Awards are vital to boost accounting in the eyes of students, says Mazars Sydney managing partner Matthew Ashley, because attracting talent to the profession is a key challenge. Mr Ashley, who won Partner of the Year at the recent Australian Accounting Awards for the second time in a row, said everyone faced the same problem but awards were part of the solution. “We need to be doing more things to elevate accountants … celebrate success more as a profession,” he said on the latest Accountants Daily podcast. “The more we can do in investing in PR for the industry itself will help ensure we’re getting the talent pipeline coming through in terms of people leaving school and going to university wanting to study accounting and using it as a foundation for their career.” If Mr Ashley needed proof that his approach could work he had to look no further than his own Mazars Sydney team, which was a stand-out at this year’s awards with two other winners: New Partner of the Year in international tax specialist Lauren Hill and Rising Star of the Year Nadia Afrin.