Cooper Parry - 2023 impact report review
Cooper Parry (CP) is not your normal accountancy firm. And so I was interested to read their first impact report and learn a bit more about them…
👍🏻 Three things I like:
1. REPORT PROGRESS USING TABLES
They use tables to list the areas they’re working on and give a top level summary of the progress they made in FY23 and their ambition for FY24. This makes the report clear and easy to read.
2. SHARE “RIB-CRUNCHING LOWS”
I always appreciate a business that shares the lows as well as the highs.
A CP low that I particularly like is “we were keen, but maybe a little too keen and went a bit ambitious with our Net Zero target before checking the science first.” Many businesses make this mistake, and not all businesses have the humility to recognise it.
3. PROVIDE DETAIL IN APPENDICES
They provide detail of their carbon footprint and performance against the World Economic Forum’s framework in appendices. This means that the detail is there for those who want it but the core impact report is a manageable length. I won’t pretend that these appendices didn’t then raise a whole lot more detailed questions for me though!
❓ Three questions it raises:
1. HOW WILL THEY DELIVER IMPACT THROUGH THEIR SERVICES?
The biggest impact professional services firms can have is through the advice they provide and the CP impact report was almost silent on this.
I’d love to know their plan. And how they can draw on their USP of being disruptive and different to make a tangible, meaningful positive difference in the world through the work they do with their clients.
2. WHAT CAN OTHERS LEARN FROM CP’S FLEXIBLE WORKING APPROACH?
CP’s flexible working approach and ambition sounds characteristically bold … and also challenging. I’d love to understand how they envisage achieving a 30 hour maximum working week, and how they will do that whilst continuing to deliver high client satisfaction.
What can other businesses learn from them?
3. D&I – WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO IMPROVE DAY-TO-DAY EXPERIENCE?
A lot of the Diversity & Inclusion activity CP report is signing pledges and making commitments. I’m curious to know what changes they have made (e.g. to processes) that make a meaningful difference to the day to day experience of colleagues?
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You can read the report for yourself here and let me know what you think.
If you’re preparing to write your own impact report, you might find my FREE Impact Reporting Roadmap helpful: