B Corp™ and the client experience

Our journey to becoming a B Corp has helped change the way we look after our clients, as Mandy Reynolds explains

Over the past couple of years, we’ve been on quite a journey at PKF Francis Clark. Becoming a B Corp™ wasn’t about chasing a badge for the website – it was about holding a mirror up to ourselves and asking some honest questions about how we run our firm, how we treat our people, how we make a positive impact in our communities and how we support the clients who put their trust in us.

We’re really proud to have achieved B Corp certification, but we’re know this is only the start. There’s still plenty more we can do and that mindset – of listening, learning and improving – has probably been the biggest shift of all.

Here’s a bit about what’s changed, especially around the way we support our clients.

Listening better and more often

One of the biggest steps we’ve taken is simply getting better at listening. It sounds obvious but we realised we needed a more structured way to hear what clients actually think about working with us – the good, the not‑so‑good and the bits we didn’t know about.

So far, we’ve commissioned an independent consultancy, Insight6, to speak to around 45 clients, gathering both quantitative and qualitative insights into what it feels like to work with us. This feedback has helped us pinpoint where we can sharpen up, from how we communicate about fees to how well we join the dots internally between different teams.

We’re already acting on what we’ve heard. That means:

Keeping in touch more regularly (not just when something urgent crops up)
Being clearer and more transparent about fees
Collaborating more closely across departments so the experience feels seamless

This summer, we’ll also be launching a new online client survey so we can keep improving the way we listen.

Communicating with more honesty, clarity and accessibility

A big part of our B Corp journey has been rethinking how we communicate – not just what we say but how easy it is for people to read, understand and navigate our content. Our rebrand gave us the perfect moment to take this seriously.

One stat really made us sit up: around 20% of people have visual, motor, hearing or neurodivergent conditions that can make engaging with typical business content more difficult. Recognising that, we made a commitment to bake accessibility into everything we produce.

Here’s what we’ve changed:

More accessible colours and contrasts to make text genuinely readable for everyone
Larger text sizes so people don’t have to zoom in or struggle with fine print
More accessible fonts, switching to Aptos and Poppins because they’re clearer on screens and easier for all users to read
Screen‑reader‑friendly content, with documents structured properly so assistive technology can navigate them
A new style guide to keep our language plain, clear and inclusive across the board
A more accessible website, with simpler navigation and clearer signposting so people can find what they need without digging around

What’s lovely is that making things more accessible tends to make them better for everyone, not just those who need adjustments. It’s pushed us to be more thoughtful and more human in our communication.

Making it easier for clients to work with us

B Corp has encouraged us to be more transparent and open in general. That includes strengthening our data privacy and security practices and improving how we explain financial information. We’ve also been investing in new digital tools shaped directly by client feedback, helping us deliver a smoother, more joined‑up service.

We’re exploring ways to simplify our onboarding process for new clients and improve our client portal, so interacting with us feels easier from day one. And we’re actively inviting feedback on what else we could improve – because accessibility is something you keep refining as you learn.

Why B Corp matters to how we serve our clients

Becoming a B Corp means we’ve hard‑wired environmental, social and governance considerations into how we run our firm. It influences how decisions are made at board level, how we support and develop our people and how we think about our impact on the wider community.

For clients, this means:

A firm that’s committed to doing the right thing, not just the easy thing
A team that’s supported, well‑trained and motivated to deliver a great service
More transparency in how we communicate and operate
A culture that genuinely listens to what clients need

We’re also more accountable. We’ll be publishing our ESG commitments and progress externally and ensuring colleagues across the business have ESG objectives and responsibilities.

We’re proud but we’re not finished

It would be easy to say the hard work is done now that we’re a Certified B Corporation. But the truth is, it feels like we’re only just getting started.

We’ve made some real progress, from switching to renewable energy across most of our offices, to expanding volunteering, to improving colleague wellbeing and training. But when it comes to the client experience, there is always more we can do. And that’s exactly what we intend to keep doing.

If you’re one of the clients who has already shared feedback with us – thank you. If you haven’t yet, we’d love to hear from you. After all, this journey is about becoming the kind of firm our clients are genuinely proud to work with.