We are proud to share that we are now a certified B Corporation.

This is official recognition of the way that Hour Hands works. We’re honest, care for our team, and take responsibility for the people and communities that we work with. This certification simply proves that we are a values-led business and showcases how this has been our commitment since Hour Hands was founded.

What is B Corp certification?

In plain English, B Corp certification is an independent stamp of approval for businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

The certificate is issued after a rigorous process by B Lab, a global non-profit. We couldn’t just say that we were ethical, we had to prove it, have our evidence verified, and commit to maintaining our standards.

How we earned our B corp certification

To become B Corp certified, we went through a detailed assessment covering several key areas, including:

● Governance – how the business is run, and how transparently and ethically decisions are made
● Workers – how we treat and support our team, from pay to wellbeing to development
● Community – our impact on the wider community, including diversity, equity, and local engagement
● Environment – our environmental footprint and the steps we take to reduce it
● Customers – how we treat the people and businesses we serve, and the value we genuinely deliver

These B Lab standards were developed with the B Lab Standards Advisory Council, an independent, multi-stakeholder group composed of members from around the world with backgrounds in business, government, academia, and the nonprofit sector. Every area was scored and verified in order to hold businesses like ours properly to account.

Why we chose to pursue B Corp certification

You’ve seen the Hour Hands values over the years – both in our words and our actions – but we felt that having these values and the way we work scrutinised by an independent body, would prove that we do as we say.

Being ethical bookkeepers and PA services providers is really important to us and to our clients as it means you can trust us. Trust is everything. Now we have a structured way to check that our internal practices matched the standards we set for our client relationships, and to find any gaps in our offer.

What B Corp means for you, our clients

When you choose to work with us, you can be assured that you’re working with a business with independent verification of how we treat people, handle data, make decisions and support our local community. In short, it gives you another layer of confidence that we don’t just claim that we’re ethical, we can prove it.

There’s more work to do

What’s exciting is that B Corp certification is only the start. Our status needs to be renewed – so that’s additional scrutiny and assessments. We see this as our commitment to keep pressing ahead with all the great things that we already do – and do even more!

If you’d like to learn more about Hour Hands and our services, about being a B Corp UK or to discuss the possibility of outsourcing some of your bookkeeping and admin tasks to us, let us know. We’re happy to share some of our numerous testimonials, chat over a coffee and to create a business service package that works well for you.