Natalie Wright is the Leeds office managing partner and head of family business at Mazars.
Following their spectacular win at the Yorkshire Accountancy Awards 2024, Natalie sat down with Yorkshire Legal News to discuss how the organisation is going global and staying true to its Yorkshire roots.
Can you give us an introduction to Mazars?
Mazars is an international integrated partnership, specialising in audit, accountancy, advisory, and tax.
We’re now in over 100 countries and territories around the world, employing more than 47,000 people.
We support clients of all sizes at every stage in their development, through a range of services. In my role, I support business owners and private individuals to navigate the complexities of their personal finances to ensure they are in a good position when the time comes to pass it on to the next generation.
Personally, I am a passionate advocate for inclusion and diversity, particularly social mobility, due to my own background as a school leaver. It’s all about breaking down barriers and challenging actual and perceived ‘norms’.
“With our people, our approach is driven by the culture we have embodied: one where our people can bring their whole selves to work.”
What principles guide the approach and culture of Mazars?
Accessible, engaged, and collaborative teams are at the heart of everything we do – it’s how we work with our people and it’s how we approach our relationships with clients. So, we are focused on forging genuine connections to build trust and encourage openness and collaboration.
Mazars also approaches technology as a service enabler. We believe that the key way we differ from our competitors is how we use tech to enhance the experience of our clients and their advisers.
We believe our culture is what sets us apart: our people can bring their whole selves to work. This financial year we launched an ambitious, firmwide culture programme. All 2,200 team members in the UK agreed to three statements: we do the right thing, we show respect, and we take responsibility. Those commitments form the foundation of everything we do as a firm.
Mazars recently announced the creation of Forvis Mazars. How will this expansion enhance Mazars’ international capability and reach?
From 1 June we will form a top 10 global accounting network with US accounting firm FORVIS, to become Forvis Mazars. FORVIS are the eighth largest public accounting firm in the United States.
Our global network with FORVIS will give us a greater reach as a firm, a bigger network to support our clients who want to expand into the US, and opportunities for sourcing US investment in the UK.
For our people, there will be more opportunities in terms of growth, development and secondments overseas. I think it’s going to be a really exciting phase for the organisation.
Mazars succeeded in achieving an equal gender split intake for trainees in Leeds last year. How does Mazars prioritise diversity and inclusion in its recruitment practices?
Diversity and inclusion are a key focus of our recruitment strategy. It’s something we have worked hard on over the last four years, and we continue to refine it.
We work with external suppliers and attend targeted events to promote our opportunities to specific diversity groups. This helps us to genuinely gain a broader reach.
We have an inbuilt contextual recruitment process, which basically means that our recruitment process considers the context or background of candidates, such as their socio-economic status or personal circumstances, rather than just focusing on academic qualifications or work experience alone.
This approach means we can maybe give people a chance, even if they’ve faced barriers with traditional recruitment methods.
Also, last year, our three future talent internships provided training to 116 people across the UK. Each was tailored to support different diverse groups including people with disabilities and people of Black heritage. A lot of people from these internships end up joining our early career programmes too, which is great to see.
“As partners in the business, we are stewards, so we have a responsibility to give back to local communities and create an inclusive place for people to work.”
How does Mazars in Leeds get involved with the local community?
Our team loves getting out and about with the Leeds community!
We have established connections with local schools and universities, fundraised for several charities (including Simon on the Streets), and ensured our people dedicate at least 1 day per year to corporate social responsibility. Over the last year we’ve run a soup kitchen for a homelessness charity and volunteered at food banks.
We’re also supporting the younger generation through initiatives including IntoUniversity and Young Enterprise.
As partners in the business, we are stewards, so we have a responsibility to give back to local communities and create an inclusive place for people to work.
This post is sponsored by Mazars.