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When’s the last time your accountant mentioned climate change?

When’s the last time your accountant mentioned climate change?

The biggest problem with most accountants isn’t that they lack a personality, it’s that they don’t account for planet Earth (some of them don’t even live on it). But if you want to be in business beyond this decade, climate change needs to be on your agenda. If your accountant isn’t prepared for that conversation, you won’t be either.

First, an apology on behalf of my profession

When I was five years old my parents said, “Michael, you’d make a good accountant; partly because you’re good at maths, but mostly it’s your lack of personality.”

Not one to disappoint, I set my sights on the big wide world of accountancy. I did all the right subjects through school and university, became a chartered accountant and set up a practice on my own.

It was only then that I realised a painful truth: I had no actual understanding of how to run a business.

In my experience, that’s the reality for most business owners. They’re passionate people who understand what they do inside out, but aren’t trained experts when it comes to managing and growing a business.

“Contrary to popular opinion (my parents included), accountants should have a personality”

I’ve spent the last 30 years trying to break the stereotype of what people expect from an accountant. Contrary to popular opinion (my parents included), accountants should have enough of a personality that you want to see them more than once a year. They should be the first person you go to for help, not just with your numbers but with achieving your ambitions, developing your business strategy, improving your operations and increasing your sales.

There’s no one better positioned to advise you on your business, but somehow that’s lost on my profession, and for that I apologise.

This was always the idea behind our name Big Hand for Business – a helping hand that does more than just the compliance with HMRC, but proactively helps you make the right decisions for your business and puts you on the path to where you want to go.

This is an emergency (but also an opportunity)

Being a helping hand is the reason why, starting November 2022, we are launching a new name: The Green Accountants.

If you have children, you probably already know how conscious younger generations are of the future of our planet. They’re right to be worried.

Right now, climate scientists are warning that we’re heading for around 3°C degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of this century. That doesn’t sound like much to the uninitiated, but the planet has already warmed by 1°C and just look what is unfolding around us already – from unprecedented floods in Europe and Asia to hellish wildfires in Australia and the US.

We’re now in code red for humanity. Those aren’t my words, they are the UN’s.

“It doesn’t take an accountant to conclude that the climate emergency is the biggest challenge facing every business. Thankfully, it’s also the biggest opportunity”

It doesn’t take an accountant to conclude that the climate emergency is the biggest challenge facing every business. If you feel like you’re not affected yet, it’s only a matter of time.

Thankfully, it’s also the biggest opportunity facing your business, and there are clear advantages to acting immediately, whether it’s reducing your costs and increasing competitiveness or attracting the best young talent.

Motivated by my own daughter’s concerns about the climate crisis, we set a target to reduce our company’s carbon emissions by 50%. We’ve done some of the easier big impact changes (we’ve managed to reduce our carbon-based mileage by 87%, for example) and were even featured in one of the government’s Together For Our Planet newsletters earlier this year.

However, as we moved onto the harder stuff, we needed help, and that’s how The Green Accountants was born.

You need a co-pilot

When you speak to us, one of the first questions we’ll ask is: How’s your business going to cope with climate change?If you’re not able to answer the question, I don’t blame you.

We all know we should be doing more. But we also know as business owners, we’re so busy fighting fires inside the workplace that there’s hardly enough foam left in our extinguishers to fight the biggest fire of all raging outside. Right now, the cost of doing business makes it feel impossible to even pick up the extinguisher, let alone point it in the right direction.

If you don’t know where to start, how to start, or who to turn to for support, you’re not alone. If you Google climate change or sustainability, it’s carnage. It will scramble your brain.

This is where your accountant should come in. If we’re not helping you to become a more sustainable, future-proof, low carbon business, what kind of advisors are we?

“We’re so busy fighting fires inside the workplace that there’s hardly enough foam left in our extinguishers to fight the biggest fire of all raging outside”

Our job at The Green Accountants is to be your co-pilot. To sit down with you and say, okay, let’s take a breath and explore how you can take the first steps on your sustainability journey.

We won’t overload you carbon neutral this and net zero that, or hit you with exercises like if Jane has six bags of shopping and is driving her car at 40mph, how many tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted before we all fall asleep from boredom.

We simply focus on what sustainability means for you and how you can benefit.

How we do it

We start with a Strategic Review of your business. What’s going to happen to you and your industry in the coming years:

  • What will your customers expect of you in terms of demonstrating action and accountability, and where are the opportunities in your market to get ahead?
  • What are the key opportunities for you to reduce costs through being greener?
  • What does climate change mean for your supply chain?
  • How is sustainability affecting your workforce and recruitment?
  • What legislation is coming your way?
  • What do investors and lenders want to see?

Our Sustainability Champion Sophia Anthony is our in-house expert who will work with you directly on your Strategic Review. Her job is to ask the right questions, give you the knowledge you need, and signpost you to people who can help when you’re ready to take your next steps.

That’s just the start. We have a Green Accounting system and a range of other services and partnerships waiting in the wings for when you get serious about your journey to sustainability. Look out for more on the rest of our services by following myself and Sophia on LinkedIn, or get in touch with us directly.

Every business is one of 3 things

I’m going to finish this article with a quick thought experiment.

I like to describe sustainability as the greatest business revolution since the creation of the Internet.

When the Internet came along in the 90s, it took a while before digital business became the norm. But those who saw what was coming got in early. They are now some of the biggest businesses on the planet. Others joined in over time and caught up. Most of those who didn’t no longer exist.

In other words, businesses were either born digital, went digital, or went bust. That is exactly how the sustainability revolution will pan out. Every single business fits into one of the following categories:

Which one are you? (If you’re not sure, take our 2 minute test to find out).

To learn more about how The Green Accountants can help you, get in touch with me directly and follow us on LinkedIn for more insights from our team of experts.

And remember: If your accountant hasn’t spoken to you about your business strategy to deal with climate change, are they really helping you?

 

Mick Seddon

With three decades’ experience under his belt, it’s fair to say Mick has collated a considerable wealth of financial knowledge over the years. He specialises in working hands-on with clients, collaborating with business owners and helping them to grow. Mick has led the development of The Green Accountants from the beginning with the aim of inspiring SMEs to become more climate conscious. He’s also proud to hold the UK record for the fastest ever filing for end of year accounts, and outside of work loves his rugby (when he’s not busy saving the world!)

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