Xero recently took home the Excellence in Leadership award at the New Zealand Business Awards.

Rod Drury, CEO and founder, accepted the award on behalf of the company.

“We are thrilled to be recognised for our leadership in the industry,” he says.

“Events this year make clear to us that businesses must work to create employment opportunities and be champions of diversity and inclusion.

Working with tens of thousands of accounting partners and getting closer to a million customers we are uniquely placed to show others how businesses with strong values can address some of the big social challenges many countries are facing today," explains Drury.

Sponsored by Ross Buckley, Executive Chair KPMG the award recognises the efforts of Xero's diverse global team in defining the company's organisational strategy and direction.

Xero is the leading cloud accounting platform in Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom and fast emerging in the United States, Asia region, Canada and South Africa.

In 12 months, the company recorded more than $1 trillion over 450 million incoming and outgoing transactions, signifying just how large the Xero data set has really become.

“Xero is only just at the beginning of its journey,” says Drury.

“As a global leader in cloud accounting with more than 862,000 subscribers, we are forging a path to 1 million customers and $1 billion in revenue. Xero and its partner ecosystem has evolved to a global community supporting small businesses.

Xero also supports a wider ecosystem with 500+ apps and integrations boosting industry growth, job creation and allowing businesses to connect with the apps they need to increase productivity and grow.