Would you choose to fly on the maiden flight of a pilot who has never flown a plane?  Maybe s/he has read the books and passed a written test on lift and thrust; but s/he has never lifted off, landed, flown at night, dealt with turbulence, or executed any of the duties of an experienced pilot.

Most of us would prefer to pay for actual flight-hour experience in the cockpit.

Turning to your business, as we have been reporting for some time, the ‘trickle down’ effect of sustainability / carbon neutrality / ESG on small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), and those that serve them, like their accounting firms, is upon us.

This article talks about the opportunity for accounting firms to pick up some business from you due to this.

As governments create new sustainability governance programs, such as the SEC rules discussed in the article, large companies will be forced to report their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.  There will be a trickle down to SMEs that serve these larger public companies as those larger companies, who need to report their Scope 3 emissions, will require their SME vendors, to report their Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

This will present risk for SMEs who are served by accounting firms that do not have experience with sustainability or carbon neutrality.  Further, it also limits the opportunity for these SMEs to maximize the use of this as a differentiation tool as their advisors have never walked the talk.

Will most accounting firms read up on this topic?  Probably.

But will that give them hands-on experience with the process of becoming certified sustainable or having a baseline carbon footprint analysis done?  No.

Will it give them the real world experience to counsel and guide you on how to turn this into an opportunity?  No.

Do yourself a favor.   When the time comes, select a certified sustainable accounting firm, like this one.  They can speak to the process of becoming and renewing their sustainability certification, and have done the work associated with creating a baseline carbon footprint analysis.  They have walked the talk.