11th October 2021
Are your accountants meeting your ecological expectations?
When moulding a business to be more ecological, there is always more that can be done. However, we are currently undertaking some steps at the office to become more ecological.
Here at THL all staff are within proximity of the office; employing within your county or local vicinity can vastly reduce carbon emissions. Besides reducing emissions related to employees commute to work by car; it offers the ability to travel to work on foot or by push-bike, providing external health benefits for your employees.
For businesses like ourselves that are required to have frequent contact with clients, a “lunch meeting” can be a regular occurrence. Whilst dining out with clients can be an effective means of communication and should by no means be stopped, attending the local coffee shop or restaurant as a pose to travelling a distance to dine out can sizably reduce carbon emissions.
Due to the current climate, associated with covid-19, there were many changes to communications with clients and countless clients and employees are now familiar with the infamous zoom meetings.
Zoom meetings were ever-growing in number throughout lockdowns, meaning that discussions with clients were made over a computer screen rather than in person. Whilst the automatic decision would be to return to face-to-face meetings, this is a decision that should be carefully considered.
Zoom meetings again can prevent an unnecessary commute and production of carbon emissions and additionally prevent a time-waste travelling for both the client and the accountants. At THL we are keen to continue engaging with clients via online meetings and have invested in updated technology to ensure the quality of the call remains outstanding and no interruptions are made.
Accountants can contribute to global sustainability by reducing their paper trail where possible. Although there are some documents that must be submitted as a paper copy, there are many other accountancy files which can be submitted via email or other online services to avoid even starting a paper trail. At THL we are working towards moving more records online and happily receive any records or other required documents via email to prevent wasted paper.
However, it is inevitable that accountants will have a larger usage of paper than many other businesses, therefore we ensure this paper is recycled, once no longer needed, in order to conserve natural resources.
Possibly the most efficient and externally beneficial way of moving towards being more ecological would be to switch to a renewable energy provider for your electricity source. We have been using a renewable company to provide us with electricity.
We understand that there are still many improvements to be made before we can regard ourselves as environmentally beneficial and suggestions are always welcome.
Please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff if you have any questions.
Felicity Wise