Winner: Sir Mike Rake

Sir Mike Rake, former chairman of KPMG International, former senior partner of KPMG UK and now chairman of British Telecom, takes this year's award for outstanding industry contribution for his long stint at the top of the profession and for the significant role he played in determining the future of the profession, while leading one of the world's four biggest firms.

Rake moved to BT this year after a 35-year career at KPMG. He joined the firm when it was Peat Marwick and stayed with it through all its mergers until it finally reached its position of number three in the world.

After joining in 1972, Rake moved to Europe, where he ran the audit practice in Belgium and then in Luxembourg.

He moved to London in 1989 and became a member of the UK board in 1991 where he won a number of leadership roles before becoming UK senior partner in 1998 and then international chairman in 2002.

During his time in charge he will be remembered for his efforts to merge with Andersen in the UK, as the firm collapsed internationally following the Enron scandal. That attempt ended in disappointment and Rake has since expressed his regret that he took the legal advice not to take on the firm.

However, the episode acted as a springboard, propelling Rake onto a world stage to play a central role in campaigning to ensure that there was a measured legislative response to Enron.

He lobbied regulators and politicians across the US, the European Union, Japan and India. He has consistently made the case for strong independent regulation, transparency, global accounting standards and strong audit committees.

More recently, he led KPMG through the US tax shelter scandal. He described the episode as his own 'personal nightmare' after the US authorities threatened to launch a criminal prosecution that could, potentially, have caused a similar loss in confidence in the firm as that suffered by Andersen.

But Rake was instrumental in making the case that prosecution should be averted and the firm was fined £250m instead. With this, KPMG's reputation was saved, along with thousands of jobs across the world.

Additionally, this act pulled back from an action that could have removed another Big Firm from the audit market, a outcome that could have caused regulatory chaos in financial markets as corporates struggled to find audit services and avoid conflicts of interest.

Rake himself is also proud of the way KPMG took a lead in separating consulting from audit long before other firms grasped that particular nettle.

Among his other achievements were to make KPMG a lead figure in developing corporate social responsibility programmes, an area in which the firm has led from the front in the UK, US and in Europe. He says his lasting legacy is making KPMG one of the best places to work. The firm is consistently voted one of the top employers in the country.

The Outstanding Industry Contribution Award is the only award made by the editorial team at Accountancy Age.

He was described by the team as 'tough, highly intelligent, a leader who stood for what he believed in and a man open to discussion and debate.'

Rake wins the award not only for leading the firm through difficult times, but also for leading it to success and continued growth.