Diversity and inclusion

Diverse by nature

We know that value for our business, our clients and our communities is created by embracing different perspectives, empowering our people and bringing to the table varied backgrounds, views and skills.

As an international partnership with local roots all over the world, Forvis Mazars is - by nature - a geographically diverse organisation that has grown thanks to the different nationalities, languages and educations of our team.

Today, our leadership team is a good reflection of this diversity: our Group Executive Board is composed of eight nationalities (out of 12 members) and our Group Governance Council brings together nine different nationalities (out of 11 members).

Making the most of these differences as an inclusive organisation allows us to solve problems, move our firm forward and, ultimately, better serve our clients.

Inclusive by design

Diversity goes beyond geographical differences. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where teams, leaders and performance come in many different styles, from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and where these differences lead to greater value and success.

These differences include, but are not limited to differences in ability, age, culture, education, gender, gender identity and expression, language, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background and working style.

Forvis Mazars operates as one team and our international, integrated partnership model makes us, by design, a diverse and inclusive organisation.

Our global D&I survey conducted in May - July 2022 (with 1,400 respondents across 60 countries) highlighted that:

• A strong majority (79%) of our talent never felt excluded based on specific attributes.
• 90% of respondents take pride in their job.
• 80% of employees  see their work as a source of fulfilment.
• 84% think that their work serves an important purpose.

Gender equity, diversity and inclusion

• In recent years we have increased the representation of women in leadership positions and have made significant progress towards gender equality across Forvis Mazars. Today, women make up 35% of the global leadership team that drives our 2024 strategic plan. They also represent 43% of our governance bodies overall (members of our Group Executive Board and our Group Governance Council taken together). However, we recognise the need to further balance female representation in our Group Executive Board alone.
• Today, 59% of our 95+ countries track and share their gender diversity indicators. Half of them (50%) report having gender diversity initiatives and programmes in place, of which 57% have specific HR policies to support flexible work schemes and/or work-life balance.
• Our Group Management Team is composed of 63% female C-suite executives, leading our finance, marketing and communications, quality and risk, innovation, technology and general secretary functions.

A lot has been done, but we want to do more. In 2021, we appointed a global leader of diversity and inclusion, who drives a gender diversity strategy based on four change drivers: leadership accountability, awareness programmes, HR and talent management, and knowledge and tools. This leader animates a community of 220 diversity leaders around the world and conducts D&I dialogues with our top 20 countries to discuss action plans.

In 2021-2022, women accounted for 20% of partners across the Group, and our realistic goal is to raise this number to 25% by 2025. It is a key objective set out in our strategic plan and based on a fair assessment of our current talent pipeline. Thanks to our efforts, we reached 22% of female partners as of January 2023.

To help us in this journey, we have partnered, at the group level, with the Observatory for Gender Balance, which creates knowledge and initiatives to advance female leadership and representation in top management. Working with the Observatory’s members, we have developed a checklist for CEOs to assess whether their organisations have implemented the necessary actions to deliver results. This is a tool we are using to drive our own transformation and progress.

In partnership with the Observatory, we have developed a white paper featuring key insights from experts and CEOs, who share their views on critical barriers and bias, and how to drive gender diversity improvements.

Leading from the top

Our Group Executive Board is dedicated to embedding diversity and inclusion into everything we do at our firm. By shaping our culture and long-term strategy around inclusion, our leadership is committed to building a diverse global firm that recognises and rewards difference.

Our Group Chairman, Hervé Hélias, has taken a stance on gender diversity by working with other CEO members of the Observatory and co-signing several op-eds which help build the case internally and externally for more impactful gender diversity strategies. We have published these perspectives on our website and promoted them in social media.

In 2021, Hervé Hélias and the Managing Director of Forvis Mazars in France, Olivier Lenel, co-signed the 'Manifesto of the French Ministry in charge of Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal Opportunities to protect women victims of violence'. By signing this manifesto, we share our commitment to act against this violence, whether outside or inside the company.

These initiatives are shaping Forvis Mazars as a firm that expressly appreciates the value of difference and the importance of belonging, and delivers business success to our people and our clients as a result.