Mazars

Previously known as Neville Russell, the firm changed names to Mazars Neville Russell when it merged with French firm Mazars & Guerard in September 1998. In 2002 the name was shortened to simply Mazars.

The firm's French connections have seen it break from consensus on many issues affecting UK accountancy. A prime example of this has been its strong lobbying for a joint audit system in the UK, mirroring the French system.

More recently the firm has also been vociferous in its calls for hardball market intervention from regulators to break the dominance of the Big Four, even though its mid-tier piers have balked at the proposal.

Unlike its UK rivals, Mazars is also a truly global firm, pooling profits across its entire international operation rather than ring-fencing profits by region as the major LLPs do.

In 2007 the group swallowed up smaller rival Moores Rowland as part of an ambitious strategy for future growth, which will also see the firm leave its spiritual home of Bevis St Marks and move into a new building at Tower Bridge, heralding the beginning of a new era in the firm's evolution.