BEEN THERE, LEARNT THAT: SUSSING SUSTAINABILITY WITH THE ICAEW

At the ICAEW’s Sustainability in Practice event, Nicoleta Voicu, our Head of Sustainability shared her learnings from our ESG strategy and her advice for other businesses.

We’re still the UK’s largest accountancy B Corp, fastest-growing accountancy firm, and #1 Accountancy Firm to Work For based on the Best Companies survey. With 1,450 people spread across multiple UK superhubs and 11 acquisitions in the last 20 months, our sustainability journey is showing no signs of slowing down – or getting simpler.

Nicoleta shared her tips for organisations looking to fine-tune their sustainability efforts. And we’ve summarised all the best bits below.

IT STARTED WITH THE ‘WHY’

CP’s consolidated ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) journey started over three years ago. We were ahead of the game on Social through our industry-leading employee experience and community programs, and performing strongly in Governance inherently, by being a regulated firm.

“The ‘E’, Environmental, needed some work,” Nicoleta told us, “And then everything needed consolidating into an overall strategy that underpins and weaves through our vision and culture. In these three years, we tripled our headcount and quadrupled our turnover. But we didn’t lose part of our culture because of growth – we grew because of our culture, the flexibility that includes, and the people and businesses it attracts. So, aligning these two was a big priority.”

Beyond the obvious, planet-sized benefits, we’ve also highlighted four key areas of commercial value in our sustainability journey:

1. Costs can decrease, for example through lower energy costs which we achieved via energy efficiency improvements.
2. The cost of capital can decrease, with more and more attractive financing options available. Our B Corp status and Net Zero ambitions gave us access to an ESG-linked loan, saving the business a substantial amount. Waterland Private Equity also invested in CP in 2022, with our culture and commitment to ESG playing a key role.
3. Prioritising ESG can help attract and retain the best talent.
4. Revenues can grow by reinforcing brand value, enhancing brand loyalty, and finding access to new markets and sources of income. Our B Corp certification helped us tap into a new customer base, and by embarking on our own sustainability journey, we identified gaps and opportunities in the market which formulated in a new service line – sustainability advisory.

HOW DID WE MAKE IT HAPPEN?

“At the beginning of 2022, we set our 3 Year Vision,” Nicoleta continued. “It covered every area of our business – all things ESG, our commercial approach, and our brand. We fitted it into seven, easy-to-read pages, and made it public to keep ourselves accountable.”

From plans to triple in size and work 30-hour weeks with 100% productivity to B Corp certification, Net Zero ambitions and a wide-reaching charity and community giving back programme, our 3 Year Vision was our North Star.

From there, Nicoleta and the team began to implement practical changes, including:

Environmental

• Switching all electricity contracts to renewable energy.
• Realising the benefits of an ESOS audit – rather than just going through it from a compliance perspective, we combed through all the energy efficiency recommendations and implemented the vast majority.
• Implementing a carbon inventory and annual reporting covering Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions. In FY23, this was calculated using our newly launched, GHG-aligned carbon software, Carbon Footprint Finder.
• Submitting Net Zero targets to SBTi.
• Changing suppliers to lower our Scope 3 impact.
• Sustainable transport – including free EV chargers at our offices and bike and EV salary sacrifice schemes.

Social

• Reinforcing a culture of freedom – with Work From Anywhere. Anytime. Forever (WFAAF), unlimited holiday and a four-day week trial.
• Community Days – paid volunteering days when the whole of CP logs off and supports causes close to their hearts.
• Dedicated coordinators for D&I, Community and Employee wellbeing, including a D&I committee with 19 members running monthly campaigns on topics like grief, LGBTQIA+, Black History and Trans Awareness.
• Running an annual D&I survey.
• Updating our supplier code of conduct to reflect our ESG values.
• Screening prospective clients based on specific metrics and B Corp disclosure areas.

Governance

• ESG responsibility at management and board level – this grew into a small Sustainability department of its own, sitting under Operations where the team can truly effect change.
• Articles of association – we became signatories of the Better Business Act and committed to a triple bottom line approach.
• ESG training programme – educating all CP employees.
• Creating a Risk Map incorporating all ESG elements.
• Publishing our first Impact Report – aligned with the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) framework.
• Introducing B Keepers to make the B Corp values part of employee performance and integrating ESG into individual job descriptions.

BECOMING B CORP

“B Corp certification is a transformational journey that starts with measuring the impact of your company’s operations through the B Impact Assessment (BIA),” Nicoleta shared. “It’s a comprehensive measurement of the company’s entire performance and impact, from supply chain and carbon footprint to charitable giving, D&I policies and employee benefits.”

CP became B Corp certified in February 2023, but the process started much earlier, back in 2021.

“It took us around a year and a half to get complete and accurate data for the 200 questions in the B Impact Assessment, make improvements and go through the certification processes,” Nicoleta continued. “We had to re-think some of our processes and ways of working to make sure our growth ambitions were synchronised with sustainable values. Now, as the UK’s largest accountancy B Corp, we’ve found the process has made us stronger as a business.

“It serves as the backbone for everything we aim to achieve impact-wise regarding our work, the environment and the community. It gave something palpable to our purpose-driven culture. And the most impactful part of the B Corp process was the learning and the chances to rethink, reimagine and improve every aspect of our business through the Impact Assessment’s broad lens.”

If you’re on the road towards your own B Corp certification, Nicoleta had these tips to share:

• Aim for a minimum of 83 points when submitting the BIA – you need 80 to certify but this gives you a buffer against any unexpected deductions.
• Formalise internal processes and company policies – B Lab will need to see documentation of these to verify your answers.
• Upload evidence when completing the BIA – be it a website link, copy of your policies, or narrative explaining the answer. It will help you massively during the verification stage.
• Encourage ideas and engage all your employees – often, companies appoint one person to lead the B Corp process. A collaborative approach can help identify areas where you can make lasting improvements and impact.
• Get external support if you’re struggling – this can help clarify your company’s sustainability strategy, demystify the certification process and identify new areas for quick improvements. It’s also something CP’s Sustainability team offers.
• Leverage B Lab’s free resources.

“Be intentional and specific about the impact you’re having, and don’t expect your journey to end at the point of the first certification being awarded,” Nicoleta added. “The BIA is a performance measurement tool designed to aid continual improvement – you need to recertify every three years – and while there are a number of practical steps you can take, it’s important to adopt a mindset of longer-term goal setting and planning. That’s a crucial part of being a B Corp.”

GOOD? BAD? UGLY? IT’S ALL ABOUT LEARNING

We can’t let perfection stand in the way of progress when it comes to sustainability. Nicoleta called it “a continuous, never-ending journey of learning,” adding “We still have loads to do.”

“Sometimes you will get it wrong, and that’s ok. Be transparent about it. Just starting the journey will undoubtedly strengthen your brand. It’s difficult to recruit in this space because there’s a real shortage of green skills, but if you can, every company should invest in CO2e reduction as a priority, not offsetting.”

From publishing a comprehensive decarbonisation plan and setting a zero-waste target to introducing a Charitable Impact Strategy, carbon literacy training for all employees and improving supplier engagement, the next few years are jam-packed with ESG initiatives at CP.

Throw in our five new Sustainability Advisory offerings, including an ESG Diagnostic Tool, Carbon Footprint Finder, ESG Assurance, ESG Reporting, B Corp Support and Audit Team Upskilling, and it’s clear Nicoleta and her team are setting out to make a big impact in more ways than one.