of the Year Lauren Hill, pictured centre, and Rising Star of the Year Nadia Afrin, pictured right.
Mr Ashley said the staff liked to celebrate each other’s success and his proudest moment was learning Ms Hill and Ms Afrin had both won their categories.
“My role is to help elevate my team,” he said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast.
“Getting that recognition from our peers, from the judges, shows the impact we’re having on the community, not just in relation to our clients, but our team and all the wider stakeholders.”
“It helps to give the firm the standing and the recognition it deserves … it definitely does make a difference and I think as a profession we probably need to elevate it even further.”
It was a first-time award for international tax partner Ms Hill, who specialises in transfer pricing after working in New York and New Jersey for her previous employer.
She joined Mazars last June and said continuous learning is an integral part of her career approach.
“I really have a love of learning and wanting to continue building on my career … I’ve just graduated from my master’s of tax, I’ve done a couple of leadership courses, worked with the Tax Institute.”
She said the award will help raise her profile after changing her surname through marriage last year and at Mazars there’s scope to broaden her horizons.
“It’s quite motivating. You’re not always going to come into work every single day motivated, full of energy, ready to go. So I’ve really appreciated the recognition.
“The great thing about Mazars as an international brand is that I get the opportunity to attend conferences – whether it be Prague, the UK, US – in Austin, Texas, they’re having one later this year.
“So I think that’s a really great opportunity. Even if I don’t work on secondment, it’s a great opportunity to meet with my international tax colleagues.”
Rising star winner Ms Afrin took out this year’s prize after being named as a finalist last year. Now an intermediate accountant at Mazars, she has also embraced the role of talent ambassador to help shepherd students towards the profession and the firm.
“I’ve been a talent ambassador for almost two years in Mazars,” she said. “This role means basically attending various events where we are looking for new opportunities of young professionals joining the Mazars firm.”
“I know how scary it can be right after you finish university and you don’t know which line or what you want to do in accounting … there’s so many sectors.
“And I had this confusion as well – what am I interested in?
“It took me some time to figure out by doing say, small bits and pieces of jobs or starting as a business advisory and then trying a month or two of audit just to understand.
“I would share my experience – how easy it is to like connect and talk to your partners and Mazars has been supportive.”
After three years at Mazars, Ms Afrin is ambitious to further her career.
“I’m definitely keen to see where my career takes me as a chartered accountant.”
Mr Ashley said both Ms Hill and Ms Afrin proved the benefits of passing responsibility down and empowering those coming through.
“My style is very much trust the people you hire,” he said. “They’re all adults, you’re hiring them for a specific reason, trust them, empower them, but give them the support they need to help grow.”
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