B Corp Financial Advisor: What It Means and Why It Matters

What is a Certified B Corporation?

A Certified B Corporation, or B Corp, is a company who has earned a B Corp Certification. A B Corp Certification is “an integrated business certification that assesses and verifies a company’s social, environmental, and governance impact against the B Lab Standards.” This private, third-party certification is comparable to other certifications like the LEED certification in green building or Fair Trade certification goods, that signals a company meets high standards of societal and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. 

B Corp Certification indicates that a company has integrated a commitment to serving a broader group of stakeholders including customers, employees and investors (not just shareholders) in its governing documents to balance purpose and profit.

B Corps are a growing community who work to help shift the global economy from a system that profits a few people, to one that benefits everyone: “advancing a new model that moves from concentrating wealth and power to ensuring equity, from extraction to generation, and from prioritizing individualism to embracing interdependence.”

Today, the B Corp movement spans 100+ countries, 160+ industries, and 10,000+ companies, and directly impacts more than one million workers worldwide.

How Did the B Corp Movement Start?

The B Corp movement was born in the United States in 2006 when three friends, Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy, shared a vision to make business a force for good. Their story began after founding a company that was later acquired by a large corporation. Through the acquisition, they saw how their model of sustainability they had worked so hard to integrate into the company (like caring for employees) was dismantled. 

Together, they began working on a new way of understanding the fundamental flaws of shareholder capitalism. They ultimately created new tools to help socially and environmentally conscious companies stay true to these core values while also flourishing in the marketplace.

When Did Abacus Become a Certified B Corporation? 

Abacus discovered the emerging B Corp movement when it was in its infancy and was drawn to how it aligned with our company’s values. Inspired by the opportunity to formalize our commitment to expanding what’s possible and using money as a force for good, Abacus embraced the path to becoming a B Corp.

In June 2007, Abacus became a Certified B Corp and was among 19 trailblazing companies across various industries who were the first to join the movement. This made Abacus not only a Founding B Corp member, but also the first investment advisory firm to be a Certified B Corp. 

How Does a Company Become a Certified B Corp?

To become a Certified B Corporation, companies must meet Foundation Requirements and Impact Topic Requirements. B Corps are certified against the B Lab Standards, which are a globally recognized framework that assesses a company’s social, environmental, and governance impact across seven areas, from climate action to human rights. 

These seven Impact Topics include: 

• Climate Action 
• Purpose and Stakeholder Governance 
• Environmental Stewardship and Circularity
• Human Rights
• Fair Work 
• Government Affairs and Collective Action
• Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

This process is independently audited by a third party. When a company becomes certified, their impact report results are made public on bcorporation.net. 

This assessment gives companies metrics to compare their performance to other companies of similar size, geography and industry and identify and track how to improve. Abacus continues to pursue improvement of our B Impact Assessment and is audited every three to five years on the impact topics.

For Abacus, being a B Corp investment advisor and wealth manager means we:

• Use the power of business to help solve social and environmental problems
• Meet rigorous external standards and are re-certified every 3 to 5 years
• Are part of a global movement to use business as a force for good

Why Choose a Certified B Corp Financial Advisor?

A Certified B Corp financial advisor has made a legally binding, independently verified commitment to people, planet, and purpose, not just profit. Choosing a financial advisor is an act of trust. For values-driven clients, that means more than finding someone who understands your financial goals. It means finding a wealth management firm that shares your values and can demonstrate it. Our B Corp Certification is your assurance that we do.

Here’s what that means in practice:

• We’ve put our values in writing, legally. B Corp Certification requires us to enshrine our commitment to people and planet in our corporate governing documents. This isn’t a marketing pledge; it’s a structural accountability that holds us to a high standard, year after year.
• We’re independently verified, not self-reported. Anyone can claim to care about impact. Our B Corp Certification is third-party verified and publicly available on the B Corp website. You can see exactly how we score and where we’re working to improve.
• We’ve been doing this since the beginning. Abacus became a Certified B Corp in June 2007 and was among the first companies in the world to do so. This isn’t a trend we jumped on. It’s a founding and ongoing commitment.
• Long-term investors deserve a long-term partner. Investing toward retirement or generational wealth means thinking in decades, not quarters. At Abacus, that same long-term orientation shapes how we approach our work; considering not only financial factors, but also the environmental and social dynamics that long-term investors may want to weigh as part of a holistic picture.
• It keeps us honest and improving. Every three to five years, we recertify. That cycle pushes us to continually raise our standards across environmental impact, employee well-being, diversity and governance, because our commitment to doing better is never finished. It means that we are integrating the assessment’s recommendations for improvement into our ongoing work plans across the firm.  
• It gives you a way to hold us accountable. Our B Impact Assessment score is publicly available. You don’t have to take our word for it; you can see exactly how we measure up, where we excel, and where we’re still growing.
• It connects you to something larger. When you work with Abacus, you’re not just hiring a financial advisor, you’re joining a cutting-edge and courageous global movement of businesses, investors, and individuals who believe the economy should work for everyone. Your financial decisions become part of that story.

How a Certified B Corp Wealth Manager Operates Differently

At Abacus, B Corp Certification isn’t something that lives as a badge on our website; it’s a lens through which we make decisions about how we invest, how we operate, and how we show up for our clients and our community.

Our mission has always been to expand what’s possible with money. The B Corp Certification gives that mission structure and accountability. It challenges us to ask, year after year, whether our actions are actually aligned with our beliefs and to make changes when they aren’t. That kind of ongoing self-examination isn’t always comfortable, but we believe it’s what integrity requires.

For clients seeking a values-aligned financial advisor, this matters because a firm that holds itself to a high internal standard is better equipped to guide you toward investments and financial decisions that reflect your own values. The way we run Abacus is a reflection of the kind of financial partner we aim to be.

What Does B Corp Certification Look Like Inside a Wealth Management Firm?

Our commitment to B Corp values isn’t abstract, it shapes the concrete policies and practices that define life at Abacus. We believe that how a B Corp investment advisor and wealth manager treats its own people says a great deal about how it will treat its clients. 

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Investment offerings rooted in environmental responsibility. We continuously evaluate the potential environmental impacts of our investment strategies and take meaningful action to mitigate harm. For our clients, that means your portfolio isn’t just working toward your financial goals, but also supporting your societal values.
• Human rights as an investment lens, not an afterthought. We assess the human rights implications of our investment strategies and act on what we find. Because we believe that where your money goes reflects what you stand for.
• Collective action to move the needle on what matters. We don’t believe change happens in isolation. Abacus actively collaborates with other stakeholders including businesses, organizations, and community partners to advance social and environmental impact that goes beyond what any one firm can achieve alone.
• Using our platform to push for systemic change. Being a values-aligned investment advisory and financial planning firm means more than managing money responsibly. We leverage our voice and thought leadership to advocate alongside others for an economy that is equitable, inclusive, and built to last for our clients, our communities, and future generations.
• Women in leadership at every level of the firm, including among our partners. We believe diverse leadership produces better thinking, better decisions, and better outcomes for our team and for our clients.
• Employee ownership that gives our team a meaningful stake in the firm’s success, aligning our interests with yours for the long term.
• Parental leave that supports growing families without penalizing careers, because we believe the most important moments in life shouldn’t come at a professional cost.
• A firm-wide commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion that runs through every division of Abacus, because we believe a truly values-aligned financial advisory firm must reflect the full diversity of the communities it serves

These aren’t actions we take to check a box. They are expressions of who we are in how we invest, how we operate, and how we show up for the people and communities we serve. And they’re a big part of why the people who choose Abacus, as clients and as colleagues, tend to stay.

How Abacus Lives Its B Corp Values Beyond Certification

Earning B Corp Certification is meaningful, but for Abacus, it has never been just about having a badge. From the beginning, we’ve understood that real commitment to values means actively participating in the broader movement. That’s why we show up as engaged members of the B Corp community, in ways that go well beyond our own walls.

We do this by putting our resources where our values are. Abacus banks with Beneficial State Bank, a fellow Certified B Corp whose mission is to ensure that banking serves communities, not just shareholders. We also intentionally prioritize B Corp vendors for office supplies, because every dollar we spend is an opportunity to support businesses using commerce as a force for good.

We also extend our knowledge and resources to our communities. In partnership with Beneficial State Bank, we’ve hosted pro bono financial planning sessions to a broader community. This work reflects something we believe deeply: that access to thoughtful financial planning should be accessible to more people.

Our participation in the B Corp community continues to expand. As Abacus grows, so does our capacity to contribute and our commitment to doing so intentionally, consistently, and in ways that create real impact for real people.

How Does Abacus Continue to Improve As a B Crop?

Every time we apply for recertification as a B Corp, we are shown clear metrics where Abacus is leading and where we have strategic room for improvement which helps us continue to improve. That feedback doesn’t sit on a shelf. It drives the work we do in between assessments.

As Director of Impact, I lead that ongoing effort to keep Abacus focused on continuous improvement. It’s cross-functional work that touches every part of the firm: conversations with our Human Resources Department about deepening inclusive hiring and employment practices, with our Marketing Department about strengthening stakeholder engagement through client surveying, with our Investment Department about our investment offerings, and with our Operations Department about climate emissions. Each year, our CEO and I present the Abacus board with a progress report on our B Corp status and impact areas, helping to ensure accountability at each level of the firm.

Abacus’s Path Forward As A Certified B Corp

In the coming years, Abacus will continue to strive toward mindful impact as a values-driven financial advisory firm, an employer, a voice in the financial industry, and our voice as a business in our local, national, and global community. We are committed to the B Corp movement’s values and to the methodical, thoughtful, and transparent way it helps us demonstrate these values every day.