The modern firm: discerning, knowledge-intensive, agile, sustainable

Mazars’ 2016 Yearbook, part of the Group’s 2015-2016 Annual Report, is a journey through topics that are of paramount importance to us: leadership and entrepreneurship. Each article can be read alone, but all are closely tied to the concept of a Modern Firm. In order to illustrate this concept, we have chosen to explore four attributes, which define a modern firm: discerning, knowledge-intensive, agile and sustainable. Join our staff, our partners, our clients and all our other guests in this journey, from Rotterdam to Shanghai via Milan and Casablanca.

‘Discerning’: a smart kind of growth

"Serving our clients worldwide": Growing for the sake of growing is not a smart option. Mazars continues to develop and conquer new territories only where it makes sense, as defined by a considered and ambitious strategy aimed at a smart kind of growth.
"The Globalisation Game": an in-depth story about how the transformation of China’s economy and society, and the drive of its businesses to go international, change everything for professional services firms. Here, we put the spotlight on our merger with ZhongShen ZhongHuan, with interviews and portraits of 12 of our staff members in China.

‘Knowledge-intensive’: in-depth articles about key business and industry topics

Cybersecurity: how the explosion of cybercrime leads corporations to re-evaluate how they do business.
Audit in the 21st century: an interview of three experts from the Financial Stability Board and Public Interest Oversight Board on the evolution of the role of the auditor.
Luxury industry: new levers of value creation.
Tax transparency: with increasing regulation and scrutiny from the public, tax transparency becomes a business issue.

‘Agile’: how constant reinvention has become a requirement for all businesses

Diversity: in this double article, we focus on the true meaning of diversity and how, beyond compliance, it adds value to an organisation as a whole, highlighting the link between diversity and agility. We present results from our Group-wide internal diversity survey, together with interviews of women executives in the United States, and a case study about Sweden and Denmark.
Smart working: Here, we address the revolutions that affect the workplace. The relocation of our head offices in the Netherlands is a perfect illustration of how reinventing our approach to work actually serves higher purposes such as sustainability and social responsibility. Mazars’ new head office in Italy is our second case study on the transformation of the workplace. Here, we feature staff interviews and pictures to illustrate how Mazars’ approach to work is a token of our agility.

‘Sustainable’: taking into account the future generations

Stewardship: SMEs are a key target for Mazars. In this story, we went to Bordeaux, France, to interview a seasoned entrepreneur, his team, and GenZ representatives about entrepreneurship and values.
A dialogue between generations: three very different profiles, two generations; a business executive from the insurance industry, a young Mazars professional and a start-up founder meet in Casablanca to discuss entrepreneurship and leadership in Africa.
Development in Africa: we interviewed African entrepreneurs in order to know what are the key success factors for start-ups on the continent.
Urbanity by Mazars: a project that highlights our interest and our respect for the communities that make up our environment.

Also in our 2016 Yearbook…

Highlights 2015-2016.
Integrated reporting: we continue on our journey towards Integrated Reporting, pursuing our efforts to explain our business model and our value creation process.

Also part of our 2015-2016 Annual Report…

Financial Statements: Mazars has been publishing its consolidated accounts every year since 2005, as part of our quest towards transparency and of our ambition to apply to ourselves the same discipline that is applied to our clients.
Leaflet 2017: Mazars in a nutshell – a 12-page document with figures updated as of January 1st, 2017.