BrazilEY Audit partner Wardah Ebrahim wins prestigious ICAEW award
EY MENA Audit partner Wardah Ebrahim has won the Contribution to Practice award at the ICAEW’s annual honours ceremony, with the EY Assurance team also recognised on the night.
The Middle East branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has held its annual honours ceremony for 2019, with EY’s Assurance Talent Leader Wardah Ebrahim – recently made the firm’s fist ever female partner in the UAE – taking home the prestigious Contribution to Practice award. The EY MENA Assurance team also scooped the Innovation award on the night.
Held last week in Dubai at the Jumeirah Beach Four Seasons Resort, the annual ICAEW awards ceremony aims to recognise and celebrate the achievements of individuals and organisations across a number of categories who have advanced the accountancy and finance profession within their field. Last year, long-term KPMG Bahrain Managing Partner Jamal Fakhro was honoured for his contribution to accounting.
This year, in the night’s feel-good moment, the Contribution to Practice award went to Ebrahim, recognised for her efforts in developing diversity within the auditing and accounting profession – with the honour prompting a huge round of heartfelt congratulation from colleagues and industry peers. Responding to the flood of comments, Ebrahim humbly shared the accolade with the EY family for their long-time support.
Chaired by former EY regional leader Edward Quinlan – who himself once made history by becoming the firm’s youngest ever partner – the ICAEW awards judges’ panel is made up of a number of industry veterans and leaders, with other Big Four names including Deloitte Middle East chairman Herve Ballantyne, KPMG UAE partner Rohit Rajvanshi, and Amanda Line – head of PwC Academy Middle East.
In addition to Ebrahim, the judges also acknowledged EY’s overall Assurance team with the ICAEW award for Innovation, which recognises innovation in areas such as strategy, change management, systems or technology that has led to significant organisational improvements. The award was given for the EY Digital Audit solution, which combines data analytics, cloud and other emerging technologies.
“The award is a testament to our commitment to driving digital transformation and delivering high-quality audits for our clients using EY Digital Audit,” said EY MENA managing partner Khurram Mian, who was appointed to lead the regional Assurance practice last year. “We’ve developed a suite of bots to undertake the routine elements of an audit which have been utilised in thousands of client audits across the region.”
