ESG Spotlight: F W Smith Riches & Co

ESG Spotlight: F W Smith Riches & Co

F W Smith Riches & Co, a London-based firm of ICAEW Chartered Accountants, achieved ESGmark® re-certification in 2026, recognising its continued commitment to responsible business practices. In this Q&A, Beth Evans, Business Operations Manager, shares how ESG is embedded across the firm through its investment in people, long-term community partnerships, and commitment to continuous improvement, as well as reflecting on the progress made since first achieving certification and what's next on its ESG journey. 

ESGmark®: Tell us about F W Smith Riches & Co and your role within the business.

F W Smith Riches & Co is a four partner, London-based firm of ICAEW Chartered Accountants. The firm prides itself on being small but agile with a team that truly work together to provide a highly personal and professional service to its clients. Trusted by clients in a wealth of industries, Smith Riches leads in audit and tax assignments. 

The firm is a proud member of MGI Worldwide, a top 20 international accounting network. Our Managing Partner, Jane Lowden, is the Chair, and plays an active role in the International Executive Committee and the UK Board of MGI. As a firm we are committed to building truly meaningful relationships globally. We are also supported by a technical team through membership of the HAT Group of Accountants. Our involvement with both MGI and HAT ensures a depth of technical knowledge and an understanding of emerging developments, both in the UK and internationally.

As part of my role as Business Operations Manager at Smith Riches, I lead our ESG agenda.

ESGmark®: What sparked F W Smith Riches & Co to engage more closely with the ESG agenda? 

Fundamentally, we believe that the core principles of ESG have always been quietly woven into the firm’s ethos. 

This is particularly apparent when thinking about our staff and our graduate trainees. Like many chartered accountancy firms, we are a training office, and train and develop the next generation of chartered accountants. At Smith Riches, our trainees get a fantastic and rounded training experience, but with a backdrop of support and management’s awareness of the pressures of exams and the time requirements of studying. Trainees get a comprehensive study leave package, and all overtime is paid. As a result of this supportive environment, we have a fantastic level of staff retention, with 6 of our 7 managers and 3 of our 4 partners having trained at the firm. In turn, this allows us to offer fantastic continuity to our clients. 

When we first heard about ESGmark® it gave us the opportunity to think about and document our ESG practices more formally and expand upon our work in this area. 

We believe in today’s rapidly changing environment; it is more crucial than ever to ensure we are promoting innovation and progression and are continuing to champion the ESG agenda. 

As accountants, we hold a pivotal role in supporting other businesses. We recognise the importance of using our expertise and platform responsibly to highlight and promote the value of sustainability. As a small firm with big goals, we hope to positively contribute to not only our clients but also the wider community and environment.

ESGmark®: Why did you choose to join the ESGmark® Community, and what value has having the ESGmark® Certification brought to your business over the past few years?

Since our initial certification three years ago, we are most proud of the way we have translated our ESG commitments into meaningful, practical changes across the firm. 

From an environmental perspective, we have significantly reduced our reliance on paper by digitalising correspondence and internal processes, helping to modernise the way we work while reducing our environmental impact. 

Socially, one of our proudest achievements has been the relationship we have built with Rays of Sunshine. What began as a Charity of the Year partnership has developed into an ongoing commitment, with our team continuing to support the charity through fundraising, volunteering and awareness initiatives. Supporting an organisation that transforms the lives of seriously ill children and their families has become an important part of our culture. 

We have also invested heavily in our people. We have introduced a dedicated HR platform to improve employee engagement, create clearer development pathways, formalise policies and procedures, and expand access to training and wellbeing resources. This has helped us strengthen governance whilst creating a more consistent and supportive experience for our team. 

Our re-certification reflects not only the progress we have made, but our commitment to continuous improvement in the years ahead.

ESGmark®: To date what has been the biggest challenge to improving F W Smith Riches & Co's ESG performance and how have you overcome it? 

The biggest challenge we have faced so far has been measuring our environmental impact accurately. It has been a complex task to ensure that our data collection and analysis is comprehensive and precise. We have invested our time to research data management systems and establish clear data governance policies to improve our reporting, and we hope to continue to refine our processes and methodologies. 

Confidence in our internal data will mean we can shift our focus towards enhancing transparency within our supply chain. Ultimately, we not only want to meet regulatory requirements but also align with our commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. By overcoming the challenges associated with quantifying our environmental measures, we are taking significant steps towards achieving this goal.

ESGmark®: What’s next for F W Smith Riches & Co on your ESG journey? 

We are thrilled to have recently obtained our recertification of the ESGmark® Certification, a milestone that highlights our dedication to ESG principles. 

Looking ahead, we are excited to celebrate the achievements of our business and the dedication of our team at our annual offsite later this year. While we are proud of the progress we have made so far, we recognise that ESG is a journey of continuous improvement. Over the coming year, we plan to formalise our ESG framework through the introduction of an overarching ESG policy and meaningful ESG KPIs, helping us to better measure, monitor and communicate our impact. Alongside this, we will continue investing in our people, supporting our local community through our partnership with Rays of Sunshine, and identifying new opportunities to operate more sustainably and responsibly as a business. 

About ESGmark®:

ESGmark® is the community for people and organisations who care about the planet and society. We support organisations to credibly demonstrate and improve their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials. The ESGmark® Certification is a symbol of trust and distinction which allows consumers to identify organisations who believe in and act to deliver a fairer, more sustainable future. 

Through our ESG Spotlight Q&A series, ESGmark® Certified organisations share their approach to responsible business practices and how they create positive impact for the environment, their clients, employees, and communities. Discover more Q&As here.