Mazars in Spring Edition of Board Agenda

Our contribution to Board Agenda reflects our broader mission to promote Business. For Good: encouraging business leaders to ‘think and act long-term’ in order to enhance business performance and pursue profit responsibly for the benefit of companies, their stakeholders and wider society.

Diversity: take a look in the mirror

A modern company needs a modern board—one that mirrors its workforce and customer base. Most companies fall a long way short of this goal but their stakeholders, including investors, will increasingly expect to see a shift. “You see more frequently that females are being appointed to be CEOs. That creates the background for more people to assume senior positions at board level,” says Marianne Sandén Ljungberg, the CEO of Mazars’ operations in Sweden and leads Mazars Group’s thinking on diversity.

As part of our sponsorship of Board Agenda, Marianne and Anthony Carey, Partner at Mazars, where he leads the board practice in the UK, discuss the next frontier of diversity: encouraging a better mix of social, ethnic and educational backgrounds. Read the full article here.

New frontiers in data privacy

Many companies have been slow to start a project to meet the EU’s tougher new compliance requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, smart companies should focus on the opportunities to maximise returns on investment, rather than focusing on the threat of sanctions.  “The new GDPR requirements can be an opportunity for organisations to promote a data-responsible image,” says Vincent Rezzouk-Hammachi, UK head of data privacy and data management at Mazars. “Companies need to find new ways to limit the amount of data they collect, and communicate the benefits to customers.”

Learn more about the GDPR and how companies can best prepare for tougher data protection laws here.

The start-up culture question

Digital collaboration between a large, traditional company and a technology start-up could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship—as long as careful consideration is given to the compatibility of corporate culture and values. “Compatibility of corporate cultures is often the weakest link,” says David Herbinet, Partner and global assurance leader at Mazars. “The standard due diligence process covers legal, financial and commercial issues but the cultural match of the acquirer and acquiree is rarely, if ever, considered.”

Discover the eight steps towards digital collaboration here.