The ACQ Global Awards are the single largest program of their kind in the market.
Since 2006, the ACQ GLOBAL AWARDS have been celebrating achievement, innovation and brilliance in their annual awards. Anybody can make that claim, but ACQ really is different. We boast a legitimately independent nomination process, most importantly, our award winners, are chosen by the industry itself.
We rely on reader insight and experience to provide nominations and we relish hearing about new experts and burgeoning markets. Every year, we seek their assistance in recognising industry leaders, eminent individuals, exemplary teams and distinguished businesses, which we believe represent the benchmark of achievement and best practice in a variety of fields – and every year, our readers help as we strive to recognise an ever-widening spectrum of services, markets, industries and organisations that serve our global market place.
Our awards rise above the status of participation certificate and actually represent an endorsement of outstanding work.
We recognise smaller market participants as well as larger firms adapting international models to unique geographies. Whether it's businesses large or small, individuals in niche sectors or a category you think we might be overlooking, we'd love to hear from you.
Entry into all awards programs is free of charge. This includes Submission, Nomination and Selection of winners.
The ACQ Global Awards set out to recognise the achievements of those who are responding most successfully to the demands being placed on them in the new post-recession business environment.
Our awards are the only industry honours given purely on the basis of voter participation, and as always, we welcome and consider any and all submissions to our nomination process.
Hosted by ACQ magazine & the ACQ5 news portal, the Awards are divided into COMPANY, PRACTICE AREA, INDIVIDUAL and FIRM-WIDE categories within the public & private sectors.
We would like to thank all who choose share their thoughts by making nominations related to performance and the best practices they have experienced first-hand.
We invite nominations from over 210,000 industry peers.
Guided by the poll results those businesses and individuals that have had the greatest impact on the industry during 2016 will be duly honoured. In judging these awards we will study the nominations made by our voters and recognise the leaders in their fields with exceptional performance and recognition.
Can we draw your attention to the fact that this year’s award program will be advertised on a number of international 3rd party digital media platforms in addition to being published on ACQ.5 throughout 2017.
All 3rd party digital media platforms are chosen promotional vessels for the ACQ Global Awards Program during 2017. They are NOT to be considered as a sponsor or partner to the ACQ Global Awards 2017.
Many thanks once more and we look forward to your nominations.
And now the small print…
Eligibility
Organisational participation include private companies, publicly listed companies, multi-national subsidiaries, non-government organisations, educational institutions, franchise systems, partnerships, educational institutions, government departments, government agencies, local government and statutory bodies operating in both locally and internationally.
Initiatives can include but are not limited to projects, programs, processes, services, systems, technologies, developments, ventures and undertakings.
Assessment
Entries are assessed utilising a robust and dynamic framework to ensure that the assessment process is pertinent and objective. The ACQ Annual Award Framework (AAA Framework) is utilised as a structured model of assessment that enables the participating organisations to be benchmarked against world class performance standards. The Framework consists of specialised assessment modules pertaining to the evaluation criteria for each of the award programs and the categories contained within. The criteria and sub-criteria provide a robust set of requirements that are used as the methodology for benchmarking and learning among the participating organisations.
Votes cannot be limited to one per IP address as this would prevent large numbers of individuals submitting votes from their workplace at large organisations, but the judging panel carefully exercises its expertise in ensuring that suspicious or inappropriate companies receiving large numbers of votes are properly probed. As part of any such investigation our web team will be able to check if statistically significant numbers of votes for a suspicious company originated from the same individual or group of IP addresses, and whether the details of these voters match the identifying IP address. Any data accessed for such purposes will be treated as confidential.
Scope
Organisations that participate in all award programs are provided with the unique opportunity to benchmark themselves against the top performers globally. The recipients are acknowledged for their achievements and recognised as the elite of their industry earning a place amongst a distinguished group by having their products, projects, initiatives, contributions and achievements recognised on a prominent and far-reaching scale.
Each program provides the ultimate platform for building knowledge, increasing brand awareness, equity, loyalty and retention through increased exposure, recognition and prestige. This establishes a valuable resource that can be used extensively to create opportunities for publicity, positive organisational profiling and heightened brand awareness within the respective industries both nationally and internationally.
2017 Methodology
The ACQ Global Awards 2017 are open to any practice, individual or related sector supplier. Votes are invited from subscribers to ACQ who are asked to consider funds that have top-quartile returns, “Sharpe” ratio and downside deviation along with their personal or institutional experiences when engaging with partners and firms, nominate who they feel to be “Best of Breed” in the categories highlighted on this voting form.
Only categories with a sufficient number of votes are included in the final poll. The poll is not only designed to reflect actual performance in any particular area of expertise, it is also aimed to reflect direct market share based on a number of criteria and voters could base their decisions on addressing expertise, responsiveness, understanding of a business and its needs, cost-effectiveness, civility, customer service, reliability, experience and knowledge, integrity, firm capabilities. In that sense, this poll should be considered a reflection of how professionals view any tax practice, individual or related sector supplier in terms of overall quality of service.
When analysing the votes, we look to strip out what we consider to be invalid votes. These include multiple votes from the same person, proxy votes, votes from people using personal email accounts, votes by people who choose the same nominee indiscriminately throughout the poll and block votes from groups of people at the same institution voting for the nominee. Self-submission is however accepted. The editor's decision is final.
The ACQ Global Awards 2017 rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of evaluations, peer review from leading parties in their field, and review of additional information provided or gathered by ACQ as part of the formal submission process. To be eligible for a ranking, a party firm or individual must receive a sufficient number of votes for that particular location and specialty.
Practice area rankings are produced in each geography that ACQ has a penetration in. Because some practice areas have minimal presence in particular markets or geographies, or because there is not enough data garnered for proper evaluation, some practice areas that are covered in our research may not be represented in the 2017 awards publication.
All of the quantitative and qualitative practice area data will be combined and then added to actual “Best of Breed” nominations to provide the resultant overall “Best of Breed” for each geography.
Any data accessed for such purposes will be treated as confidential unless voters specifically allow their nominations to be released to nominees.
FAQ's
Are there any fees associated with participation in the submission process or receiving a ranking in the “ACQ Global Awards 2017”?
No. There are no fees associated with submitting information or receiving a ranking. Featured appearances within the ACQ Global Awards 2017 supplement will carry traditional representative marketing costs.
Can I review a list of the practice areas included in the evaluation process?
A full list of the categories considered for the “ACQ Global Awards 2017” rankings can be found in the nomination form, please click here soon...
Where will the rankings be published?
The rankings will be published in a special stand-alone supplement released by ACQ. All of the rankings, in all tiers, will be published online at http://acq5.com.
How can I receive communications regarding the submission process, announcements and opportunities available to our business?
Parties may designate a contact — or multiple contacts — to receive communications related to ACQ Global Awards 2017 initiative. If we do not have a designated contact, all communications are sent to individuals within the law firm that have previously communicated with ACQ. ACQ relies on the assistance of these individuals to ensure that all related notifications are passed to a suitable representative of the firm.
Please contact your firm's Media Specialist or write to awards@acq5.com to be added as a contact for your firm.
Survey rules:
1. GENERAL INFORMATION: The survey ("Survey") to which these Official Rules apply is operated by ACQ5.com ("the Promoter")
The Survey will run from and during Q1 2017 (the "Survey Period").
2. HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE?: The Survey is open to any individual who works in the market sector and can reasonably be expected to have personal knowledge and experiences of the categories to which the (nominating) Survey awards relate. Exceptions are employees of the Promoter and its parent, subsidiary, affiliated or associated companies, its and their agents and immediate families and anyone else professionally connected with the Survey(the "Released Parties") are not eligible to participate. All participants under 18 must have parental/guardian consent to enter. By entering this Survey each player confirms that he/she has obtained such consent and agrees to be bound by these Official Rules.
3. HOW TO ENTER: Entry to the Survey is by completing the electronic polling information that can be found at here soon....
By entering the Survey participants confirm that all information given is complete, accurate and not misleading. The Promoter reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any entry at any time in the event it is determined that the participant has not complied with these Official Rules or has acted in an unfair or disruptive manner. The Released Parties are not responsible for misdirected, incomplete, lost, late, illegible, undeliverable entries, technical, hardware, or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions or other errors or problems which may limit or affect a participant's ability to participate in the Survey. The Released Parties are not responsible for other errors or difficulties of any kind, whether human, mechanical, electronic, computer, network, typographical, printing or otherwise, relating to or in connection with the Survey, including without limitation, errors or difficulties which may occur in connection with the administration of the Survey, the processing of entries, the announcement of the prize or in any Survey-related materials. The Released Parties do not guarantee that the telephony system and/or Survey will not contain IT faults, or that faults identified will be remedied; In the event of sabotage, acts of God, terrorism or threats thereof, network failure or other events or causes beyond the Promoter's control, which corrupt the integrity, administration, security or proper operation of the Survey, the Promoter reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, cancel or suspend the Survey (or a portion thereof). In the event of cancellation, the Promoter reserves the right to judge all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to the event requiring such cancellation. False or deceptive entries or acts will invalidate the participant's vote.
4. INVALID VOTES: When aggregating the results, we will discount what we consider to be invalid votes. These include (but are not restricted to):
• Multiple votes from the same IP address;
• Proxy votes on behalf of customers (even if authorisation has been given);
• Votes from personal email accounts including Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail accounts (or similar);
• Organised group voting patterns e.g. block votes from groups of participants on the same desk at the same institution voting for the same firm
• Inducements to vote in a particular way e.g. gifts, drinks or entertainment
• Any other indication that an unfair attempt has been made to influence the poll.
Emailed votes from companies and firms that send mass emails copying and pasting parts of our poll/intro letter and attaching their logo will be disqualified, to ensure that there is no suggestion that the poll is a collaborative effort.
5. GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS: All information provided by participants will be collected by a third party in accordance with the Promoter's privacy policy available on
http://www.acq5.com/privacy-policy/ and passed on securely to the Promoter so that the winner may be contacted. Once the Survey has finished, the Promoter shall retain collected data in accordance with its privacy policy.
The Released Parties expressly disclaim any responsibility for any and all claims, actions, demands and/or liability for injury, damage or loss whatsoever relating to or arising in connection with participation in this Survey (regardless of the cause of such injury, damage or loss) and/or the delivery and/or subsequent use or misuse of any of the prize awarded (including without limitation, any travel and activity related thereto). For the avoidance of doubt The Released Parties do not exclude their liability for death or personal injury caused by their own negligence.
Any dispute or complaint concerning this Survey should be addressed to ACQ Magazine by 31/03/2017 at awards@acq5.com and must be so submitted within 90 days following the close of the Survey and specify the date of the Survey and its name. The Promoter reserves the right to shorten, defer, alter or cancel this Survey (including without limitation the categories of award) if it considers in its sole discretion that circumstances demand it; it cannot be held liable for this on any grounds whatsoever.
The Promoter's decision is final.
NOMINATIONS IN THE ACQ5 Global Awards 2017 PROGRAM ARE NOW CLOSED.