Ignition’s Top 50 Women in Accounting Awards has gone from strength to strength and now has global recognition, says its originator Guy Pearson, the CEO and co-founder of the company. He established the awards six years ago to acknowledge the many women who had been instrumental in his early career but who “undersold themselves”. “We can move the needle in terms of helping women put their hand up, be recognised and realise they can achieve perhaps more than they set out to,” said Mr Pearson on this week’s Accountants Daily podcast. Among the first 50 winners was Rebecca Mihalic, now head of accounting at Ignition and joint guest on the podcast, who said the momentum behind the awards had grown. “I didn’t even see the original announcement of the first lot of awards … but now people wait for it. People want to nominate their colleagues, they can see this is making a great impact for women out there who are doing wonderful things but are flying under the radar.” This year’s winners included women from Australia, Canada, Cayman Island, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the UK and the US.