Post # 87
April 2, 2025
Claire Bodanis
The FW blog doesn’t usually share its own news, but Claire felt that this one passed the ‘readership interest’ test – as well as, perhaps, being a useful case study for anyone trying to recruit the right person for their team!
‘A new sustainability reporting consultant, are you mad? The EU has just announced they’re reducing sustainability reporting requirements, not adding to them!’
So might you be thinking, dear readers; but, counter-intuitive as it may seem, the announcement from the EU is, if anything, heralding more work for us, not less.
That’s because the new requirements will play rather wonderfully to Falcon Windsor’s strengths. Instead of using up all their bandwidth on the minutiae of disclosures that no one’s really interested in and is never going to read, companies will be able to focus on the sustainability issues that genuinely matter to their business – and how to communicate that truthfully and effectively to their investors and other stakeholders. Exactly what we help them with, in fact.
Of course, while the technical detail required may be much reduced, and timescales elongated, companies in the UK and Europe – most of our clients – do still have to report on sustainability issues. The ISSB standards IFRS S1 and S2 are still coming to the UK in some form; and in Europe, some flavour of CSRD is going to be required for the types of clients we tend to work with.
Which is why I’m so thrilled that, as of yesterday, we can count the lovely Hilary Eastman as one of our number – expanding the range of insight and expertise we bring to our clients in helping them report well, and integrate sustainability properly into their reporting.
How so? Well, we’re always banging the drum for reporting being all about its audiences; and Hilary, who’s a chartered financial analyst (CFA), brings an investor’s perspective on how sustainability issues should be factored into the valuation of a business (or not). Earlier in her career, Hilary spent a few years as investor liaison at the International Accounting Standards Board, and is currently on the UK’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) – which means she’s also got the latest insight into how sustainability reporting requirements are being brought into the UK. For the last few years she’s been advising clients on sustainability reporting, first at PwC and most recently at KPMG, having gathered the views of investors on the matter for over a decade, so has fantastic expertise in doing materiality analyses, and working out what sustainability means strategically for a business.
But, important as all that is, to my mind what matters even more is that Hilary is truly ‘one of us’ when it comes to the relentless pursuit of the purpose of reporting, on behalf of our clients. How do I know this when she only started yesterday?
Let me tell you how Hilary came to join the FW network. Last summer, our MD Neil and I sat down together and tried to write a job description for a freelance who could join the team on the consulting side. The result? Total failure – because none of what I said or felt about the role was the kind of thing you’d put in a job ad.
So instead – you may remember it – I wrote a blog about why I love the FW team and to ask if anyone might be interested in joining us. I included a few excerpts of what our own people and our clients have said about us, which we’d collected as part of an internal branding exercise the previous year. ‘We’re doers and thinkers, but we think before doing.’ ‘We’re evangelical about telling the truth.’ ‘The highest standards of anyone I’ve met.’ And, most importantly: ‘I’ve never been happier with the people I work with.’ In that blog, I also described the consulting role as ‘geeky folk like me who think about where reporting’s going* and what reports should say and look like, if they are to communicate well while continuing to meet ever-evolving regulatory requirements.’
The blog happened to wend its way Hilarywards, and she got in touch. Knowing how important this role would be both for us and our clients, I put Hilary through the most rigorous of FW’s interview procedures – the three-stage challenge:
Stage one, full psychometric testing (tea and a chat at the Covent Garden Hotel)
Stage two, an in-depth interview about her background, her expertise, and what she thought about reporting (a glass of pink champagne – or was it two? – at the Covent Garden Hotel)
And finally, stage three, the full-on FW interview panel (our annual party at the October Gallery).
What more can I say? (Aside from being rather tickled that Hilary chose to leave her role as partner at KPMG, running their ESG reporting practice, to set up on her own and join little old us!) Since she is so very new to the FW network, and already hard at work writing recommendations to improve a client’s TCFD reporting for us – it didn’t seem fair to ask her for anything more than a short quote for today’s blog. Although I’ll be tapping her on the shoulder for her very own blog contribution soon.
She says: ‘I am an optimist about the power of good reporting. As someone coming from the economic and valuation perspective, I can’t help believing that, as long as we can make important sustainability issues understandable to the reader through reporting, then investors will start paying attention, because it’s just sensible business practice. And so it was amazing to talk to others (the FW crew!) who understand how important good reporting – truthful, relevant, readable – really is. I’ve found my people!’
A kindred spirit indeed.
You can find Hilary’s LinkedIn profile here .
* On that point - our research and recommendations paper on the responsible use of AI in reporting, compiled with our lovely partners Insig AI, is currently out for comment. The press release is being prepared, the launch webinar prepped… more news in mid April!
PS If any other (lovely) people out there read this and think ‘these could be my people’ then do get in touch! Our 40-strong band of (lovely) associates are all committed to helping companies tell their stories accurately and truthfully through reporting, whatever aspect of it a company might need help with. So our network includes governance and sustainability geeks, writers, editors, designers, artworkers, proof readers, film producers; but whatever practical way we help our clients, the work always starts with thinking about what our clients want to say and helping them say it truthfully. You can find out more on our website .